Chapter 1
Link felt himself rematerializing in the Twilight Realm. He breathed in the familiar air, and found that something in it was different...though he knew not what. It did feel less sinister, but there was still a feel of struggle in the Realm. Link was about to set out and look for the cause of distress when suddenly, an arrow shot at him and missed his foot by a mere inch.
Oh. Perhaps it had traded in sinister for hostile?
Link drew his sword and shield and stood, waiting for more arrows to come and assail him. Then he heard the sound of a strange horn blast that obviously warned the Twili that a stranger had made his way into their Realm. Link looked up and realized that he was standing in front of a gate he was sure had not been there the last time he had been here. When no more arrows came, Link put down his guard and listened intently for what was to come next.
He did not get to listen long before he heard a voice calling out loudly "Ready? Fire!"
Then another voice (which Link recognized with a nostalgic gasp) spoke against the owner of the previous voice.
"Idiots! How many times have I said that no one is to attack unless they have an order to do so?!" Midna said, atop the gate.
"We did have an order to do so..." the other voice said, defensively "Riktor gave us the order to shoot any Light Dweller, and after what happened last time, I don't really blame him..."
"Light Dweller? Another o-..." Midna said, looking out over the gate, and once she saw Link, she screamed and covered her mouth.
Link smiled and waved.
There were a few moments of silence before Midna regained her composure and yelled at the other Twili she had just a few minutes before yelled at.
"Why are you just standing there?! Open the gate!!"
Then she disappeared while the Twili, muttering, opened the gate. When the gate opened, there she was.
The two stood, staring, both content to simply look at the other, each afraid that if they took their eyes of each other, the other might suddenly disappear. Eternities seemed to pass by, but they were unaffected. It was as if years had gone by since they last saw each other, as opposed to one week.
Then Link took a step forward, returning Midna to reality. She, too, took a step forward, and before either of them knew it, they were running to each other. They met and embraced, each amazed that the other was there.
When finally they separated from the other's grasp, they both laughed softly, slightly embarrassed. Then Midna finally spoke.
"Well, it certainly seems like there are a lot of things we need to talk about."
Walking through the halls of the Palace of Twilight, Midna explained, with Link following along right beside her, why they had to set up such harsh defenses.
"Not more than a few days ago we had someone from the Light Realm, we think, come into the palace. He immediately sought me, and asked for the Hero of Light." She turned and looked at him before continuing, "I told him he was in the wrong Realm, that this was the Twilight Realm. He seemed surprised and said, quietly, like he was talking to himself, 'So there IS one in between...' Then he apologized and turned to leave. I asked him who he was, and he stopped. 'I am someone you don't want to trifle with.' Then a bunch of humanoid creatures appeared out of nowhere and began attacking, but there weren't many and they were easily beaten, but they were frightening. They were...dark...incredibly so, but that's not much of a description, is it?"
Link shrugged as they continued down the hall to where, he did not know. Things appeared to be much more different than before. The Palace itself seemed to have morphed into something else entirely. Nothing seemed to remain that Link could remember, but most of those things had been horrible nightmares to him anyway. He shook of the thought of the copies of Zant that sent multiple horrible twilit monsters at him.
"So, anyway, he stayed cloaked most of them time, so it was hard to tell what he looked like, except for his green eyes...he had incredibly bright green eyes." Midna said, and jumped a little at the suddenness of Link's response. He then went on to explain to Midna how he made it into the Twilight Realm and about the strange man that made a deal with Link and how that he must have been the same as the one Midna met.
"Hm...well, can't really be mad at him for bringing you to me, huh?" Midna said, and giggled "But, even so, this 'payment' he talked about doesn't sound like anything good, does it? I can't imagine what he'd want from you. Do you Link?"
Link shook his head.
Midna nodded "And to have the power to suddenly repair the Mirror is definitely not common. Well, Link, I can't make the decision for you, but if you want some advice, I'd say to watch this guy closely. If what he offers is reasonable, by all means, repair the Mirror. But, don't agree to anything stupid, okay?"
Link smiled, and nodded. Midna smiled too, then and said "Good, now let's go and talk to Riktor and remind him that he doesn't have the authority to just give orders to MY army."
Link did not realize it, but they had, in fact, stopped in front of a door that Midna opened and stepped inside. Link followed and looked around inside the room. It was well-furnished with comfortable looking chairs, a sofa, and a small table. Directly across the room, appeared to be an entire wall of glass, and standing in front of it, was an incredibly large Twili, his back turned to the other two.
