Luckily for Olun, there were no Wolfos prowling that night, for he fell into a long dreamless sleep that lasted well into the morning, only to be shaken awake.

"Olun, wake up!" a panicked little voice pleaded. He groaned and opened his eyes to see his redheaded younger sister peering into his face with tear-stained eyes.

"Salli?" He groaned and sat up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, only you were playing dead again," she said resentfully as she wiped her face with a dirty sleeve. "Olun, I'm hungry."

He smiled, and handed her a pile of mushrooms and wild onions he had gathered during his foray into the forest with Selina. "Here, go to the stream and wash these. I'll get some water boiling."

She frowned a little as the mud from the onions added to her already filthy dress. "Just vegetables?"

"Just until we find something better. Go on."

Salli grumpily walked to an offshoot of the river that fed Lake Hylia and gave the vegetables a good washing. When she came back Olun already had water boiling, and after cutting up the onions and mushrooms she threw that into the small pot, one of a very few things they had managed to procure before they fled the castle.

"I want cucco," said Salli.

"I know."

"The rancher in the field keeps cuccos. Maybe if we went to work for him, he'd give us eggs at least."

"You're allergic to cucco feathers, Salli. Besides, I think I found another way to get money, but I need your help."

She sat on the ground and hungrily watched the vegetables turn in the boiling water. "What do you want me to do?"

"I need your marbles."

Her temper flared, and she stood. "Those are mine!"

Olun sighed, stirring the pot and avoiding her eye. "I know you had to leave behind all your toys…"

"And my clothes! And Mom and…" She stopped midsentence and burst into a flood of tears.

Olun put his arms around her, rocking her slowly. "I know, I know. Listen, Salli, I can make money working for the potion lady. Then we can build our own house and buy new clothes. I'll buy you a million better marbles…just loan them to me. You'll get them back threefold, I promise. And I only need one at a time."

Salli sniffed, but pulled a small bag out of her pocket. "How will marbles give us money?"

"I'll give them to the guardians of the forest," Olun explained, holding out his hand. "Then they'll let me take things that grow there, and give them to the potion lady. And she'll pay me to fetch them for her."

Salli considered a bit, lips pursed, as she wove back and forth slightly on the balls of her feet. Then she dug into the bag and pulled out a greenish-yellow marble. "You can have this one," she said. "I never liked it all that much."

He accepted it and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Thank you, Salli."

Unbeknownst to the two of them, a dark shadow slipped between the trees and moved swiftly away, toward the village hidden in the foothills.

--

"Good morning, my love."

Queen Zelda XI's eyes fluttered open at the sound of her husband's voice, as a young maid opened the thick outer curtains, letting in filtered light through gauzy inner curtains. Another maid placed a bouquet of flowers on the table, small blue-petaled ones that the Queen loved dearly.

King Harakan placed the tray of small pastries on the nightstand by her bed and offered her one of the delicate plates, which the Queen took with slightly trembling, equally delicate hands. Hands that had elegantly held a teacup during their courting, that had created exquisite embroidery during rainy days when their kingdom had been more peaceful. Now they lay limp for most of the day, and he helped her sit up.

She smiled, warm gray eyes watching him as he poured her tea. "You don't need to do that, you know. Where is Abelia?"

"Her son, Olun, is ill, so I told her to take care of him." He passed her the teacup.

"I do hope he is all right," she said absently as she raised it to her lips.

"No worries, my dear. I've taken care of everything." He sat down on the bed next to her. "How have you been feeling?"

"Better, I think. I like to read, but it tires me." She indicated a stack of books on the floor by her bed. "My dear, would you mind bringing me some of my theory? Proper ladies' romances are so dull."

"Of course. But you should sleep if you are tired." His eyes kept wandering to the swell of her abdomen with a slightly worried look.

She gave him a tiny peck on the cheek. "Leave the childbearing to the womenfolk, my dear." With a serious look, she added, "How are things in the court?"

"Oh, nothing to speak of," he replied, a little too quickly.

"No? It gets so boring, lying in bed all day…" She gave him an impish look. "Come, isn't there anything you would like to share with me?"

King Harakan patted her hand. "Now, now, you shouldn't be troubling yourself with matters of state. You need to rest."

