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            The sun was just slipping down below the trees, escaping the sea of oranges and purples that surrounded it.  Elia realized that she must have fallen asleep, because the last thing she remembered was when the sun was directly overhead.

            The boat was still zipping along, maybe just a bit slower than it had been before.  Everything else had changed now, though.  The river had grown wider and the dense forest on either side of them was now transforming into a combination of green and red; the red being tall, rocky bluffs.

            "We're entering the Sacred Canyon," murmured Xua.  He looked over to see that Nylan had dozed off, his dignified head leaning on the side of the boat.  The coherent man's eyes drifted to Elia.  "You woke up just as he fell asleep."

            Elia nodded slowly.  She cringed as she felt a pain in her neck.  Instinctively, her smallish hand reached up to grasp it.

            "I think you were sleeping in a bad position," observed Xua.

            The woman said nothing and began to rub her neck.

            "Elia, you cannot continue not talking to me."

            Silence was his reply.

            "Maybe you can," he groaned, turning his attention back to the altering landscape.  "Once we get through the Canyon, we will get off and start walking through the mountains."

            Elia almost said something at that, but she clenched her lips.

            "The last time I had someone punish me by not speaking was ten years ago," Xua commented.  "If you want to rescue the Hero of Time, you are really going to have to grow up."

            She gritted her teeth.

            Xua sighed.  "Elia, I wish I could explain to you my reasons.  I know you think I've abused Mvon, but—"

            Elia said in a very low voice, so as to contain her building anger and not wake the dozing Nylan, "How dare you speak so callously, Xua.  You didn't just abuse her, you used Mvon's heart!  You trampled her feelings and broke her spirit.  It's not as if you kicked a dog or something."

            He sighed again.  "It is not easy to know the future, Elia.  And it is far worse to only have vague impressions of it—but enough to know if what will result is good or bad.  It is not that I do not care for Mvon, but it is that I do love her."

            "I do not believe you," hissed Elia.  "Such a cruel thing to do, to say that you love her when you hurt her so badly—or vice versa."

            "Elia, I know that I cannot be with Mvon.  Everything I do is for a reason."

            "What reason could there possibly be to torture her as you have?" she asked, her voice growing louder and angrier.

            "Elia, do you want Mvon to die?" Xua yelled.

            And there was complete silence.  Elia blinked.  She had never seen him so angry before.  He was always so calm.  But now Xua looked so upset that she was afraid the man might actually cry.

            "Now, now here.  What's this?" spoke a drowsy voice from the other side of Elia.  "No time for arguments."

            "S-Sorry to have awakened you, Nylan," stuttered Elia once she came a bit out of her shock.

            "Hm," Nylan mumbled.  "No time for apologies either, I think."  He sat up and rubbed his eyes.  "It seems we've reached the Sacred Canyon already!  Xua, prepare for a stop."

            "Stop?  But we have to progress through the Canyon to the mountains," Xua pointed out, confused.  He sounded like a completely different person than he had a minute ago; instead of the fierce man, more like a bewildered youth in the shadow of his brother.

            "Plunge into a war zone without paying a visit to the temple?  Are you out of your mind?"

            "Oh yes," the other man replied.  "I forgot."

            "Forgot?  Brother, I think you need to become more focused here."

            Xua bowed his head.  "Forgive me, Nylan."

            "Did I just not say we had no time for apologies?  The sun is almost gone; we will be walking to the temple by moonlight if you do not hurry."  Nylan sighed and began fastening up his cloaks.

            Xua stood and put his arms up.  Before Elia knew it, the boat had almost stopped completely and she was thrown to the other side of it.  The standing man looked at her strangely before sitting back down.

            Elia tried to get up, but found she could not; she had managed to get the middle of her body wedged in between the seat and the side of the boat.  She blushed heavily.  Xua would now proceed to look down on her more.  How had he managed to keep standing so perfectly?

