Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda

The day had begun too early, it was well before dawn that all of the servants in the castle were already preparing for the arrival of the King and Prince of Osirian. Princess Zelda was well aware of the importance of their visit. The Kingdom of Osirian was where Link left to investigate about his past based upon the evidence she had uncovered when he had asked for her help. She had become extremely concerned with his complete lack of communication but relaxed as she felt his Triforce of Courage still emanating power from the mark on her hand. She knew he was alive, but where or with whom she had no idea. She figured she would find out as soon enough. Her father was also quite anxious for their arrival as it had been years since he had seen the King of Osirian, King Selyf.

During Ganondorf's quest for the conquer of Hyrule the King had been in hiding and the Sage of Light had been able to place a force field surrounding Hyrule, protecting the world from Ganondorfs' power. Unfortunately the force field had worked too well, not allowing their allies to aid them in their time of need, but if they were spared from Ganondorfs' evil then it had been worth it. Since the Bringing of Peace, he had sent word to all his allies that they were now at peace and welcome to reengage in their previous arrangements.

King Selyf had been a longtime friend and ally, he was of the neighboring kingdom of Osirian, whose royalty was said to be the descendants of the great Hylians of the Wolf. According to the archives Princess Zelda found the Hylians of the Wolf were originally from Hyrule, they were a people comprised of sorcerers whose magic was a gift from the divine Goddesses as well as a kinship with extraordinary wolves. They were nearly twice the size of a standard wolf, stronger, and faster, with glowing blue eyes and thicker fur comprised of the darkest shade of black that could melt into shadow. The wolves would protect them and guide them in times of need. With the passing of the ages, their population dwindled and other Hylians grew afraid of them due to their powers and because they were always in the company of those strange wolves. Shortly afterward they were persecuted for the notion of being in allegiance with dark magical creatures and conspiracies of overthrowing the throne. The last remaining village of the Hylians of the Wolf was burnt to the ground and the survivors escaped from Hyrule guided to Osirian by their wolves to start anew.

In no time at all the descendants began to settle and build the thriving city of Oscillus. People came from all over the world, a few settled, others spread the word and soon Osirian became the great kingdom it is now known to be. Most of the descendants remained as royalty while others traveled and left their teachings behind. As time passed only a few remained with the knowledge and power of the original sorcerers while the rest were forgotten, passing unto legend. The Wolf was made their family crest, and it is displayed proudly by the Knights of the High Court, and the royal court.

While Zelda was unsure as to whether or not believe the legend of the Hylians of the Wolf the pendant that Link had shown her had their crest on it. The Great Deku Tree scrub had chosen to call upon Link after his defeat of Ganondorf. When Link had gone to see the Great Deku Tree scrub Link told her he spoke about when he first arrived in the forest. He showed him the blanket he was once wrapped in as well as a silver pendant on a long silver chain. The pendant was in the shape of a shield with a crescent moon and a wolf embossed on the front of the shield. It was heavy, with a slit down the middle and hinges at both ends of the shield. There was a small hole at the bottom tip of the shield but other than that no indications of how to open it. The symbol itself was enough for Zelda to find the old archives on them as she remembered that her father once received many scrolls with the very same crest. She had hinted that Link may be a descendant of their royal line but he had taken it as a joke. Nevertheless he took all the information she gave him and left for Osirian.

She had given him a letter in which it indicated he was an emissary of Hyrule sent to investigate his family tree. She had hoped that it would be enough to allow him access to their archives so that he may further his knowledge of where he came from. She pitied her friend, a deep sadness overwhelmed her only to think that he had gone all his life never knowing who his parents were, if he still had family left alive, and if so, why had they abandoned him?

She was shaken out of her trance by her hand maid who had knocked at her door a few times, worried that she had not answered the hand maid opened the door and that had caused Zelda to stand immediately from her chair. "Apologies my lady, but the King and Prince of Osirian have arrived. They are being taken to the throne room as we speak, please my lady, are you ready?" Zelda nodded and smiled letting out the air she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Come along Cassie, lest we be late to receive our guests." The hand maiden opened the door further and stepped into the room to allow Zelda to pass in front of her. As they made it to the throne room her father stood from his chair and held out his hand for her to sit at his side.

