Prolouge

Deep within the kingdom of Hyrule, there echoes a legend; a legend of three goddesses. Din, the goddess of Power; Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom; and Farore, the goddess of courage. These three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule. Din, with her flaming arms, cultivated the red earth. Nayru, with her wisdom, created the law of the world. Farore, with her kindred spirit, created the life that would uphold that law.

Then the goddesses, their labors completed, headed for the heavens, leaving behind them a golden relic known as the Triforce, made up of three components: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. This Triforce was placed in the lands of the Humans, and they protected the relic as a gift from the goddesses.

The Triforce had the power to grant its wielder's greatest desires, as long as he had a pure heart. If a pure one touched the ancient relic, the Sacred Realm would remain a paradise. But, if one with an evil heart were to touch it, the Triforce would break and scatter, leaving the evil one the part of the Triforce he favored most.

One such a day happened, when a man with an evil heart touched the ancient relic. It broke into five, bestowing two boys and two girls each a piece, leaving the evil one his favorite component: Power.

Why to four others, instead of two? Farore's Courage was too great for only one to wield safely, so it was broken into three. The three who possessed the Triforce of Courage, two brothers and a dual-wielding girl, fought all forms of evil before the final battle with the source of chaos himself.

The King of Evil was locked away in the Sacred Realm by the Three Heroes. But that was not the last of him. Continuously, he found ways to break out of his
timeless prison, and he would repeat his fight with the Heroes, reborn in each new
era. Time and time again, the Evil One would somehow manage to rise up
repeatedly, only to be beaten back down by the Chosen Three.

But now, there is peace. The Heroes have been forgotten, and the sealed Evil One has not been thought of in centuries. However, who knows how long this peace will last?

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Rusl didn't know why, but something was not quite right. Why in the name of Farore would he put so much faith on a dream? A dream he was already beginning to forget, no less. There was a woman, he was sure, who told him to… what? The words had faded completely now. So why was he still here, in Hyrule Field, with the sun barely coming up? He'd have to get home soon; he left before Uli even awoke, and he did not want to worry her.

Rusl turned back toward the path that would lead him to Ordon, but before he began walking, he spun around. He heard something: a whinny? He began searching the field for any sign of movement; and was not disappointed. He could barely make it out, but there was a small horse heading his direction, and it looked like there was something on its back.

Rusl started to run at the creature, slowing down once he realized it was not going to change course; best to let the poor thing come to him. When the grey equine finally reached him, it reared up, and there was a small shriek from behind its head. Rusl quickly grabbed at the bridle, and began to speak softly to the young horse. A small girl wearing a frilly white dress was seated on the saddle, clutching at the mane for dear life. Her hair was blonde and disheveled, the dress was torn, and dirt marred the pretty fabric, as well as her little face. She slowly opened her previously tightly screwed shut eyes, revealing a grassy green color in a narrow setting. Upon noticing Rusl, she began to cry, and leapt from the saddle onto him. Rusl, though surprised, instinctively caught the small child, and began to stroke her head.

"Hey, hey," he said soothingly, "what's wrong, huh? Where's your Ma and Pop?"

The little girl sobbed louder, and managed to choke out, "I wanna go home! But, but Mommy said I ca-can't! Mommy said it's too dangeroush!" Here she began to wail, calling out 'mommy' and 'daddy' repeatedly.

"Hey, shush, shush, shhh," Rusl crooned. "Come on, then. Let's get you home." He gathered up the small colt's reins, and began to walk back to Ordon. The child fell asleep before he even set foot in Faron.

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When the sun had fully risen, though hidden in the trees, Rusl arrived at the Treehouse, which greeted the gateway to Ordon. The structurally-bizarre dwelling has always been called such, way before Arramus and his nephews moved in. A small boy was climbing down the ladder.

"Hey there, Link," Rusl called. "Does your uncle know you're up?"

Four-year-old Link shook his head. "Uncle Arramus is still asleep. Jav woke me up."

"Don't worry, buddy," Rusl chuckled, "soon enough you'll get used to your brother's snoring. Then we'll have to scream at you to wake up."

Link, seemingly uninterested in what Rusl had to say, pointed at the girl sleeping in his arms. "Who's that, Rusl?" he asked.

"Dunno," Rusl replied. "Found her in Hyrule field. She doesn't seem to have a mommy or daddy either."

"Where's her uncle?" the young boy asked.

"I think I might be her uncle, now, Link." Rusl started walking to the gate into Ordon, and made his way to his house, still leading the grey horse, with Link now following.

The door opened, and young woman ran out with a worried face.

"Oh, Rusl! I was so worried, I was just about to go look for you!"

