"Wait, Lin! So if I understand this correctly, Calamity Ganon will win this cycle only to be beaten later by you?"

A small shrug of Lin's shoulders. "I don't know. All I saw was my own death in the grassy fields of Hyrule."
Mipha stared at her, deep in shock. Even her mouth stood wide open at that direct answer.

"You.. you will die..?"

Lin nodded and her stare went off into the far distance. Even being still shocked about this terrifying news, Mipha was sharp enough to see her struggling with herself, before Lin started to talk again. With her voice trembling and hands clenched she described the green fields, the Ancient Guardians and what happened to them, how the Princess's Power finally awoke. Even if far too late.

"No.." fled from Mipha's mouth as Lin moved on to the part where her Incarnation died in the arms of the Hylian Princess, mimicking Zelda's reaction before Lin could even tell her about it.

"And so, it ends."

Lin concluded her story and fell silent again.
Mipha let it sink in. Her beloved friend would die. Well, maybe she was wrong and those visions were merely warnings. Of course, that was possible too. Oracles and Visions and their signs could be fickle and hard to interpret even for well seasoned Seers. But Lin's trembling voice, the way she talked about it was different. This deep, lost fear that emanated from reciting what she saw. Tears welled up in her eyes but Mipha pressed her eyelids together before they could escape. No. If Lin was shaken down to her core she had to stay strong for them both. Somehow at least, she added in her mind as one of the tears wiggled its way out of the corner of her right eye nonetheless.

The silence between them weighed heavy as both brooded over the things they talked about. While Lin didn't even move a single muscle – Mipha had to examine her up close just to be sure if the Hylian girl still breathed – she started walking in circles restlessly.

"Did you think everything through Lin? Can it be a warning? A sign? A POSSIBLE future?"

A pained sound escaped the throat of the questioned before Lin answered.

"Mi, believe me... I took my time thinking about what this - CURSE - showed me. I checked the map, I even went there seeing the terrain for myself and confirming its very damn existence! It WILL happen as I saw it and it will be just a loop of what happened in the past. All four Champions of the Divine Beasts will die. Killed by Ganon's minions and the whole world will struggle against those damn inventions of the Sheikah! And at the end? I will die too, leaving the Princess I swore to protect through everything all alone to fend off that Monster Ganon. What a fine knight I am."

Knotting her eyebrows, Lin followed Mipha's restless moving, the other one fully aware of how much Lin hated it. The Hylian lifted one brow as Mipha stopped all of a sudden.

"Waaait a second. IF you die, just HOW in Nayru's loving name can you beat him later on?"

Lin shrugged and shook her head.

"Came to me too, but the sword doesn't exactly tell me WHEN I will defeat him. Only that it is later and that it's me."

And thus the running around in front of her started anew.

"But how do you know that? Could you be mistaken?"

Another sudden pause and another useless question. But Lin kept her silence. She appreciated Mipha's wisdom and foresight that she herself didn't have. They had joked about that as far back as Lin remembered. She told Mipha that when it came down to wisdom and foresight that she must have shook her head before the Goddesses and pled for more courage instead. A tiny smile crept upon her face as she recalled Mipha's answer to it. So, if they shared their flaws and strengths with each other equally they both would become whole again.

"Lin?"

The smile vanished as fast as it came and she blinked, needing a few seconds to find her way back into the cruel reality around her.

"Err.. yes, err no!"

Mipha's amber colored eyes narrowed as she tilted her head and the strictness of an older sister that felt mocked crept into her soft voice.

"What now? Yes or no?"

Lin sighed.

"No Mi. I can't be mistaken."

"Why? Explain?"

Her blue eyes grew wider as Mipha's tone intensified, hardening.

"Mi," she sighed. "I'm not Sidon." the few words were enough to confound the Zora. Her head sunk a bit and she sighed deeply.

"I... I did it again, didn't I?"

"Yes, and don't worry. I love you anyway... big sister!"

"But still. Please explain to me how can you be so sure about it?"

Yes, she switched back into big sister mode again and Lin had to withhold a frustrated sigh. If only she could still explode, yell or rage around. But all she felt was a vast emptiness inside her that damped all her feelings. Or maybe her well trained courage kicked in, pushing her feelings aside, so she could function just as her father raised her to do. She didn't know which of them was responsible but it ticked her off even more than the unchangeable future ahead.

"Okay Mi. Okay okay. I can't err in this matter because I saw it! The Sword showed it to me. Hyrule, Zora's Domain, Death Mountain and even the Home of the Rito! I saw the land, ravaged and in ruins. Buildings, not destroyed by a war but decayed by time and corroded by the elements! The... the... argh! Copy? Call it how you like! Nevertheless this copy of me can't actually be me! I would be far over a hundred years old! Well okay, I know of old Marlo. This Oldtimer even held his sword at the age of ninety eight still hoping to die in a glorious battle. But I doubt that, even if I could hold the sword, it would be enough to beat a timeless monster such as Ganon!"

"Oh!" was all that Mipha said as her mouth formed a shapely circle.

"And, the Sword told you all of this?"

Lin nodded in silence.

"So, you really CAN hear its voice, as it is told in the old legends?"

"Not exactly, Mi. It talks in visions. It showed me what I had to do in order to survive the foggy labyrinth of Korok Forest for example. It greeted me like an old friend after I pulled it out of the stone. It showed me the trials we both overcame time after time. But something is off in the visions! I'm always a man. None of my," she shivered, "none of my other reincarnations was a girl!"

"Tell me about those trials!"