A slight shadow passed over her face, but it disappeared with another little kiss to the cheek. "As you wish, my dear."

He smiled warmly. "My Queen…you mean the world to me…"

She nuzzled her face into his cheek. "Stay with me, this morning. Surely you can put off a meeting or two if things are going as well as you say."

He sighed. "I will stay as long as I can. I would much rather be here with you, but…"

"I know." She wrapped her arms around him and he accepted them eagerly. "Just a couple more months."

His hand hovered over her abdomen. "May I?"

She nodded. "Of course."

He could feel new life beneath her silk shift, the growing body of his new son. If only these things did not take so long!

"Dearest," she said slowly, "have you found a midwife?"

"Yes of course," he said absently. "You know her…Eldora…"

She straightened a little. "Husband, I asked for a Gerudo midwife."

His head snapped up. "My dear, we discussed this," he said, a slight edge in his voice. "I do not trust their King to send one that isn't a spy or a thief."

The Queen's voice, too, hardened ever so slightly. "You know there might be complications."

"Yes, but Eldora is very skillful. I'm sure she'll do just fine."

"The Gerudo have the best midwives. They know about all kinds of childbirth problems." The Queen struggled to sit up straight. "Husband, what is most important to you?"

The King's hands fluttered as he shushed her and gently lay her back down on the bed again. "My dear, please don't worry about it. I just need to iron out a few things with the Gerudo King…"

"I can send them a note. They've always reacted favorably to me…"

"That won't be necessary. I'll find a Gerudo midwife, don't worry." He kissed her forehead. "I won't let any harm come to you, I promise."

The Queen touched his hand. "I know, my dear. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

--

"Sire, the Zora are growing restless," the young Shekiah stated in a respective tone, head bowed before the Hylian King. "They show no hostility, but their leader requests an explanation of your seizure of their temple with increasing urgency."

King Harakan frowned. Relations with non-Hylians had never been his strong point. That was his wife's specialty; but on doctors' orders, she had been confined to her room. Harakan had forbidden any talk of politics around her, and when a lady-in-waiting with connections to a large farming family had asked her to press the Zora issue, the King had dealt with the woman swiftly. Nothing would come between him and the stability of the Hylian nation.

"Do you have any recommendations?" This was his way of saying he had no idea what to do.

The Shekiah spoke slowly but confidently, a speech she had carefully prepared ahead of time. "Sire, you need to give them some gesture of goodwill. Not only to the Zora, but also to the Gorons, the Kokiri, and the Gerudo…"

"Not the Gerudo," the King snapped. "Not until they stop their raids on my merchants. That's hardly unreasonable."

"Understood." The Shekiah had not intended to pay the Gerudo any favors for the same reason; but sometimes one had to overstate one's plan to have even a part of it accepted. "It does not have to be any thing strategically significant, like land or rupees. Something valuable, a simple symbol of alliance."

Harakan stroked his chin. "Some pretty bauble, perhaps? A gold icon? A statue?"

"If you would permit me, your Highness…" The Shekiah produced a ruby, emerald, and sapphire of considerable size out of nowhere. "These have been sitting in the Royal Vault for time out of mind. I assume you did not know of them?"

The King looked as if he did not want to admit it, but said, "No, I was not aware that such fine jewels had been collecting dust in the corners of my storerooms. You are proposing we just give them away?"

"Not exactly, Sire. They are valuable simply as jewels, and can be an expression of your appreciation for the other leaders' alliances. But…" Here she glanced around at the guards and the few nobles that always seemed to hang around the King in the Throne Room. "If I could, I would like to speak with you alone, as it would concern the safeguarding of Hyrule's greatest treasure."

Harakan's eyebrows shot up. "Indeed. Come with me to my drawing-room, Impa. You are the greatest of my advisors and I trust your judgment."

--

The King sat and Impa stood, the jewels on a table between them. "We give the ruby to the Gorons, the sapphire to the Zora, and the emerald to the Kokiri. We tell them this will symbolize the Temples they keep - the ones dedicated to Fire, Water, and Forest. But they have a double meaning, woven into magic that my people can use to create a binding spell." She arranged the stones in a triangular pattern. "Din, Nayru, and Farore. Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Three keys needed to open the door to the Sacred Realm and the Golden Power."

