Don't Mess With Mama Wolf

"You're leaving?"

"Yes. It seems there is nothing left I can do. While the mountain is infested with evil, I am unable to stop it." She stated simply, tying up the remains of a beige tent. "However, I have left word with the zora to contact me should anything unusual occur. So there is no for me to stay here; it is a dead end."

Ashei slung a large pack over her shoulder, the condensed form of her miniature camp, and sauntered over to the entrance of the tunnel, stopping only a slight distance away from Link. Her eyes sagged with dark shadows and frazzled strands of hair stood up on end. Her whole stature seemed to frown with exhaustion and disappointment. The long hours she had spent camping up here, hoping for something to happen, had been spent in vain. The only useful event that happened was Ashei's midnight encounter with the perpetrator, but since then the mysterious white giant had yet to show itself again.

"Link," she said, staring at him with a tiered yet understanding expression, "I would tell you to leave as there is nothing left for you to do up here, yeah? But knowing you, you probably would not listen." Link turned his head to the side shamefully. She was spot on. "I will share with you this instead. Do not underestimate the wilderness, yeah? The moment you do will be the moment she strikes."

She held out her hand, her back poised straight in a semblance of attention, and waited for Link to shake it. The action took longer than expected as she watched Link fumble a slimy fish from one hand to the other. The end result was a gooey hand full of slim he bashfully attempted to wipe on his tunic before presenting. They released hands after a quick one-two and Link was about ready to verbally issue his goodbye, but Ashei cut him off, too interested in the fish to ignore it, "I Would advise against eating that."

Confused, Link scrunched up his face and tilted his head, "Wha-"

"That fish."

He looked down at the amphibious body held in his left hand, finally remembering he had it. "Oh. This." He lifted up the red, streamlined creature to show her. "Actually, I wanted to ask. Is this the fish you saw."

She stood there in the cold with the heavy pack resting on her shoulder, staring at the fish in silence. Link didn't move but felt almost like he was being judged. He was about to glance down at himself to see if something was misplaced, but after having contemplated her answer she confirmed his hypothesis.

Ashei slipped her fingers through the gill and held the body up, getting one last careful look at it then immediately handing it back. "Reekfish, yeah?" Her voice was muffled and distorted behind her hand, "I don't see how that would help you find our thief."

Link wasn't able to say the real reason he needed the fish. It wasn't like he could tell her he was going to follow its smell up the mountain. Quickly he ran through a bunch of plausible excuses, immediately crossing dinner off the list. It smelled bad enough, and it couldn't possibly taste any better. "I- thought it might work as bait. You saw the creature running off with it before, so I thought maybe it'd make easy bait."

"It's worth a shot, but I do not think it will work. The beast I saw is not going to be distracted by a single fish."

He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. She smiled, "I will be heading down Zora's River. There is someone I know down there who might know a way around this blizzard. I will ask him about it. If he knows then I will back to climb this mountain. Should he not, then I will head elsewhere." She patted Link's shoulder as she walked past. "If you need me, ask Telma."

Link replied with an affirming nod. "Until then, yeah?" Ashei removed her hand walked over to the mountain entrance at a brisk pace. He watched her shift easily through the heavy snow and into the tunnel mouth, her form slowly enveloped by darkness until she vanished.

As he turned towards the wilderness he felt his bones give out beneath him. The shift left him face-planting the soft morning snow. His body twitched beneath him, changing shape underneath a dark veil of shadow magic. He struggled to find his footing while fighting for a fresh gulp of air through a snow congested muzzle. It was only moments until his transformation of man to wolf finished, but it was a moment Link endured with his head tucked into the snow and body awkwardly shifting through the blanket of cold.

Unsure of why he was a beast, he swiftly hauled his head free of the fluff and reacquired his footing on an additional two limbs. He let out a wheezing hack and snorted out snow that quickly melted in his mouth. He made faces at the discomforting thought of choking on snow but paid it no further attention and sent the frozen water flying with two massive shakes.

His body now clean and throat clear of snow, he looked up irritably at the imp that floated haughtily just above his head. Her eyes set in a death glare at the fish that lay no more than a few hand lengths away. He snarled lightly at her. While forcing him into a wolf had immediate repercussions, so to speak, the act itself was just plain rude. He would've asked for an explanation, but given the circumstances his mouth was as good as locked. He settled on resting his rear in the snow and his bushy tail thrashing irritatingly in the fluff.

Midna seemed determined not to answer. Her mouth was set in a firm frown and her arms were crossed tightly across her bare chest. She shivered ever so slightly but hid it under a mask of pride. Link sat on the ground, not bothered by the weather, and stared at Midna, the awkward silence growing more and more awkward. He tilted his head to the side and his ears faced forward at attention. He looked at her eyes for a response but they weren't even looking back.