The grand doors opened with a soft click that echoed in the high ceilings of the room. The Herald stepped in first, he bowed and cleared his throat, "Your majesty, my lady, the King and Prince of Osirian, King Selyf and Prince Idwal. Zelda had never personally met King Selyf, she had imagined a short man, round and with a great beard but he was, a tall man. He had strong facial features, and his hair was greyed with hints of light blonde hidden in between. He had a clean trimmed moustache that blended into a long beard. His eyes were light blue in color but senescent and adept, his eye brows cast a light shadow upon them making them appear grave and humorless. Still, he smiled as he entered opening his arms to her father for an embrace. Her father approached holding out his arms and closing the embrace, each man giving the other light pats on the back before parting. King Selyf held onto her fathers' shoulders and spoke softly, "It has been too long old friend. I am glad to see you again." "You as well, Selyf, you as well. These past years have been difficult to say the least." King Selyf nodded understandingly. "I will not burden you with our troubles, I-"King Julius trailed off upon seeing the young man behind his friend. Zelda also now looked away from King Selyf, her eyes opened wide as they rested on Prince Idwal. She gasped aloud and placed her hands on her mouth as she recognized her friend, the young man she had just been thinking of only moments before. He was dressed in silver armor, the crest of Hylians of the Wolf embossed across his chest plate with hints of gold along the fur of the wolf. The crescent moon seemed to shine and she noticed moon stones embedded along the shape of the moon. His hair was longer and tied back, his eyes were wiser but still held that joy and innocence he had always had. The armor he wore made him seem taller and stronger too, perhaps he was. As soon as their eyes met he smiled and winked at her only to regain his composure as he approached her father. He bowed and offered his hand to him, "Your Highness, King Julius," he said with a polite smile. Her father, King Julius, stood there staring at him dumbfounded, for a moment he was speechless until, he ventured to speak, "Link? Is that you?" Link nodded and smiled even wider. "I am very intrigued, am I to be indulged in my curiosity with how this came to be?" He looked from King Selyf to Link to his daughter. "That will be quite a story indeed my old friend. I will not bore you with the details but I will tell you that it was only a few years ago and many thanks to your daughter that I was finally reunited with my son, Prince Idwal or as you may know him, Link." His smile was gracious and his eyes were filled with an intensity that no words could describe.

"As you well may recall my friend several decades ago we were in the midst of a civil war. There were extremists who sought to place their own leader as the rightful ruler. He was one of the descendants with great power, I had never seen them used the way he did. Still, he had placed a rather large army attacking the southern borders, we all thought his plan was to cut off our food supply and lure me to yield my throne so as to avoid the starvation of my people. Needless to say we took the bait and followed with my entire army, seeking to end this civil war once and for all. In secret he led his personal army to storm the castle and kill the royal family. My wife escaped, she ran herself into exhaustion at the borders of your Lost Woods. I cannot tell you for certain what allowed my son's life to be spared, however I believe it was the power of our people that led my love to your sacred Deku Tree. The rest, my son tells me, you are already fully aware of." The King of Hyrule and Princess Zelda were left speechless, they were saddened to learn of how Link's mother was persecuted and of her untimely death. Still, Link had found his father, and his home. "I apologize, my dear friend, it was quite the tragedy that befell your family, however I am overjoyed that both you and this strong brave lad were able to find each other at last." King Selyf nodded and smiled sadly at his friend. "I appreciate the sentiment, now, let us move onto lighter matters. What has King Julius been doing since the Return of Peace?" King Julius chuckled and clasped his friends' shoulder turning to lead him out of the throne room. "Come Selyf, let us enjoy some drinks in my personal study and we shall speak of all that has happened. We shall laugh and be merry and speak of tragedies no longer." King Selyf smiled even wider and he chuckled aloud, "I will drink to that my friend! I will drink to that!" and he reached to clasp his friends' shoulder in return. Together they left the throne room, their laughter leaving faint echoes behind.

"It seems we were forgotten." Link smiled at Zelda. She turned to face him and touched her hands to her face. She bounded towards him with enthusiasm as she laughed to herself. Taking him into her arms she embraced her friend then pulled away shaking her head in disbelief. "What a turn of events Prince Idwal." She said sarcastically. "What a turn of events, when I sent you out to discover your blood lines I could have never imagined that you were none other than the missing Prince of Osirian. Ha! What have you been doing with your time all these years? I have a thought to be cross with you for not sending me any kind of letter or message! I began to believe the worst had happened were it not for this connection." She raised the back of her hand to show her Triforce mark, he sighed and took her hand in his to study the symbol. "I apologize Z, I know I should have sent word with anyone, they were all more than willing but I was so enveloped with it all. Learning about everything that has to do with my family, my heritage, my mother…My father has told me so many stories about her. I went on journeys with him, we visited almost every town and village in Osirian. He introduced me to our people and I was accepted. I felt overwhelmed and when it all finally stopped spinning I realized that it had been four years since I had been back." He took a deep breath before continuing, "I never thought that I would find my family, where I came from, who I was. I had found my father, this man who recognized me almost immediately. All the years lost with him were caught up in those four years but I never forgot you. I never forgot Hyrule, my friends and especially not…not her. I meant to write, I meant to, I really did. My father says that now that I have assimilated to my title as Prince of Osirian and that my people accept me as their heir to the throne I am to be introduced into society all across the map. That is why he is here, in Hyrule. He seeks the aid of your father in throwing a ball for that, inviting all the kingdoms in our alliance, but I am so nervous."