            Fortunately, Xua seemed completely oblivious to her embarrassing predicament.  He jumped out of the boat (causing it to rock and get Elia even further stuck), and pulled the rope on the front of it towards the shore.

            "Are you requiring some assistance, fair lady?" Nylan inquired, leaning down from outside the boat.

            "Oh, yes, thank you," Elia said, wriggling her hand free and giving it to the man.

            He pulled, and she flew up and out of the boat, almost tipping the vessel over.

            Elia sighed.  She was now on her hands and knees in icy water, with bits of rock pushing at her from below.  The water was amazingly clear though; she could clearly see the little fishes investigating her pale fingers.

            "Are you about finished with your bath?" Xua said, irritated.

            Elia looked up and saw him standing on the edge a little alcove formed by smooth sandstone.  Behind him stretched a steep set of stairs carved into the rock face, and they stretched up into the clouds.

            "I am not completely sure what is going on with you two," Nylan said, taking Elia's elbow and wrenching her from the water, "but I am sure that it has to stop."

            Elia shivered in the chilly night air.  She followed the older man up the incline to where Xua was tying the boat up.  She glanced up at the endless steps and began to dread the impending journey up them.  Elia considered asking if they were really to climb them all tonight, but thoughts of Xua chiding her for it kept her lips sealed.

            "Xua, when is that last time you prayed here?" Nylan asked as he began to stroll even farther up the manmade incline, farther from the water.

            "I believe it was when you were missing, brother; Wonara and I came together."

            "Ah, I remember," Nylan practically whispered, a smile gracing his lips.  "This is were she and I were reunited after I came back."

            "She prayed here often during those times.  Often she would be gone for several months.  We used to joke—and jokes were so uncommon—that she had really come to become a priestess and would live here forever."

            Nylan chuckled.  "I am glad she did not, for then I would be lacking a wife."

            Nylan was grinning, and it made Elia smile as well.  She simply could not help it.  It reminded her of the days when her whole family was together, and one would start laughing and soon all four were laughing for no reason.

            "Elia, child, why are you crying?"

            Elia shook her head.  "I'm not crying—" she began to say, but then she felt the wetness slide down her nose.  She furiously wiped at her eyes.  "I-I…  I do not know why, but I cannot seem to stop…"

            "Perhaps it is the cold," Nylan said, when he obviously knew that wasn't the reason.  He turned his back to the girl and pressed his hand against the rock.  He leaned his head against it as well and murmured something.

            "We'd better start climbing.  I hope they will take us in for the night," Xua said, putting his foot on the bottom step.

            Elia sighed to herself and started up after him.  It was only a short while before she grew tired of it, as she had known she would.  Her legs had first been cramped into the back of that boat, and now they were being unwillingly lifted up and up steep stone steps.

            But she soon forgot her own troubles.

            Behind her, Nylan was breathing very heavily.  Elia looked back to see him practically doubled over, his hands grasping one knee.

            "Nylan, are you all right?" Elia asked, carefully coming down the dozen steps that separated them.

            "Brother!"  Xua hurried down too.

            "I am all right," Nylan told them in a voice that was quite contradictory to that.  "I just think I might be getting arthritis in my knee…here…"

            "Damn," Xua muttered.  "I left my healing herbs in the saddlebags.  I was foolish not to carry them on my person."

            Nylan gently let himself down so that he was sitting on the step.  "Shall we rest a while?  I'll be ready to go in a minute."

            "Nylan, perhaps Xua should go get help from the temple; I shall wait with you," Elia suggested.  She stood perfectly still, waiting for her idea to be shot down.  But it wasn't.

            "Yes.  I will go right away."  Xua raced back up a few steps.

            "Wait, Xua!" Nylan called out with a bit of difficulty.

            Xua stopped in his tracks and looked back over his shoulder.  "Yes, brother?"

            "There is no use in running.  You know how much climbing lies ahead of you, so pace yourself," Nylan breathed heavily.

            Xua nodded and renewed his journey, a bit more slowly but only by a fraction.

