Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of these people, places or things. Heck, even most of the verbs belong to someone else. :-) All characters and settings © Nintendo. Hey, they've earned it.

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Chapter Five: Song of Passing

Zelda paced in her room, forcing herself not to chew her lip. Has it really only been one day? she wondered, the tragedies and triumphs of what had just passed racing through her memory. Her stomach fluttered wildly, and she came to a halt next to her desk. Farore. Link can wait just a little longer. Remembering him finally kissing her, safe in his arms, made her knees want to give way, but the other most important person in her life hadn't returned, and worry kept her upright. Impa, where are you?

In spite of her concern, she let her psychic senses flicker back to the Hero. He even snores cute, she thought, love filling her again. Threats of having half the knights and the nine mightiest wizards in the castle sitting on him hadn't been enough to keep him there when he learned where the two remaining Sheikah had gone, but one quivering lip and pleading gaze had sent him to proper guest quarters. No more soldier's cot for you, my Hero, she thought with bone-deep satisfaction.

The worry returned in force. Impa should be back by now. Gods, where are they?! Again, the temptation to scry for her surrogate mother filled her; again, she crushed it ruthlessly. If I can find her, Kotake can find her, even if she wouldn't have been able to before I did. Zelda paced again. How could I have just sent her into the jaws of so obvious a trap? What if Fanadi and I were wrong, and Ganondorf was strong enough to catch them? She gestured, and her sword flew into her hand. The princess looked at it oddly, the long-ago gift feeling at once familiar and strange. And what am I going to do with you, carve my way through Ganondorf's legions single-handed? She frowned, remembering her promise to Link. It's only fair, I suppose. He didn't want me running off after yesterday, any more than I did him.

With a savage gesture, she threw the sword into a chair. It stuck there with a wooden 'thunk,' then wobbled metallically for a few seconds.

There was a 'whuff' of displaced air and light smoke. "Your father will have a fit if he sees that," Impa said, her smile evident in her voice.

"Impa!" Zelda cried, throwing her arms around the Sheikah and hugging her with every ounce of strength in her.

"Gods, child, have you grown Goron muscles?" Impa asked wryly, hugging Zelda back briefly, then prying herself loose as gently as she could. "From what Renato tells me, you should be a limp rag after the evening you had."

"I slept amazingly well, considering," Zelda replied, blushing faintly. "I had dreams unlike..." she looked at Impa again, jaw slack. "Wait, Renato?"

This time, Impa threw her arms around Zelda. "My son," she whispered, tears falling on the princess' shoulder. That's impossible. Impa doesn't cry. "You saved my son. I..." Impa released her, stepping back and casually wiping one eye. "He helped us, Zelda. He appeared while Fanadi and I were dealing with a pack of Poes and helped us dispatch them. It was astonishing. He moved like Link." She folded her arms and gazed in a much more Impa-like manner at the princess. "You wouldn't know anything about that."

Zelda grinned, feeling more confident than she ever had under that withering gaze. "You'll have to take that up with your son, sensei. I wouldn't dream of interfering."

"Of course you wouldn't," Impa drawled. "Well, you can stop worrying a hole in your floor again." Zelda snorted at that, but looked away all the same. "You can't fool me, heart's daughter. Besides, once we were clear, he told us of how you and...the Hero...took incredible risks for him." The Sheikah shook her head. "I should chide you for that."

"Risks?" Zelda sat in her desk chair, glancing guiltily at the sword still stuck in the other one. "Link took all the risks. I just told him how." She distractedly shuffled a few papers. "The Sheikah?"

"We lost one," Impa said, the faintest hint of regret in her voice, "but considering the danger and the odds, saving over twenty was a miracle in itself." The bodyguard placed a hand on Zelda's shoulder. "Twenty-five Sheikah in all, counting Renato, when Hyrule needs us most. That cannot be coincidence."

Zelda nodded. "I know, and I'm grateful." She put her hand on Impa's. "I'm so glad you're safe I can hardly tell you. I'm just...my mind's all jumbled. I should be grieving, or, or worrying. I should be planning, getting soldiers and sorcerers ready. All I can think of, though..." she blushed again, roses blooming on her cheeks.

"All you can...oho!" Impa laughed. "So it finally came out, did it?" She leaned over, glancing down at the princess with a cunning grin. "I trust you expressed yourself suitably?"

"Gods, Impa, do you have to be so...Sheikah right now?" Zelda's fingers twitched impotently on her notes. "I thought I had some idea what I was doing to Link. I was wrong." She bit her lip. "Is it wrong to look forward to making it up to him?" she asked in a chagrined whisper, eyes flickering over to her mentor.

Impa chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Not at all, dear one." She gestured at the sword. "Come. There is much to do, and I'm sure that when the time comes for you to face it, your mind will become clear."

"I wish I shared your confidence," Zelda muttered. She gestured, and the sword returned to her hand. By humming a few bars of her Lullaby, she repaired the damaged chair. Then she called the scabbard to her side, hooking it on her belt with a thought, sheathed the blade, and strode to the door. Impa heeled her, emotions vanishing under the Sheikah veil, and Zelda stepped out to face her duty, and Hyrule's fate.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

#Link, get up!#

I'm coming...

#Hey! C'mon!#

Zelda...

Navi grinned. #Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?#

"Wh..." Link rubbed his eyes and peered out blearily. Navi was floating right in front of him, leaning insouciantly on his nose. "Navi, for the love of Nayru, five more minutes."

"You've been asleep for twelve hours," Navi said with a giggle. "Sure, you earned it, and Zelda was, um, pretty adamant about letting you rest, but she said I could get you up now, so up you get!"

Link sat bolt upright. "Zelda! Is she okay?'

"Okay!" Navi laughed outright at that. "Her father had to order her to bed, she kept wandering around the castle with this moonstruck look in her eyes!" The fairy clasped her hands and made big, adoring eyes. "Oh, Link, sigh, he's so amazing, sigh, I'm so lucky, sigh," she said, then laughed musically again.

"She did not do that," Link whispered, eyes bulging. I...that was real. It happened. He touched his lips in amazement.

"Well, we are talking about Zelda here," Navi said with a chuckle. "She can even moon over a guy with dignity. Otherwise, yeah, more or less."

Link swallowed. "Farore. Her father's going to kill me." He rubbed his face tiredly, though strength began to slowly flow back into his body. "I can't believe I did that." The Hero remembered Zelda's eyes, pleading to him. He coughed. "Okay, I guess I can, but I can't believe I was so..."

"You know what I can't believe? That you didn't do it two years ago," Navi snorted. "Okay, you were a little young in the Water Temple, but--"

"Din, Nayru and Farore!" Link blurted, standing suddenly. "Don't you have any shame at all?"

Navi glanced up and down at the Hero, who looked down and blushed wildly. He was in nothing but his smallclothes. "Nuh-uh," she giggled, then flew into his hat. Link reached for the hat where it sat on the night table, then grumbled and pulled his hand back, dressing perfunctorily. His Kokiri tunic was in one piece, as it always was in spite of what he put it through, but he'd apparently been given an entirely new suit of skintight white mail. Gods only know what's left of the last set, he thought wryly, wondering how he'd avoided tearing apart the one he'd emerged from his years-long sleep in the first time through. Gift of the gods?

He shook his head and strapped on his sword and shield. Later. Navi's right. Time to go back to work. Pulling on his hat to a satisfying lack of fairy complaints, he threw open his door and stepped into the corridor. The Hero looked around. I...have no idea where I am, he realized with chagrin. Link laughed. I just defeated more villains in one day than most heroes face in a lifetime, but I'm lost in a castle I've known for years. The gods have quite a sense of humor.

"Well, well, well," Lady Veran said, voice rich and deep. Link froze. "All this time I wondered at the princess'...interest." Link turned and smiled weakly, making as good a leg as he could manage. "What brings you to the nobles' quarter, Hero?"

Nobles? Light and Time! Link rubbed the back of his neck. "I, uh, I woke up here, Lady Veran," he said apologetically. Navi grumbled furiously in his hat. #Love of Nayru, Navi, not now.# He nodded and stepped to one side. "If you'll excuse me, Your Excellency, I'll just, um, actually I'm kind of lost."

Veran stepped in front of him and slowly advanced. Link backpedaled in shock, eyes slowly widening. "Oh, clearly." Her smile reminded Link of a Wolfos on the hunt. He swallowed hard. "Perhaps I can provide some guidance." Link stopped hard when his back hit a wall, but Veran kept stalking towards him until there was less than a pace between them, and then she put an immaculately manicured hand on his chest. "Such a ferocious warrior, yet you know your place far better than most give you credit for."

"A pity that many nobles of the court lack that instinct," Zelda hissed.

Zelda! Thank the gods! Link smiled again, stepping aside and away from Lady Veran. "If -- if you'll excuse me, Your Excellency, I'm sure Her Highness was looking for me..." He edged towards the Sage of Time. The princess' gaze was locked onto the Lady Councillor, and if she'd been a Beamos, Veran would have been obliterated on the spot. It took an act of will for the Hero to not step behind Zelda.

"Your Highness," Veran replied coolly, bowing in a very formal and proper manner. "I was providing some direction. It seems your Hero was...misplaced."

"The only things misplaced here are your attentions, Lady Veran." Link could almost feel the frost emanation from Zelda's voice. "Good day." Veran smiled mirthlessly, nodded another slight bow, and withdrew down another corridor. Immediately, Zelda devoured the distance to her Hero, looking him over intently and running her fingers over his chest. "Are you all right? She didn't -- you didn't feel any sorcery, did you?"

Link chuckled. "Farore, no. I don't know what she was doing, but I don't think it was magical." Zelda nodded in relief.

Then the Hero realized that her hands were still on his chest. Their eyes met. Zelda licked her lips. Gods, she's so adorable when she does that, he thought, heart swelling. He wanted to take her hands in his own, but her eyes pinned him utterly. "You -- you don't know what she was doing," Zelda breathed. The Hero blinked, train of thought crashing to a halt.

"Hey, what do you expect, he was raised by a race of children," Navi noted pointedly. Zelda blushed from cheeks to eartips, then pulled her hands back.

Link looked up at his hat. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked. Navi laughed uproariously at that. Zelda stared down at her feet and clutched her skirts, looking unaccountably abashed. "Zel, what's wrong? I do know she was up to no good." He forced a grin quickly. "Isn't Veran one of those 'no-good stuck-up snobs' you go on about?"

Zelda chuckled at that. "Link, she's the personification of the no-good stuck-up snob." She gasped and clapped both hands over her mouth. "You didn't hear that from me."

"Did so," Link quipped back, the years of strife fading for a moment. "You pointed right at her."

"I -- no way," Zelda replied, folding her arms. Link laughed. The princess brought one hand up again, veiling her lips. "Farore. Did I?" Link nodded, still chuckling.

The princess cleared her throat, then gathered her dignity, straightened, and brushed her hair back. "I can never express my gratitude for all you have done, both for me personally and for Hyrule," she began with deliberate formality.

"Saving me from Veran was a good start," Link quipped.

"Link, please," Zelda whispered, taking his hand and squeezing it. He could see her eyes filling with genuine concern. "There's still Ganondorf to face. It's not over yet."

