It was a peaceful day in Hyrule. The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, and the children were playing. Yes, a nice, peaceful, quiet day in Hyrule...

"HYY-AAH!"

Isamu stepped to the side, narrowly missing Link's sword as it sailed past him and struck the ground. He swung his own, smaller sword towards Link's gut. Link rolled to the side and swung his sword towards Isamu's neck. Isamu ducked, rolled to the side and did a spin attack. Link jumped back and held his sword with both hands, pointed towards Isamu. Isamu steadied himself and put himself in an almost identical position.

They stared at each other in silence for a couple minutes. Finally, Link sheathed his sword and smiled. "Well done, Isamu."

Isamu relaxed, sheathed his sword and smiled as well. "Thanks, Dad!"

"You're improving, Isamu," Link said, as they walked through the Faron Woods with Epona. "You'll grow to be a fine swordsman."

"Do you think I'll ever save Hyrule, like you did?"

Link chuckled. "Maybe. You never know."

Isamu lit up. "Awesome!"

As they passed the Faron spring, Isamu stopped to look at it. "Hey, Dad?"

Link stopped and turned back to him. "Yes?"

"What did the four light spirits look like?"

Link paused for a moment, and then walked over to where Isamu was standing, Epona following all the way. He sat down at the edge of the water, and Isamu did the same. Link stared at the water, silent. A couple minutes passed, and Isamu realized that he was thinking, not about his question, but about Midna.

He had heard many stories about Midna. The true ruler of the Twilight Realm, turned into an imp by an evil man named Zant, she had helped Link defeat Zant and Ganondorf to save Hyrule from being covered in Twilight, a shadow where regular light folk appear only as spirits, or, in Link's case, a wolf. After Hyrule was saved and Midna was returned to her true form, she returned to the Twilight Realm, utterly destroying the Mirror of Twilight, the entrance to twilight, behind her, so not to cause any more trouble between the worlds.

Isamu didn't understand very well. What was Twilight, really? All his father had told him was that it was like a giant shadow, and the Twilight Realm and the Light Realm should never mix. He wouldn't tell him anything else.

Midna had been Link's partner, his best friend. The two of them had been a great team. This was how Link had always described her to Isamu and his older sister, Sakura. Isamu believed his dad, but Sakura thought otherwise.

"In his mind, they were just friends," she always said, "but in reality, they were secretly in love with each other! A princess of shadows and a hero from the light: it's totally romantic and completely obvious!"

Isamu, on the other hand, idolized his dad. He hung onto his every word and believed everything he said. He knew that Link was telling the truth.

"Well," Link said now, bringing Isamu back to reality, "the four light spirits represented four different animals: Ordona was a goat, Faron was a lemur, Lanayru was a snake and Eldin was a bird. Each sprit contained a ball of light: Ordona, for example, had a ball of light in between his horns, and the snake had one in his mouth."

"Were they bright?"

"Yes, they were very bright."

Link glanced at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. "We should head back. It's almost dinner time." He looked at Isamu and smiled. "If we're late again, Sakura will surely yell at us!"

Hearing this, Isamu leapt up and ran towards the bride that led to Ordon Village. After a couple of feet, he turned back and called, "Hurry up, Dad! I hate it when Sakura yells at me!"

Link laughed and stood up. "Ok, ok, I'm coming!"

"You're late!"

Isamu cringed. Caught! He turned around to find his 14-year-old sister looking at him, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. "Well?"

"It's not my fault!" Isamu said. "It's Dad's! He's the one who waited so long to start heading back!"

"He's a mayor and a hero," Sakura retorted. "He's allowed to be late sometimes. You, on the other hand, are a 10-year-old—"

"10 and 3 quarters! Tomorrow's my birthday!"

"Whatever. And almost 11-year-old wannabe hero who wouldn't have the guts to save a goat."

"That's not true!" Isamu protested. "I'm Isamu! I could save all of Hyrule, if I wanted!"

Sakura snorted. "You wish!"

"It's true! Dad even said so!"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'Maybe'."

Their argument was interrupted by a quiet neigh. A small, white horse walked up from behind Sakura and stopped about a foot away from Isamu.

"Hannah!" Isamu cried, hugging the young horse. She neighed happily in reply.

"Speaking of Hannah," Sakura said, "You have to start taking better care of her! If you're going to have a horse, you have to take care of yourself! I'm not like Mom; I'm not going to keep picking up your slack!"

Link, who had been watching them argue, chuckled, causing Sakura to look at him. "What?"

Link shook his head as he gestured for Isamu to give him his sword. "Nothing. You're just more like your mother than you think."

Sakura blinked. "I am?"

Link nodded as Isamu handed him the small sword. "Yes, you are. She was always harassing me about taking better care of Epona."

"But you take wonderful care of Epona!" Sakura cried.

"Maybe now, but I apparently didn't meet her standards back then…" Link climbed the ladder to their tree house. Once at the top, he looked back down to Sakura and Isamu. "Stay right there, I'll be right back!" He then disappeared into the house.

Isamu kicked the ground. "Why can't I keep my sword when we aren't training? I don't see why he has to lock it in that stupid chest."

Sakura leaned against a tree. "He has to lock it up because you're 10."

"Almost 11!"

"Yeah, well, 11 doesn't cut it. You gotta remember, he got his first sword when he was 16!"

Before Isamu could reply to this, a girl's voice interrupted him. "Issy, you're back!"

Isamu looked towards the village entrance to see Lika, his best friend and daughter of the store owner, standing there.