            "He's going to wear himself out in ten minutes," Nylan sighed, letting his body slip to the side and rely on the rock beside him.

            "Nylan, is there anything I can do?"

            "Not that I can think of, child.  But thank you."

            Elia sighed.  "Wonara told me to take care of you, but it seems that I am failing."

            Nylan smiled gently.  "It is simply nice to know you care," he said to assure her.  "Wonara…  I hope she is not worrying for me too much."

            "I am sure that she is."  Elia leaned forward and put her chin on her hands, her elbows on her knees.  Right in front of them, over the rocky bluffs, the big, bright disc of the moon was coming up.

            "Perhaps an old man like myself needs looking after by women," mused Nylan.

            "Old man?"

            "Of course, child.  I am approaching my forty-fifth year as we speak."

            Elia gasped.

            "Is it so surprising?"

            "I just thought that you were…  a lot younger.  About Link's age."

            "Impossible!"  Nylan chuckled and leaned back his head for a nice long laugh.  "Ah, you are such a charming companion, Miss Elia."

            Elia just gave him a puzzled look.  She had no notion of what was so terribly hilarious.

            Nylan stopped laughing after a while.  "Forgive me.  But it is so refreshing to have such young and innocent company."

            Elia buried her face in her hands.  "After five years I still have yet to grow up," she mumbled to herself.  "I shall never find him."

            "Well, then.  You shan't…not if you give up now," Nylan told her, beginning to gently massage his hurting knee.  "Besides, I do not see what is so wrong with being young and innocent.  Once you are grown, you are grown forever.  You cannot go back."

            "But Link is already grown.  I love him, but even when I was with him there was a barrier between us.  Like I was at the bottom of these stairs," she analogized, gesturing towards the bottom and then the top, "and he was passing the top.  I cannot close that gap.  I can chase after him all I like but…"

            "You know," Nylan said softly, "age gaps do close up.  As you get older, they become less and less important.  For instance, when I first met Wonara, she was six years old and I was ten."  He laughed, recalling something.  "At that time our Tribes were camped side by side.  She would follow me wherever I went—hunting, ice fishing, playing, working—she was there.  My friends teased me for it and I was very angry with her.  I thought she was just an annoying brat.

            "Just before the everyone split up for the summer, I went and yelled at her for all the embarrassment she had caused me.  She cried and ran into the woods and no one could find her.  My family made me leave before they found her and I felt guilty for two years until I saw her again.  At that time, I apologized to her and I gave her a green ribbon as a symbol of friendship.  I thought, in the foolish shortsightedness of my youth, that the future was bright for the two of us.

            "In the spring of the next year, there was a fierce argument between the Leaders of the Fifth and Fourth Tribes.  They vowed that no Fifths would ever mix with the Fourths.  Wonara, as the daughter of her Leader, was put in a very difficult position.  She gave me back my ribbon.  I was disgusted that she would return my gift of friendship.  I said I never wanted to see her again.  It was déjà vu; she ran off and I could not pursue.

            "Several months later, the latest age of wars began.  Because I was in league to become the Leader of the Fifth Tribe, I was sent on a journey to Hyrule.  I was almost fourteen.  I was scared; I did not know what lay ahead for me.  I bid farewell to my father and my mother, who was then carrying Xua in her womb."  He paused for the first time in a long while.

            "What is it, Nylan?  Is your knee hurting more?" Elia asked, inching a bit closer to him.

            "No, no," he replied, shaking his head.  In the moonlight, the girl could see that his eyes were a bit misty.  "It is just that…that that was the last time I saw either of my parents.  My mother died in childbirth and my father in battle."  He shook his head.  "It is funny, is it not?  How you experience emotions again and again every time you revisit such memories?  Even though that happened thirty years ago…"

            "No…it is not unusual.  Memories are such powerful things.  Without them, we would not be us.  We would be mindless drones without souls."  She nearly jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

              "No, child," Nylan said, shaking his head.  "You are sounding too old again.  I much prefer the innocent, naïve you."

