-Chapter 4-

||"There's nothing you can ever say, nothing you could ever do. Still every night I fall, every night I scream your name. Every night I fall, every night my dream's the same."
"Burn" – The Cure ||

Shad looked blank for a moment, his breathing light. His brow furrowed slightly as he appeared to think deeply.

"Mr. Shad," one of the princess's servants, Lily said, "the Princess would like to see you," "Do you know what it's about?" he asked. Lily twirled her dress for a moment before giving him a playful smile – she had a crush on him and enjoyed bothering him- before replying, "Maybe. You'll have to see for yourself sir!" Be he could counter, little Lily scampered down the massive hallway. Shad allowed himself a small grin - Lily would cause some boy a lot of trouble when she got older.

The little talk with Lily had improved Shad's previous mood, he went with springing steps to the Princess Zelda's reading room, which also happened to be her calling chambers.

"Your Highness?" he asked with a knock as he came to the door. "Shad? Come in! And how many times must I tell you, please call me Zelda. We have been friends for ages, we should not have to use such formalities." He weakly returned her beaming smile as he shut the door behind him. The room was set up like a study, with a table or two in the corner, and a few armchairs near a fireplace, now vacant.

"Oh Shad, it's so wonderful!" the princess said, twirling in a small circle. "Do you notice anything different about me?" "Umm…" Shad managed, turning his attention to her speech. She was wearing a new dress, but he had a feeling that the dress wasn't what she wanted him to notice. "Do you.." he began, until he saw it. A humble ring, with an Ordon sapphire set in it. Giving his best false smile as he returned to his melancholic mood, he stated "He proposed!" "Yes! Isn't it wonderful?" She threw her arms around him for a moment, giving him a hug while saying "Please say that you'll come. it just wouldn't be the same without my best friend!" Friend, he thought. Friend. As he returned the hug, she added "Oh, I forgot, I have to go and help plan! I'll see you later Shad!" He tried to speak as she hurried past him, leaving him alone in the room. He slumped down near one of the many bookshelves in the center of the room, and finally allowed him to cry.

"Shad?" he heard Rusl ask. "Oh, yes" he replied, "That's simply wonderful. The perfect match, isn't it? The hero and the princess…" He smiled bitterly as Colin chimed in his agreement. Ashei put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, and he placed his own hand over it, gripping it gently in silent gratitude.

"Well," Uli said. "I believe that it was time we set out. We wouldn't want to be late." Uli patted his arm as the family went by, telling him that it was good to have seen him again. It sounded legitimate. In return, she received one of his weak smiles. he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. As they heard the door shut softly, Shad allowed himself to slump forward, and laid his head on the table without bothering to remove his glasses. Ashei gave him a gentle hug before going back to Telma's quarters for a nap.

Telma stared at him for a moment before leaning down towards his ear, whispering "Honey, as smart as you are, you act pretty stupid sometimes" before following Ashei.

||"Every night I fall, 'Scream' the animals scream." ||

Shad had a small glass of milk before him. When he had gotten it, it had been cold but now it was warm – very off-putting. Ashei had been asleep for about two hours, and he was now considering waking her up so they could get going. First they would have to get cool clothing, and then they would go to see Auru. When he entered Telma's quarters, he saw that Ashei was already awake. The two women were conversing lightly. Upon seeing him enter, they cut off their talk and Ashei started to leave. As Shad made to follow her, Telma told him, "Come back soon..and make sure that you're well."

"Ashei", Shad asked as their way towards her home, "did you tell her?"

"No Shad, I didn't. She's not stupid, she could tell." "Oh…" They came to the house – it was simply decorated, just as Shad had expected. It wasn't that he assumed she was poor, he just knew that Ashei wasn't the type of person to invest in pointless adornments. Ashei wasn't poor, but she wasn't very rich either. It seemed like mere seconds before Ashei had gathered up what she needed and begun making her way to the door. Since he could tell that something was wrong, in his own delayed way, he grabbed her shoulder.

"Ashei, why are you so angry?

"Because, Shad" she said as she turned to face him, "I feel exactly like you do at the moment" A confused look passed over his features before he caught her meaning. Giving her a genuine smile, he gave her a peck on the cheek before squeezing her hand. Then he took her bags, and led them towards his place of residence. He seemed to have a little more spring in his step as he went. With a momentary look of pleasant surprise, she reached up to touch her still-tingling skin before following him.