"I'm sorry, Uli," Rusl apologized, "I'll tell you about it later. For now, let's get this one on a bed. My arms are getting numb."

The newly wedded held the door open, and let Rusl pass through. The colt wandered to the side of the house, and proceeded to lie down. The poor beast was obviously as exhausted as his young mistress. Link stared at the creature before letting himself in the house.

Rusl had already laid the little girl down, and was rubbing his arms at the table, and just finished explaining to Uli how he found her.

"The poor thing," she murmured. Link walked over to the sleeping girl, and just stared at her.

"Link," warned Rusl, "don't wake the poor thing up."

"I won't," Link replied. But just as he spoke, the girl's eyelids fluttered and opened. She looked around, and began to cry again. Link, realizing what had happened, cried out, "I didn't do anything! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Hush, Link," Uli said, walking towards the crying girl. "We know it wasn't you. She's just scared." She picked up the small child, and began to rock her. "Hey, now, shh…." After a few seconds, the girl quieted down, sniffling.

Uli turned her around, so that she could see the other two, and asked, "Do you know your name?"

The little girl rubbed at her eyes, then said in a small voice, "Leyla."

"Leyla, do you know where your Mommy and Daddy are?"

Leyla shook her head, but did not cry again. Rusl let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Okay, sweetie, are you hungry?"

Leyla nodded her head. She looked around, and saw Link. "Who are you?"

The young boy stated loudly, "I'm Link! Did you know Rusl is your uncle?"

Uli looked at Rusl questioningly. "Are you now?"

Rusl looked a little sheepish. "Now, honey, I know it's not exactly the way we planned to get a kid, but we can't exactly place her back in the field, right?"

Uli smiled, but merely said, "Let's get some food in this poor thing. Link, your uncle might worry. You'd better get home, okay?"

"Aw," Link whined, "but I wanna play with Leyla!"

"Link," Rusl intoned, "she might not want to play yet. Come back later with Jav and then we'll see."

"Okay." Link began to drag his feet toward the door. When he went outside, he began to run back home. He quickly climbed up the ladder and burst through the door.

"Link!" The boy flinched at the booming voice, and looked up to see burly Uncle Arramus standing over him with a plate of eggs. Javelin, his twin brother, cursed at birth with a spear point on his head, was already at the table, wolfing down what was on his plate.

"Yes, Uncle Arramus?"

"Why were you out of the house before breakfast?"

"I was bored. Jav woke me up because he's too loud!"

"That doesn't matter. Sit down and eat up. Later you're going to Ilia's house to play. I need to go to Hyrule for some more meat."

"Can we play with Leyla?"

"Yeah, sure," replied Arramus distractedly, placing Link's plate down on the table. "Wait, who?"

"Leyla. Rusl found her in Hyrule Field. He's going to be her uncle."

"Another girl?" whined Jav. "When are we going to get another boy here?"

"Shush, you," berated the uncle. "I suppose that it'd be okay. Just don't leave Ilia out. She could use a girl playmate, after all." He glanced pointedly in Jav's direction; the little boy didn't notice.

After the three finished their meal, Arramus brought his nephews into the village. Link ran to Rusl and Uli's house and was about to jump onto the porch, when he noticed Leyla was already outside. She and Rusl were with her horse, which was drinking steadily from the stream which ran through the village. She wasn't wearing the dress anymore; she was wearing a small sleeveless shirt made of goat fur dyed dark blue, and a pair of brown pants. Her feet were bare, like most of the children.

"Hi, Leyla!" called Link. Leyla turned around. "Wanna play?"

Leyla looked up at Rusl, who nodded. "Go on, then." He then turned back to the grey horse, and proceeded to remove the beast's burden of saddle and bags.

Jav finally caught up with his brother, and said, "Are you Leyla?" Arramus, seeing that his nephews were fine, walked towards Rusl for the story of the new girl.

The blonde head nodded. "What's your name?"

"I'm Jav! And this is a spear on my head! Cool, huh?"

Before Leyla could answer, Link asked, "Have you met Ilia yet?"

Leyla shook her head. "Who's Ilia?"

"Her daddy is the mayor," answered Jav. "We were going to go to her house, but Link wanted to play with you."

"Can we play with her, too?" asked the newcomer.

"Sure!" replied Link. And he led the small party across the bridge to Mayor Bo's house. He knocked on the door, and was immediately answered by the short, mustachioed man of the house.

"Oh, hello kids! Ilia is at the ranch right now. Apparently, there is a-"

"Link! Jav! Daddy!" All four looked up at the path to the ranch, where three-year-old Ilia was running. She ran up the front steps, and then starting jumping with glee, saying, "A new pony was born last night! It's a little girl pony!" She noticed Leyla. "Oh, hi! Who are you?"