            Elia blushed.  "Forgive me."

            "Did I not say a hundred times?  There is no—"

            "No time for apologies, yes I know."  Elia looked to see that the moon had climbed up past the cliffs and was now a fully visible, perfect disc of pure white.  "Hm, would you mind going on with your story now?"

            "I do not mind," Nylan said, rolling his shoulders a little to keep them free of cramping.  "Now where was I?"

            "You were leaving to go to Hyrule."

            "Ah, yes; thank you.  Let's see.  I left the Fifth Tribe and began the walk to Hyrule—yes, walk.  At that time, horses were scarce because they were being used in battle.  It was basically blasphemy to use a decent animal for anything but the defending of your people.

            "So on my journey on foot to Hyrule, I found the camp of the Fourth Tribe.  All the men were gone, fighting, as it was in most villages.  And so I waited until Wonara was alone picking herbs.  She was already turning into a pretty little thing, but she was very sad.  I'm afraid I scared her the way I jumped out of the bushes," he chuckled, then became more somber.  "Wonara talked for a long time to me about her worries.  She said that her father had been injured but he was fighting anyway, and that her older brothers had all been killed so that her mother was desperate to get pregnant again with another son.  She was upset that she could not do anything to help.

            "I felt bad telling her that the only reason I had come was to say goodbye.  She…she started crying again.  I told her I did not want to leave it the same way I had twice before.  But she could not stop the tears, so I held her.  She asked me not to go and was mad when I said I could not.  I felt so bad, though, that I made my first and most important promise to her.  I gave her back the ribbon (for I had kept it with me all this time), and said…now what was it?"

            Elia had edged close to him, eagerly listening.  But when he had paused, she had time to feel how cold she was.  Most of her body had been soaked in the river water and now a cool wind was howling up and down the steps, freezing her.  She bit her lip so her teeth wouldn't chatter; surely Nylan was cold too.

            "Oh, yes, I remember.  I said to her…  'I can't be here with you now, but when I come back I'll be with you forever and ever.  When that happens, I'll never make you cry again ever.'  I believe those were my words."

            "How terribly romantic!" Elia exclaimed.

            Nylan chuckled.  "Yes, and it was from a thirteen year old to a ten year old, too; remember that."

            "So what happened after that?"

            "She agreed to my promise and kept my ribbon.  I went to Hyrule and thought about her always…  Even though a lot of events happened in the ten years we were separated, I came back and found a beautiful young woman patiently waiting for me.  In fact, I'd say that we were reunited right about here."  He smiled to himself, gazing at images from his memories that Elia couldn't see.  "She had heard I was coming and was on her way down.  I had just started running up, wondering if she would be here…"

            "Oh, Nylan," Elia said dreamily, "that is such a wonderful story.  I hope it is even half as beautiful when I see Link again."

            "I am sure it will be, child," Nylan murmured sleepily.  He yawned.

            Elia yawned herself and stretched.  She leaned back a little.  When her eyes were about to close, an orange orb appeared before them.  "A…A nightfly?"

            "Nightfly, eh?"  Nylan asked, lazily looking over with half-closed eyes.  "That's what most people around her call them, but look."  He sat up and put out his hand, right in the nightfly's path.  It flew right through.

            Elia gasped.

            "You try it," the man suggested, gently pulling Elia's hand from her lap.  The thing flew through her hand just as it had Nylan's.

            "It feels…cold?  But I don't get it."

            "What people call 'nightflies' are, in reality, spirits.  Perhaps you have heard of the Kokiri Forest of Hyrule and the Lost Woods.  They are mostly green over there, because they are forest spirits; the source of magic is the forest.  However, in Diola magic is much more common and, consequently, so are spirits.  They are everywhere, but the only time to see them is when the sun sets.  That is when their world crosses over with ours."

            "You mean…they are not really here?"

            "Nope; they are in the spirit realm.  Strange, isn't it?  But every night without fail the magic of this world pulls them over, if only partially."  Nylan gave a great big yawn that really reminded Elia of her father.  "They are orange here because of the sacredness of this Canyon.  Otherwise they are purple.  No one really knows why."