"But we already have a key to open the doors in the Temple of Time." The King produced a small blue object from a chain around his neck, hidden beneath his robes. "A specific song must be played on this ocarina, a song only I and my wife know. That isn't enough?"

"An ocarina can be stolen." Impa said. She hesitated slightly before speaking further. "Also, we have evidence that others may have learned the tune, though we do not know how."

A flash of anger crossed the King's face. "Traitors! I'll have the heads of those who…"

"With all due respect, your Highness," Impa said softly but firmly, "You cannot purge every member of your court that has ever had an inappropriate thought." The King stiffened at her words, and it was a measure of her importance in the kingdom that he did not have her arrested right then and there for her bold words. "But if we add this extra measure, the Golden Power will be further protected. The leaders of the three other races will be carefully chosen as someone known to be loyal to the Hylian Crown. Anyone who wanted to gain entry to the Sacred Realm would have to not only take your ocarina, but also attempt to take a highly valued item from one of your close allies. They will be sure to report it missing, if the criminal manages to take it from them at all."

The King considered this for several moments, staring hard at the stones. Then a wide grin split his face. "Brilliant, Impa! With one fell swoop, we can clear up relations with the other races, cement ties with allies among them, and keep traitors out of the Sacred Realm without sullying my image as King with further…unfortunate incidents."

Impa merely bowed.

The King picked up the jewels. "I'll have my jeweler create settings for each of them. I'll leave it up to you and your Shekiah spies to determine which would be the best recipient of the jewels. I can always count on Darunia of the Gorons…he's been more than grateful since I had my knights destroy a nest of dragon eggs they found in the foothills, and I know he has a lot of influence on their Patriarch. I don't know about the Zora King…he seems like a fool, but a wise man can play the fool quite easily. I don't even know where to start with the Kokiri…they've never even sent a messenger to my castle."

Impa bowed again. "We will make the determination in the next few days."

"Excellent, Impa, excellent. You are dismissed."

--

The Shadow Temple, the secret meeting place of the Shadow Warriors, kept its entrance on a small ledge overhanging a graveyard. An appropriate place for a people who since long before the arrival of the Hylians had worshiped the thin line between life and death.

All the people of Hyrule worshiped the Golden Goddesses, but each race was drawn to a specific element that one of the Goddesses controlled. Shadow was one of Nayru's elements; for Wisdom came from being able to see in dark places that others could not. She also controlled Water, which could flow anywhere and reshape even mountains with the passage of time.

Din's elements were Fire and Spirit. Fire brought destruction, but also warmth. All of Hyrule had once been Fire, created when Din made the world through the mouth of Death Mountain. Spirit was the essence of Fire in a living being, its immortal soul.

Farore's domain was the Forest, of living beings. All that walked, flew, and swam were her creation. She controlled Light, Shadow's opposite, all that which is bright and obvious in the world.

The Zora worshiped Water as their lifeblood. Fire gave the Gorons their homes and food. Hylians valued the bright Light above all. The Kokiri worshiped the Forest as the source of all life. The desert-dwelling Gerudo aspired to Spirits that could transcend death in their harsh homeland. And the Shekiah lived in the Shadows, forgotten secrets and the evils that lie in the hearts of men.

To the Shekiah, who had always kept one foot in that of the living and one in that of the dead, Shadow seemed natural to them. Shadow was different from Spirit; it was a quiet, contemplative state of being, that kept to itself in corners and forgotten caverns. Spirit was proof that even something dead could still live. Ghosts and Poes were proof of this. Those interred in the Spirit Temple were preserved; the Shekiah found the absence of decay unnatural. But both housed dark magic, very different from that of Light and Forest.

At the Shadow Temple entrance, a series of torches burned in a set pattern, with etched markings on the floor. Each Shekiah had his or her own torch to light. Impa chanted the simple spell that lit her own flame, the only way to gain entry to the Temple. She cast a glance around at the others, to see who was already there, and frowned.

For thousands of years, ever since the Hylian Royal Family had become the protectors of the Golden Power, the Shekiah had been the protectors of the Royal Family. But several dissidents had called for them to pull away from the Hylian royals.