Link wondered what was so import and let his irritation pass in exchange for new found curiosity, but the mysterious object she glared at was just the reekfish he brought. He swiveled his head between the fish and Midna. This was what got her so worked up? A fish?

Link shook his head in disbelief; sometimes Midna could get so riled up about the silliest of things. Must be a princess thing. He padded over to smelly fish, the nasty smell assaulting his sensitive nose and Midna glaring daggers. The moment he took a whiff he immediately wished he hadn't. This thing had some defense mechanism. There was no way any animal with a working nose would attempt a bit out of this thing. He tried to snort away the smell that put Bo's undergarments to shame, but it stood rooted to his snout.

Link shook his head roughly in a disgusted shiver but proceed to sniff the surrounding air for a trail. He held his nose in the air and leaned left and right to pinpoint the lead. Of his discoveries, he found the scent strongest on the direct path up the mountain.

He moved to follow the trail, nearly forgetting Midna was not sitting on his back. Confused, Link breathed in a whiff of frosty air that held Midna's distinct fiery scent and a twinge of burnt wood. He heard, before he saw, a crackling, sizzling flame shoot out from Midna's hand and explode in a brilliant display of muted brown on a now desecrated fish. What once used to be a vibrant, slender fish now existed only as a lump of dark coal on the bright white that surrounded it.

Midna scowled at the smoking lump with disgust and only just noticed Link's blank faced stare. Her glare didn't disappear when she lifted her head to yell at Link, "We are NEVER coming here again." Midna's eyes were flaming with rage but the anger wasn't directed at Link, but a poor, deader fish. "Augh! You know I despise those vermin, and yet you carry the thing for over 15 minutes up a mountain!" She floated up close to Link's muzzle and glared at his eyes. "It was this close, "she held her finger in a near touching state for emphasis, "THIS close to your shadow. To where I was. Arrrgh, I don't even understand why I put up with you sometimes."

She wiped her hands across the snow and looked at the ashes of the reekfish, "I should have you imprisoned, sent away to never be heard from again for everything you make me go through. Really. I should." She added the last part and her short response produced a huff of disbelief from Link. Slowly she hovered away, never ceasing eye contact with the remains. Feet above Link, she dropped her spell and plopped down onto Link's back with an audible thud, and just for good measure she roasted the burnt pile of fish to oblivion with another crackling energy ball.

No longer did the fish exist in some resemblance of an animal. Instead was just a black hole in an otherwise pristine, white surrounding. Midna absent mindedly patted his back twice and Link took that as his cue to leave the rotten smelling carcass behind.

"Ne-ver." She repeated, but Link ignored her complaint and ushered down a few scraggly mountain steps, making Midna gasp and shut up while she shifted her grip on Link's fur. Midna held onto his back as he descended down the steps in quick, efficient bounds. She clenched thick tufts of Link's furry pelt and shifted her weight to bouncing along with Link.

He landed on the bottom of the snow covered expanse and pawed his way over to the icy pond that stretched into the distance. The smell here was weak, washed away by the flowing water. Determined not to lose the only trail they had, he stuck his snout up into the air and breathed in deep whiffs of the chilling afternoon air. What he found wasn't strong but the smell wasn't completely gone. Some of the trail still lingered on the cracked ice blocks the floated across the river.

It was a risky move, but to cross he need to leap across the floating ice that populated the pond. If he fell into the freezing liquid, well at least it wasn't lava. He steeled his nerves and backed away from the edge a bit. Midna sensing what he was about to do clenched his fur tighter as he took off, sprinting towards the floating island. With speed accustomed to his canine form, he leapt from the bank and soared to his desired block, his claws clacking on the ice. He didn't stop there and he let his momentum speed him towards the next chunk. He jumped from island to island, ignoring the cold water that splashed upon his legs when the block dipped under the water. His forelegs tucked into the snow when he landed on the other side, but were easily pulled loose with the help of his sturdy hind legs.

Midna stayed quiet up on his back as his slow gait turned into a steady trot, following the pungent odor of reekfish up the mountain, his paws floating over the heavy layer of snow as if it was an ordinary field of snow. He nearly forgot the icy breeze that blew against his warm hide until he heard the very same quiet imp stuttering in her seat. He tilted his ear back to make sure he heard correctly but sure enough, Midna was clacking her teeth while the rest of her body shuttered on top of his own.

He slowed down his trot to look back at Midna. A light layer frost crusted her side and her tiny hands were tucked into her armpits. She noticed Link staring at her and looked up to meet his stare.

