-Chapter Two-

King's Fall

The Hero had many places he could call "home," though he never felt right doing so. He would always belong to the forest, in a way, but he had made acquaintance with so many people during his quest that he could always find some place to take up lodging whenever and wherever he traveled, and he had lost sense of what "home" really was. When not journeying through the landscape of Hyrule he slept in a comfortable room in the Princess' new castle. He never stayed there long; it didn't feel right to rest in elegant surroundings while the rest of the country was sleeping in humble ruin. He knew, however, that when absolute peace finally did return to the land, he would always vastly prefer to sleep under the stars anyway, as he did on this night.

Tonight was a tranquil summer night. There were no clouds in the sky, and a hundred thousand tiny stars shone in the cosmos. There wasn't even a wind, and the Hero had to blow his dusty hair from his eyes to get a good look at the sky. He wasn't alone in the field near Lon-Lon Ranch. His horse Epona wasn't too far, stretching her neck to grab the leaves from a tall birch, and his forest fairy Navi was laying beside him, glowing dimly in the grass. They were surrounded by pieces of a camp put together with little care. There was a pile of cloth and metal - the swordsman's current set of gear - and a small ring of rocks that caged dim, scarlet embers; the remains of their evening campfire. There was also a large piece of sturdy canvas for a tent, which would instead be used as a blanket later. Neither the human nor the fairy felt like gathering sturdy sticks for a frame, and it wasn't going to rain anyway.

The only sound was the chirping of crickets and other small field life scurrying around in the plains and maybe, but rarely, a distant cry of an evening fox. Every now and again Navi would tense and focus on a noise she didn't quite enjoy, and her friend would pretend not to notice. She was a brazen little pixie, and she didn't take easily to showing weakness in front of anyone, least of all her battle companion. Truthfully, the Hero didn't really understand her skittishness. After all, a cricket might be a formidable enemy for someone else her size, but they had certainly faced enemies far more terrifying than bugs before. He smirked at that thought.

"What are you all smiley about, Link?" Navi asked. She startled him; they'd been resting in silence for a while. He shrugged.

"You don't know?" she pressed. "Yeah right. Silly boy. Silly, stupid thoughts."

Link risked a quiet chuckle and turned his head to her. "Easy Navi. I'm just enjoying the night."

"Uh-huh." she turned back to face the sky, unconvinced. A crescent moon winked down at them both, and the crickets seemed to grow louder. A few minutes went by and Epona whickered gently from her post at the now green-less birch tree.

"Done with your midnight snack?" Link asked her.

"More like early, early morning snack," Navi cut in. "It's well past midnight, the moon was at its highest a while ago."

Link chuckled and sent a summoning whistle to Epona. She replied and trotted over to where he and Navi were resigned, and joined them with a thud.

"Careful, pony! You're too close, you could have crushed me!" Navy fumed.

Epona blew out her lips. The pixie turned sharply to Link.

"Sass. She's giving me sass. She learned this from you, y'know. You're a bad influence."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Link dodged, plucking a straw from the ground and chewing its end. "Besides, Epona was feisty enough when we first met her, remember? Be nice to her and she might not crush you in your sleep."

Navi paled. "Ack! Fine, whatever. Sassy, silly, stupid boy…sassy pony…" she mumbled away. Silence returned to camp again, and Link smirked again, knowing too well that it wouldn't last very-

"We could've seen the sky just as easily from a window, y'know. The ranch wasn't that much farther, and we could've had a bed to sleep on."

Link sighed patiently. "It was already getting late, Navi, I didn't want to barge in right before the family took their rest. You know I don't mind sleeping on the ground, and you curl up in my hat anyway," he nodded towards the green cap laying discarded on the other side of the fairy. "And windows are fine, but trust me, we want the whole sky tonight."

"Hmm. I can't believe we're staying up all night just so we can see pretty little lights fly around."

"It's King's Fall, Navi. Be respectful please." Link scolded, though he found himself somewhat amused by her tone of voice. 'Pretty little lights?' Leave it to Navi to find competition with a shooting star.

Tonight was the anniversary of the King of Hyrule's untimely demise. The Night of Betrayal, as it was also known, marking the turn of the treacherous Ganon against Hyrule. The King was a beloved ruler, and the Goddesses honored his spirit every year with a wondrous display of heavenly light: a meteor shower, a beautiful curtain of falling stars.

"I know, of course I remember." Navi said quietly.

"We've never been able to see this, Navi. We were asleep for seven years. Then we awoke on King's Fall, and didn't even realize what it was about. A year later, on the next one, we were battling Ganon for the final time, and it was storming. This is the first time we're out of battle and can really see this."

Navi groaned but smiled at the boyish excitement she caught in his voice. "I know, Link, you've been reciting that little speech ever since the Princess reminded you about King's Fall two weeks ago."

Link made a face. "I… I didn't really forget."