"Riktor." Midna said, looking in the direction of the Twili.
He turned around and smirked at Midna "Why, hello, Princess. What brings you here to me on this fine Twilian day?
"Don't give me that! You know very well why I'm here, Riktor. You know I did not allow you to just make orders to my army without my approval. You had no authority to tell them to attack anyone." Midna said, bitterly.
"Midna, Midna, Midna...I only took an action that I felt was necessary for the protection of our people. Surely you don't disapprove of that?" Riktor said, sneering.
Midna glared at him and her face was filled with anger "MY people, not OURS, Riktor! I was the one given the place of power, not you! So you'll remember from now on not to give my soldiers any more orders unless they're give MY approval first, and you'll remember to recant the order you've given and replace it with one that states that anyone at our gate will be given a chance to prove their identity. Then they will either be escorted within, or fired at depending on their hostility. You will do this, or you will find yourself in a lack of a job for miles, is that understood?"
"The Council will never..." Riktor started, but Midna's voice overtook his.
"The Council doesn't have power here anymore, now that I've returned! You and the rest of the Twili are going to have to learn and get used to this fact, quickly! Now, about my instructions, you will follow them, yes?" she said, threateningly.
Riktor opened his mouth to protest again, but this only made Midna flare up again.
"Listen to me! Your order almost killed the one who gave you your freedom in the first place!" she yelled, and pointed at Link.
Link was taken aback by the compliment. It wasn't really him who had put an end to Zant. Yes, he had beaten him down, but it was Midna who had finished him off. Link remembered the moment clearly; it was the first time he had ever truly feared Midna.
These words shook Riktor. His eyes widened as he spoke "He...he is the Defeater of Zant?"
Link nodded.
Any final hints of insolence and disrespect left Riktor's face in an instant.
"I...apologize, deeply." he said, only now he was addressing Link instead of Midna "I...I'll go recant the order immediately..."
"See that you do!" Midna shouted after him as the door shut behind him.
Link and Midna turned to look at each other. Link shrugged and Midna smiled and rolled her eyes.
"I guess he had to listen one way or another." she said, but, after a moment, her smile faded from her face and was replaced by a serious look "Link...I have often wondered if what I did was right...I know it seemed...sudden. That and I was afraid that I may have hurt you...I never meant to do that, Link. I just hope you can forgive me for not telling you..."
She stopped here because Link had put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and found that his face was blurry. She wiped her eyes free of their tears, sniffed, and smiled at him. He smiled back, and, without speaking, the event was forgiven.
Link squeezed Midna's shoulder affectionately and then they heard a loud growling sound. Link's instincts were faster than his thoughts at this point; for he drew his sword before realizing that it had only been his stomach growling.
Midna laughed loudly "Perhaps we ought to take care of the beast living in your stomach first, huh?"
Link sheathed his sword, his face bright red out of embarrassment. Of course, he had not eaten recently thanks to his obsession of finding out how to get the Twilight Mirror to return. Now that this particular predicament had been resolved, Link saw no reason not to eat now.
"Come on. We'll get some breakfast, then I'll take you to the Council and we'll see what they say about our little mystery man, hm?" Midna said, grabbing Link's wrist and pulling him out the door.
After a filling meal of what, Link could not pronounce, he and Midna walked down a hall similar to the one they had walked down earlier in the day. The significant difference of this hall was that it was lined with portraits of old Kings of Twilight.
"My brother, Niyyte was supposed to take the throne, but he decided to be one of Zant's followers, so, naturally, when Zant fell, he went into hiding, leaving me, the only child left of royal blood, to claim the throne. Of course, I can't claim the title of 'Queen' until I marry..." Midna explained, catching an interested glance at Link while he wasn't looking.
Soon they were climbing stairs up to a large door. Midna knocked and opened the door when a voice within spoke. The room inside was huge and the walls made the room a half-circle shape. It also had a rainbow-shaped table where six aged Twili were seated. Link assumed these to be the Council members. At the high curve of the table was an empty chair.
"That's for me when I choose to attend these meetings." Midna explained to Link, following his gaze, then she addressed the Council who had stood up, bowed, and sat back down "Hello, everyone. I brought you your savior to discuss a few matters."