All the relief and humor drained from Link in seconds. Gods be good. All that was just a probing assault. He nodded grimly, squeezing her hand back. "Let's go."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

His Majesty Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, High King of the lands of the Hylians, Gorons and Zoras, exhaled in irritation.

"This is intolerable!" Lenzo insisted, pounding the table with one fist. "After all of the Hero's sacrifices, after all our wizards' efforts, after everything Hyrule has been through during these long years since Link's arrival to protect these 'streams,' we are supposed to believe that Ganondorf may draw monsters from the past and future with impunity?! Where is the Arbiter in all of this?" Half the councillors looked at Lenzo with varying degrees of surprise. I cannot blame them, Daphnes thought, yet his ardor is entirely understandable. That is indeed inexcusable. Yet...

"And what do you propose to do about it, Master Wizard?" Veran asked silkily, leaning back in her chair. She steepled her fingers and gazed over them at the great enchanter. She is correct, of course, yet I know that gaze. Veran sees some advantage in this, the king thought grumpily. Even so, I cannot imagine what. My mind slows as I age. "The Arbiter has proven beyond our ability to contact, let alone confront. Now that Ganondorf has the Triforce of Power, perhaps he is beyond even the Arbiter's ability to restrain."

"Clearly, even the so-called 'King of Evil' has his limits," Onox put in bluntly. "Whatever violations he may have committed against Time, Hyrule yet stands. A flamboyant waste of mana that cost our forces but little, and regained us the Sheikah." He leaned forward, eyes harder than steel. "It is time for us to take the offensive, while he is still recovering."

"Need I remind you," Zelda cut in pointedly, "that we, too, are still recovering? The city's defenses have been compromised, the Goron and Zora militaries are in near-chaos, Nabooru's forces are ready to collapse even with the reinforcements we sent -- reinforcements we could just barely afford, might I add -- and until Lon Lon is secure, it is an enemy encampment waiting to happen."

"War necessitates risk, Your Royal Highness," the Lord General replied curtly. "This Gerudo King has severely overextended himself, and suffered losses beyond counting as a result." He gestured at the map, waving his hand over the image of the Gerudo Fortress. "A lightning strike on the Gerudo stronghold will devastate his most valuable units and provide us a base from which to advance."

The Hero, who had been staring bleakly at the map throughout the conversation, looked up in horror at that. "Are you insane, Lord General?" he whispered. "I've seen that fortress. I've been inside it. Without some sort of aerial transportation or enough mana to teleport an entire army by Farore's Wind, you'll never get through the pass. Even if you did, there are two narrow bridges between us and them, and beyond that they have the high ground. It'd be a slaughter."

"A familiar conversation," Daphnes noted, forcing his voice to mildness. Onox and his obsession. Farore.

The general frowned deeply. "What would you do then, Kokiri?" he rumbled, his gauntlet clanking into a fist. "Waiting here is asking to be slaughtered ourselves."

The Hero paused, gazing at the map for a long moment. "Now that the border wards have been reinforced, that pass works both ways. Look." He stood, took a Deku Stick and 'drew' a circle around the entrance. "The garrison there was untouched during the assault. With just a few reinforcements including knights, psychics and sorcerers, they could hold this pass against Ganondorf himself for weeks. Give them some support on the sides," he continued, pointing at the mountains on either side, "to protect them from Skulltulas and Stalfos coming over the ridges, and they'll never get a serious force into Hyrule." He smiled humorlessly. "Eventually, Ganondorf will lose patience and enter the pass himself...and we can finally end this." The smile vanished, and the Hero made a fist of his own. "One way or another." Zelda put her hand on his, her fingers trembling just faintly, and his fist relaxed.

Daphnes forced himself not to smile. "An excellent plan, Hero, save for one analysis with which I disagree," he said evenly. "King Ganondorf has proven his patience and resolve over the past seven years. I find it unlikely he would give in to foolish impulse now."

"I understand your misgivings, Your Majesty," Link replied, "but I don't think he would see it as foolish impulse. Gods, I'm not sure I do." He sat heavily. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to face one another. That pass will be as good a place as any for it." The Hero looked across the wide round table with a strength Daphnes was sure only Link himself doubted. "I don't claim any special skill or power compared to any of Hyrule's great knights and wizards...except for this." He patted the Master Sword's hilt. "It's the one thing Ganondorf can't just force his way past, no matter how powerful he is."

Master Potho leaned forward, drooping moustache quivering as he breathed. "It is as you say, young Hero, yet surely Ganondorf knows this. Undoubtedly he would prefer to choose his own ground."

Suddenly, Zelda stood. "Then we must choose the ground instead." She smiled half-apologetically to the Hero. "Master Link's plan is a good one aside from this one concern, but that one concern is clearly the primary issue." At that, she nodded to General Onox respectfully. "Also, the Lord General is right that we must take the battle to Ganondorf, though the Hero's point about the Fortress is all too valid." She pointed to the mountains between Hyrule Castle and the Gerudo Valley, following a line to a sketched-in plain outside Hyrule's borders. "That makes the pass to Altea our best chance."

Onox snorted. "The pass is several months from completion. While small caravans can use it, attempting to bring the main force of our army through would be madness."

Zelda smiled and gestured at the river. "Who said anything about bringing our entire army through the pass? We send our elite units across the pass. The Zoras follow the river and join us near the Altea/Gerudo border, here." Next, she tapped Goron City with her finger. "The highest peaks cannot slow the people of stone. Only the leadership of their militaries were disrupted by the recent attacks, not their courage, skill or resolve." Suddenly, she slapped the table with a force that surprised even her father. "Ganondorf thinks he faces a land divided. I say we prove him wrong."

Daphnes couldn't stop a hint of pride from quirking up the corners of his mouth. Link was beaming in open admiration. Even Onox nodded reluctantly. "It could work," he rumbled. "Much would depend on the force holding the pass, however." He snorted. "More to the point, your plan clearly requires the Hero to join the Altean force and face Ganondorf. While I do not count him or his Master Sword as indispensable in either endeavor, the garrison is going to require significant magical defense in addition to sheer force of arms. The presence of genuine Hylian authority is also necessary for a variety of reasons, and the Hero cannot fill that function regardless."

"I know," Zelda replied, her eyes hardening. I see, Daphnes thought, watching his daughter carefully. The Hero's adulation was already fading into worry; the king was certain he saw the same thing Daphnes did. "Clearly, someone capable of holding the defensive position together must remain at the pass, and you, Lord General, cannot be spared from the offensive any more than the Hero." Onox nodded a bow at that. "Therefore, I will lead the defense."

The table erupted in protest for approximately the three seconds Daphnes decided it would take for the shock to sink in. Then, channeling mana into his arm, he slapped the table hard enough to crack it. "Silence!" he roared. Farore be thanked, he thought with ironic humor when they all stopped as one. "As much as I would wish my only daughter, the Crown Princess, to remain safely at the castle, the offensive can no more spare Hyrule's greatest wizard than it can the Hero of Time or the Lord General." Zelda opened her mouth. "Therefore, I will lead the defense myself." A speechless Zelda closed her mouth, dumbstruck. I ought to be ashamed at that, he thought, feeling none at all over the satisfaction he got from that sight. "That is my royal decision. It is not open to debate." And that should forestall both the Hero's self-sacrificing nature and Lady Veran's Din-seared scheming. He glanced at his old friend Potho, who appeared deeply worried to the king's experienced gaze, but the advisor loyally said nothing. Finally, he looked at Zelda again, who was still staring at him, stunned. "A brilliant plan, daughter. You have learned well."

"I had an excellent teacher," she whispered.

Daphnes nodded in acceptance of the compliment. "Well. Unless anyone can poke holes in this remarkable strategy, we leave at soon as we receive assent from our allies." The king stood, and everyone followed suit. "Send messengers to King Marth, Brother Darunia and Princess Ruto immediately. You are all dismissed."

Mistress Agitha, still clearly in shock, spoke in a voice that was at once mechanical and as shaken as a leaf in a gale. "By royal command, this session of the Council of Hyrule is adjourned. You have His Majesty's permission to depart." Daphnes strode from the room, leaving through the inward door. The long, wide corridor to the throne room stretched before the king, its rich red carpet seeming the color of blood for an instant.

Potho heeled him dutifully, Zelda not far behind. I wonder what the Hero just did, he mused idly. Luda would have followed me, were I in Zelda's place and she in his. A fond smile salved the pain of a tear of grief. Then again, she was always less concerned about propriety than most.

The moment the door closed behind Zelda, she strode to his left, as Potho walked at his right. "Father, you cannot be serious," she said quietly.

"Why not?" Daphnes replied lightly. "I am usually a serious monarch, though seeing you so happy puts me in a finer temper than I've been in years."

"For once, Father, this has nothing to do with Link," Zelda said with a bluntness he hadn't heard from her since she was a child. "I know you have overcome many trials in your time, but you have not faced battle in over a decade!"

"At least you didn't say 'with all due respect,'" he quipped. Zelda scowled at him and folded her arms. Daphnes stopped, forced his strange fey mood away, and looked at his daughter with all his royal force. The other two stopped as well. "Zelda, you know you cannot be separated from the Hero now. Love of Nayru, I know it. Why else do you think I'm not ordering you to remain here?"

"You mean aside from the fact that you could not possibly keep me here?" Zelda muttered, even her mutinous tone subdued. She looked away. "Father..."

Daphnes put his arm around her shoulder, and she hugged him fiercely. Gods. When was the last time I did this? Was it really seven years ago? "I know, my beloved Zelda. I am ashamed that I have not shown you either the love or respect you deserve. You do not want to lose me, nor I you." He squeezed her just a bit more tightly, and she sobbed so quietly he almost missed it. "I will not promise you that I will return. I can promise you that I do not go to die." Daphnes stopped, took her shoulder, and gently turned both her and himself until he faced her. "Zelda, whether I live or die...there comes a time in every father's life when he must let his child go." He smiled gently. "If he is very lucky, that child goes into the arms of someone worthy."

At that, she threw herself into his arms and wept openly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"I'm not blind, my dear," he said a touch hoarsely. "Now." Daphnes took her shoulders again and disentangled himself from Zelda as gently as he'd embraced her. "Dry your eyes." He put a hand under her chin and drew her gaze into his. "I've fought more battles than you might think, and I bring some of the greatest heroes Hyrule has ever known with me. I'm not dead yet, and I mean to teach that arrogant Gerudo tyrant a thing or two about 'grassland weaklings.' All right?" Zelda nodded and wiped her eyes. "Promise me you'll be as careful as you can, and I'll do the same. Agreed?"

"Done," she said, taking his hand quickly and firmly. Daphnes chuckled at that, then grew serious as she bowed deeply. "Your Majesty."

"Princess," he replied, proud and fond all at once, and she withdrew. He resumed walking down the corridor, Potho again following.

The Councillor coughed politely once Zelda was gone. "You do intend to return, I take it, Sire?"

"Potho, old friend, I have been ready for death since the moment Ganondorf unleashed his flame on me, but I am a Nohansen," Daphnes rumbled. "When the reaper takes me, I mean to come at him sword first, and may the old goat choke on me."

