Castle Town was bustling.

Link had spent his full day yesterday doing quick street research, studying maps of the town and marking off any areas that he wanted to avoid. He didn't want to step out into the country masquerading as an Advisor and have no clue where he was going-something that would surely blow his cover-and he was somewhat satisfied at his ease in learning the area.

He sat, sipping a bitter drink, from a place called Telma's in the western area of town. He had insisted on something without any alcohol, but the bartender had rolled her eyes and offered him this. The sun only just beginning to flood the streets with late morning light, but he hadn't slept much, and the only other patrons of the bar were people who had been too hungover to stumble down the cobblestone streets last night. He suspected that the bartender, a robust woman named Telma (as she had told him, she was Telma the ninth, after the original woman who owned the bar hundreds of years ago) was making a killing off of operating not only as a place for drink but as a place to get a morning meal. The place was darkly lit and bordered on a seedy neighborhood, but it didn't seem to be bad, so Link was taking his chances.

Link sighed and threw a blue rupee down on the counter. "Keep the change, Ms. Telma."

"Call me Miss again, boy, and I'll throw you out of my place."

He chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the drink."

Link slid off of the bar stool and pulled his light brown cape back on over his tunic. He thought he looked ridiculous, but the wardrobe in his guest suite wasn't meant for practicality at first glance. He had settled on a strange, evergreen tunic, white tights and boots, in addition to the lightweight cape. Before he had left, he had also grabbed the matching, floppy green hat-another addition he found silly, yet had seen the style on many politicians and scholars and advisors. They always wore something flashy and unusual.

Following the Princess Zelda's advice, he had a small blade in his pocket. A lot of nobles he had noticed yesterday carried a decoration bow and quiver for show, so he followed suit and thanked the Goddesses that he at least knew how to shoot straight.

He walked out of the bar, down the street, and made a left, again unsure of what he was exactly supposed to be doing. He didn't like lying, but found some amusement in the strange stories he was telling people. Finding a small blacksmith shop, he walked in. "Good morning," he smiled, a little nervous upon finding that the head smith was a large Goron. Over the insistent clanging of hammers on red hot metal, he began his normal speech. "I'm an Advisor of the Princess Zelda and am...collecting information about public opinion regarding the Castle and city business codes. It's a very in-depth assignment, so any information you'd like to share will fit in perfectly. It's all going in the Archives."

The Goron grunted. "Does she even read the Archives?"

Link swallowed a little nervously. "Oh, well, I'm sure she does when she has time."

This seemed to placate the Goron a little, even if he didn't believe it. "In case you haven't noticed, buddy," the Goron started, "this area of town is getting hit pretty hard by all sorts of problems."

"My apologies, sir," Link apologized, his voice remaining conversational. After spending a day in the castle, he knew the ways that the other Advisors-who didn't really write much in the Archives, but what they did write was purely about the Castle events-and Councilmen and other Nobles spoke to lower-class citizens. He didn't like it, but for the sake of secrecy, he mimicked it. "What type of trouble?"

"I've got the Rosulyla breathing down my neck for half of my earnings and the guards just sit by and watch it. Actually, I asked for help once, even though they never did anything before. They told me I'd have to give them-get this-a thousand rupees for them to do anything about it. You know how long it takes me to make a thousand rupees, son?"

Link, who would normally object to being called son by someone he didn't know, didn't really know what to say, so he went with the callous silence that Nobles used when presented with information they didn't really want to know.

"About a month, and that's more than the Goddess-damned Rosulyla want. I have a family. They live upstairs, dealing with this noise-" he paused, letting his point be proven by a loud bang from the back of the room, "and to live on half wages is just inadequate. I've gone to every meeting and event to try and report these guards, but no one seems to listen. My letters to the Councilmen are constantly met with more 'I'm so sorry, reelect me and I'll try and help with guard corruption'. I can't deal with this any more."

"Who, exactly, are these guards?" Link strived to keep his voice calm and collected, not showing any of the sympathy he felt towards the Goron.

"The ones that get assigned to this area every other day. Seems they've got some kind of secured position there. They're here today, actually."