Once they finally got everything that was required, they had to find out how they would get to the Gerudo Mesa where Auru was rumored to be staying. By letter, Hyrule had discovered from Auru that a colony of the Gerudo still existed in a sheltered corner of the mesa. This would be the place they would aim for. Ashei had an idea of how to get there – but she had to think of how to word it first.

"Ya know, I heard that there's some guy named Fyer at Lake Hylia with a canon. He uses it to shoot people up and out of the lake to Fabi's Flight by Fowl, whatever that is… But anyway, I think that he shoots people to the desert as well. We could try that!" Shad gave her a look which clearly expressed his beliefs on such a thing. "Yes…or we could have the Zoras guide us down on the waterfall. I don't think that the cuccos could carry our things down from Fabi's place. "Hah! Yes. While everyone was wondering where you were Shad, a path was built that leads down into the Lake. Since it's one of Hyrule's biggest attractions, the monarchy decided that we would be able to generate more revenue if the visitors could actually get down to the Lake."

"Really? How wonderful. Let's take that then." So, the couple made their way down into Lake Hylia, and had plans to go to Fyer so they could be shot, luggage and all, into the Mesa. However, what caught their attention first was not Fyer's canon.

"Oh…my! It's the sky canon!" "Whut?" Ashei exclaimed as Shad hurried over to it. "It's the sky canon! But how did it get out here?..." Link could be the only explanation, he realized. But still…to be able to examine it without Link and that disturbing shadow around! Perhaps he could finally come a little closer to finding out what he wished to know of the Oocca….Were they created before the Hylians? Were they the Hylians' distant ancestors? Frantically, he examined the canon for any type of writing, but much to his despair, there was nothing.

"Yo kids!" Fyer called, waving an arm in the air. "Be careful, that canon works you know." While Ashei took in Fyer's odd outfit – which disturbingly showed off his protruding gut – Shad renewed his search, this time looking for the firing mechanism. There was a large bar of sorts that ran along the back of the canon; Shad assumed that he could get into the canon by standing on it, but he was unable to pull himself onto it.

"Ashei" he said, "would you mind giving me a leg up? Let's see what this thing is on the end." "Alright…"

After a few minutes, they were able to get inside, with Ashei pushing him up onto the bar, and Shad pulling her up after him. As Shad pulled himself up into the canon, he exclaimed "My goodness, how large it is!"

Both persons could easily stand up inside of this strange canon. "Wow, what's this?" There was a sort of grate with a red circle in the center of it in the back area of the canon section they currently occupied. As he moved a hand to touch it, Ashei said "Shad, wait a second…" She did not want to find out what it did.

"Huh?" he asked, turning towards her as he pushed the button. Darkness engulfed them as the hatch of the canon fell shut.

"Nice goin' there genius" Ashei said, punching his unseen shoulder.

"Ow…" he vocalized as he rubbed the now tender flesh. "Calm down, I can get us out." Shad moved past her and tried to push open the hatch, but to no avail.

"Hmph." Shad couldn't see the expression on Ashei's face, but he was sure that it was one of non-amusement. He was about to apologize when suddenly a noise sounded around them.

"Um...Ashei?" "What's that noise?" The rumbling became even louder until it abruptly stopped."Oh shit" Shad eloquently managed, before they were both fired into the blue expanse of the sky, with mutual screaming.

Ashei was majorly pissed with Shad at the moment if you would pardon her crudeness. This was due to the fact that all of her things were now thousands of miles below her. Plus, she was soaking wet. When they had been fired into the air due to Shad's stupidity, they had landed in a pond of sorts – and while it wasn't deep, Ashei had ended up having to drag Shad to shore with her because he apparently couldn't swim. She had been very tempted to let him drown, the idiot. It didn't help that there were some very brisk winds blowing, even though they weren't that strong.

Once they had gotten to shore, Ashei left him panting on the ground as she took in her surroundings. There was a large building of sorts to her left, and straight ahead was a small building with a domed ceiling. It appeared to only contain one room. It seemed like it was a good place to start, she made her ways towards it, leaving Shad behind. "H-hey, wait for me Ashei!" he managed to gasp out, and followed her inside.