"I'm Leyla."

"I'm Ilia. Wanna see the new pony?"

"Yeah! Let's-"

"WHOOOOAAAA! A GOAT GOT LOOSE! IT'S HEADING STRAIGHT FOR TOWN! SOMEBODY STOP IT!"

Link looked up. There was indeed a large goat stampeding down the road. He was about to run in its path, but was held back by Mayor Bo.

"Let's let the big boys take care of this, okay, bud?"

Link only then noticed that Arramus was already running up the path. He planted his feet and let the large animal come to him. At the last second, he grabbed its horns, and threw it to the ground. The children cheered. Arramus stood up, and gave a little bow to his young audience. The goat scrambled up, and meekly headed back to the ranch.

"Thanks, Arramus!" called a small voice. An older boy was walking out to meet the escaped livestock. "Someone forgot to shut the gate all the way when she ran out." Fado looked at Ilia, who blushed, and said, "Oops."

The seven-year-old goat herder shrugged, and said, "Aw, well, at least we've got Arramus around. Now, who wants to see a new-born foal?"

"I do! I do!" All four children jumped up and down in anticipation. They all followed the older boy up the path and into the ranch. Once they all had passed through the gate, Fado made sure it was completely shut, then led the way into the barn, passing the four goats they had. There, in one of the hay-filled stalls, was a large white horse, protecting a smaller red filly. This filly had a white mane and tail, a white nose, and her hooves were, what do ya know, white.

"Aw," cooed the girls. Link just stared at this beautiful creature. Jav took a step closer. The mother bared her teeth and whinnied warningly. Jav stumbled back a few steps.

"Yeah, stay away, boys," Fado warned. "The mother's not too keen on sharing her foal just yet."

"What's her name?" Ilia asked.

"Well, now, I was hoping you lot could help me with that. Wait," he started, just noticing Leyla, "who're you?"

"I'm Leyla. I have a pony, too. His name is Storm."

"Storm, huh? Well now we know what not to name this one." He winked at the newcomer.

"Epona," Link said suddenly.

"Scuzzi?" Fado looked at him questioningly.

"Her name is Epona." Link pointed at the new foal.

"How do know that, dummy?" his brother asked.

"Because I said so!" Link retorted.

"Epona," repeated Ilia. "I like it! It's pretty, like she is!"

"She likes it, too!" Leyla said.

Fado smiled. "Well, then, I guess Epona it is."

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"Jav! Jav, where'd you go?!" Nayru, this was getting way too old. Link brushed his hair out of his eyes. Over the course of five years, it had become pretty long; Uli's been pushing at him to let her cut it. He just might; it was starting to look a little girly.

"No, focus, Link!" he thought. "Leyla's waiting for you at the ranch. Find Jav, and get back." His brother was always a little lazy, but ditching work all together was just ridiculous. Uncle Arramus would have both their heads if he finds out Leyla was working on her own.

Link cupped his hand around his mouth. "Javelin! You won't get dinner if you keep hiding! Coward!"

"Who's a coward?!"

"Aha! Gotcha!" Link ran past the Faron Spring and into the woods. There he was. The lazy bum was just waltzing around, carrying…

"Jav… is that an egg?"

"Yeah, pretty cool isn't it? I'm gonna hatch it!"

"But what's inside it?" Whatever it was, it must be fairly big. The egg was about a foot long and four inches wide in diameter. Link had never seen a bird egg like this before.

"Dunno, maybe a phoenix!" Jav's eyes were bright with excitement.

"Get real, idiot. Those things are only myths."

"Who are you calling an idiot, idiot?"

"You're both idiots!" Leyla yelled.

Link turned around. "What the-? What are you doing here? Who's watching the herd?"

Leyla, despite being only eight, looked at the brothers with a disgusted disappointment. "I got too bored, so I left them to roam around the village. Who do you think, stupid? Fado's done with his lessons, so it's our turn now. Come on, Rusl's waiting on all of us!"

"Hold up!" Jav cried. "I'm not going until this guy is hatched. This is a baby, and it needs to be watched."

"I'll tell you what your uncle is going to say about that, Jav," Leyla said. "Oh, good, free breakfast."

Jav clutched at the egg protectively. "No way! I'm gonna hatch this bird, and raise it! You'll see!"

"Jav," Link started, "we don't even know what kind of bird it is. For all we know, it could be carnivorous. Din, it might not even be a bird! What if it's a keese, huh?"

But Jav was firm. Link sighed. He knew his brother well enough; Jav could be talked out of many things, but once he really set his mind, nothing will change it.