And he really didn't. It was just difficult to keep the days straight when you were out and about with little company. He smirked again. 'Little' company. When informed, he had pretended that Princess Zelda's reminder of King's Fall was of no surprise. She had previously given him a sturdy journal to log the passing days in and keep better track of time, and Link didn't want her realizing that the pages remained blank.

"In any case, here we are." Navi concluded with a flourish of her arms to the sky.

"Yes, here we are."

Epona had fallen asleep, her breathing quiet but audible above the insects. A few quiet moments passed by. Traditionally, Navi shattered them.

"And where will we be next?"

"Lon-Lon Ranch."

"I meant after that, forest stump."

"That's a bad one."

"Mmm? 'Forest stump?' I thought it suited you." Navi giggled, a rarity. Bell tones met crickets' music.

"You've done better."

"You haven't answered me."

"We are headed to the lake to answer a summon from the marine researcher there. There's some unusual goings-on around - y'know, I can't believe you don't remember this, Navi, you should listen more when we meet with the council."

"Hey! The royals talk to you, not me. I'm here to aid you, but not take notes."

"That's never stopped you from directing me places before."

"… whatever. That researcher guy gives me the creeps. You're going to do all the talking when we get there."

Link just shook his head. "We'll head off to Lake Hylia after we stop to see Malon."

Navi grinned at that. "And feast."

"Navi, don't be rude, we are not going to insist upon eating all of their food."

"We won't have to, Malon always shoves it down our throats."

A pause. She's right.

"Okay. A hot meal," Link admits, "and we'd better be thankful for every bite of it. We're going to be at the lake for a few days, I think, maybe longer. There's nothing to gather around there but fish and whatever vegetables the scarecrows have growing in their patch. I'm not so sure those are the best plants to eat."

Navi made a huffy sound. She didn't eat meat, and didn't like the idea of a poor selection of greens.

"I'll just rob the farm girl."

"Navi…"

"Take a joke, stump."

Another patient sigh from Link, and a gentle greeting from a common owl somewhere nearby. Link glanced between the several tall silhouettes of trees around them, but the owl didn't call again, and he gave up his search. Navi spoke then, her tone careful and curious.

"Hey Link… we never really saw the King, did we?"

"No Navi. I'm sorry to say we never did."

They had been close, once. Upon their first encounter with the Princess when Link was only ten years old, they had peered through a courtyard window to spy on a man in the throne room. Princess Zelda had told Link that the man was an old friend of her father's and that he had just returned after a long, strange absence from his own thrown as leader of the Gerudo. When Link looked through the small window, he had seen the volatile man - poisonous green skin, hawk like yellow eyes, hair like filthy flame - bowing to the throne. Link could've shifted and adjusted his vision to see the King of Hyrule, but he was startled when Ganon had turned and noticed him and he ducked low to avoid his evil gaze. He hadn't dared to look inside again.

Whenever Link thought back to those moments, he always felt a dull pang of regret and… loss? He supposed he admired the great leader from the stories he had heard of his noble reign and was disappointed he was never able to meet the King. Link was also uncomfortable knowing he had been so close to the King just before the Night of Betrayal and was unable to do anything about the horrible events. Did he feel guilty for not being able to warn the King? Could he have taken different actions to aid in the Royal Family's safety? These thoughts always plagued the young hero. When he once voiced these feelings to Navi, the fairy assured him that everything had happened for a reason, and reminded him that at the time of the tragedy he was already fulfilling heroic duties assigned to him by the Princess. Link was returning to the castle after his success in retrieving the Zoras' Sapphire and breaking the dark curse on their domain's deity, but had only made it to Castletown's drawbridge when disaster struck…

"Link? … Link are you alright?"

A narrow blue light darted past the moon and off to the horizon just then, pulling Link from his memory. Navi gasped and both turned towards the sight.

Another jet of light, also blue, but a little lighter, like ice. Then two more; yellow and orange. The shooting stars appeared faster and in more numbers, some large and some small, most fading quickly but a few strong enough to race completely from the western to eastern horizons. The crickets stopped chirping. The fox didn't whine. It seemed every being was paying their respects. The world went completely quiet except for the ethereal hisses of the gliding stars. Link bowed his head in prayer.

Din, Nayru, Farore. You who gave us our world with your strength, beauty, and grace. Bless the spirit of our Fallen King forever, and guide Hyrule to a harmony worthy of his memory.

The Mark of the Triforce began to glow on Link's left hand, and he held it up to the sky, following it with his gaze. Epona had been woken by the unusual presence of so much light and watched on with Navi; both companions were in wonder.

"For Hyrule!"

At that, Navi's face lit up with the bright smile of a proud sprite. She jumped into the air and flew a few circles around Link, echoing his pledge, while Epona joined in with valiant neigh.

And just as the last few shooting stars sailed across the heavens, three final lights appeared on the western horizon. With a flash of radiance the lights grew large and mighty as they made their move, soaring through the night, paling the moon in comparison to their beauty; one of the strongest red, one of the purest blue, and one of the deepest green. The danced through the dark canvas until they met the eastern edge of the sky, and there they joined together and disappeared into the first brilliant rays of the rising sun.