They say that Lake Hylia is a beautiful place, with the view off the Great Bridge of Hylia perhaps being the most breathtaking of any to be found in all of Hyrule. It's not just the large descent into the blue lake below, but the unparalleled view of Hyrule on both sides that doesn't exist anywhere else in the kingdom. Even being on the lake itself allows for plenty of picturesque views, as the numerous tiny islands that dot the lake's south side provide an opportunity to experience the true grandeur of the giant body of water.

Of course, this is during the day. At night, it's pitch black and therefore difficult to see much of anything. Even the celestial bodies overhead fail to illuminate anything substantial, making that particular photon's seconds to thousands of years journey sadly futile.

Not that Link and Midna seem to mind. They bound their way between the islands over a number of wooden bridges, to a destination that is unknown for the moment. The apprehension and posturing of their previous exchange has entirely disappeared, and has been replaced by a genuinely happy feeling that neither could remember experiencing for a long time.

"So what did you think when you first saw me?"

Link smiles in response to Midna's potentially loaded question, because he knows she isn't expecting his response.

"I liked you right away."

And he is right. Midna reacts in disbelief, as the memories of her time as an imp (thanks to a horrid curse by Zant) and her first meeting with Link flash through her mind.

"You couldn't have! I was so horrible back then! And ugly…"

"I miss the fang."

An unfortunate consequence of her transformation was one long and sharp tooth that extended past the rest. However, Midna quickly learned how to hide it, which meant most of the time it was unnoticeable. She had hoped that Link hadn't noticed it, but always knew this was to no avail. Of course, it should have been obvious to him that she didn't like it, so the fact that he was able to deliver the line so nonchalantly means he is well deserving of a slap to his arm. This reaction quickly brings a smile to Link's lips, as he explains further.

"I know, there was something very likable about you, even if it was kind of awkward at times."

Midna actually understands this better than Link might have thought.

"I liked you right away, too. I kind of have this instinct about people. I can see things about them even if I don't know them yet. It sounds strange, but I knew I could trust you."

"And I knew you were jealous any time Ilia came up."

"I was not!"

Of course she was.

"Because you didn't care about anyone from the Light World."

"I didn't!"

Midna admitted as much the last time she was here. She wasn't proud of her selfish motives in seeking out Link, even if the time shortly after she was cursed could be considered temporary insanity. That didn't make it right, even if everything turned out…well, it turned out. Meeting Link had the unexpected effect of bringing her back to normal, along with a few other unexpected effects.

And he was right, of course. She remembered the look in his eyes when they found Ilia again, and the way he acted when they were around her. Ilia was beautiful, and she was there, while Midna was just an ugly thing on Link's back, or worse, in his shadow. She knew she didn't stand a chance, and she remembered wondering why she cared so much. Her goal was to restore the Twilight to its previous state, while the Light World wasn't her responsibility. She never had the burning hate that Zant and Ganondorf did of its inhabitants, but neither was she fond of the people who exiled her ancestors to the Twilight in the first place. And this boy she met (in jail, no less) was really just a tool for her to use to get what she wanted. He was cute, of course, but then there was something more. She couldn't remember ever feeling that way about anyone else before, and for all the heartache it caused, she often wondered if all of it was worth it.

This wasn't one of those times, though. As annoying as he was being right now, she enjoyed that he wasn't afraid to stand up to her. Which is something she couldn't say about anyone in the Twilight, especially now. It comes with being part of a royal family, which Midna understood, although she never imagined that she'd meet someone who didn't know her title first. Her modesty after the curse turned out to be fortunate, strangely enough.

Unfortunately though, Midna and Link have to scale it back a bit as they are approaching their destination. On one of the islands stands a rather strange looking hut, with a disproportionately tall pink, orange, and blue roof and a large clamp holding some sort of counterweight on the side. At the base of the house stands an equally strange looking man, who wears many of the same colors that appear on his house. His bright pink shirt is unfortunately tied off to show all of his beer belly, while his blue pants almost look like jeans with hearts drawn on the knees. He wears black sandals, while a somewhat long green and brown hat and his partially made-up face suggest the appearance of a clown, although it's of one who couldn't be bothered to finish the job he started. Thankfully, his pleasant demeanor at seeing two people approach his shack washes away any fears that his appearance would reflect on his personality.