Before he could reply, Lika ran and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over. He blushed furiously. "L-Lika…"

Lika pulled away and put her hands on her hips. "Issy, what took you so long? I've been waiting for so long!"

"Lika, don't call me Issy!" Isamu insisted. "My name's Isamu!"

Lika tilted her head. "But you don't look like an Isamu. Isamu doesn't suit you. I like Issy better!"

Isamu sighed. "Fine."

Just then, Link reappeared from the house. "Hello, Lika!"

Lika waved. "Hi, Mr. Link!"

"How's the store doing?"

"Mom says it's doing well."

"That's good."

"Mr. Link!"

Isamu turned towards the village to see Leo running towards them.

Link jumped down from the ladder. "Is something wrong?"

Leo shook his head as he approached. "No. Auntie just told me to tell you that, while you were gone, the new ranch hand arrived, and my dad is back and wanting to speak with you."

Link smiled. "Let me guess: he wants to have a duel?"

"Yep."

Link pulled his sword from his sheath. "Well, we wouldn't want to keep him waiting, now, would we?"

"Go Dad!" Isamu cheered. "You can do it!"

"Come on, Dad!" Leo yelled. "Kick his butt!"

Everyone was gathered in between the village store and the ranch hand's house, watching Link and Leo's father, Collin, a royal guard who was visiting, dueling. Isamu didn't know much about Collin, other than the fact that he used to live in the village and had idolized Link as a child. When Isamu and Leo were only 2, some monsters attacked the village and killed both of their mothers before Link and Collin could save them. Once Leo turned five, Collin left for Hyrule Castle to become a Royal Guard, leaving Leo behind with Collin's younger sister. He visited a couple times a year, whenever he could, for a couple of days. And when he did, he insisted on dueling with Link.

Now, Link yelled as he swung his sword towards Collin. He tried to block it with his sword, but the force of Link's swing knocked it out of his hand and onto the ground a couple feet away.

Everyone stared at the sword in silence. Finally, Isamu and Sakura burst into cheers, along with the rest of the village before congratulating Link on yet another victory.

Collin bent down and picked his sword. Turning it in his hands, he smiled, and looked up as Link approached him. "Even after all these years," Collin said, "I still can't beat you."

Link smiled and patted him on the back. "There's plenty of time for that," he said. "Right now, let's just be happy that you're back home, safe and sound."

"You still haven't apologized."

The sun was setting, and Isamu and Lika were sitting in the ranch, watching Link teach the new ranch hand, Abigail, how to manage the goats.

Isamu looked at Lika, confused. "For what?"

"For being late!"

Isamu sighed and fell onto his back. "But it wasn't even my fault!"

Lika fell back beside him. "Fine, then," she said. "You can make it up to me tomorrow."

"How?"

Lika looked over at him and smiled. "By coming to the store first thing tomorrow so I can be the first one to give you a present!"

Isamu blushed. "Y..You didn't have to get me anything, you know…"

Lika looked at the sky and closed her eyes. "I know," she replied. "But I want to."

Isamu blushed harder, glad that Lika couldn't see him. "O…okay…"

Lika sat up, looked down at him and smiled. "Good!" She stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off of her skirt. "I have to go now. Mama will be worried, otherwise."

Isamu sat up and watched her run to the ranch entrance. Once there, she turned back and waved. "See you tomorrow!" she cried.

Isamu smiled and waved back. "Tomorrow," he whispered as she ran out of the ranch. Then he fell onto his back once more and glanced at the pink and purple clouds above him, peacefully, for what seemed like hours but was really only about five minutes.

Suddenly, the peace was broken by a very loud yelling. "Mr. Liiink!"

Isamu sat up and looked towards the ranch entrance to see the postman running towards Link, as he always did. Isamu got up and ran over to where Link and the postman met.

"Mr.…Postman!" Link said. Isamu tried not to laugh. No one knew the postman's name, not even Link. He found it funny to watch his father struggle with what to call him. "Who has written to me?"

"Telma!" the postman gasped. "She said it's quite urgent! I got here as fast as I could!"

Link quickly grabbed the letter that the postman handed him. Isamu knew why Link was so rushed. Telma was the bar lady that helped him save Hyrule, along with Collin's father and some other people. They had been a group called The Resistance, aiming to save Hyrule from the trouble it was in. They had been a great help to Link, or so he said.

After quickly scanning the letter, Link called Epona using the horse caller that Isamu's mother had given him long ago. Epona came running, and Link began preparing a saddle.

"Where are you going?" Isamu asked.

"Zelda's in trouble," Link replied. "And if she's in trouble, all of Hyrule will be. I must leave now." Seeing the look of disappointment on Isamu's face, Link felt instantly guilty. "I'm sorry I have to miss your birthday." He said, hugging Isamu tightly.

Isamu smiled. "It's ok, Dad!" he said. "Go save Hyrule again! Then you'll have more stories to tell me!"

Link smiled. "Yes, I think I will." He turned towards the far end of the ranch, where Sakura was tending to her own horse, Chestnut. "Sakura! Come over here, please!"

Sakura looked up and, seeing the postman, quickly ran over to where everyone was standing. She was used to this, and knew what Link was going to give her.

"Sakura, I need you to look over this key," Link said, handing her the key to the chest that contained Isamu's sword. "Don't open it unless absolutely necessary. You shouldn't need it, since Collin is here, but he might have to leave at any time. Watch over your brother and the rest of the children, protect the village and stay safe." He grabbed Sakura and Isamu in one last hug before jumping onto Epona. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He then rode Epona out of the ranch and the village, leaving Sakura and Isamu waving behind him.