Her eye was half lidded but she still managed to elude an air of irritation as she shoved his concern away. "Keep moving," she insisted but Link did the complete opposite and stopped trotting to stare at his friend.

Her glare hardened, "We need that mirror shard Link. And I refuse to be the reason we can't get it." There was a short staring contest before Link gave in. "So please. Go." He turned around and began to follow the scent again, this time much quicker. In their search to find Link a suitable passage to Snow Peak, Link had forgotten that Midna, while seemingly much more durable to the elements, was still a creature that felt the seasons. On the other hand his think fur had put the cold far out of mind while he stayed warm and able to focus on following the trail that was leading them into the midst of a blizzard.

He turned an eye to his miserable friend, still clattering her teeth as she grasped his fur in rough handfuls. He put it to the front of his mind to pay more attention to the prideful woman's condition because there was no way she was going to tell him if she was in pain. He hoped that the blizzard that swirled around them wasn't enough to hinder Midna much more, and if it was then he hoped he could get out of it faster for her sake.

...

He traveled with one ear attuned to Midna's shaky breathing and the other swiveling back and forth in surveillance as Link traced the stench up the snow flooded forest. As he left Zora's Domain miles behind him the blizzard that had him worried was speeding up. The chilly breeze that racked his body before now became shovels of snow that blasted his side and sent shivers throughout even his warmly coated body. The blizzard left him feeling extremely uncomfortable but Midna was flat out miserable even with all of their nightwear wrapped around her small body. She laid plastered to Link's back in as protection from the wind and he couldn't help but feel guilty that he put his friend through such terrible weather. He would formally apologize when they were both under acceptable.

He sped up raced across the icy landscape, his paws barely sinking more than a few inches only to breach again in powerful bounds. The wind pelted both of them with relentless force but he trudged forward, following the smell into the unknown of the blizzard. His friend's condition was at the forefront of his mind but he stayed in tuned to his surroundings, listening for anything abnormal, but the howling had left him deaf and blind while he trudged onwards.

It wasn't until blazing eyes peeked through the shroud of the storm that Links noticed the approaching creatures. They stood hidden within the winds, never quite revealing themselves fully. Link let out a short bark to notify Midna of the approaching danger. From her perch on Link's back she looked out into the horizon to find the red eyes glaring back at her.

"T-they're...wol-fos."

He looked up at Midna who bundled herself into a small compressed form underneath the blankets. Even though she was shivering in a noticeable way, her darkened eye poked through the covers with determination and awareness embedded in them. He turned his head back around and kept a close eye on the approaching animals. If his friend was ready for a fight despite her condition then so was he.

Link kept running up the mountain at a speedy pace. Midna sat at attention and Link kept his ears pricked up, but minutes of silence followed. The wolves followed the pair up the mountain, but they kept their distance, creeping in and out of the snowy landscape without a whisper. Sometimes they would jump towards him, allowing Link to see their glowing body, but they would soon skitter back into winds taking minutes occasionally before their bright eyes would resurface. All the while they seemed to be chanting the word leave at every waking moment.

Each time they jumped they got a little bit closer. Close enough where one of them tried to land a bite. The attack fell short as Link jumped to the side. He wheeled back around only to find the same wolfos disappearing into the snow. Link took the instance to escape and shot away from the encircling canines.

He kept his nose up locked on the fishy stench and sprinted towards origin, but the wolfos continued to follow, popping in and out of the snow like groundhogs. He heard their violent threats behind them and could smell the aggressive musk that surrounded each body. Four ran up beside side him, occasionally leaping at Link but always missing by hair's breadth.

He raced into the snow and heard Midna warp away her blankets to provide room for her with levitating her hair. Her hair was heated with magic and ready should any of the wolfos that she meant business.

As he ran through the icy field a wolfos shot up from the snow in front and was headed straight for Link. He dodged to the left, leaving the Wolfos to skid to a stop, head buried deep underneath. The assault didn't stop there though. Just as the first Wolfos wiggled its way under the snow, successfully disappearing, another came up from his side and pounced. Link let out a surprised yelp when he found himself tumbling in the snow with an angry wolfos snapping its jaws at Link.

"Link!" Midna shouted. She floated above head, having been thrown off in the tumble, and readied her hair to shove off the animal. It became a struggle to pry the white breast away and land a strike of his own onto its flank. It whined in pain as it struggled to break free of Link's maw, only doing so when he purposely released it and allowed it to scurry back underground, a browned and tangy trail of blood flowing after it.