"Come on, Leyla," Link said, walking back. "Rusl's gonna get mad."

Leyla looked like she wanted to argue more, but she just shook her head, and ran to catch up with Link.

"You know Arramus is going to say no, right?"

"Well, then he can deal with Jav's sulking."

There was silence for a while. When they reached Ordon Spring, Leyla broke it.

"Do keese even hatch from eggs?"

"Uh," Link began.

"Oh good, Leyla!" Arramus called. Link gave a little prayer of thanks to the goddesses as his uncle, who had gotten rounder over the years, came walking up the path.

"Hi, Arramus. How are you?"

"Fine, fine," he waved away any concerns. "I just wanted to let you know I've finally finished that room for you. You can move in whenever you're ready."

"Really?" Leyla gave him a big hug. "Thank you so much, Arramus!"

"No problem at all, my girl!" the older man replied. "I just hope you don't mind housing with a bunch of rumble-tumble guys."

"Haha, very funny, Arramus," Leyla laughed. "I can beat this guy in a fight any time." Here she gave Link a little punch. "Besides, now it'll be easier to wake him and Jav up."

"Speaking of Jav, where is he?"

"We should get going, Uncle," Link hurriedly said. "Rusl's been waiting for us forever."

"Ah, yes, well then, get going!"

Link grabbed Leyla's arm, and ran to the gate. Once they were out of sight, Link released Leyla, and the two resumed their walk.

"Beat me in a fight, huh?" He scowled at the girl beside him.

"Maybe if you were more serious about learning how to use a sword, then you could be better than me."

"Just cuz you use two swords doesn't make you better."

"I know that," Leyla said. "I just am." Leyla paused for a while. "How is Arramus, really?"

Link's face dropped. "He's still coughing at night. Honestly, he tries to hide it so much, but sometimes, I think he can't breathe."

Before Leyla could respond, Rusl called out to them. "Hey, you two! If you don't hurry up, I'll just assume you don't want to learn!"

Link and Leyla ran the rest of the way. For the next hour, they were learning the proper ways to step and hold their weapons under Rusl's instructions. When they were finished, Leyla told Rusl about her new room.

"Oh, really? Well, then I hope you visit often."

Leyla smiled. "It's not like I'm going to go live in CastleTown, Rusl."

"I know, I know, but Colin will sure miss sleeping with you, Leyla."

"Where is Colin, anyway?" Link asked. The quiet three-year-old seemed to love watching his father give lessons.

"He and Uli are at Jaggle and Pergie's house. Uli, Pergie and Sera are having a play date with each other, so that means Colin, Talo, and Beth are being forced together." Rusl smiled. "Somehow I just know that Talo is going to be quite the handful when he gets bigger. I just hope his new sibling will have more restraint."

Link and Leyla blinked.

"New sibling?" Link repeated.

"Is Pergie pregnant again?" asked Leyla.

Rusl smiled and winked at the two. "Isn't about time for dinner?" he asked, then he turned around and began walking up towards his house. "Get along home you two, before Jav eats your food for you."

Link looked up. Then he began to bolt back home. Jav actually has eaten his share of the food before.

When they arrived home, Jav was happily munching on his food, while Link and Leyla stared unbelievingly at what was seated next to him.

It seemed to be a bright red lizalfo, about two feet long from snout to tail. But the head was much too wide. And the arms were much too tiny. But those teeth! Din, those were frightening! They were numerous, and sharp! At the moment, they were tearing easily into the pig meat in front of it.

"Jav," Leyla said, pointing a shaky hand at the small creature, "what is that?"

"Isn't he cool?" Jav smiled at his new friend. "He came out of the egg about twenty minutes ago! His name is Spear!"

"But what is he?" Leyla repeated.

"I dunno, but he's a keeper! He already knows I'm boss, watch!" Jav stared intently at the thing. "Eat," he commanded. Spear stared at his new master for a few seconds, then resumed his meal. Jav turned towards the blonde girl. "See?" he smirked.

"Does Uncle Arramus know that he's here?" Link asked.

"Of course, I do," said a gruff voice behind him. Arramus raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you think I'd let something happen here without my knowing?"

"But what is it?" Leyla said a third time.

"I think Rusl might know," replied Arramus. "But as it is, Jav and I have an agreement. We'll give this guy a shot, but the moment he causes problems, back into Faron Woods he goes. Right, Javelin?"

"Yes, sir!" Jav saluted. "But don't worry! I don't think Spear is going to be any problem at all!"

Link and Leyla stared at the creature some more. Finally, Leyla walked to the table and sat next to it. Spear looked up at her and made a strange gargle sound. Leyla giggled.

"You're kinda cute. But what are you?"

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