"And the Rosulyla? They take your money?"

"They threatened my family," the Goron said, his face, made of rock anyway, seemingly hardening. "They told me that if I didn't give them what they wanted, I wouldn't have to worry about feeding them anymore."

"Now...these individuals...can you give me a description?"

"Every time, it's someone new. Always says that they're in charge of collections for that day. Won't listen to begging or pleading."

Link winced. Even with the prestigious attitude and behavior, he couldn't entirely cover his disgust with the whole situation in Castle Town. "Ah. And, hmm, what else..." he pretended to look over notes in a small leather bound notepad. "And business?"

"It's fine. I make weapons and prison bars, both of which are pretty vital right now."

"Who are your biggest customers?"

The Goron smiled, a sad sardonic smile. "Well, it's the Guard, and the Rosulyla."

"That'll be all," Link concluded, turning and walking out of the shop. To his pleasure, a trio of Hylian Guards were sauntering down the street, suited up in heavy chrome armor. They were laughing boisterously amongst themselves, helmets held under their arms. One was snacking on a large loaf of bread that he grabbed from a streetside cart without paying for. The attendant didn't even protest.

Link marched up to them. They paused for a moment, evaluating him, before straightening up and giving him a polite greeting. "I'm an Advisor for the Castle. I need all of your names for the Guard Attendance and Service Log." He pulled the name out of thin air, but the guards seemed to buy it. He handed them his notebook and they scribbled out their names.

Link wasn't quite sure what he intended to do about all of this; the guard corruption, the Rosulyla, the Councilmen's apathy, the fading pride in Hyrule as a whole. All he knew was that he was getting every name he could of every crooked guard and every laughing criminal, as well as the little bits of information that he gathered from storekeepers and locals, like the biggest customers of blacksmiths or the regulars at a bar on a certain night. He was beginning to understand his assignment, and it was becoming more and more monumental.

He had never realized just how bad it was getting in Castle Town or in any of the more populated areas of the country. He had, after all, grown up in Ordon, in the Faron Woods region, on a ranch in a pin-prick small town and it was only a few months ago when he came to Castle Town. And even then, he had stayed close to the castle and military quarters. Anything he had heard of the Rosulyla was limited to what was officially written-he hadn't, until talking to the Goron, heard anything of their criminal reach. Add in the corruption of guard members and politicians, and he was seeing more and more logic behind Zelda's suspicions that somebody wanted her dead, just for the sake of adding more chaos into the situation.

With a long sigh, he put his hat back on and strolled down the cobblestone streets to the next store.

/

"Princess Zelda?"

Zelda looked up from the ancient text she was thumbing through, eyes piercing to the ajar door. One of the guards stuck his head in. "Commander Chief Ralis is here and says he has interesting news for you."

She smiled pleasantly. "Sure. Please send him in."

The guard stepped aside and a wide-eyed Ralis entered, shaking his head and shutting the door. "Princess, I just saw something that I truly can't believe and I could use your confirmation on the subject. I am hoping that I am hallucinating, but, really, I don't think I am."

She eyed him strangely. He was dripping wet and looked a little dirty. "Were you swimming in the...moat?" Zelda stood, walked to her wardrobe, and tossed him a towel. "What did you see?"

"I swam up from Lake Hylia. I was overseeing an aquatic training exercise, took a small walk away from the group, and saw-well, anyway, yes, I was in the moat, because it was the quickest route to the castle from the lake. Also, you need to replace the metal gate that blocks the entrance, it's all rusted out..."

"What did you see at the lake, then?" Zelda subtly let her eyes flicker back the text. As much as she liked Ralis, it did annoy her that he was taking so long to get to the point.

He noticed. "I'm sorry for intruding, but Princess, I believe I saw a group of Twili."

Her eyebrows rose skyward, surprise filtering through her body. There were a few beats of silence, in which Zelda mentally scanned over every drop of information she had read regarding the Banished Ones. The most recent piece was from hundreds of years ago, when, supposedly, a Twilight Princess had destroyed the Mirror of Twilight, the only known link between the realms in the first place. Since then, there had been no contact, and most people had forgotten the existence of the Twilight Realm.