Midna plopped back on just in time to swipe her magic hand across an approaching Wolfos. It went flying and in the mean time Link took off after the scent once again. He needed to get out of there before more Wolfos came, and fast, he could already hear Midna's teeth clacking as she braved the cold without any protection.

His ascent up the mountain morphed into an obstacle course as he leapt around emerging bodies. Two more dug themselves out of the snow and came at him and twice did he manage to successfully evade their attack. But the farther up the mountain he climbed the more frequent and more aggressive their attacks became. Their movements practically shouted "This is mine. Leave", and nor was their own smell none too subtle. They practically reeked of possessive pheromones.

Midna didn't let the situation fly by her either. "Link," she called, but between the barking and growling pack of prowling wolfos and the howling storm the call came out only as a muffled mumble, but he heard her anyway, " we n-need... to do some-stthing!" She batted away an incoming snout, "They jusst keep coming."

He listened to her and whirled around. It seemed he had to get rid of the creatures before he could progress. His stride broke when a wolfos lunged, and he found himself rolling head first into the biting snow. Behind him he heard the wolfos and its pack gather themselves around Link with daunting howls.

It happened in only a split second, but as he heard the tell tale signs of Midna's crackling magic surround the predators the snow beneath his paws collapsed and Link's body fell into a weightless existence for only a moment before the ground came crashing against him. He had fallen through the ground into a shallow ditch beneath the snow, with various passageways leading to darkness.

"LINK!"

His ear twitched and he turned around to stare at the entrance not far above. A dark blob floated through the hole and popped itself on his back. "What are you doing?! GO!" He immediately got to his feet and entered the first of the many abysmal halls. The beam of light faded into a distant point as the surrounding terrain turned into a shadowy void that even his sharp vision helped little to pierce. Not even the screaming blizzard outside could penetrate the emptiness inside these tunnels.

He kept sprinting, down one corridor and up the next. The maze never seemed to end and it was as if the tunnels stretched the whole expanse of the mountain. All the while the panting barks stayed consistent behind him, never dispersing, but Midna's hurried commands where all he paid attention to.

All around he searched for an exit but could not find one. The walls around him all blended into one as he passed by countless passageways. Nothing changed and he was beginning to despair. He believed he had lost his way, but even so he needed to escape. His stamina would not last forever running at full speed, and his lungs were already bursting with exhaustion.

He looked to Midna but even her eyes waded through the darkness unsure of where to go. Out of options, Link held up his nose in hopes of a trail, but the scent of reekfish was too far off, the only smell that floated through the area was that of milk. He made a turn at the next junction and pursued the lacteous scent. In best case scenario the trail led to a cattle farm. It was highly unlikely for there to be cows so far up the mountain, but one can always hope.

However, the closer Link got to the source the more obscured the scent became, to the extent of calling it wolfish. It was strange and he wanted to discover the origin, but he could only hope he didn't run into a wall on his way there.

The frantic barks kept their distance behind him, perhaps just a little bit farther off, as he made turn after turn in pursuit of the milky scent. Midna said nothing while Link spun through the low ceilinged hallways, for she trusted Link blindly to lead them to safety. But as he ran Link soon began to realize the mysterious new scent really was that of a wolfos. He had no time to turn around though because behind him he could still hear growls and harsh barks bleeding their way through the tunnels.

There was no way but forward left to go. He had dug himself into a trap and he could no longer get out. So Link did the next worst thing and decided to confront the danger head on. He quietly let out a little bark to warn Midna, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her glowing form give a tight bob up and down, shivering slightly.

His paws flew across the shadowy ground as he raced towards the wolfish smell. If he was going to be caught in a trap then it was better for him to confront it first and get the advantage. But when he rounded the corner the only thing that stood its paw's to face him down were three little balls of fur that were huddled together in a tiny heap. Their tiny forms quivered in a thin ray of light, and he could hardly make out the individual forms from one another. But none the less, before him lay three individual beings that were most likely wolfos pups. The smell of milky-wolf that pervaded his nostrils floated around the sleeping canines who appeared oblivious to the echoing cries just around the corner, only stirring slightly to peek at Link with their sapphire pupils.

"Is that...wolfos?" Midna breathed. Her hitched breath sounded concerned-"LINK! MOVE!" He bolted forward just in time to feel a jet of air whoosh past his hindquarters. Link spun to face the pair of glowing burnt umber pupils.

"YoU WiLl LeAvE Us InTrUdEr!" The beast cried before leaping once more, enticing a whimper from Link as its long fangs scratched across his flank, "YoU WiLl LeAvE Me AnD My CuBs BeFoRe I RiP YoU To ShReDs!" Cubs? He cast a glance towards the lumps. Her Cubs.