"Jealous."

Link manages to get in one more shot before they come to stop in front of the man. Midna therefore can't respond to this, and can only shoot Link an appropriate look instead. Fortunately, the man doesn't seem to notice this exchange.

"Well, back again, huh?"

He greets Link first, but then notices the tall woman next to him whom he hasn't seen before.

"Oh, and with a lovely lady this time, too."

Midna smiles in acknowledgement.

"Heh, heh, well she's certainly in for a treat. The height of excitement, the thrill of launching to the heavens, the peak of flying fantastication, and all for a paltry ten rupees a piece. What do you say?"

"A piece?"

Link's incredulous response might have been because those two words differed from the usual spiel he's heard many times before. It certainly couldn't have been because Link was too cheap to pay double now than what he normally did.

"You know, you can hide in my shadow again if you're scared."

Midna of course knew exactly what this meant.

"I'll be fine."

Link can only shrug this response off, and only slightly grudgingly pulls a red rupee out from his back pocket to hand to the man in front of him.

"Fyer, my man, you drive a hard bargain. Go ahead and keep this thing pointed at the Gerudo Desert, alright?"

"Sure thing, right this way."

Apparently the way he means is obvious enough, because he makes no motion or other indication as to what the two customers should do, but merely steps out of the way. Link motions for Midna to go ahead of him, and the two proceed into the large opening in the front of the house. As Midna steps in, Link instead turns around and shouts something off into the distance.

"I'll take it from here, guys! Don't worry!"

If anyone had squinted hard enough, they would have been able to just make out the figures of the two guards standing a couple of islands away. Two guards who up until now thought they had stealthily avoided detection. Clearly not. With their cover blown, they can only raise their hands to wave back at Link, before turning to begin their trek back to the castle.

In the meantime, Link enters the house as well, and the door closes after he does. Fyer walks over to the other side of a house, where a sort of mini-calliope stands. He starts to turn the crank on the side of this instrument, which causes a number of things to start happening. As the buttons on the side of the instrument start to move in and out, a circus-like theme starts to emanate from it. While the theme continues, the house itself starts to turn, and the roof of the house starts to open up. With the house apparently completing its rotation toward the desert, a canon rises up out of it, and it too aligns itself in the direction of the desert. The canon charges up, and then suddenly explodes, sending both Link and Midna flying and screaming through the air.

***

The Gerudo Desert may be small by Earth desert standards, but it still remains a formidable sight in either day or night. It's not just the relative emptiness of the sand, but that the whole of it is essentially isolated from the rest of Hyrule. Thus, it preserves the desert feeling that escape is impossible despite it being only a cannon's shot away from the reservoir that is Lake Hylia.

And here comes something now, from the sound of it. Two separate (but not too desperate or terrible) screams can be heard, signaling the arrival of Link and Midna at their destination. Despite being shot head first from the cannon, they have somehow rotated so that they are falling feet first, and both land perfectly on the soft sand. Neither suffers any injury all, although Midna looks slightly shaken as this was her first time being shot through the air like that.

"That was different."

"I told you to hide in my shadow."

"And miss that experience!"

As Fyer would cower at the sight of a wolf asking for a ride in his machine, Link could only ride in his normal form, during which Midna would hide in Link's shadow so as not to be too conspicuous (the ability to do this is connected to the dimensional shift between their two worlds). Even though this meant she went on every journey Link made, it wasn't nearly the same as doing it for real.

Being a somewhat short journey, and since they survived without a scratch, Midna quickly recovers from her shock to observe the vast desert in front of her.

"I don't think I feel like going through the Arbiter's Grounds again. Do you mind if we just warp to the Mirror Chamber instead?"