They stood and glared at Impa with arms crossed, at the huge meeting-room at the very depths of the Temple. Mika, Salinor, and Ulgo.

"Good to see the Hylians' lap-dog has finally arrived," Mika sneered by way of greeting, her red eyes flashing crimson in the torchlight. "We were about to hold the meeting without you."

"Without your leader?" Impa's brother, Digo, snarled across the room at her. The dissidents were growing larger; the two factions stood on opposite sides of the room, and now appeared to be almost equal.

"Feh!" Mika's eyes cut into Impa. "We will die out if we continue to follow this course. The Hylian King is a fool, his wife is a step away from death, and his child will not be a male."

An astonished whispering swept through the room. Ulgo raised his hand. "Mika can see the Truth!" he said in a voice that shattered the air around them without shouting. "You can all feel it. Impa is leading us into disaster."

"War is near," Mika announced to the group. "The Hylian Royals will draw us into it. The King cannot keep peace among the other races without his wife's help. Already he has drawn us into his paranoid delusions, forced us to use our darkest arts against people who did not deserve it. Revolution is coming!"

The meeting-room erupted in clamor. " Revolution can only come about if someone brings it to the surface!" Digo shouted over the din. "Is that a call to arms, Mika?! You speak against the Shekiah code!"

More shouting, then shoving. Suddenly a bright flash silenced them as Impa threw a Deku Nut. She held up her hands. "I can see the Truth," she said in a low, calm voice. "I can see farther into the darkness than Mika. Yes, a time of unrest is coming, and it will involve all of Hyrule's people." She put her hands down. "But you forget…we are the guardians of the Royal Family, which are also the guardians of the Golden Power. Would you readily bring chaos when you know we could readily destroy ourselves? We need the Royal Family's support to survive. Without it we are just homeless shadows."

"It is the Royal family that is endangering the Golden Power!" Mika snapped. "When the Hylian King denies the other races their fair due, they will seek it out. The Zora's Temple has been taken from them. The Gerudo have a King, which throughout history have fought the Hylians to secure glory or even mere survival for their people." She pointed an accusing finger at Impa. "The boy whose parents you killed on the King's whim lives at the forest's edge, along with other refugees. Armies of Stalfos will walk the earth again as the Kokiri use the only weapon they have to secure their home!"

"Which is exactly why we must rely on the Royal Family!" Impa shouted back. "We are bound to them. We cannot rely on allies among the other races in the same way."

"A fine benefactor they are!" Mika sneered, with several shouts of agreement behind her as well as Impa. "We are their martyrs and executioners. No longer!"

"What will you do?" Impa demanded as shouts of 'no longer' echoed throughout the room. "Hide in the Temple during the war? Play mercenary? None of these things are worthy of the Shekiah!"

"We will take what is our due!" Mika cried. The air around her swirled with eager shouts and cries of agreement. "We will use that which we have protected to protect ourselves."

"Mika, stop," Impa said in an abnormally calm voice that somehow carried over the shouts. "Stop now before you go too far."

"Silence!" Mika drew her knife and raised it above her head. "No longer will we hide in shadows! We will claim the Golden P-"

A small, sharp throwing knife jutted from Mika's neck, a short spray of blood hitting Ulgo's face. Mika sank to the floor, her eyes still glazed over in heady ambition. She was dead before she hit the ground.

All eyes turned to the one who had thrown the knife, the whole room as silent as a tomb, the shouts of the eager still ringing in their ears. Impa stood, staring at the body of her peer, breathing heavily. She took a deep breath and raised her blood-red eyes to the group.

"None may speak of such a thing," she said slowly, thickly. "This is the Unbreakable Law."

Slowly, Ulgo stooped to the floor and lifted his dead sister's body, Salinor standing protectively next to him. He walked up to Impa, his eyes burning into her. For a few tense moments they just stood there, as the rest of the Shekiah watched. Then he pulled Impa's knife from Mika's neck and spat upon it, eliciting a few gasps from their audience. "Be thankful," he hissed, "that it is the only Law higher than staying one's hand against a peer. Or I would take your head and leave it for demons of the forest."

He tossed the defiled knife back at her and she caught it. The rest of the Shekiah parted as the three marched out of the room.