            Elia nodded.  She settled back into a comfortable position (as comfortable as she could get on steep stone stairs, anyway) and began to gently play with the spirit, her hand moving around it.  "Nylan, does it sense my presence at all?"

            "I think they can on some level, even if only their projections exist here.  But really, no one can be sure."

            "Maybe they come over here because they are lonely," Elia mumbled, letting her eyelids droop a little more.  "You have to feel sorry for them if indeed they cannot detect us.  Like maybe they are searching for us living creatures and can never find us or something."

            "Or maybe they are just teasing you, Elia.  I'm telling you, you can't really know."  He placed his head on a makeshift pillow made of bunched up cloak. 

            "It seems everyone teases me," Elia mumbled as she made a cushion the same way.  She gazed at the moon, wondering about everything that was to come.

            Elia was pulled from her dreamy state some time later.  It was a rather rude awakening, too; she was being hoisted up several feet to sit on a rocky shoulder.

            "What?" she screeched as she was firmly planted beside a bare, oval head.  The woman looked over to see that Nylan had been put on the other shoulder.  He looked equally confused.

            "Are you two ready?" said the mysterious bearer in a voice that sounded like the rumbling of a volcano.

            Xua, from down below, was looking anxiously on.  "Be careful with my brother's knee, Mr. Link."

            Elia's eyes widened.  "D-Did you say what I-I thought you said?"

            "I think he did," said the Goron.  "I am Link.  From Hyrule."

            Elia about passed out.

            The Goron began hopping up the steps, taking them two or three at a time.  He was very limber for a Goron, who were usually big and unwieldy.  This man, however, was tall and lanky.

            "Wait up a minute, would you?" breathed Xua from several stairs down.

            "Of course!" said 'Link', who hopped back down, plucked the man up, and began to go even faster with all three of them.

            Elia put her arm around the massive head and buried her face in it.  With every jump she prepared herself to fall off, but somehow, between her holding on to the Goron and the Goron's arm being wrapped about her waist, she was able to stay safe.

            After what seemed like an eternity of danger, they emerged through the clouds.  Elia had to look up and see the beauty that lay before them.  Some sort of large metal and wood pagoda lay before them.  The early rays coming up from the sun rise hit the structure and seemed to make it glow with all different kinds of magic.

            To either side of the thing, there were waterfalls thundering into it, the water running beneath the building.  Men and women, ghostly figures, were wandering around, cloaked in priest robes of varying colors.  Some carried shimmering pots, others were busy polishing beautifully carved statues of the Gods.

            Elia was so busy looking all over that she didn't realize that she had been set down on the ground once again until she fell over.

            "Miss?" said the Goron in his big, thundering tone.

            Elia shook her head.  She looked up to see the rock giant looking over her with concern.  She couldn't help but make a strange face.  This couldn't be Link, could it?  It made her queasy to just consider the idea.

            But this 'Link', whether he be the real one or not, was very gentlemanly.  He reached down a big hand and helped her stand.

            "I'm just a little dizzy," Elia admitted, holding her head.

            "The air is thinner up here," said Nylan knowingly.  He took a few painful steps forward.  "The Sacred Temple.  It seems to become more beautiful every time I come."

            "What…do we do now…?"  Elia began to wobble a bit.  She felt so lightheaded!  What was the matter with her?

            "I think that you need some food," the Goron said, taking the liberty to lean Elia against him.  He smiled nervously down at her, and then blushed and looked away.

            Elia felt guilty.  Whoever he was, this was a nice man who was just trying to help.  And what if he was the real Link? 

            A woman approached them.  It was hard to tell what she looked like; a white priestess robe covered most of her body.  However, she lifted her head and a tanned face greeted them.

            "This is strange," muttered Xua under his breath.  "First a Goron and now a Gerudo?  Why?"