Zelda placed her hand on his, knowing of his life thus far and what a turn it had suddenly taken. "Oh Link, I know how you must feel. Having always been the outsider to those you believed were your kin to being thrown into an adventure of a lifetime and now…now into society as the future King of Osirian. I understand how overwhelmed you have been, I understand why you weren't able to send word, and I apologize for acting the way I did. Still, what do you have to be nervous about? You battled Ganondorf himself and won, what can a room full of socialites do to you?" She laughed and patted his hands. He nodded laughing with her, blushing for being silly to think he should be nervous at all. She was right, he had faced evil, and had won. A room full of royalty would be nothing. "You're right Z, what would I do without your wise advice?" He laughed again. "Come, let us continue into the gardens and you will tell me all. Lunch should be served shortly and then we can meet with our fathers and see what they have decided in concern to your ball. Oh how exciting, we haven't had a ball since we celebrated the Bringing of Peace." He smiled and held out his arm to escort her into the gardens. "Somehow I think that I am not the ball type, but my father insisted that to appease the royals you must throw a celebration with lively beverages, lots and lots of them."

They left for the gardens and sat by the fountain surrounded by the most beautiful white and pink roses. The aroma emanating from the flowers was calming, they sat in silence for a moment enjoying the sound of the bubbling water flowing, until Zelda spoke first. "It seems like ages ago we met not far from here. Now we sit in peace, which at that time I believed would not come to pass unless you helped me. Thank you Link, I still cannot thank you enough for believing me back then." His lips pulled into a smile, "We were both children, I was eager to believe that I was needed, that I was important and that I mattered. For the first time I heard from someone other than Saria that I was needed. Of course that later changed and after that I just wanted to help everyone and save the land. Save it for my friends and for her…Zelda have you seen her? Have you heard about how she is doing?" Zelda giggled and turned to face her friend. "I have, I have." She nodded. "And? Are you going to share?" She laughed louder this time. "Of course, she is doing well, the ranch is thriving. Although…"Her smile faded and she looked away from her friend. Her gaze fell upon the tree casting a grand shade over them, the leaves were beginning to brown and wither, which meant the seasons were upon their transition. "What? What happened? Zelda look at me! What happened?" His tone caused an ache in her heart, her eyes clenched but she had to tell him. "Link, Malon's father passed away while you were gone." He stood instantly, "What!? Talon? No! How? Why? How is she? Is she ok? What happened?"

Zelda finally turned to look up at him, tears at the corners of her eyes, "I am not certain, all that was said was that he collapsed and never regained consciousness. It happened last year Link. She is doing well though. Her uncle and her run the ranch now, I can only assume that they are coping however they can, personally I cannot tell you how she is but you could go see her…Go to her Link. I am sure that she would appreciate you seeing her." He shook his head, he had begun to pace back and forth in front of her but now seemed defeated by a stray thought. His shoulders slumped and he sat next to her again with his elbows resting on his knees. He sighed and buried his face in his palms. "How can I face her Z? I was so enveloped in my own joy of finding my father and she lost hers. Do you know that when I left to see her, to tell her that I was leaving I was such a coward? That I couldn't bring myself to tell her how I felt?" He shook his head again and continued to hide his face from her. "I can answer that easily, I know why you didn't tell her and it's not because you were a coward. You knew you were leaving, you didn't know how long you would be gone and you didn't want her to place her potential happiness on hold for you. You didn't want her waiting in case you never returned. You didn't know where you were going, who you would meet, how you would come about discovering who you were and if it was in hostile territory. You could not have known, and what if she would have felt the same and waited for you, passing by on happiness elsewhere. Do not feel guilty over finding your kin, how were you to know that her father would pass? You need to see her, be her friend and comfort her. She has suffered a loss but you are her dear friend and I am sure that you could help her. In time you could even tell her how you feel and hopefully be reciprocated. Then you will truly be happy for you would have it all. Everything you have ever wanted." She stood up and walked in front of him reaching out to place her hands on his shoulders.