Another ability Midna had was to teleport anywhere throughout Hyrule, which cut down on the massive travel times, and allowed access to otherwise isolated places like the desert. However, the catch was that each destination required a portal, similar to the one Link just saw at the Mirror Chamber (although none of the original ones were direct connections to the Twilight like the one currently there). As they had disappeared after Midna's destruction of the mirror, Link had assumed warping was no longer possible for her here, which is why she had to take the long way back to her world.

"You can do that?"

"Sure, why not?"

"So, why didn't we just warp there from the castle?"

Midna couldn't help a large smile spreading across her lips.

"Why indeed?"

Or a short giggle. As Link also did not have the desire to trek through the onetime dungeon and prison again (as he unfortunately had to do every time now if he wanted to visit the Mirror Chamber), he nods his acquiescence.

Midna makes a large sweeping motion with her hand down to the ground, which causes another green and black portal to appear. Link joins Midna on top of this portal, and piece by piece, the two disappear from sight.

***

And reappear in familiar fashion, as piece by piece rains down from the sky onto the ground of the Mirror Chamber. Midna and Link are whole again in a matter of seconds, and find themselves right next to the mirror stand. Unfortunately, this means it's time for Midna to say her goodbyes. She turns to Link and gazes into his eyes

"The portal's only temporary, but I do plan on returning here again."

Midna glances at the portal before finishing her parting words, but something catches her eye before she can turn back to Link. She starts walking over to the portal, and a curious Link of course follows behind her. Instead of its usual stationary self, the portal is now flickering a bit, and oscillating in size.

"Something's wrong."

That's putting it mildly, but Midna isn't sure what yet. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out. She turns to face Link, and quickly finds her arms resting on his.

"I have to go."

There was a time when Link thought that if he was faced with this situation again, there would be no way that he'd let her go, at least not without saying something first. But any thought of doing this vanished with just a look into Midna's eyes.

"Okay."

Before they can begin some sort of awkward embrace or other lengthy goodbye, Midna suddenly pulls Link close, and rests her cheek on his as she speaks directly into his ear.

"Don't worry, my handsome hero, I promise you'll see me again. Just as soon as I totally destroy whoever's trying to close the portal."

Just as suddenly, she kisses him on the cheek, and then quickly pulls away from him to move over to the portal. She turns to give Link a quick smile, before the pieces of her disappear into the portal. As soon as she is gone, the portal flickers a bit, and then it too disappears from sight.

Which leaves a stunned Link alone again, and not really sure what to make of the events that just happened. All sorts of questions were flying through his head, even though he knew he couldn't answer any of them. Of course, her final words from the last time she left, "see you later", also went through his head, although this time, he couldn't see any reason not to trust her.

***

Janaro stood on the Twilight side of the portal, along with his six volunteers. Their magic may not be as advanced as their leader's, and granted, they've never actually closed a portal before, but they were doing what they could, and progress seemed to be being made. The flickering and oscillating suggested they were close to their goal of closing it, but suddenly, the portal flattened out to its normal size again. If one of the other Twili hadn't said anything, Janaro's delay in assessing the situation would have cost him and his companions dearly.

"I think someone's coming through."

Janaro realized he was right immediately, and there was only one person it could be. It had already been some time since she left, but unfortunately telling time was something of a problem in perpetual twilight. Clearly they didn't have much more left.

"Alright, everyone get out of here now. We'll meet back at the tavern. Go, go!"

The other Twili didn't have to think long before stopping their magic and teleporting back to their meeting place. And none too soon, as someone was already beginning to materialize out of the portal. Janaro didn't fancy finding out for sure what he already knew, and so with the other Twili gone, he quickly joined them.

Midna could just make out someone disintegrating as she became fully assembled again, but unfortunately didn't have the time to see who it was. She found herself again on the familiar part of land where the Mirror of Twilight portal used to exist, but a few steps around and turns of her head could find no one else in the vicinity. Midna had been forced to quickly leave Link and the Light World behind again, and now didn't even have the satisfaction of punishing those who forced her to leave. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but this dissent meant that she probably wasn't going to be able to return to the Light World for a while. And in the meantime, she was alone. Again. The frustration of all of this welled up inside of her.

"AH!"