            Elia looked over at him.  So this was a Gerudo?  She had yet to see one, even though she was in Hyrule.  They were pretty secretive.  She had heard that their leaders visited the castle occasionally, but they would never waste their time coming to Kakariko.

            "Link," said the woman, addressing the Goron.  She took off her hood to reveal a mane of shimmering red-orange.  "We're taking them to eat in the guest hall."

            "Sure," said the Goron.  He offered his arm to Elia (who was far, far below him).

            Elia smiled nervously and took it, wobbling after.  Eating sounded very appetizing right about now.  She had not had a bite since over a day ago when Wonara had forced a few spoonfuls of porridge down the girl's unwilling throat.

            They were taken down a cobblestone walkway to a smaller building that came off the main pagoda.  It was just two stories tall; probably a fourth the size of the big edifice to its immediate right.  Elia recognized statues of Din, Farore, and Nayru they passed.  They were in a half circle, holding up their hands and looking straight at something between them.

            The Gerudo woman smiled.  She stopped before the party and pointed to the Goddess statues.  "It is just about time.  Look."

            The sun was peeking over the horizon.  The golden rays seemed to shoot straight at the statues.  Soon a burst of unimaginably bright white light exploded between the hands of the Goddesses.  When the burst was gone, a gold triangle divided up into three smaller triangles was spinning in its place.

            Another second and it was gone.

            "Let us continue," said the Gerudo, smiling to herself at Elia's amazement.  She spun gracefully about and continued walking.

            Elia looked up at the Goron man.  "What was that?"

            "Magic," he replied with a grin.  "Shall we go?"

            Elia complied, but her eyes wandered back to the statues.  Now they looked no different than they had before, except that the sun was lightning them up.  They were each tinged a different color: Din red, Farore green, and Nayru blue. 

            They entered the small building and were seated at one of several round tables.  The Goron sat next to Elia, but he could not sit in a chair.  Instead, he got on his knees and leaned back to sit on his feet.

            "Are you comfortable like that?" Elia asked him quietly.

            "I'm used to it," he replied, flashing her another grin.

            Trays of steaming food and drinks were brought in by servants, who were dressed merely in simple black tunics and leggings. Elia shifted her weight on the small wooden stool and leaned forward eagerly.  It smelled delicious.

            While the food was being distributed, Link started talking to Elia.  "Do you want me to show you around the Temple after eating?"

            Nylan broke in.  "If it is not too much trouble, I think Elia requires a warm bath and a change of clothes before that."  He looked over at the Gerudo.

            "Surely," said the woman, began to pour some sort of spicy tea into mugs.  She raised the glass and said, "May we all be blessed."

            Elia followed suit along with the others.  She wondered if everything here was like that.  It made her feel embarrassed that she was never so pious at home.  Here, the Gods were so important to everyone.  There were entire Tribes of people to serve each God.

            Once Nylan began to eat, Elia took up a metal spoon and tasted the food.  It seemed to be like a light stew made from foreign herbs.  She thought she could detect a kind of late-blooming berry that grew in the upper parts of Kakariko, though.

            Her eyes widened.

            "What's the matter, Elia?" Nylan asked, looking up from his half-consumed bowl at the girl.

            "I…I…"  She paused and shook her head.  "It is nothing.  Only…  I know I have had this dish before."  Dain had made it more than once.  Elia could recall it clearly now.  Dain…  She giggled to cover up her uncertainty.  "Aren't I silly?"

            "And you are from Hyrule?" said the Gerudo woman.  "I think I never had it before coming here a few weeks ago.  Perhaps a traveler brought the recipe."

            Xua changed the subject.  "You only came a few weeks ago, ma'am?"

            "Ma'am?" she repeated.  She glared indignantly down her Gerudo nose.  The woman sighed.  "And I thought I would get to keep my youth forever."

            "You have a kind of mature beauty, though," Nylan said playfully before slurping up the last bit of his meal.  "Miss…?"

            "Nabooru," the woman said.  "Just call me Nabooru."

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