He looked up from his hands and nodded, "Thanks Z, what would I do without you?" She smiled and shook her head, "That is something that not even I could see." She laughed and brought a smile again to his face softening his features. "I deserve that, still, thank you. I will see her this evening, after lunch I will go to her." His heart beat loudly against his chest at the thought of seeing her again. His love for her knew no bounds, how could he have been away from her for so long? He didn't know but he knew that he never wanted to be far from her again. Now that he had all the answers to his past it seemed as though a great weight had been lifted from him and now everything was clearer than it had ever been. He would be her best friend, her confidant, and hopefully her lover and partner in life. "Good, I hope all goes well. If everything is agreed upon with our fathers you may even be able to escort her to the ball." She nudged him and winked. He blushed, "I have no idea how she is going to react when I tell her about me." All of a sudden a million thoughts rushed in and caused a spinning sensation to overcome him. He closed his eyes tight,

What if she does feel the same but won't come with me? What if she doesn't want to leave the ranch? It is her home, her life, but he can't live without her…would he give up his throne? His newfound purpose?

He shook his head, urging those thoughts to leave his mind. He would think of it as it happened, he had to know if she loved him back first. Zelda's eyes rested on him, worry written on her face. She was about to speak but her attendant approached her first. She nodded and tapped his shoulder gently. "Link, lunch is served, come let's eat. Then you can go see her." He nodded and followed her back into the castle.

Lunch had gone smoothly although he barely touched his food. The two king's seemed too enveloped in their plans to notice but Zelda noticed. It seemed that King Selyf had convinced her father that the ball should happen in Hyrule, helping ease all the kingdoms about Hyrule and their newfound peace. King Julius was more than happy to oblige, it would take place within a month and in the meantime King Selyf and Link would stay in the castle. They were to send out invitations as soon as possible, but Link barely acknowledged them. As soon as the meal ended King Julius invited King Selyf to his study once again for further planning. Zelda retired to her chambers but not before giving her friend a gentle touch of encouragement. "Everything will be alright Link, just go to her, you'll see." He nodded and waited until he was alone. He went to the guest room he was shown to where his trunk was already placed by the foot of the bed. He opened his trunk and pulled out his familiar green tunic. "Hey there old buddy, ready to go out?" He laughed at himself for speaking to his clothes and began to remove his armor leaving only his white leggings and old white shirt. He placed his tunic over his head and adjusted it with his belt. He pulled out his old boots and gear and turned to look at himself in the mirror. There he was, his old self, with one last adjustment to his collar he turned to leave his room.

He made it out to Lon Lon Ranch just as the moon began to shine it's brightest. The familiar sight sent chills down his spine, there was a thrilling feeling, and excitement but also angst and worry. What would she say? How would she react? The nerves began to overwhelm him but he quickly shrugged it off. He ushered Epona, his trusty steed forward. She too seemed excited to be home. Passing the gates he found it eerie that there was no familiar voice in the wind. She was not in the corral as she used to be, she was not singing. Was it the passing of her father that discouraged her? Or was it something else? He stopped Epona just outside the stable door. He looked up towards the window high above him and noticed it open. He could have sworn he had seen a hint of red just moments before. Gathering all his courage he dismounted Epona and took aim with his longshot. He shot away at the wooden beam of the window sill and pulled himself up slowly and quietly. He peered inside the room, all was dark there was not a candle lit. Her lavender curtains flowed gently in the breeze and he eased himself carefully inside. The light from the moon cast his shadow on her floor, he hoped she wouldn't be startled by him. As he looked around his heart nearly stopped as his eyes finally rested on her form laying on her bed. Her beautiful scarlet hair surrounding her face, a strand tangled in between her fingers. Her face holding a sad expression even as she slept, he noticed a tear like a diamond shining at the corner of her eye. "Malon." He whispered.

She stirred at the sound of her name, her nose scrunched and her eyes rolled around underneath her eyelids. He noticed her long dark lashes, the delicate shape of her eyebrows. Her pale skin, resembling porcelain under the moonlight. Her night gown revealed more of her shoulders than he was used to seeing, the thick straps only covering so much, it seemed snug and tight around her chest and loose below clinging lightly to her thighs. The long gown pulled up slightly revealing up to her knee holding a pillow in between her legs covering her other leg. Her blankets were tossed to the foot of her bed and he could see a few goosebumps on the surface of her arms. "You are so beautiful, Red, it's as if time has stopped keeping your beauty at its peak. I have missed you incredibly." He sighed, "I thought you would have still been awake." He closed the space between them and kneeled in front of her. He leaned in to kiss her gently on her forehead but as he was nearing her face her eyes shot open.

Author's Note: This chapter was completely redone. Reading my previous fic I realized that the influence of all the things I was exposed to at the time really took it to so many different directions. Either way I hope this new change leads to a better story telling.