"At...Lake Hylia?" She tried to repress a smile, but the corners of her mouth turned up. Seeing that Ralis looked completely serious, Zelda cocked her head. "You don't look like you're kidding around, Ralis. What did you see? How many? What did they look like? What were they doing? Did you talk to them?"

"They were on the other bank, opposite of me..." his cheeks colored slightly. "And, to be honest, I was quite alarmed and didn't know if they were...hostile, and I didn't want to involve the soldiers in training, so I headed straight here. Regarding what I saw, though, there were four of them. All very tall, thin. One woman with dark blue skin, very odd red hair, and cyan markings all over her body. One was ghostly and a strange light blue gray color, the tallest of the group, wispy purple hair. Another was dressed very regally. White hair. Ashy gray skin. And then there was a shorter one, longer purple hair, palest of the group, who appeared to be upset with the red headed woman. From what I could see, he was manipulating the wind. The sand they were standing on kept shifting and flying up."

Zelda, listening to his retelling of the encounter, frowned. "From what I have read of the Twilight Realm, it is not uncommon for their people to be mages that channel dark magic. I have heard cyan markings indicate a sort of 'imprint' from using magic." She sighed. "Damn it. I want to know how they got here and why they're coming. I have far too much to deal with, and now Twili running rampant? Are they planning to invade? Hyrule cannot stave off an invasion."

Ralis shook his head. "As the Commander of the Hylian Military and all of its respective branches, Princess, I say that I would never let the Goddesses' outlaws invade our fair land." He bit his lip. "I should have just swam over to them. Instead, I panicked and came here."

"No, Ralis. Don't apologize. You were right to inform me. Now, did this group of...Twili, I suppose...look like they were on the move? Coming towards town?"

"I don't think so. It almost looked like they were...tired. Setting up camp for the rest of the day."

Zelda rubbed her temples and exhaled breath through her teeth. "Well. There isn't much I can do about them right now, I suppose. I have no way of tracing any magic they might have used to get here. If they don't seem to be an imminent danger, then I won't deal with them at the moment. If you happen to see them again, attempt to talk to them. Extend an invitation to come see me. If they're hostile..." she paused and laughed. "Retreat."

He sighed. "Far too much excitement for me. If they are really...mages of darkness, I can't see that they're in any danger to the land. But I've never met a Twili. Only read of them. Goddesses know what they could possibly want from us right now." He shook his head and turned to leave, stopping for one more thing. "Oh, and Princess Zelda, I've taken care of covering that young man, Link's absence from the military stations."

"Maybe I'll have him scout out the Twilit visitors..." she mumbled. "Thank you, Ralis. I appreciate it."

"No problem, as usual, your Highness."

/\\\\\

Lord Ghirahim stared out at the waters of Lake Hylia passively, watching the rest of his group splash around like children in the cool liquid. He had already taken a long drink of the water. Now, all he wanted to do was rest. He had found shade underneath a large tree on the small isolated bank that he had found, and laid out his cloak over the grass to sit on. He sighed, almost content with this simple moment.

Midna swam further out into the lake, diving below the surface. She was a natural to swimming, something that amused Ghirahim and the rest; there were no lakes in the Twilight Realm, only one huge and powerful river that swept away anyone who dared step foot in it. Ghirahim didn't care for water, really, but he enjoyed seeing Midna and the others 'bond', as he saw it. Even Zant was sitting on the bank, feet submerged.

He gazed up at the sky, wondering why the Goddesses ever banished the Twili. 'Dark magic' was the commonly used phrase...but what defines dark magic? Was it the use of it for evil? The matter that the spells created? The feelings behind the magic? He didn't know, but he wished to find out. The Twili were peaceful, for the most part. They had their strange groups, and they all were a little more spiteful than normal, but no one was dangerous, besides a few select individuals. Most of which were now in the Light Realm, frolicking in the waters of Lake Hylia. Vaati and Zant, with their farfetched ideas of taking over this land, didn't truly mean harm-besides to the Sages, who had earned Vaati's eternal rage. He smiled at that.