Ashei was...surprised…by what the building contained. It was a shop, yes, and there was nothing too out of the ordinary about that, but there was a very strange sort of music playing in the background, and there was a - thing - that appeared to be running it. Shad stumbled into the room, dropping a hand on her shoulder while trying to catch his breath. "Don't..be so..mad…We're alive aren't we?" He looked up at her to better get her reply, and saw that she was giving something a very odd look. Shad followed her gaze to see…

"My goodness - an Oocca!" The Oocca looked very unamused, and let out a short tirade in her language reflecting her opinion of Hylians. Shad balked slightly before replying to her tirade in a more gentle tone.

Ashei went outside to let Shad talk as much as he liked – she had the feeling that she wouldn't understand what was being said in the first place. As she stepped outside, she nearly tripped and fell. Looking around her feet she saw … another one of those creepy Oocca things. She tried to step around it, but it just kept following her. Giving an exasperated cry, Ashei, even though she was sure that it wouldn't understand her, asked it what it wanted.

"You are one of the Hero's friends, are you not? I am Ooccoo, and this little devil is my son, Ooccoo Jr. " The strange creature poked one of it's wings behind her and knocked what appeared to be a flying head from behind her. "Hi!" it said sheepishly. Ashei assumed that this was Junior. Ashei also decided that these things were creepy. "Hi." "So, you helped Link in his quest, yeah?" she asked, putting one hand on her hip and tilting slightly. "Indeed!" the Oocca replied. "And let me tell you about my perspective of things..."

Back inside the shop, Shad was trying to discover what his father had pursued his entire life, and his own in turn. "So," he asked breathlessly, "did your race create the Hylians, or did the Goddesses?"

"Goodness, of course we didn't." The creature, whose name was Ictsla, laughed slightly. "No fingers for those fine parts" she added with a grin, pointing out her wings. I suppose that we were made to take up permanent residence in the sky - to keep the clouds company." She winked. "I honestly don't know, but that seems like a good way of looking at it to me. What I mean is there are all of the animals on the ground, and all of the creatures that inhabit the sea. Birds can fly, of course, but they can't stay up here all the time. That's what we're here for. Perhaps we keep the Goddesses company as well from being so close to them." she finished.

"What an interesting way of looking at it...If you don't mind my asking, how did you manage to build this city? How does it stay afloat? It is truly marvelous."

"Yes, odd how we can build such a thing without hands, isn't it? I'm afraid I can't really explain how we built it to you, because it is far to complicated. However, the reason that we stay afloat is with magnets." the creature said, with a little bit of aloofness in her tone.

"Magnets?" Shad replied, looking slightly confused. "Yes. You know that the earth has a magnetic field, yes? Well, we have magnets of the base of the city which forces it up into the air. Quite clever of our ancestors, if I do say so myself."

"Quite!" Shad exclaimed excitedly, having had to close his mouth. It was mind numbing just to know that he was even in the presence of an oocca, much less speaking to it. His poor mind couldn't really handle a lot of coherent speech at the moment. "Well, it certainly has been wonderful speaking to you, but I believe that my companion and I should return to Hyrule. I don't believe it would be wise to breath such thin air for a long time for we Hylians." Shad stated, extending a hand to shake Ictsla's wing.

"True, true. Well, it has been nice talking to you Shad. Come and visit again sometime!" she replied, shaking his hand.

Shad happily stepped outside the shop to find a shivering Ashei, and let out a small yelp when the brisk winds reminded him of his wet clothing. Ashei was speaking to another Oocca, he saw, and she appeared to be freezing as well. They waved goodbye to each other, and so Shad went over to her. "Are you ready to leave, Ashei?" "Yes. I would love to get into some dry clothing, and go somewhere warm." So, they went over to the cannon with their things, and once they climbed in, they flew down into Lake Hylia, once again with cries of fright.

