Ilia coughed as she pulled out an odd-looking box. Case. Thing. It was covered in dust and looked to be rather old. Well, older than it actually was, due to the dust. She was in the closet, digging out piles of...well, stuff. She wiped the dust off the case, then breathed in slightly. She knew what this was. To start, it had once belonged to her mother, Arietta. Ilia bit her lip at the thought of her. She still missed her terribly. She sighed and opened the case. She was right. Her mother's old violin. She carefully picked it up, as if she were afraid it would crumble to dust at the slightest touch.

"Dad…?" she called quietly. He didn't answer.

"Dad?" she called again.

"Dad, c'mere. Look."

"Alright, Ilia. I'm coming'." Her father came upstairs, and when he saw her holding the instrument, his eyes softened. She looked up at him.

"Does it still work? Can I play it?"

Bo smiled. "Lemme see that old thing, Ilia. Ya know, It's nearly as old as you are. Your mother and I saved up for the longest time to buy this for her."

"She really liked music, right?"

"Mm-hm. Do you remember?"

Ilia nodded slowly as she started to hum. As she hummed, Bo noticed, tears were slowly gathering at her eyes and falling down her pretty cheek. She looked just like her. His wife.

"Do you remember that one?"

"Yes. It was your mother's favorite."

She touched the bow gingerly. It was a beautiful violin. "What was the song called?"

"It didn't have a name."

She plucked the strings quietly and frowned. It needed tuning. She picked it up and rested it under her chin and began to tune it. Her mother had given her lessons on how to play it, often when Link was outside. She played it. She really needed to practice again. She sighed and placed it back in the case.

"Ilia?

"Yes?"

"...Nothing."


Thud. Thud. Smack

Ilia bent down in pain, holding her arm. Stupid bow, she thought. The string had hit her arm when she shot. Hard. She looked at the spot it had hit. It was already bruising.

"You okay?"

She turned around in surprise. Link. She blushed. He was cute. Why hadn't she noticed before?

"Link! Y-You scared me."

"Huh." He pecked her cheek lightly.

She looked at the ground and blushed. "I-I'm fine."

He sighed and came up to her. "Let me see your arm."

"Why?"

"You're hurt."

"I-It's just a bruise."

"Still." He sighed again. Ilia turned and walked to the tree to retrieve the arrows she had shot earlier.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I found something."

"Good for you."

"I found...I found mom's old violin. The on that she played all the time."

"Cool. Are you playing it?"

"Yeah. A little."

He cocked his head at her and smiled. She blushed.

"Do you wanna go back to the stream we found yesterday?"

This caught her by surprise. Not that he didn't do this to her a lot.

"S-Sure."


They sat under the willow tree again thirty minutes later, talking about the things going on in the village.(Colin is eight, not seven.) After talking for several minutes, she punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! What is with women and pain?"

She laughed. "Whaddya mean, idiot?"

"You just punched me, Maeri seams to enjoy pulling on my ear and Ava tries to torture me in any way a two-year-old could possibly imagine. Such as puling my hair. Or biting my ear. Or-"

"Alright, I get it. You men see the world in a very strange way. Are you even human?"

Link narrowed is eyes. "Of course not. We're all from an alternate universe."

She laughed and punched him in the shoulder again. He grew quiet.

"Hey..." he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do...I'm...Are you..."

"Am I what?"

He sighed and looked up at the branches above him and closed his eyes.

"I've been getting these really weird dreams recently."

"Tell me."

"Well...it always starts the same way. Everything is blurry. Three people standing in a spring, Epona standing nearby. Then a monster comes and attacks them. Then the dream changes. A field, shrouded in darkness. The sky a constant twilight. A wolf, a black one, running across the field. Then, once more it changed. I saw...a face. A man. Ganon."

"How do you know?"

"...I don't know how I know."

"Keep going. After that?"

"His face faded, and it changed again. A couple were standing outside. A man in black armor riding a battle horse came and gave the man a letter. The man nodded and left with the knight. Then, I saw the same letter, dripping in blood."
"Gross."

"Yeah. Then everything went white, and I heard a baby cooing softly. A woman sitting in a chair. The man, the father, holding the child. The woman was familiar, although I don't know who exactly. Then I woke."

"Weird. At least it has a happy ending."

"Yeah."

He was silent.

"Hey, Link. This sounds like a very important dream."
"Yeah."

"Maybe it has something to do with your future. Or someone else's."

"Maybe."

Maybe it does, he thought.

Or maybe not.


As they walked home that evening, a light snow began to fall. Ilia looked up.

"It's snowing...kinda early..." She sighed.

Link looked at her. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just...unusually calm." Too calm, she thought.

"Hey, I'll race you back. Loser has to wash dishes."

He looked at her and smiled. "I'll give you a five-second head start."

"Alright." She pecked his cheek and ran down the path. He ran after her a few seconds later, smiling.

They burst through Mayor Bo's front door at almost the exact same time.

"Who won?" they asked him simultaneously.

"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I would say...Link."

"Yes!" he said triumphantly.

Ilia punched him in the arm.

"I'll help you wash anyways, because I'm nice." he added

"No," Bo said, "it's because your madly in love with my daughter."

"Hey!"

"What? It's true. I saw you kiss her the other day."

"Kiss her cheek. Right?"

"Yep. you're in love with me."

Ilia and her father laughed. Link scowled.

"I'm not helping you wash."