But what Ghirahim was puzzling over was what he really wanted to find in the Light Realm. Did he, too, want to try to take over the Light Realm? Part of him said yes, lusted for that kind of power. But that wasn't his goal here, not really. He couldn't care less about opening up trade between the realms, and he knew Midna didn't really buy that, either. Was it just curiosity? Perhaps, he thought, but not only that. But the idea of tempting the Twilight Princess into traveling into a forbidden land was story-worthy, and he was always the one caught up on theatrics. Of course, he was never the 'good guy' in his mental productions. He enjoyed being the antagonist.

Midna, calling to him, made his eyes refocus on her. "Hey, Ghirahim, if you're going to be a lazy asshole and sit around, why don't you build us a fire for tonight?"

She was drenched with the cold water, her simple black dress hanging off of her, soaked. This dress had sleeves, even, and she looked freezing. He laughed a little, and she scowled at him. With a snap, a large tree branch was torn from the tree and broken into small pieces, hovering in midair, before it all assembled into a neat fire pile. He snapped again, and it lit up in large tongues of orange. She rolled her eyes, attempting to look nonchalant, just barely failing.

Vaati and Zant both walked up from the water and sat by the fire, too. Sand was sticking to their skin and clothes, but the sun wasn't really enough to warm them, so they huddled by the fire without complaint. Midna sat on her feet by the flames, wringing her hair out. It had come undone from its usual updo, streaming down her to her waist and reflecting the sun and the fire.

Her eyes met Ghirahim's with their usual knowing glance.

He smiled at her, as usual, and she grinned back at him, as usual. How long had they known each other? Five years? Had they always played these games? Ghirahim knew the answer was yes. Did that mean that he loved her? He didn't think so. He wanted her, like a collector wants a valuable piece of merchandise. He thought of her as the perfect partner, just outrageous enough for him, just exciting enough, and independent enough. If only she were sold on the idea, as well.

Well, he thought, perhaps she'll change her mind.

/

"One deli croissant, please," Link said. The small tavern's barista handed him the pastry, filled with thin slices of meat and cheese, and Link dropped a blue rupee on the counter in payment. He grabbed the sandwich and headed out under the archway, back onto the busy streets. With a sigh, he leaned against an alley wall and nibbled on his lunch.

He had talked to several other shopkeepers on the western side of town and they had expressed similar concerns to that of the Goron blacksmith-the Rosulyla running a business made on fear and the guards unwilling to do their jobs of protecting citizens.

Link wistfully thought about how much he missed Ordon, where the only fears were hard frosts or wolves wandering onto the ranch or hanging out too close to town. Hard frosts could be dealt with through patience and calm, and hunters could be sent to deal with wolves. There was none of this violence or corruption. And the people of Ordon had their political beliefs; from afar, everything in their capital looked like it was doing just fine-why vote for somebody new if nothing bad was happening? Of course, he would love for them to be more informed, but he almost missed the ignorance. The rest of the world was turning out to be an ugly place indeed.

But he was on assignment, and he couldn't just go back to his hometown. Not that there was much left there for him, anyway.

Link finished off his lunch and was about to walk back out into the main street when he noticed the people walking down it start to panic, to quicken their pace, to duck inside buildings. It was sudden, and they were hushed, conversations still hanging in mid-air.

Cautiously, he drew his knife. Eyeing how small it was and pairing it with the concern that he had no clue what was making people run away, he decided that if he made it through the day, he was going to go find himself a sword.

In the meantime, though, he clutched his knife and backed up against the alley wall to get a picture of what was going on on the street.

A bomb lazily rolled down the street, fire working its way down the fuse.

Link back pedalled into the darkness of the alley, bracing himself for the explosion.

Shards of cobblestone flew into the air as the bomb blew, heavy, foggy smoke rising into the air momentarily. Just long enough to mask the identities of the people who walked through the smoke. Link placed his knife in the hood of his cloak, taking care to conceal it.