Now, they were back on their native soil. They grinned at each other for the knowledge they had gained, and went off to the Lake shrine to change out of their twice-soaked clothing into something warmer. Once she was dressed, Ashei turned to see Shad fumbling around with his tie. Apparently, it did not want to obey him. With a grin, she went over and tied it around his neck. Then, effectively dragging Shad past anything else that could draw his attention, Ashei took him to Fyer's cannon so that they could get to Auru. After another fit of yells, they and their things reached the Gerudo Mesa, with the only damage being a bit of sand in their hair.

Brushing the sand out of his hair, Shad stood up while lending Ashei a hand. Looking around, they both wondered where they were to go next. "Well, Auru is staying with a hidden group of the surviving Gerudo, or said he said in his letter. They are supposed to encamped near the ruins in front of the temple, where the Bublins were recently… Yeah." "Do you think there might still be some Bublins left? They do travel around a lot, and after Link left they might have decided that since Ganondorf is gone, they wouldn't be thought of as a threat. They might have resettled, is what I'm trying to say." Ashei closed her mouth – she had been abut to tell him to get on with it already. She loved him, yes, but boy did it take him a while to get to the point.

Having landed in the desert, Shad and Ashei needed to find Auru and the Gerudo settlement. They searched the sands for their belongings, and as Shad pushed his glasses a little bit further up his nose, they made their way across the Gerudo Mesa. The mesa was named for the large amount of the Gerudo race which had previously lived in the area. The Gerudo had broken off the main group when Hyrule had first been settled so many years ago. Once, a Waterfall had run beside it, and the chasm from its path was the only evidence of it that remained. A temple to the Spirit Sage Nabooru's had also resided there, which was now the location of the place where Link had fought the giant Stalfos.

They crossed the desert for several hours until they had to find shelter for the night. The desert had become seemingly larger without the original Gerudo settlement at the entrance, even though it had only expanded by a little due to the erosion of the mountains around it. The air became colder as the sun sank further don, and they began scouring the edges of the desert for caves to provide them shelter. Just as the last bit of light was disappearing, they saw a small cave that would be sufficient for their needs. So, they made their way over to it. They gave the cave a quick run through for safety before putting down their things and starting a fire. After eating a small meal, they went to sleep.

Ashei awoke to growling. As she opened her eyes, she saw Shad, with his back to her, facing off against something. Taking her weapon and jumping to her feet, she turned to see another Wolfos. Apparently, they had trespassed on the creature's land, despite the fact that their had been no sign that it was inhabited. Ashei quickly stabbed the creature as it lunged for her, causing it to crumple in a heap. She turned in Shad's direction to see him dispose of the other Wolfos.

Shad realized he couldn't see, so he felt around the sands for his glasses, and heard an awful crunch. Moving his knee to the left, he felt his glasses under his hands to see what he'd heard. He felt his glasses, now with a cracked right lens. "Oh, dammit!" he exclaimed, doing his best to blow the bits of sand off of his lenses. He knew that if he rubbed them off, they would do further damage to his glasses by putting deep scratches in them. Pulling himself up off the ground he carefully bent the frames back into shape.

"Shad, are you okay?" Shad adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and slowly drew his hands away from his face, as though afraid that his glasses would fall to pieces if he moved too quickly.

"Yeah. I think they should be okay until we get to the settlement." His vision was slightly distorted in his right eye due to the crack in the lens, but it wouldn't cause him any long term damage in the time it would take the to reach the settlement. They were slightly off center, but that would have to do. Ashei noticed that he was holding onto his chest.

"Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm just a little winded. I'll be okay". Ashei decided to just leave him alone and let him cope while she prepared the Wolfos meat – there was no sense in letting it go to waste when they were low on supplies. They might be able to trade the skins for something useful once they reached he Gerudo settlement. After having dinner, they once again made their way towards the settlement, Shad's glasses clinging to existence around his ears. Every so often he had to reach up and readjust them so he could see, but he consoled himself with the fact that he could most likely get them repaired at their destination. The thought of this was enough to make him start humming a Hylian song form his childhood, much to the amusement of Ashei. Deciding to let him be, she re-adjusted her pack and followed him further up the path.

Eventually, they came to a semi-clearing, partially hidden by heavy brush. Gently pushing it aside. Shad poked his head through, looking around quickly before telling Ashei that the coast was clear. Unfortunately, the next thing Shad saw was a large furry thing on top of him and the spear of a guard pointed at his face.