"Yes, we received your message." one of the Twili said, then to Link "Please, sir, have a seat right there."
Link sat in the chair that was within the Council's table and Midna took her seat.
"Now, I believe we were here to discuss the matter of the strange man who made his appearance here three days ago." another Council member said "What new information do you have for us, Princess?"
"You remember the man asking for the 'Hero of Light', Dirkus?" Midna asked the Twilian.
"Yes, but I asked if you had any NEW information, Princess." Dirkus responded, frowning.
"Well, Link here says that the man found him and that's how he got here. The man recreated the Mirror of Twilight." Midna said.
The Council members gasped and then silence fell upon everyone in the room.
Finally one of the Council members stood up and said "This man...could he possibly..."
Midna spoke up "No, first, Perius, my brother's eyes are grey, this man's were green. Plus, I would've known my brother if it was him."
"Well, he couldn't possibly be a Light Dweller. Not if he could reassemble the Mirror. He must be a Twilian." said another of the Twili.
"But he couldn't be a Twilian either, we decided that because his eyes were only one color like the Light Dwellers' are. Just look at Link." Midna said gesturing toward him.
The Council members leaned over to look at Link and sure enough, his eyes were not like theirs. Theirs consisted of multiple layers of color before the pupil. Link's eyes had only one solid layer of blue surrounding the pupil.
"So, as I said, he couldn't possibly be from the Twilight Realm, either." Midna concluded.
Each of the Council members pondered this thought deeply. After a few minutes Midna added: "The man also told Link that he had one day here before he would return to the Light Realm and discuss with Link what the price of the return of the Mirror would be. Link and I aren't sure what the man could want, but, perhaps you would know."
The Council looked at each other and seemed to unanimously come to a conclusion.
"What about the Master Sword? If he could get a hold of that, his already impressive power would be increased considerably. We cannot allow that, at any cost." one of the Twili said.
Link gasped. He had not thought of that. Who knew what the man would want to do with that? He hoped intensely that that would not be the case.
"Hero of Light, we advise you not to give him anything of great importance. Mostly just don't give him the Master Sword, and do not offer to him the land of Hyrule. We have fear that this man may seek power, though we are still unaware of his motives. Be wary, Hero." Perius said, with an air of finality.
The Council grunted their approval.
"Very well. Come on, Link, we're done here." said Midna, standing up and walking towards the door.
"Princess, while I'm thinking of it; have you hidden the..." one of the Twili started, but Midna cut him off.
"Sh! I told you not to speak about that aloud!" Midna said, suddenly wary, looking about the room for an intruder that could not be seen "And yes, I have it."
The Twilian nodded his head and said "Very well. Good day, Princess."
The Council bowed as Midna and Link left the room.
Midna shut the door and scoffed "Well, that was pointless. I was hoping they'd tell us a little more than that. Heck, I told you that much didn't I?"
Link nodded. Although, she hadn't mentioned the Master Sword...or Hyrule. He supposed that those things were probably common sense anyway. He certainly would deny the man those things for the Mirror. Or would he? Link thought about both of those things and found that he really didn't care about either of them. Did the denizens of Twilight care about what happened to the Light Realm? Midna hadn't when he first met her.
Link
shook his head of these ideas. He remembered Ilia, Rusl,
the Sages, King Bulblin, and Zelda, and remembered all they had done
for him. How could he think these things when they had
helped him so much?
Midna
returned him to reality and said "Well, we're not figuring out
anything here. Let's go to the
library."
The rest of the day was slow and uneventful. Link and Midna went to the Palace's Twilight Library, but found nothing on anyone with piercing green eyes.
"Not that I really expected to...I mean, we did already decide that he couldn't be from either Realm, right? Still...we didn't find anything one where he could be from..." Midna said, and sighed "The plot thickens."
The two went to eat dinner and afterwards, Midna took Link back to her private chamber.
"You can sleep there, on the guest bed. I always wondered if that would ever come in handy. Guess I know now, huh?" Midna said, smiling.
Link nodded sleepily. The day's events had definitely taken their toll on him. He fell on the bed and felt sleep claim him the minute his head fell on the pillows. Midna took his sword and shield and laid them on the floor next to the bed and watched him sleep for a minute before going to her own bed.
"Goodnight, Link." she said to the slumbering figure, as she blew out the candle, and darkness claimed the room.