Lin shrugged and scratched her head, a well known sign to Mipha that meant she was trying to remember something.

"I think it all started with a young version of me living in a place amidst the clouds. Zelda was kidnapped and I chased after the one responsible for it. But it was nothing more than a mere underling. The evil itself was a being called Demise. A demon, sealed by the Goddesses and all five races of this world long ago. When my male self struck him down, he cursed Zelda and me and all who stood against him. His hatred would always haunt us and never perish."

"Ganon!", Mipha whispered the name, deep in thought.

"Yes. And I saw something else. It's not only the Calamity, it needs someone it can use to manifest itself! Ganondorf! The royal advisor! He will be the victim, as he always was. We will call him a monster and try to kill him, but if you ask me, he is nothing more than a mere pawn!"

"Ganondorf is a traitor?" Mipha tilted her head and shook it slightly as if she misheard.

"Yes and no. He will be absorbed by Ganon and deprived of his free will. The Beast will feed his hunger for power and cruel tendencies, and pervert him into a crazy warlord who wants to overthrow the whole world."

"We need to warn the King, Lin!"

"For what, Mi?"

"But..."

"If we warn the King, what will happen? Think."

Mipha wrinkled her forehead as she tried to find the catch Lin so obviously saw.

"Well.. As with all traitors, the King will demand his head and the Calamity won't have its prey?"

"And that's the catch. It WILL find a new victim, one we don't know."

"Link! That's cruel!"

The blonde girl laughed. It sounded dry and cold.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mi, but what's the difference between beheading him and watching him as the Calamity claims its victim?"

The Zora flinched. Lin was right.

"Lin, there MUST be another way! Maybe if we warn… if we warn HIM? Maybe if he's aware of his fate? We..."

This time it was Lin who cringed.

"Really now? You know even better than me how cruel and heartless Ganondorf is! If you tell him he might become a powerful monster, unstoppable even, what do you think will happen?"

"Hm. I don't know? Maybe... he doesn't want to become a monster?"

Lin laughed without joy. She knew the royal advisor. He already tried to weave his web of lies and illusions in court. No. If he got the chance to gain immeasurable power, he would grasp it without hesitation.

They talked for hours. Lin told her every vision she received and together they tried to find a way out of their current predicament. More than once Lin had to argue with Mi about it, especially the times when a child was declared a Hero to fight bloody wars. Lin hadn't seen her so emotional. Not even when young Sidon tried to swim up a waterfall all by himself without asking if he was allowed to and nearly fell to his own death. He had darted at the wrong angle, shooting far to the right and had fallen right down a staircase made of stone, leading out of the realm.

"Lin! That's insane!"

"Woah! Who're you telling Mi? Don't kill the messenger as I only relay what I received."

"Yes, yes. You're right. Of course. But Lin! A kid! A ten year old even! That's madness! How could ANYONE send out a ten year old to save the world?"

"Well. As I told you, I… well, my ancestor wasn't exactly ten when I, he managed to save it. Some sages kept - this is annoying - me in a different dimension for several years until I was mature enough to fulfill the deed."

"Oh don't start nitpicking with me young girl! It started when you were ten! TEN!"

"Yes and my father started brainwashing me into a male wannabe knight to take his place when I was newly born. As far as I know, at least. For Goddesses sake.. What's your point?"

Mipha gasped for air as if she suddenly needed to fill her lungs with water, like her fishy ancestors, before they left the ocean and tried this new trend in the world called walking.

"LINK!"

Again Lin flinched. She hated it, when Mi used her full name. Her father's cursed name that he handed down to her, spelling her doom.

"Please Mi, I really don't get your point. I can't! You of all people know best how I grew up!"

Her cringing and the small, pleading voice of hers were enough to calm Mipha down again who was on the verge of flying into a rage.

"I'm sorry Lin... I didn't want to vent my irritation on you!"

As always, when she shot far over the top, Mi closed the distance between them and caressed her back with soft, calming movements of her hands. It had slipped off of Lin's tongue once that she loved it when Mipha did that. Afterwards, Mipha had never missed an opportunity to do so, despite Link's objections. If anyone ever caught Mipha doing it, the implications would be problematic..

"Madness… pure madness…" Lin heard her mutter under her breath and decided to stay silent till the storm passed her by.

Mipha took great pleasure in dismantling every single Vision Link told her about, searching for hints that those events weren't already set in stone as the Past and Future.
But in the end it was all for naught. Lin fell into a restless sleep on Mipha's bed while the Princess watched the girl's face, lost in her thoughts. She loved the girl. She would do almost anything for her, if only it was within her power to do so. But how could she help her this time? The last Calamity a thousand years ago was stopped by the Hero of the Sword and the Heroine of the Goddesses. It all fit. The Divine Beast of Zora's Domain, waiting dormant, was a place she often visited. Lin had described it down to the last screw, how it was operated, what it looked like inside where Lin never was because she couldn't reach it. There were no legends or tales about Vah Ruta's interior. Where else could Lin have learned about it but the visions she spoke of? And what could THEY learn from those visions? Lin knew all the Champions of the Divine Beasts. Her heart had leaped joyfully when Lin had mentioned her being named Champion. But this time her attention solely focused on Lin. Daruk, Urbosa and a birdbrain? Who could she mean by 'birdbrain'? A Rito of course, but who?

An idea formed inside her head and she nodded to herself.


A/N:

Hey there my dear readers!

Just so you know, i would normally try to update my Story on saturdays, but i missed my window due to some nasty tonsillitis.

As today is St. Nicholas' Day... enjoy ;)

Lovely Greetings

Q