"Heh. Now that sounds like the Daphnes I fought beside." Potho gripped the king's shoulder with a strength his age belied. The ancient advisor looked away then. "Still, this is the most dangerous thing you've done since...well, since Luda had to rescue you last. Are your preparations up to date?"

Daphnes took a long breath. "For the most part, yes. There is a note I need to write to Zelda, a few things to have brought out of storage." He glanced out a window. "Oh, and make sure the Hero visits me after dark. I'll meet him in the observatory."

"The observatory, Sire?" Potho asked.

"Nayru's Heart rises tonight," the king said quietly. Potho nodded knowingly and withdrew. You'd be so proud of her, Luda, he thought suddenly, realizing he was at the door to the throne room. He opened it and gazed on the seat of power that had been his for decades. Whether she takes it tomorrow or a century from now, be assured, my love, that she is ready.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Hah!" Impa barked, lunging. Zelda parried with her slender blade and floated back, literally sliding through the air away from the Sheikah. The princess spun, skirt flaring, then lunged, flying like a living spear at her mentor.

Impa vanished, appearing above Zelda and landing on her forcefully. Their collision knocked the wind out of the Time Sage and sent them both to the ground. "Interesting tactic, Zelda, but sloppy execution."

"I'm still working out the kinks," she replied wryly. "Better I fail here against you than in battle with Kotake or Ganondorf." Zelda shuddered, then slapped the garden ground. Indeed, Impa agreed mentally, standing carefully. She then gave the princess a hand up. "I still have my Sheikah training," Zelda continued slowly, "but..."

Impa nodded. "I understand. Your true self is Zelda, not Sheik." She put a hand on Zelda's shoulder and smiled with pride. "Nor would I wish it otherwise." Zelda dimpled as she smiled back, looking down. "Still, perhaps you should use your Sheikah knife," the Sheikah continued, expression and tone becoming even as one. "You have clearly learned much from the Hero, yet your erratic lessons in swordsmanship are hardly equal to years of dedicated training."

"Sheik's training," Zelda sighed. "I've tried to use the knife in this, Impa. Look--" She gestured, and the nodachi appeared in her hand. She moved into the Zora Stance, knife held back against her arm defensively. "I'm ridiculous like this." The princess straightened and shook her head.

"Hardly," Impa replied, looking the princess over expertly, "but I do see your point. That dress is more appropriate to a wizard, though I cannot imagine how you would fight more skillfully in it with a sword than the nodachi."

Zelda chuckled, sending the knife back to fairy space. "It's like a dance." She rubbed the back of her neck in a very familiar way. "On the other hand, Sheik doesn't have a tenth of 'my' wizardry, and we'll need that more than her Sheikah arts when we face Ganondorf."

Impa nodded. "Follow me," she said, turning and walking back into the castle. Zelda stared for a moment, then obeyed. They threaded through the castle followed by stares and bows, until they reached a workshop Zelda had only visited a few times in her life.

"Master Lenzo?" She looked at the door, perplexity clear to Impa's eyes. "I don't understand." Impa opened the door, and the princess covered her mouth with one hand to hide the smile. Doc Bandam was puttering around the laboratory, muttering to himself while he worked on a concoction that looked grayish-brown.

"Doctor," Impa said simply, and the alchemist bolted upright.

"What -- oh, it's you," he said bluntly. "Yeah yeah, it's ready," he added, walking over to a chest while still muttering. "How did she do it? Even Lenzo's precious catalyst doesn't turn a red/green mix into blue..."

Shaking her head in amazement, Zelda turned to Impa again. "Sensei, what...?" The Sheikah put a finger to her lips, and her student dutifully held back her questions.

"Anyway, it probably isn't the prettiest outfit in Hyrule," Bandam barked suddenly, opening the chest and pulling out a pile of blue and white clothes, "but it'll do the job." Zelda stared. It is good to know I can still surprise her on occasion, Impa thought with mild amusement. "Got the same enchanted mail as the Hero here," he explained, holding up a white glove, "merges with the torso of course, and the robe, dress, whatever ya want to call it," he continued, putting down the glove and picking up the sleeveless riding dress, "you've got yer apron thing here with the magical heraldry, but this part's my favorite." He pulled up the 'apron,' which was attached at the high waistline and was shorter than usual, to display the skirt. "It's split for riding, which I figure you'll be doing, and it'll only come down to about your knees..." he looked at the princess' legs with a casual demeanor that annoyed Impa faintly, but didn't seem to disturb Zelda, "but it gathers mana like a full wizard's robe. Symbols're stitched to the inside, and the whole thing's got my patented never-needs-fixing, practically indestructible and self-repairing additive work."

"He got the idea," Impa replied dryly, "from Link's apparently symbiotic relationship with his Kokiri tunic."

Apparently reminded by the mention of Link, Bantam picked up a pair of boots with golden soles. "Oh, yeah, and ya got a pair of Lenzo's updated Hover Boots, too. Oughta help you fly some, bein' a wizard and all."

Zelda looked between Impa and Bandam for a moment. Then she threw her arms around Impa and hugged her ferociously. Impa draped a gentle arm around Zelda in kind.

Bandam looked between the two for several seconds. Finally, he swallowed and said, "Uh, she's not gonna do that to me, is she?"

Zelda laughed. Even Impa smiled. "Only if you ask nicely," the Sheikah replied dryly.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"HAH!"

"SEI-YAH!"

Renato and Link charged at each other, Sheikah knives meeting Master Sword and Hylian Shield. Both warriors turned into blurs, one green and the other blue, and weapons struck so quickly that between the two of them it sounded like an army marching.

After just over a minute, however, Link flowed into Renato's defense and spun, knocking the blades in either direction. Both young men froze, Link's sword poised to slash through his opponent's neck. He grinned shyly and sheathed the legendary sword. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

"You beat me in under two minutes," Renato pointed out, holding out his hands. The kodachi returned to them, flying through the air. "As skilled as you are, Hero, I can do better than that."

"You were holding back," Link replied, shrugging and letting himself fall into the grass of the practice field. He folded his hands behind his head and let himself relax.

Renato chuckled, but didn't smile. "And you were not?" Smoothly, he sat cross-legged next to the Hero of Time.

"Well, yeah. We're using live steel, we've got to be careful." Link shrugged and gestured vaguely at the young Sheikah's weapons. "Besides, you can't be used to that. Those. Why two?"

"I am used," Renato said dryly, "to your fighting style. This is the closest I can manage." He looked down. "Link...not once have you mentioned our true battle."

"That wasn't you," Link replied simply. "That was Ganondorf and...well, me. My -- I guess you could call it my pain, my hunger. My Shadow." He gazed into the sky, eyes flickering from cloud to cloud. "Anyway, I think you were holding back more than I was." The Hero chuckled. "Somehow, I doubt that'll be a problem against Ganondorf's thugs."

"No," Renato drawled in agreement. A moment later, he smiled faintly. Gods, almost exactly like Impa's, Link thought. "You and Zelda love my mother very much, don't you?"

Where did that come from? The Hero looked at Renato sharply, then sat up. "Yes. In a lot of ways, she's been Zelda's mother too." Crimson eyes glanced into azure, then away. Link looked back at Renato for a moment, then continued. "Love of Nayru, she's been half a mother to me the last few years." Link laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "My relationship with Saria -- the Kokiri who mostly raised me -- is kind of complicated. She's part mom, part big sister and part best friend. Now, on top of that, she's the Forest Sage, and pretty much the only Sage who can't beat the tar out of most of what Ganondorf can throw at them. So I'm kind of her big brother now." He shook his head. "Which is weird for me."

Renato rubbed the back of his neck in a very familiar way, though his expression seemed to...'clash' was the only word that came to Link's mind. The young Sheikah frowned, seeming distant. "You are confiding in me more than I expected." He looked away, toying with a piece of grass before pulling it out. "Then again, I suppose any confidence is more than I expected."

Link put a hand on Renato's shoulder. "One more time -- that wasn't you, okay?" He smiled at the white-haired teen and offered his hand. "Look, I 'forgive' you for being brainwashed by the most evil sorceress alive while you were a year old. Shake?"

"I...maybe you will understand," Renato said slowly. "I don't know if anyone can, but you have experienced so much, perhaps...have you ever lived part of your life as a dream? In a dream?"

The Hero stared in shock for a moment, then laughed outright. "Renato, you have no idea."

"I think I do. Everything good in my childhood, I lived in my mother's dreams." Renato smiled again, that secret Sheikah grin that reminded Link of Impa, while the Hero went from staring to outright gawking. "Even Kotake couldn't take that away from us. She immersed me in Shadow, but she couldn't take the Sage of Shadow from me." Renato looked down in surprise, then, the hand still there. "Are you sure?"

Link laughed at that and nodded, and on what the Hero would have thought an impulse from someone else, his friend took it. "That's better," Link said firmly. He chuckled then and looked into the sky. "Huh."

"What?" Renato asked.

"I don't have a lot of male friends," he explained. "There's Marth, mainly, but he's three years older and the king of the country next door, so he's..." Link shrugged. "...busy. A lot." His smile vanished. "Especially since Ganondorf's on his doorstep too."

"We will defeat him," Renato said. Link glanced at him again. "We will, because we must." The Hero nodded.

Quill jogged over to the pair. "Hey," Link called, and the messenger bowed.

"A letter from the king, Hero of Time," Quill said formally, handing Link the folded, sealed paper.

Renato leaned over to looked at the seal. "A lion? Is the Phoenix not the symbol of Hyrule?"

"It is," Link replied, equally surprised. "The red lion is King Nohansen's personal seal. I think he has a ring he uses to mark the hot wax. Sounds uncomfortable."

"Says the Hero who just fought four, five epic foes in a single day?" Renato noted dryly.

Quill shuffled in place slightly. "The wax is not excessively heated, Lord Hero."

The Hero nodded absently to Quill, ignored Renato, and opened the letter. "Huh." He scanned its brief contents quickly. "Huh."

"Well?" Renato prodded.

"The king wants to see me in the observatory tonight." Link swallowed and rubbed his neck. "Maybe he does want to kill me after all."

Both other men chuckled at that. "Unlikely, Lord Hero," Quill commented, "seeing as you are currently indispensable to the kingdom's defense."

"Will you stop calling me that," Link muttered. "'Master Link' is bad enough, but I gave up on that one years ago. When did I get lorded?"

Quill bowed deeply. "When you saved Her Royal Highness after a day that would have killed any other ten men, my Lord Hero."

"And they didn't even invite you to the 'lording' ceremony," Renato quipped.

"For the love of Nayru," Link sighed. "I'm going to go see Zelda and find out if we've gotten word from the other monarchs yet." He walked off into the castle, Renato chuckling and even Quill fighting off a faint laugh or two. I guess I ought to be glad he even can laugh, Link thought, his annoyance -- fairly weak to begin with -- vanishing in moments. Navigating the lower levels of the castle with an ease that his morning dilemma belied, he quickly reached Zelda's garden.

Nothing.

"Farore," he said without heat. I really need to let her teach me psychic abilities. He took a long, deep breath. Gods willing, we'll have plenty of time for that after this is all over.