"Over here!" Link turned his head to the floating form highlighted by a single streak of light, "Jump up here, I think we can get out!" Midna jarring voice broke through the sound of a dozen different furious wolves, even the pups were awake and making distressed whimpering. He only had maybe ten seconds before the previous trial of wolfos caught his own tail, so he took Midna's word without question.

He let his hind legs do the work and jumped towards the single ray of light. His powerful legs transported him to the light as well as beyond it as he felt the dirt ceiling and soon thick layers of freezing snow pelt his forehead.

Link landed heavily on the fluffy blanket and shook the powder off of his hide. When a familiar weight landed on his back he took off into the distance, not caring which way was what as long as he escaped the pursuing hounds who continued to flow out of his exit in ones and twos. But the further he ran the quieter the growls and threats became.

At one point, he didn't even know when, he tripped, falling head over heels and sent Midna flying to a stop mid-air. She let out an irritated exclamation but stopped short when she spied the exhausted form of Link collapsed in a heap on the ground. She hovered over the heaving form and laid down next to him, ignoring the biting cold. She placed her tiny paw upon his snout and stroked gently.

"It's okay," she whispered, "they're not chasing anymore." Link cracked open a tired eye to witness Midna staring solemnly in the distance. He pushed into her hand, drawing her attention. "Well," she smiled mischievously, "at least she wasn't in heat."

Link huffed and turned away, Midna still cackling. He glanced at her once more before he took a rest. He was glad she was safe.

Omg, so who saw that new trailer? ItwasfuckingawesomeIcan'twaittoplayit. Eeek! OK fan girl over, sorry for the swearing.

So it has officially been what...forever? Yeah. I'm not dead, I'm still kicking. Maybe I should stop but there always seems to be that never ending puddle that keeps me alive somehow . Suffering. Suffocating in my own poor writing.

Yeah. Up next we have probably the story you actually came here for but gave up because it wasn't in the first four chapters~~~ Link meets the people of Ordon! ~~as a wolf~ yay. Really what else do I call it?

OK so this story is a stand in for another story I'll probably never get to write because there's no logical way to make it take place, at least that I can think of, and also serve as a correction for chapter 2, about the dates on mating habits. (Because I'm far too lazy to go back and fix it, I made a new story so I didn't have to be wrong.) I don't actually remember when I said but basically mating happens earlier than whatever I said. Pups are in late spring usually.

OK so I've had a hard time trying to find eyesight related stuff for wolves or a lot of stuff for that matter. There's just not a lot of research done. But for the sake of my humanity wolves will be slightly red green colorblind. If you know anything please share. I know I probably make a lot of mistakes but I do try and do a lot of research, but there's just so many points to cover it gets hard.

So for Midna I made her fight standing up a bit only because it made no sense for her to still be on Link's back when he's tumbling around. You wouldn't want to stay on a horse's back when it falls, would you? You'd get crushed.

The wolfos style here is kinda a bit of my own head canon, ? For me to make sense of them they live in snowy terrain, like wolves, but don't travel quite as much. They generally stay in the same spot all year round living in an extensive network of tunnels underground. They hunt by popping in and out of their network. When they dive correctly, like say a swimmer's dive, then the snow just kinda fixes itself. But it doesn't work for link because he just kinda belly flops into the cave. They also have large claws like in OoT and MM to help them dig. Kinda like moles.

I won't be capitalizing races because when you replace it with human, that's not capitalized, it makes no sense to capitalize zora, or goron, etc.

Any questions comments corrections, I'm open to suggestions and love hearing your voices. Sorry if there's a lot of errors. I only proofread once.

To those who have favorite, followed, and reviewed, thank you all so much! You're awesome people please continue to read. I'm sorry if I don't respond usually but it's mainly just because I'm lazy and don't know what to say. I do read everything so if there's a good question to be answered I'll definitely respond.

Questions

1) How the heck do you guys find this story? It's not like its popular or anything.

2) So with this I wanted to portray two things, well kind of one, and Link's new found nonchalance at adventuring as well as his comfortableness with his wolf form. How'd I do?

3) I really did not like this chapter. There's something wrong (you know like my writing).I'm thinking it feels distant? Impersonal? What do you guys think? Oh and how was my action scene?

4) So this is written in 3rd person Link limited, but there were a few sentences that deviated to Midna's view. I didn't really know how to write it otherwise. Would you guys like more of this? Or would you rather me continue to interpret Link's view of Midna? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

The Legend of Zelda does not belong to me, nor do I own anything. It's all fan work. Besides, if I owned it there would already be a steam punk work. Are game titles underlined?