What a way to make an entrance, he thought. No guard would pull a stunt like this, not from what he'd seen. They were big talkers until it came down to action.

Link shuddered at the slightly prominent possibility that this was part of the Rosulyla's "daily collection" that the shopkeepers had been complaining about. He quietly stepped to the mouth of the alley, smoke clearing just enough for him to see three burly figures kick in the door of the tavern he had just ordered his lunch at, which had been bolted shut just before the bomb exploded.

"Here for the daily collection," a cheerful, low male voice announced.

The barista's voice echoed out to Link. "I haven't made enough today to pay you. You just scared off my noon rush, you know. Come back tonight and I might be able to work it out."

Another voice. "Lady, we don't want trouble, but I don't give a damn if you have no customers. You pay us or we torch the place, and maybe turn you into ashes with it."

Link counted to three in his head and said a little prayer before sighing and walking through the now-open archway to the bar, the door off its hinges on the floor. "I'm an Advisor for the Princess Zelda and am commanding you to stop this criminal act."

He found himself being stared down at by three huge men. Surely, they were Gorons, but they weren't-just monstrously built. They were all wearing black cloaks, hiding everything except their noticeably ugly faces. The one in the center laughed. "Did you hear that, boys? An advisor wants us to back off! I guess we'd better leave. Yeah, right! Are you some kind of fool? Some kind of moron? Did the Princess decide it was time for her Advisors to start getting killed off, too?"

Link looked at the barista, who was backed up against the far wall. He slightly tilted his head, motioning for her to run. She shook her head no, but he made the motion again and she sprinted out the door. One of the men cursed. "Damn it," he said. "Well, Mr. Advisor, what is it that you do? Run errands? You're dressed pretty nice. How much is that little coward paying you?"

"Well..." he sighed, reaching behind his back like he was going to crane his neck. The Rosulyla guards started taking steps towards him. He clutched his knife in one hand and scrambled for a plan.

"Well, what? You ignoring me?" the original man boomed, swinging his fist at Link's face. In a swift and unrelenting movement, Link ducked, took his knife, and rammed it into the man's shoulder. He didn't even try to retrieve it.

A gush of blood fell from the wound, darkening his already black cloak, and he cried out. "Damn you, get that Advisor!"

Link was a good enough fighter and archer, but couldn't fire or fight while being chased. He threw the bow at one of the men and dumped the arrows behind him as he took off sprinting down the western main street, the heavy footfall of the two uninjured Rosulyla behind him.

Up ahead, he saw a shipment of crates stacked against a low-lying roof top. Knowing he wasn't nearly armed or talented enough to fight the Rosulyla guards, he increased his speed and vaulted up the crates, latching his fingers onto the rooftop and pulling himself up onto it. He ran across it and leapt across to another rooftop, moving westward and not stopping, not even to look behind him-where he was sure that the Rosulyla were, albeit slowly, pursuing him.

He reached the last rooftop, chest burning for air. He looked behind him and, just one rooftop away, were the heavy men. Link glanced around and looked below. Just on the other side of the gate, which was the west wall of the building he was on top of, was the moat that ringed Castle Town and the Castle itself. The wall he stood on was taller than the rampart that surrounded the castle and moat, giving him a perfect position to jump.

With no time to think, Link launched himself into the murky waters below.

He surfaced, shaking his wet hat-covered hair, and looked above him. The two Rosulyla glared at him from stories above. "We'll find you, Advisor. We'll find you and skin you alive. Count your blessings for every second you're still breathing!" One of them called.

Link dove under the hazy waters once more, swimming the loop towards Hyrule Castle.

/

A soaking wet Link moved his heavy boots down the hall to Princess Zelda's quarters, the two guards outside staring at him strangely. "Is she busy?" he asked, still panting.

They shook their heads and he pushed open the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Zelda looked up from her book, reclined in her armchair, and immediately got to her feet. "Link, what happened?"

"I took a swim in the moat after being chased down by two Rosulyla guys. Friendly people. Can't see why you'd suspect them for wanting to assassinate you." He yanked the leather-bound notebook from his tunic, grateful that the binding seemed to have spared his notes from his watery journey. "These are my notes. You've got some bad news."