"...more afraid of that than anything, Impa," Zelda's voice echoed from the opposite corridor. Link cleared his throat to speak.

"We all need each other at times," Impa replied evenly. "It tore my heart to see you and he in the Shadow Temple, doing a duty that was mine, but it had to be done and Bongo Bongo was beyond me."

"Even after what happened, I can't..." the princess paused, and Link could all but see her shake her head. "Din burn the Shadow Beast. What if Ganondorf captures me again? One moment of weakness, and I was nothing more than bait to that tyrant." There was almost a growl in her voice at that point. Link opened his mouth again, but Zelda continued. "I can't let that happen again, Impa. I won't."

"No matter the consequences?" Impa asked quietly. Zelda's stride softened. "I believe in you, my child. I believe that when the Hero makes his stand, so will you. Yet more than anything else, now is the time to face our fears. Perhaps that is why so much rides on he who wields the Triforce of Courage..."

They were in the garden. It took them no time at all to see Link standing there, practically paralyzed. Zelda, wearing an odd but clever-looking blue dress over white mail identical to his own, smiled in embarrassment and waved, Link responding in almost identical fashion. Impa hid her reaction behind her mask of Sheikah calm. "I, um, I was wondering if there had been any word," Link said softly.

"Ruto was almost insulted Daphnes felt the need to ask," Impa commented evenly. "No word from Darunia or Marth, but the Elder Brother is likely still recovering from his wounds and the Altean cannot communicate through a Spiritual Stone." She bowed. "By your leave, Zelda, I will give you what privacy I can." With that, the Sheikah vanished.

Zelda and Link looked at each other for a long moment, then glanced down shyly as one. Neither looked entirely away, however, and each slowly moved forward toward the other. "She probably wants to make sure there aren't any more uninvited guests to the garden," the princess said.

"Considering the only guy to get in here since me is on our side now," Link quipped quietly, "I don't think we have to worry about it." He tried to make himself stand still, but his feet simply wouldn't obey.

Zelda nodded absently. "We'll probably get word from Altea by tomorrow. They have these birds they've trained to carry messages, almost as fast as mana-gifted runners. I'm sure we'll hear from Darunia before then." She shuffled a few more inches towards him.

The Hero cleared his throat again and tugged his belt up. "Going to march as soon as we get word?"

"Before," she replied with a shake of her head. "I have faith in Marth and Darunia, and we're going to need every second of surprise we can muster. First light." Zelda's fingers played nervously in front of her waist. "I wish I could say I was confident, but so many things could go wrong."

"You're going to do great," Link gushed. "You thought of the one thing Ganondorf won't -- unity." Mind seizing up then, he gestured vaguely up and down at her. "You look good. By the way." He smiled, feeling suddenly like his skin was a size too tight. "Beautiful."

"You think so?" Zelda smiled back, looking somehow both demure and regal in spite of her strange war-wizard's garb. She did a little twirl, almost like a ballerina, and Link's body threatened to lock up entirely. He could smell the jasmine on her. "Impa came up with it."

"It...suits you," he said finally. Zelda dimpled, her smile outshining the sun to his eyes. Then her eyes widened, both of them realizing they were less than a pace apart. Slowly, he took her hand; slowly, she squeezed his. They leaned into each other, and her lips brushed his.

Unable to stand it any more, Link kissed her fiercely. Even in his inexperience, he was hardly surprised to feel her fingers gripping his hair, pulling him closer to her. As if that were possible, the sliver of his mind that still worked noted wryly. Time vanished, and they were eternally one for an instant that could barely be measured.

"We..." Zelda gasped when their lips parted. "...we shouldn't, there's so much to do, so much that's happened..."

It was harder than tearing the Mask off, but he managed to lean away from her. "Yes," he breathed. "You're right, this isn't appropriate now." Arms trembling, he gently began to extract himself from her.

All at once, fires lit in Zelda's eyes. "Din sear 'appropriate,'" she half-sobbed, and threw herself into him again, her own kiss even fiercer than his had been. Matching her intensity was no challenge at all, two lifetimes of restraint fatiguing the iron of his will far past breaking. "Promise me something," she whispered when she could speak again. "Whatever happens, we face it together."

Link trembled and held her tightly. "I don't know if you can be part of my duel with Ganondorf..." Zelda nodded at that, a strange air of ferocious reluctance about her, "...but no matter what, we'll be together in every way that matters."

"That's all I can ask," she replied. Her fingers clutched at the back of his tunic. "Tell me you love me."

The Hero almost laughed at that. "I love you," he whispered. "I live for you. I die for you and live again, as many times as I must. All the evil in creation cannot break our bond."

Zelda did laugh, then. "You proved that well enough," she said gently, looking into his eyes and stroking his cheek lovingly. Those eyes, he thought, heart near to bursting. "And I love you, Link, more than I thought possible. We're going to get through this, and our lost time will mean nothing to the future we'll have." She paused, glancing down and biting her lip for a moment, then looked back up, smile strengthening. "No, it will remind us to cherish every moment we have together."

Somehow, he did laugh then. "Ganondorf doesn't have a chance." The princess pulled off the mail gloves suddenly, then caressed his cheek again, holding him gently. He removed his gauntlet and put his hand on hers. "We are going to get through this, Zel. I don't know how, but we will." Then, nothing left to say, he kissed her again. Even we only have so much time, and I mean to treasure it, no matter how much there is.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Yes!" Navi exulted, whirling around Impa excitedly.

"We're trying to be discreet, Navi," Impa commented quietly.

Navi flew up to rest on Impa's nose. "Aw, he's used to ignoring me," she said wryly. "Besides, however close you are to Zelda, I doubt you've been in her head every minute of every day for eight years feeling her pine for him."

"No, just once a week or so," Impa replied, matching Navi's wry tone. "Our shared sense of satisfaction is well-earned, Navi, and I am not saying otherwise. I'm simply noting that we shouldn't ruin it by distracting them."

Navi snorted. "I think you could drop Darunia on them and play Saria's Song, and they wouldn't even notice that." She flew up when Impa wrinkled her nose, alighting on her shoulder. "So now what? I don't think we need to worry about them going any 'farther,' if you know what I mean."

"He does not know what that entails, I presume," Impa said.

"Well, he has helped birth some foals and calves over at Lon Lon," Navi replied lightly. "Don't get me wrong, Link's got a stomach like mana-hardened steel. Especially for a boy." She shrugged. "But Kokiri are produced by the Great Deku Tree. Kinda like fruit."

"That is an image I'll never be rid of," Impa quipped. "It seems clear that someone must have a...motherly talk with the lad." She smiled briefly, a flicker of humor that died quickly. "Assuming we survive the battle ahead." That is a complication we can deal with once Ganondorf is no more. The Sheikah regarded the pair with penetrating eyes. "On the other hand, while Zelda's knowledge is entirely theoretical, I have explained such matters to her in detail."

"Okay, speaking of images we didn't want..." Navi replied, chuckling in spite of herself.

Impa regarded the fairy casually. "Turnabout," she said, voice as dry as the Wasteland. "Besides, what do you intend to do when they inevitably...wed?"

All at once, Navi radiated sadness. "Can we talk about that later?" she asked quietly.

"I see." Impa crouched and looked back at Link and Zelda. They were still embracing. "There is nothing that can be done, I take it?"

"Lousy no-good Sheikah sight..." Navi grumbled. She sat heavily -- or at least as heavily as a fairy can -- on Impa's shoulder. "I said later, okay?" At that, Impa nodded. Navi was silent for a long moment. Sheikah know better than most that life is unfair, Impa thought, the fairy's mood infecting her, but sometimes I wonder who wove the Hero's destiny. Finally, Navi stood again, tapping her foot on Impa. "Hey, Impa? You said you taught Zelda, right?" Impa nodded. "Could Zelda...teach Link?"

"Ahem." Impa fought back a wry chuckle. "Perhaps you should rejoin the Hero." Navi flew into the air, bobbed a nod, and shot down, flying under Link's hat. As the fairy had predicted, neither youth apparently noticed. She waited a few moments longer, then formed a kuji-in she had not used in nearly two decades. #Fanadi?#

#Ah -- Impa?# Fanadi replied.

#Please send two Sheikah to watch over the princess and Hero. Make sure they can be discreet.# Impa stood.

Fanadi projected annoyed amusement. #We are still Sheikah, Sage of Shadow.#

#Good.# Impa nodded and pressed her hands together again. #I must see my son before tomorrow.#

#I see,# Fanadi 'pathed, annoyance giving way to simple good humor. #All things considered, he turned out surprisingly well.#

Her kuji-in froze in mid-manifestation. #Yes. That is what I must see him about.# With that, she completed the gesture and vanished.

The Shadow seemed colder than usual when the High Sheikah flickered through it. It knows the end is coming, she realized with a shiver she would never have let anyone see, for good or ill. With a whuff of air, she emerged on the practice grounds, where Renato was diving through the obstacle course, the floating automaton Gohdan slowly chasing him. One of the guardian's hands rushed at the lad as he rolled under a spinning spiked log, but Renato shifted at the last second and Gohdan had to pull back to avoid grabbing the log. A needle-blade struck the hand's target point, and it 'deactivated.' "Enough," Gohdan said, reactivating its hand and floating back. "We have been at this for some time, young Sheikah, and you have defeated me twice already."

"You know what they say about thrice and charms," Renato replied, bouncing to his feet and summoning the needle back to his hand.

Gohdan shook his head. "Easy for you to say, Renato. You have not yet seen two decades. I am seventeen centuries old, the Temple is damaged, and my mana flows thin easily."

"If that is your way of saying you are tired," Renato said with a tone that was somehow both friendly and ironic, "would it help me to point out that you are a construct of wizard-science, and have no muscles or lungs to tire?"

"I did say mana flows, youth." Gohdan floated closer to the ground. "Even the ancient masters had their limits, and away from the Temple, I do not have infinite reserves." The construct's eyes dimmed briefly. "Also, the curse the Hero broke affected me in some way as well. Mandrag has ever tested his prison."

Renato nodded, then bowed at the waist. "Please forgive my exuberance, guardian. May the gods watch over you."

"And you as well, young Sheikah," Gohdan replied, placing his hands together and tilting in mimicry of a bow. "Now attend your mother." Renato spun and stared, mouth hanging open, while Gohdan retreated.

"How..." Renato began, closed his mouth, started again, then gave up and bowed. "Mother."

Impa strode over to her son and gripped him in a fierce hug. "I have every other facet in my life to be formal about, my son," she whispered. Renato returned the embrace, just a touch of uncertainty hinted at by a tremble. "I mean for you to live well."

"Mother," he whispered back in embarrassment. Impa nearly laughed at that. So...normal.

Worry surged back into her in a rush. Slowly, she extricated herself from him and gestured for him to follow. "Walk with me," she said, and strode through the field. Renato obeyed immediately. "It has occurred to me that you are...surprisingly well-adjusted. Miraculously so, in truth, considering what your 'childhood' must have like."

"My childhood?" Renato chuckled. "Mother, my childhood was spent in your dreams." Impa's eyes went wide. Just when I thought the universe could not surprise me again... Her son shrugged. "I was just an object to them, an extracted soul to be used when the right moment came." Quickly, he grew serious again, frowning. "They knew what they would use me for the instant they learned of the Hero, thought they hid me from Ganondorf himself quite assiduously."

"So everything you are..." Impa began slowly.

"Is a combination of your motherhood and Link's memories," Renato replied, touching her shoulder with two fingers. Impa smiled in spite of herself; she'd dreamed of that touch, the 'child's kuji-in,' for so many years now. "That rather outweighed Kotake's last-minute brainwashing of 'Shadow Link,' I can assure you."

"Indeed." Impa nodded. Then her eyes slid over to him, head unmoving. "How much of that does Link know?"

Renato stumbled. "How...I did neglect to mention the memory part, yes," he coughed. "I certainly do not have them all, and they stop with his victory over Mandrag's curse, but in many ways we are like brothers." He held his arms up, looking at them oddly. "They used Sakon's life energy to grow a piece of Link into a full-grown...me. I think it was the Law of Sympathy that changed this body into something more like what I would have been, but even now I don't feel as...heavy, as I expected flesh to be, when I was no more than Shadow and Spirit."

"That is good, to be honest," Impa said with a nod. Thank the gods. Which leaves but one complication to address. She touched her fingers to his shoulder briefly, then folded her arms. Renato smiled at the touch, then looked at her curiously. "I do have one concern. What are your feelings towards Zelda?"

Renato blushed like the last rays of twilight and looked away. "What Shadow Link did to her was not me, that much I can swear from the depths of my soul."

"That was not my concern," Impa said dryly.

At that, Renato looked up sharply. "What...oh, you mean how Link feels about..." he smiled at that, very much the teenager being indulgently patient with a parent. "Mother, I do love Zelda. Like a sister. Shadow's desire for her was rather less pure than the Hero's, and even thinking of her in that manner..." He pressed his hand to his stomach and made a face. "Rest assured that I will not be pining for her in this incarnation, nor am I likely to for several more."

"Not quite the reaction I had hoped for, but acceptable," Impa sighed, draping an arm around his shoulders. "I take it you are coming with us?" That earned the High Sheikah an even sharper look, but Renato said nothing, merely nodding. "Very well. Then we must prepare." Impa withdrew her arm and glanced up. "Time runs short." And while I will not try to keep you from battle, I will do everything in my power to see you survive it.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Link approached the door to the observatory tower uncertainly. In all his years of friendship with Zelda, he'd only spoken to her father a few times. Well, he is the king, the Hero thought reasonably. Even Zelda herself seemed a little distant from her father, a little in awe of him. I know I didn't have one, but I always thought parents were supposed to be...close...to their children. Like Malon and her father, I guess.

The single knight standing there seemed tense, which did nothing to help Link's mood. One of the shortest he'd seen, the warrior looked like he was ready to explode, but in a quiet way. A sudden thought struck the Hero. "Zuko?" he called as he approached.

"Huh," the knight replied, taking off his helm. It was indeed Zelda's diminutive protector. "King sent for you, right?" Zuko nodded, clearly to himself rather than Link. He stepped aside and pointed upward. "He's waiting for you, no doubt."

"I'm surprised to see you here, Sir Zuko," Link said slowly, albeit more steadily, when he reached the door. "I would've thought you'd be locked to Zelda's side until...the end, one way or the other."

Zuko shook his head. "Me and Senza, we're a -- we were a team," he replied, falling into a whisper. "I was offense, he was defense." He looked out one of the windows to the sky. "My family isn't exactly something I'm proud of. Senza's uncle, he sponsored me for the knighthood, let me make something out of myself. When he died, Senza was the only real family I had." He glanced down at his sword hilt. "I'm going with the king. To the pass."

"To die," Link gasped.

Zuko shrugged. "War's a funny thing, kid. Life, death, it's a toss of the dice for most of us. I'm just going to play longer odds than usual."

"What about Zelda?"

At that, the knight's eyes rolled, gaze landing on the Hero. His sardonic look spoke volumes, but he continued to talk all the same. "For the love of Nayru, she's got Impa and the Hero of Time. Also, Ashei and Rusl are taking our place." He snorted. "Assuming Ashei doesn't stay up too late with her pretty-boy fiancé. Courtiers."

"That's not all I meant, you know," Link replied quietly. "She's been through a lot the last day, but losing Senza hurt her too."

"Yeah, I had a talk with her about that." Zuko looked Link over, eyes flickering up and down, then he nodded to himself again. What in Nayru's name? "She felt guilty about, being happy with you, I guess. Don't worry, I told her that Senza would've wanted her to be happy."

"Thank you," Link replied sincerely. "There's a lot about all this I don't understand, but that part I could see, and...thank you." He opened the door, then paused and looked back at Zuko one last time. "Aren't you going to tell me to, I don't know, behave, or protect her or something?"

Zuko laughed. "Kid, Zelda doesn't want you to 'behave,' I don't tell fire to burn, and besides, you're about to talk to her father." He pointed up again. "So long, Hero."

A strange mood hit Link suddenly. "See you around, Zuko." With that, he climbed the stairs.

In moments, he was at the tower's apex, the observatory's dome wide open to the sky. A great telescope peered into the heavens, but the king stood beside it, staring up in a different direction. Link walked quietly to His Majesty's side and got down on one knee, bowing.

With an impatient gesture, King Daphnes bid him to rise, and the Hero obeyed immediately. "You sent for me, Sire?" Link asked. Daphnes nodded, eyes still fixed on the stars. The Hero's gaze followed the king's to where Nayru's Heart shone brightly.

After several peaceful moments, the king nodded again, more to himself than anything else. "You have my blessing, son."

Wow. Link swallowed audibly. "Th-thank you, Sir."

Once more, they stared silently into the stars, sharing a feeling that needed no words. After a time, the king spoke again. "You will always be there for her," he said finally. It was not a question.

Link bowed again, in the formal manner of a knight to his lord. The Hero was surprised by his own audacity, and if the sudden glance he received was any indication, so was the king. "Always, Your Majesty."

The king nodded one last time, and for a moment, Link thought he saw the ghost of a smile flicker across the great leader's face. The king then gestured in dismissal, and Link withdrew. The last thing the Hero saw before turning was Daphnes' gaze returning to the stars, and Nayru's Heart.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The sound of hoofbeats was almost deafening.

Zelda had seen many battles, most of them by the Hero's side, but this was something beyond her experience, even taking Vaati's invasion force into account. Hundreds of soldiers and sorcerers, including over a score of Hyrule's finest knights and some fifteen wizards, rode through the rough-hewn pass into Altea. The road itself was smooth, though not yet as wide as intended, but the stone around them was raw and still jagged in places.

Among this epic gathering of heroes and champions, the Sheikah flickered like the shadows they were. They were the only members of the force that rode no horses, instead flitting in and out of shadows and occasionally resting on the carts that carried the force's Beamos, ballistae and supplies.

Onox rode at the head of the force, his massively-armored figure on an even more massive destrier, the great horse's barding almost as impressive as the Lord General's panoply. With its burden lightened by wizardry, the huge war horse moved with a light ease that should have been impossible given Onox's titanic flail.

Three ranks behind sat the Hero, eyes flickering around them constantly even as he patted Epona. His legendary mare was almost supernaturally calm. Well, I suppose that's to be expected, considering how she's seen more battle than any two knights combined, she thought, fondness and worry fighting for supremacy inside her.

Zelda herself had ridden to the back of the train, checking on the force and supplies. Now she was riding to the head again, back to the Hero. What I don't get is why these people, all experienced combatants, seem to find me so...comforting. She'd spoken as politely and encouragingly to her subjects as she'd been able, of course. It felt so silly, but it really seemed to work.

#You really have no idea what sort of effect you have on people, do you?# Impa 'pathed, pride and love pulsing through their connection. #Every one of these warriors draws strength from your compassion, your determination, your wisdom. The Hero is merely the most dramatic example, child, hardly the only one.#

Zelda ducked her head to hide her embarrassed smile. #Impa!# Her Sheikah mentor just projected a smile in response. #I'm just doing my duty, truly.#

#Then perhaps it is how well you do your duty that moves others,# Impa replied. #Moved they are, however, and it will be a boon to us.# A wariness entered their connection suddenly. #We're approaching the peak. Stay sharp.# With that, Impa's mind was gone.

Zelda bit back an oath and spurred her white mare Picori forward, forcing a smile and a nod for the knot of knights that were staring at her. They blushed, even the woman, and bowed as much as a fully armored knight can from horseback. Quickly, she reached the Hero's side again. Ashei and Rusl moved in behind her with a shared irritable air. Link reached over and squeezed her hand, then leaned over, his lips almost at her ear. Her entire body tingled for a moment, a feeling that vanished when he spoke. "Your bodyguards gave me an earful about your order," he whispered.

I will not tear his head off, Zelda thought firmly. It was a near thing all the same. "I could hardly raise morale with Ashei glaring at every man who looked at me and Rusl hovering over me like a mother cucco, now could I?" she whispered back almost hoarsely. "And for the love of Nayru, Link, will you please learn to 'path to me? Having your lips that close is...distracting. Very distracting." She pressed her hand to her belly, the fire smoldering there again. Farore!

Link immediately released her hand, pulling himself straight on Epona's saddle and turning his exquisite shade of red. He pulled out the Ocarina of Time and played idly, but Zelda caught him threading her Lullaby into one of his 'jam sessions.' Termina must be a very strange place. After a few moments, she felt his mind brushing against hers. #I'm sorry, Zel, I swear. I didn't mean to bother you.#

#Bother -- Din, Nayru and Farore!# Zelda's knuckles hurt from the tightening of her grip on the reins. Link swallowed. #The only thing that bothers me, Hero of Time, is that I can't trip your legs out from under you right now!#

#Why would you trip me?# Link asked, the connection practically radiating innocent confusion. #You haven't done that since we were eleven.# Zelda could hear Navi's laugh from Link's mind.

Zelda's blush made Link look pale. #I'll explain later,# she 'pathed quietly. #Look, Impa said we need to keep our eyes open.#

Link nodded, with a single flicker of will becoming the greatest warrior in Hyrule once more. #The peak. Ganondorf will almost certainly attack us there. Even if he doesn't know we're coming, he must have an ambush set up there, waiting for a military force to come through.#

#What makes you say that?# Zelda asked. #It would take considerable effort to get his forces across the Altean border, and this is an unlikely way to launch a counterattack. Without the Gorons and Zoras and Marth's friendship, I wouldn't have even considered it.#

#Two reasons,# Link replied. #One, it's a bottleneck. If we were trying to move an entire army through here, it would be as effective as holding the pass out of the desert is for us. Two...it's what I would do,# he said, shame flickering through their connection, #if I were in Ganondorf's place. We wouldn't expect it for the exact reasons you outline, so it's something he should do given his virtually limitless resources.#

Zelda took his hand again and squeezed encouragingly, as he had for her. #You have nothing to be ashamed of,# she 'pathed firmly. #Your insight may save us all.#

#Wouldn't you be ashamed to think like Ganondorf so easily?# Link replied quietly. #I keep thinking about Dark Link. The Master Sword says I'm pure of heart, yet...most of the common folk, my folk, treat me like the son of Farore Herself, but almost everyone with some kind of money or title looks at me either like a stray dog about to soil the rug or a rabid wolf running loose in the halls. I try not to resent it, but I do.# He looked down at Epona's mane, stroking her neck. He summoned an apple to his hand and fed it to her, the mare taking it quickly and enthusiastically. #I can't say I've never thought about what it would be like, how easy it would be, if I just...didn't care. Like him.#

#You? Not care?# Zelda laughed at that. #You could more easily hold back the moon. In point of fact, you did.#

Link bit his lip. #I had a little help with that,# he 'pathed faintly.