Second time in one day that I've had people in that moat, she thought, taking the notebook from him and flipping through it. "What did the Rosulyla say to you? How did you encounter them?"

"I was in an alley on the western side of town, eating lunch, when people just cleared out of the street. Took off running. Somebody rolled a bomb and then these three burly guys broke down a tavern door and demanded a daily collection from the barista there. She didn't have the money and it sounded like it was going bad, so I stepped in. I introduced myself as an Advisor to the Princess and commanded them to stop the violence, but if anything, mentioning that I worked for you seemed to infuriate them. I ended up stabbing one of them in the shoulder with the knife-I don't think it was enough to kill him, just to enrage him-and the other two chased me down. Luckily, I guessed that they couldn't swim, so I lost them. But they did threaten to find me and torture me."

Zelda frowned. "This doesn't surprise me, unfortunately, though it is good to know that my suspicions of them not being fond of me or anybody I directly hire are correct." With a sigh, she looked up at Link. "Well, they have you marked, now."

"So that's it? Forgive me, Princess Zelda, but I don't believe that I'm the only person that the Rosulyla wants to kill. They didn't act like they were good friends with anyone."

She looked at him. "If you go back out, what will you do?"

"I guess I'll keep tracking people down. People were mentioning writing to the Councilmen and getting lackluster responses, so I might go talk to them, check out the other parts of town, maybe even go out of Castle Town and into the other parts of the country. The only thing I ask is that I'm allowed access to a sword. The dagger I'm carrying-was carrying, was much too small to do any good."

Zelda eyed him for a good, long moment, tunic filthy from having gone swimming in the moat and chest still heaving with exertion. . .yet, he wanted to go back out and work for the cause again. Either loyal or stupid, Zelda could not tell. "You have access to any weapons you may desire, sword included. Go back to your suite. Wash your clothes. If you want to go back out, I thank you for your bravery. You know where to find me."

He nodded. "Thank you very much, Princess Zelda. Stay safe." He turned to leave.

"Wait. One more thing, Link. What do you know about the Twili?"

Link cocked his head. "Never heard of them."

"You might not be familiar with their real name. . .what about the Banished Ones?"

"I might have read something a long time ago...isn't that some fairy tale about another world? The Goddesses scorned them?" Link guessed, remembering an old book that he read once when he was barely a teenager in Ordon.

Zelda sighed. "So few know anything about our history. Yes, there is another world that used to be connected to this one. The texts call it the Twilight Realm. There is no day or night there. It is a land of eternal sunset. Those who populate it are descendents of the original Banished Ones, the multitudes of people who were banished there by the Goddesses for their transgression of seeking the ultimate power that the Golden Goddesses left for the world. For a few hundred years, there was a link between our worlds, called the Mirror of Twilight. The Sages-guardians of this world-cast off our greatest criminals through it. Long ago, a Princess from that realm and a Hero from this one banded together to save this realm of Light from Twilight, as well. When all was saved, the Princess shattered the Mirror, severing the realms forever.

"Or so we thought," Zelda added, her long fingers running through her hair.

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"Ralis has reported a sighting of a group of four Twili at Lake Hylia. He said that they didn't appear hostile, but he didn't talk to them, so nobody can be sure of their intentions. I am more than slightly concerned that their intentions aren't good. Hyrule is in no state to stave off political, economical, or plain out militant attacks from the long forgotten Twilight Realm, especially since from Ralis' description, the group that is visiting is composed of mages. Most Twilits are supposedly skilled in basic magics, but full out Shadow mages? That indicates power. It would take power, too, to find a new way into the Light Realm without the assistance of the Mirror of Twilight."

Link nodded and laughed without humor. "Now I can see why you're concerned. Rosulyla harassing citizens, unwilling or uncaring politicians, and Twili finding a way in, too? Should I go and try to find them?"

Zelda shook her head. "No. But if you see them, stop them and see if you can bring them to me."

"Can do, Princess Zelda. Again, stay safe. See you soon."