The Sage of Time couldn't help it. She laughed again. #Link, my heart, you conquered me without even trying, but I think you would eat your own sword before you would willingly cut an innocent with it. You are good, love. Just because you occasionally have thoughts that are not perfectly pure doesn't make you any less good.# Realization hit her. #For that matter, I would say it makes you better. What is a choice without temptation? How can you sacrifice without giving something? It isn't what you feel that makes you pure, but what you do. Can you think of one time in your life when you've been faced with a choice of any real importance, and made the wrong one? Not a mistake or a prank, but a real choice.#

The Hero opened his mouth, held up one hand, gestured vaguely, then with a stunned air, closed his mouth again and took the reins. #Mm-hmm. That's your purity of heart, my Hero. You always count the cost to others and never to yourself.# She snorted at that. #To a fault.#

#I...# Zelda could feel how completely she'd caught him off guard. Now that is satisfaction, she thought joyfully. "DOWN!" he shouted suddenly, and Zelda's hands came up, mind over matter shielding her. Arrows rained down on them, falling everywhere, but both Link's shield and her own power had come up with more than enough time. Between her psychic ability and two other wizards', they managed to prevent anything more than a few arm wounds.

"We're under attack!" Onox roared. "Knights, shields up and form ranks! Protect the reagents! Archers, wizards, FIRE AT WILL!"

Zelda grimaced and cast balls of Din's Fire over the cliffs onto their foes. They weren't terribly far up, but it gave their attackers the high ground and more cover than she liked. Even as she returned fire, a flicker of clairvoyance allowed her to examine their foes. What in Farore's name? They were strange green-skinned humanoids, bald and pug-nosed, like someone had shrunk Moblins and given them horns. A few explosions later proved them far less resilient than the infamous giants who served Ganondorf, but there were far more of the beasts in this one battle than all the Moblins ever seen combined.

With a gasp, she realized that Link was already gone, having reached a pack of their assailants with his Hookshot. The Hero tore through the new creatures with ease, leaving Dark Fire dissipating in his wake. On the other side of the pass, Sheikah struck and vanished with the swift suddenness of lightning, proving every bit as deadly in the process. A few quickly joined Link, and the battle looked to end before long.

Then five warriors entirely encased in black armor appeared from the remnants of Dark Fire and charged in. "Darknuts!" Link shouted above the din. "Aim for their helmets, hit them from behind! Watch out when their armor falls, they must be beaten twice, and they're much faster without their plate! SEI-YAH!" With that battle cry, he heeded his own words, crashing into both black knights near him, saving two Sheikahs' lives in the process, and began his duel.

Meanwhile, two of the Darknuts had landed in the pass. One was facing the Lord General, who was laughing darkly with the joy of battle. The other landed near Zelda, and her knights immediately stepped between the princess and her hunter. I don't think so. She conjured her Light Bow and opened fire immediately, arrow after arrow crashing into the fiend. To her astonished horror, it parried most of the attacks, but that made it difficult for the creature to defend itself from Ashei and Rusl. Most importantly, it wasn't attacking them, clearly considering her Light Arrows the greater threat. On the other hand, it was still advancing slowly. Well, this is a delightful little dilemma. How do I... Zelda flashed a predatory smile at the Darknut. "Farore's Wind!" she yelled, leaping from Picori. The Darknut tried to force itself past Ashei and Rusl, taking several sword blows in the process, when it saw Zelda fly towards it. It stopped cold when she vanished in a flash of green light.

She reappeared behind the evil creature and struck it with a field of force and electricity from her palm, which shattered its armor. It tried to leap away, but Ashei and Rusl didn't waste any time taking advantage of its less protected state. The Darknut was much faster, however, just as Link had warned, and managed to retreat. It leaned back to throw its massive blade at Ashei, but Impa took that moment to appear behind it. Her Sheikah blade flashed like lightning, tearing into the dark construct's back. Zelda re-formed her Light Bow and pierced the thing's helm, and it vanished with a screaming burst of Dark Fire.

Link leaped down then, body a mass of slash marks and bruises, eyes flashing through the ranks to lock on to Zelda. He slumped in relief when he saw her. They both turned to look at Onox then, who was pulling bits of black metal off the spikes of his flail. The general's armor was badly dented and torn, but there was no sign of blood on him, a blessing the Hero didn't share. Zelda hurried to Link's side and clucked in annoyance at his wounds. "Tell me you didn't get these rushing on my account." She placed her hands on him. "Nayru's Heart." The rents in his garb and wounds alike vanished.

He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled in embarrassment. "Guilty."

Zelda punched him in the shoulder, which, after all but ignoring several ugly gashes, the Hero rubbed with almost a pout. "Love of Nayru, even discounting Ashei, Rusl and Impa, I can take care of myself."

"So you weren't still maintaining your force shield over the soldiers to protect them from arrows?" Link replied simply. Zelda glanced away, lips tightening. "Yeah. Zel, I'd bet on you against a Darknut any day -- if you have the space to move. If one of those things got its hands on you, though..." He trembled slightly. "I wasn't going to let a few scratches make me risk that."

"Scratches." Zelda folded her arms and glared. Link nodded sheepishly.

Navi appeared from his hat. "Actually, for Link, those practically were scratches."

"Thanks, Navi," Link replied gratefully.

Zelda threw up her hands. "You're impossible!" She went to mount Picori, rubbing the horse's neck and side to calm her down, and Link was there to offer her a hand. "Hmph." The princess glanced away for a second. Oh, Din sear it. She turned back to the Hero, grabbed him by the shoulders, and kissed him soundly. Zelda ignored the coughs and obvious glancing away of most of those present, though she couldn't help a blush when she noticed Impa watching her as if judging a duel. After a very pleasant eternity that was far too short, she let him go. Link staggered, eyes a bit unfocused, while Zelda casually brushed herself off and re-mounted Picori, pointedly without help. She glanced down; Link was still recovering. Zelda spurred her mare to Onox, deeply gratified by the results.

The princess sobered quickly when she looked around. No one nearby was seriously hurt, but there were a few arrow wounds being dealt with and a couple of dented helms shifting themselves back into place. "Lord General," she called, "casualties?"

"Not one fatality or serious injury, thank the gods," he replied curtly, and Zelda's stomach slew its butterflies. "However, we've been forced to use up more mana and potions than I would have liked, and we'll be delayed further by slight damage to the carts. It unquestionably could have been worse, but this is still an inconvenience we can ill afford."

Zelda nodded. "Agreed. However, we knew that this strategy was fraught with risk. We must simply heal the wounded and repair the damage as best we can and press on." She glanced down from the great peak to the rolling fields and mighty fortifications of Altea. The entire country still looks like an armed encampment, she thought sadly. "What do you believe are the chances Ganondorf knows we're here, my lord?"

"You would know that better than I, princess," Onox said, crushing one last piece of metal in his hand, "but I would say they are fair. While our forces slew every last one of those foul beasts, it seems almost certain that the Gerudo King will know that his trap was sprung. We can only hope that our scrying defenses will prevent him from learning our force's true strength."

Zelda nodded. "Thank you, Lord General." She turned Picori and headed back, noting with more shyness than she'd expected that Link was still a bit wobbly on Epona. Focus. Duty. Our real strength is hidden in the division of our forces. Gods, please let Ganondorf not see our unity. She nodded to the Hero as she passed, Link nodding back with an endearingly daffy grin. Navi giggled.

Impa jogged over to her side. Zelda dismounted, leading Picori slowly given the train's near standstill. "That was an impressive performance," Impa began, and Zelda dimpled, "but you started off too aggressively."

"I did?" Zelda asked, blinking. I thought I was a bit too defensive against that Darknut at the start.

"Yes," Impa said with a solemn nod. "You should brush your lips against his first, then move in for the kill." Zelda's eyes went wide. "He won't be as stunned initially, true, but as you can see, he's nearly recovered." The Sheikah gestured at Link, who was glancing down the slope warily, a bit of a shudder still visibly running up and down his spine. "Clearly, we do not want the Hero distracted overlong under the circumstances. In the future, however, if you want him mesmerized by the memory of you for hours--"

"Can we discuss this later?" Zelda asked very quietly. Ashei chuckled all the same, and Rusl hid his reaction behind a polite turn of his hand. Impa simply nodded, but the Sage of Time could feel her sensei's humor radiating from her. You certainly don't hear about this sort of thing in the fairy tales!

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Hold the line! HOLD THE LINE!" Daphnes bellowed. Three knights joined the king by the rear stone barricade on the Hyrule side of the Zora River, watching their brethren on the far end of the bridge closely.

Hylian arrows filled the air, blotting out the afternoon sun, as hundreds of Lizalfos scrambled over the shadowy remains of an equal number of their dying kin. Nearly mindless, the creatures surged forward, heedless of how many were brought down each second. In spite of the rain of arrows, several of them reached the bottleneck of the bridge through sheer force of numbers, and knights had to rotate through every few minutes to keep from being overwhelmed by the constant pounding. Three knights made a broken-field run to the forward barricade.

Sorcerers provided what aid they could, but when it came to personal combat, the sword still ruled the day. Strange that I find comfort in that, Daphnes thought, the impersonal observer he'd been trained to foster as a monarch analyzing the notion. Gods grant that we can never deal death wholesale by magic, never meeting our foes on the field, seeing their eyes, knowing the price. He grimaced as another dozen or so monsters exploded in Dark Fire before the heroic soldiers' defense. Then again, what else would we call the invasion of these mindless, sorcery-born monstrosities? Ganondorf does not sully his hands, while we pay in sweat and blood. The king snarled and unleashed another Fire Arrow, slaying a Dinolfos that was approaching the bridge. "Wizard shield UP! Force them back! Knights, rank change!" Daphnes stood, lowering his bow. His hand dropped to his sword hilt.

Lenzo put a hand on the king's shoulder. Daphnes gritted his teeth and fired another arrow. "You know you mustn't, Your Majesty," the master enchanter whispered. He held out his hand and a shaft of pure Light shot from it, disintegrating over a dozen Lizalfos.

"I am aware of that, Lenzo," Daphnes grunted, "but it doesn't make this any easier." He leaned forward, peering into the teeming, writhing ranks of their foes. "Are they...slowing?" He held out his hand, and the wizard handed the king a pair of wide spectacles. Donning them, Daphnes could instantly see to the horizon with perfect clarity -- and he hardly needed such distance here. "They are. I imagine it takes some time for these beasts to receive and comprehend orders..."

"Then we've won for now?" Lenzo asked dubiously. The Hylians gave a ragged cheer as the Lizalfos retreat became more obvious. The three replacement knights lined up at the end of the bridge, three more setting up a few feet behind them as those they were relieving stumbled away, spent. Lenzo gestured, and two of his colleagues concentrated. Shimmering fields of force appeared around the bridge, no match for real sorcery but more than enough to deflect mundane arrows.

Daphnes watched carefully. "No. They're removing their wounded...ugh, destroying their wounded. Clearing the field." He slowly removed the glasses and handed them back to Lenzo.

"For what?" Lenzo asked, conjuring spheres of Light in each hand.

Pointing into the distance, Daphnes outlined a violet mass with a gesture. "Them."

An ululating cry moved towards them, swords clanging and feet stamping. In a jagged, seemingly chaotic mass, over a hundred veiled, purple-clad figures appeared across the river. Lenzo gasped. "I didn't think there were so many Gerudo warriors left in the world, even counting ours!"

"Nabooru's," Daphnes corrected absently. "The Lizalfos were merely to wear us down. Now, it begins in earnest." He stood. "Defenders of Hyrule! The Gerudo warriors believe we are weak! They call us grass-eaters, milksops, cowards! Today, they face us at last! What shall we greet them with?!"

"STEEL!" his people roared back, the din swallowing the Gerudo clamor. The Gerudos stopped their clashing and stomping and watched for a few moments, then let out another ululating cry and clanged their scimitars together.

Lenzo conjured a sphere of Din's Fire into his hands, the Light swirling into it. "What are they doing?" he asked warily.

"I believe they're applauding," Daphnes replied, chuckling wryly. They stopped, and immediately he turned serious. "BRACE!" he roared. Archers nocked their arrows on both sides, and the king's heart sank at the sight of so many arrowheads glittering and wafting with frost on the other side of the river.

A Gerudo in purple rode up, crimson hair flowing like a banner behind her. She held up a scimitar, and everything went silent. Then, with a savage gesture, she slashed it down to point at the knights holding the bridge. "ATTACK!"

They did.

Arrows blackened the sky and psychic powers flared. Gerudo warriors charged at the knights on the bridge, moving with blinding speed, but the skill of Hyrule's champions and the enchanted armor that blunted the lighter cuts countered the assault. One Gerudo attempted to vault over the three knights at the front, but one of the warriors behind them impaled her on a lance and the woman fell into the river. First blood, Daphnes thought grimly. Ice Arrows wore away at the psychic force protecting the knights. First blood, but not the last, Din burn Ganondorf.

It didn't take long for Daphnes to realize that something was protecting the Gerudo side from arrows as well. Even Gerudo agility can't dodge mass fire, and they don't carry shields. He forced rusty sorcerous vision to obey his will, and saw shimmering auras around a handful of Gerudos in white. #Lenzo,# he 'pathed, tapping his companion on the shoulder and pointing out the sorceresses in question. Lenzo nodded, and the king felt the great wizard's psychic power reach out to his apprentices.

Meanwhile, the knights on the bridge were slowly being forced back. We're not fighting Lizalfos any more, Daphnes thought darkly. "FALL BACK! Abandon the bridge!" The knights retreated reluctantly, slaying a pair of overeager Gerudos as they gave ground. A furious Gerudo, screaming like a ReDead, crashed past the defenses of one knight and slew him with a quick, savage lunge, driving scimitars between armor plates. A short knight ran to take the dead man's place even as the Gerudo cast her victim into the river with a heaving twist of her arms. #Ready,# the king 'pathed, distantly recognizing the diminutive hero as Sir Zuko, his beloved Zelda's childhood protector. Lenzo nodded, face tight with sorrow and concentration.

With a coordination perfected by telepathic unity, the wizards and psychics grabbed the knights with their minds just before they reached the near end of the bridge and lifted them. At the same time, a sorcerer released tiny 'knots' of Din's Fire, igniting nine short fuses beneath the bridge. The knights flew back an instant before the bridge exploded and cast over a dozen limp Gerudos into the river.

The Gerudo general howled in fury, then gestured with her other scimitar. Her remaining warriors crouched, and curved stones grew from the ground, granting them cover. Daphnes bared his teeth when he realized they were all readying bows. It worried him more, however, when they didn't fire. "What are you waiting for, Gerudo?" he asked, eyes narrowing at the general.

His answer came in the form of a tall Gerudo sorceress bearing two wands. One burned with a crimson eternal flame, and the other glittered blue and silver-white, wafting with frost. She wore two tall hats, from which sprung plumes more like the wands' energies than hair. "Is that...Kotake?" Daphnes asked.

Lenzo shook his head, gathering vast energies around him. "Twinrova," he hissed.

"Twin -- that's impossible! Koume's dead!" Daphnes blurted.

"Indeed she is," Twinrova replied, voice easily echoing across the gap even though she wasn't shouting. "Kotake's sister sacrificed her life that the great Ganon might be reborn." Daphnes glared at the witch. Ganon? What in Farore's name? She hovered carelessly over the empty space where the bridge had been. "Yet her sorcery and her elemental affinity were not necessary to the sacrifice, so in one last act of defiance against the gods, she granted them to Kotake." Twinrova smiled, cold and calculating. "You cannot hope to equal my power. The accursed Hero is absent, and you can be certain that great Ganondorf is ready for him. Yield, and you will live as the slaves of the Gerudo, but you will live."

"Lenzo," Daphnes growled.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Send our reply."

Lenzo almost smiled at that. He formed a sphere of Light in his hands, then fired it at Twinrova. She grunted and slid back in the air. The Hylians cheered, then unleashed a hail of arrows to rival the attacks that devastated the Lizalfos army.

When they could see their target again, however, Twinrova only looked annoyed. Her wand of flame had flared to brighter fury, and the scepter of ice seemed to devour heat and life around it. "So. You are the great Lenzo." Twinrova smiled again, a scimitar's edge to her curving lips. "I felt that."

It seemed to take no time at all. Before Daphnes could react, the terrible sorceress was upon them, casting fire and ice to either side of her. Lenzo himself, however, she struck with a burst of Shadow from her eyes. Daphnes' friend blocked with a round shield of Light, but he grunted and slid back on their platform. She's ignoring me! Daphnes realized furiously. "Ignore this!" the king snarled, filling his sword with mana and leaping, spinning out a slash that left a long, thin cut on her side.

"Wh -- ARR!" Twinrova howled, flying back and out of his range. "And here I thought you were a toothless old lion," she rumbled, eyeing him as if to weigh his import. Nodding to herself, she flew at them again, this time straight at the king. Daphnes held up his shield, and again Twinrova was thwarted, but she was behind him before he could counterattack. The world went blue and cold, everything slowing around him. He tried to turn and slash, but his arms were so heavy. Daphnes just wanted to sleep, rest at long last...

...Luda...

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The Hero looked into the sky, the grass feeling cool and soothing against his back. Stars were just appearing while the last vestige of twilight's radiance was melting away. Hands folded behind his head, Link could almost have been back at the castle. A part of him felt ten again, Zelda by his side. It was, however, a small part.

Link was the only one in the group who didn't need sleep, a blessing of the Triforce, so the rest of the company was making camp for the night. Zelda was indeed nearby, occasionally giving him an encouraging glance, but was otherwise busy healing others and planning the camp's defense with Onox. #Navi, am I right not to trust him?# the Hero asked.

#Are you kidding? You did notice how much Gorgon looked like him, right?# Navi retorted.

Link snorted. #Yeah, almost like someone had, I dunno, brought his Shadow to life and turned it against everything he holds dear.# Navi landed on his forehead with a sullen thud. #I keep thinking, it's gotta be because he doesn't like me. Onox has protected Hyrule since before I was born. It's just...I've got a bad feeling about him.#

#Yeah, well, I trust your feeling more than I do your over-thinking,# Navi replied, sitting cross-legged at his hairline.

"Over-thinking? Me?" Link laughed gently at that, careful not to jostle his companion. "Haven't you heard? I'm not much of a thinker."

Navi laughed back at that. #Sure, that's why you're the one who always beats whatever madness Ganondorf's summoned into the temples.#

#Hey, I wasn't saying I buy into it,# Link 'pathed quickly. #I'm no Zelda, but I've faced enough of those twisted mazes I think I can have a little faith in my ability to think.# He started to raise an eyebrow, then forced his face to go still when Navi shifted to keep her balance. #Which means that maybe I have a point.#

#Yeah, you're finally confident enough in your abilities to believe yourself when you don't trust yourself,# Navi replied dryly. #Exactly what part of that makes sense?#

Link gave up and laughed outright, sending the tiny fairy spiraling back into the air. #All right, all right!# He sobered quickly, glancing at Onox. The general was giving orders to a pair of sorcerers. #It's not like I can make myself trust him completely. I just don't want to undermine his authority without a better reason than my instincts.# He turned his head when he realized Zelda was approaching, the lanky Sir Niko following her. "Zelda? Where are Ashei and Rusl?"

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I sent them to protect the psychics raising the earthworks." She gestured at the knight beside her. "They insisted I at least keep one knight with me. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if they know which of us is the royalty here."

"And what are you doing lying on the ground, Hero?" Niko said caustically, folding his arms and glaring. He missed Zelda's furious look. Probably for the best, Link decided.

"I'm going to be up all night," he replied, "so I'm resting while I check for intruders."

Niko unfolded his arms and looked at the Hero with curiosity. "You're psychic?"

"Not yet," Link explained, grinning sheepishly, "in spite of Zelda's best efforts. It's just a Sheikah trick. I can feel the vibrations in the ground. If anyone less light-footed than a single Sheikah heads for us, I'll pick it up."

"There's over a hundred people walking around the camp!" Niko blurted.

The Hero blinked at the knight. "So?"

Niko opened his mouth, closed it, then turned and walked several paces away, stopping a moderately discreet distance from the pair. Zelda snorted in a very unladylike manner. "One of Onox's. Actually, one of Veran's would be more accurate -- Onox doesn't care much about politics."

"So he doesn't like me," Link replied with a shrug. "I'm used to it. As long as he protects you and does his job, I'm not going to complain."

Zelda shook her head and sat down beside the Hero. "How do you do it?" she asked, voice soft and sad. At Link's questioning gaze, she continued. "Their dislike, their distrust. After all you've done for them. Everything you've been through, and so many of them still treat you like...like..."

"An orphan who isn't even a proper citizen of Hyrule?" Link pointed out gently. "An outsider? A meddler?"

"Meddler!" Zelda clenched her fists, then turned to glare at Onox. "They're just upset that you've done what no one else could!"

"Hey, even you don't like that sometimes," Link quipped with a grin.

Zelda looked down suddenly, hands fluttering without purpose. "That's different," she whispered.

"Whoa, hey, I know that," the Hero said quickly, sitting up and pressing his hand against the ground opposite Zelda to maintain his vibration sense. "Look, Zel, most of the people I know, they treat me like...I don't know, it's kind of embarrassing. I have to sneak rupees into the cash jars to pay for stuff. Kids say they want to be me when they grow up." Link knew he was blushing by then, but Zelda was perking up, so he continued. "I mean, it's almost like the way they look at you sometimes." He chuckled. "It gets a little scary every once in a while." He shrugged. "So a bunch of gentry and nobility don't like me. Most of them don't let it get in the way of doing what has to be done, so why let it bother me?"

Zelda threw her arms around him. "I love you," she said simply. Link's blush spread across his face. Suddenly, though, she stiffened and stood.

"Zel?" Link rose beside her and followed her gaze. The princess was looking towards the border and Ganondorf's lands. "What's wrong?"

She licked her lips and focused, staring intently into the distance. "For just a second, I thought I felt..." Zelda shook her head and closed her eyes. "No. It's nothing. I'm just worried."

Link nodded and sat again, pressing his hand against the ground. He yanked it back as if burned. Farore! I just stood for a second! "Forces coming from the southwest!" he shouted, Zelda jumping in place next to him, startled. "Archers and mages up! Knights ready!" Several Sheikah echoed his cry moments later. Summoning his Fairy Bow, he ran for the makeshift fortifications, Zelda literally flying beside him. "Zel, you think he found us?"

"No," the Sage replied carefully, "but there's only one way to find out." Link nodded and nocked an arrow just before reaching the low earthen wall, firing into a Lizalfos. The group was relatively small, apparently carrying some kind of box with them. Maybe it was just luck, he thought, doubting the notion even as it occurred to him. Well, like Zelda said, we'll find out soon enough. At least things seem to be going our way otherwise.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Ganondorf exhaled in annoyance, the cool twilight air allowing the ever-shifting sands to flow more sedately. When a cat brings you a mouse, it thinks it's being clever, he reminded himself. Kotake leaned smugly on Daphnes' bound and gagged form, Hyrule's king unwillingly on his knees but otherwise upright. "The king," he said flatly. Kotake nodded.

Aveil, his top general, looked on disgustedly. "He was fighting," she explained, her tone nearly identical to his. "Even as she bespelled him, the Hylian continued to slash so long as his body obeyed him."

The Gerudo King snorted at that, not unlike a Bullbo preparing to charge. "Fighting perhaps, but he is Hylian. I think you credit him overmuch, Aveil."

Much to Ganondorf's annoyance, Aveil bowed fully, going to her knees and prostrating herself before him. "As you say, Your Majesty."

You only do that when you disagree with me, he thought, infuriated, because you're too loyal to contradict me publicly. He strode over to his counterpart with long, easy strides, staring down at the captive. Daphnes glared back defiantly. He wasn't even hiding fear -- there was none to hide. And she's right, sear her. Pushing Kotake's arm off Daphnes' shoulder and ignoring the sullen stare he got in response, he pulled the Hylian to his feet and ripped off the gag. "Have you anything to say for yourself, windbag?" Ganondorf grunted. Behind him, Aveil stood. He didn't have to look with eyes to see her satisfied smile.

"You have some nerve, sending your witch and your general to fight for you, then calling me names," Daphnes shot back, glowering and baring his teeth at Ganondorf. Several of Ganondorf's warriors gasped, and a handful half-drew their swords.

Ganondorf looked at his rival in amazement, then laughed. "By the gods, you're right!" he said almost cheerfully. He spun Daphnes around as if he were a scarecrow and slashed apart the ropes with a single stroke of his curve-headed sword. The large Hylian turned and looked at Ganondorf in surprise, rubbing his wrists. Kotake looked murderous, but Ganondorf continued to ignore her. "Clearly, this defiance means you're willing to fight to the death. Someone give this bag a sword, that I might let the wind out of him!" He leaned down to gaze into the king's eyes and flashed his most predatory grin. "Unless, of course, I was mistaken?"

"I'll have my sword now," Daphnes said quietly, holding out his hand. Ganondorf's smile vanished. Great Din. He means it. Nodding, he walked back five paces and waited.

No one moved. "King Nohansen," Ganondorf rumbled, "is waiting for his sword."

"I disposed of it," Kotake said quickly, folding her arms. "I dropped it into Death Mountain on my way here."

That -- that -- I do not believe that woman! Ganondorf reached her in two paces, towering over the sorceress, eyes almost literally aflame. "Interesting," he said, beginning softly, "seeing as Death Mountain is on the OTHER SIDE OF HYRULE!" Kotake leaned back from his wrath, but otherwise held her ground. "Where is that sword? WHERE!?"

"Gone," she replied tonelessly. He grabbed Kotake by the throat, fingers aching to snap her neck or choke the life from her, but something in him wouldn't permit it. Din-seared conditioning, he thought furiously, releasing the witch's neck. "He can use a scimitar, if you are so determined to do this."

"One day, you scheming ice mage, you will push me too far," he rumbled, "and even your vaunted mind magic will not save you." He strode to Aveil. "Somewhere in our stores, we must have blades and shields captured from Hyrule. See that Nohansen is properly armed." He turned and smiled humorlessly at Daphnes. "And bring me the Sages' Sword."

Daphnes' eyes went wide at last, his resolve shaken. "What -- how? The Arbiter--"

Ganondorf snapped his fingers, and from the nearby encampment two warriors pulled the Arbiter from a small, squat building. His face was still shrouded by the hood of his cloak, but otherwise, the manacles on his wrists marked the strange figure a captive. "This fool thought to contain my power. Once my shard of the Triforce was within me again, I easily overwhelmed your so-called 'Arbiter.'" He leaned towards the Hylian, smile broadening. "I command Time now, not your precious Hero or daughter-Sage."

Sand shifted beneath Nohansen's feet for a moment. Then the rival king looked up again, confidence returning. "Yet the Hero was able to thwart your every offensive almost single-handedly. It seems that you're not all-powerful yet, oh King of Evil."

"Evil. Hah!" Ganondorf folded his hands behind him and looked into the distance. As if on cue, a wolf howled. "What you call evil is merely how you describe what the wolf does to a sheep. What you mean for a curse, I take as title with pride!" The Gerudo raised his fists to the heavens and howled in reply to the wolf. "Ganondorf, Great King of Evil!" He laughed, savage joy rushing through him. His people responded with an ululating cry of triumph.

One of the Whites ran to Daphnes and perfunctorily handed him a sword and shield. The Hylian took a few experimental swings with the blade, then hefted the shield carefully, and finally nodded. "This will do."

"Your Majesty, the Hylian is properly armed," Aveil said quietly. "You needn't use the Sages' Sword."

"He has been denied his weapon of choice," Ganondorf replied casually, another White approaching with the sheathed blade of solid energy. "I'll not have it said that I had an unfair advantage." He chuckled and pulled the radiant sword from its scabbard, leaving the worshipful White staring in awe. "Assuming one does not count being utterly superior in skill as unfair." He held out the blade, turning and weighing it in his hand. Light as the air, the weapon had no true heft, but its edge was sharper than any steel could hold.

"Let me fight him," Aveil said with a suddenness that caught Ganondorf flat-footed. It was a feeling he was unaccustomed to, particularly when someone other than the Hero did it to him. The king looked down at his general -- even for a Gerudo, she was tall, but did not match Ganondorf's towering height. "Please, my liege."

"Pah. I want his blood, and he wants satisfaction." He gestured in dismissal and marched across the sand to the waiting Hylian.

"You granted me a boon," Aveil said suddenly. Ganondorf stopped. Din, Nayru and Farore, he thought furiously. "Last year, when I blunted the Altean counteroffensive without losing a single Gerudo."

"And you chose to wait to claim it, yes, I remember," the monarch growled. He glared at Daphnes. "Is this...acceptable to you?"

King Nohansen glanced from Ganondorf to Aveil, looked at the general for a minute, then finally nodded. Ganondorf growled wordlessly, shoved the Sages' Sword back into its sheath, and stomped over to Kotake. "If you had anything to do with this..."

"Not me this time," Kotake cackled back, rubbing her hands together and watching Aveil draw her scimitars. "This should be fun."

Clenching his fists again, he watched Aveil stalk towards the king, stopping five paces away from him. Daphnes readied his sword and shield and nodded. Ganondorf's general became a violet blur, nearly ending the fight before it began, but Daphnes brought up his sword and shield just in time. It was clear from the beginning, however, how the duel would end. Daphnes managed a shallow cut on Aveil's arm in the same time she left three gashes along his torso, a span of less than ten seconds. Ganondorf allowed himself to relax. Daphnes' shield slumped down, and Aveil dove in for the kill.

The last moment was a blur. Ganondorf couldn't imagine where the bloated old man had found the energy, but he brought the shield up to block her right arm, and as her leftmost sword thrust into his chest, he stabbed her left thigh, driving his blade through it to the hilt. That part actually hadn't looked difficult, as he'd simply let himself fall as his life blood pumped away.

Aveil saluted him as she hobbled back, fighting off the wince of pain. Daphnes chuckled, fell over, exhaled, and stared into the night sky. Of course he's smiling, Ganondorf snarled mentally, stride eating the distance between him and his general in scant seconds. "Healer! Now!" He scooped up Aveil in his arms with the ease of hefting a child. "What was that?"

"My apologies, Great King," Aveil sighed, holding herself as still as she could manage. Behind him, Kotake cackled. "I never imagined he would give his life to deal me so minor a blow."

"Minor. We most likely fight our final battle tomorrow. You won't be able to dismount. I hardly count that as minor. You will stay off that leg." Ganondorf strode towards the healers' tent -- he'd only spared the magical energy to raise a single building, and that had been reserved for holding the thrice-accursed Arbiter -- and roundly cursed himself as well. You knew he was planning something like this, he accused himself bitterly, but never imagined he had such resolve.

He placed the general carefully on the healers' cot. Could I have underestimated Zelda as well? The surviving king watched as one healer grasped the sword hilt and the other placed her hands on the leg. Aveil hissed when the sword left her body, but otherwise acquitted herself honorably while the second healer sealed the wound with mana. No. Impossible. She may have traveled with the Hero in this time stream, but she ever hides behind his might. Hiding behind a man's tunic, he thought contemptuously. Disgraceful.

He dismissed Zelda then, concentrating on his general, and the Hero. That kid. Him and his accursed Blade. He's going to be a problem. Opening his palm, Ganondorf summoned Dark Fire into his hand and stared into it. Without Aveil on the front lines, I'll have to divide my concentration against him. Perhaps I should... Almost instantly, he could hear Mandrag urging him to infuse Aveil with the power of the Evil Realm.

That settled the matter. No. Not her. Unacceptable. The king strode out of the tent then, his eyes flickering to Kotake. Mandrag had already been forgotten. Kotake will have her 'revenge' after all, it seems. I would not wish that even on Zelda, but I have little choice. The Hero must not be allowed to focus while I am distracted. With that, a smile formed. The Gerudo guards near him edged away. "Prepare the king's body for transport. We return him to the Hylians at first light." The guards nodded and motioned to Whites to carry out his orders. Yes. That should distract that milksop of a princess nicely. He felt like laughing again, but Aveil's condition sobered him.

No matter. I'll take it out on the Hero and his Sage come the morrow. And then... Ganondorf looked into the sky, held up his hand, and made a fist. The Triforce of Power glowed on the back of his hand. All shall be mine. I will fulfill my destiny at last!

His concern for Aveil couldn't hold back the feeling of triumph any longer. He laughed, the desert wolves howling in response. MINE!