Ugh. These sudden scene changes always made Link black out, for some reason. But he is coming to again, after what probably wasn't too long, as everything is quickly coming back to him. He was riding home past the Faron Spring, and then…oh yes, the Twilight portal.

Since Link has a good look at the dull white and black ground at the moment, it doesn't take him too long to piece together where he is. He quickly finds the strength to stand up, and is met by the warm glow of the Twilight. Taking a look around in front of him, though, yields something of a surprise. Link would've thought he'd be back in front of the Twilight Palace again, but he doesn't appear to be in front of anything. The area of land in front of him ends a short distance ahead, and it's pretty much nothing but the eerie glow and dark clouds as far as he can see. A few specks of land do appear in the distance, but otherwise he appears to be on an island.

"Link."

A voice comes from behind him suddenly, although Link isn't exactly surprised to turn and see who it is. He quickly turns around and begins to walk toward her. However, Princess Midna isn't watching him at the moment, but is instead dreamily gazing off into the twilight herself.

"I always used to like coming here when I was little. There's such a beautiful view of the Twilight; it just seems to stretch on forever."

Midna continues staring for a moment, but soon breaks off to finally look at Link. Her expression appears somewhat pained, and is also perhaps a bit longing.

"Do you even have any idea what I mean?"

Link looks up at the hushed light and dark clouds above him. Such a sight didn't really exist on his world, even during the twilight hours. Sure, clouds could grow dark, but only when rain was imminent, and even then, there was still a tint of blue to them. The otherworldly light might be similar to when the sun was behind a cloud, but there was no sun here. Nevertheless, the effect of these two features is almost hypnotic, if not soothing.

"It may be different from what I'm used to,"

Link starts, before turning to look and smile at Midna.

"But there's certainly a strange charm to it."

Midna smiles gratefully at this response, but she looks down at her feet before looking back up and continuing once more.

"I'm sorry to have brought you here, and I promise to return you soon, but I needed someone to talk to."

Another glance down and up.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to return to your world."

Link takes a breath in at the "news", as fortunately he is already used to it. Midna now starts to pace slowly back and forth on the ground, while keeping her gaze on the twilight.

"My advisors want me to withdraw my plan of reconciliation with the Light World. They say that it's too unpopular, and that they can't risk losing me again."

Midna pauses for a second, but the subtle change in her voice when she resumes almost seems to contradict what she is saying, although there is still a definite touch of resignation.

"And maybe I'm starting to agree with them. I'm not sure what I thought I'd accomplish."

Link takes another breath and takes a step closer to Midna, who stops pacing as he does so.

"I spoke with Zelda. She told me she plans to support you."

This statement seems to immediately brighten Midna's mood, but the hope on her face disappears almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"I'm not sure that's enough. Can you honestly say your people would want this?"

Yet another breath from Link, and then a small shake of his head.

"No, there's still some pain over what happened."

"But nobody really knows what happened except for us and Zelda. I don't know how to make them see what we can."

Judging by the reaction from the group at Telma's Bar, Link has the same problem. Of course, Link's introverted manner probably didn't help things, although he was never sure how to explain his situation to anyone. So he didn't. The likelihood of them understanding him was remote at best anyways. Of course, Zant's near destruction of Hyrule understandably gave everyone a bad impression of the Twili, unfair as that was. Hmm. Ironically enough, Link shared the same view of these strange hostile invaders at first.

"I know how they feel. I used to be afraid of you."

Midna approaches this comment with some curiosity, but a situation quickly flashes into her head, which spreads a smile across her face.

"Oh, what, the spider thing?"

The original goal Midna had to get the throne back from Zant was to use the power of the Fused Shadows, the ancient (and tangible) manifestation of her tribe's magic, to defeat him. Truth be told, she wasn't really sure how they would help exactly, but the stories that were passed down (along with the shadow she already had in her possession) were enough to convince her that they most certainly would. Of course, the remaining shadows were located in the Light World, which had led her to search for someone to assist her, and then…

But even she wasn't sure what to expect once they were finally assembled. She first called upon them to break the Twilight barrier around Hyrule Castle shortly before their final confrontation with Ganondorf, and they did not disappoint. The four shadows assembled to form something of a helmet, although the size totally obscured Midna's face. And then she started growing. The events after that were a bit hazy, but before she knew it, she had suddenly sprouted some additional legs and was on top of the barrier.

She blacked out shortly after that, but awoke some time later to find that she had indeed been successful in removing the barrier. She had also found that her sudden change in shape and appearance (which thankfully had returned to normal) did not scare off or otherwise injure Link, as he was instead holding her in his arms as she woke. Midna never forgot that moment.

However, Link was not referring to this episode, although he smiles at the memory.

"No."

He would of course have never admitted that he was scared of anything, although that time he truthfully wasn't. For whatever reason, he trusted that she wouldn't harm him. But it wasn't always like that.

"I thought you'd turn out to be evil, or Ganon, or something."

Most people would have reacted to this admission with at least some surprise. Others might even feel a bit of outrage or incredulity. Midna doesn't seem to have any reaction, though, and instead just nods slightly as she responds.

"With how I used to be I don't blame you. It's not like I had a high opinion of anyone in the Light World either."

What she had said before wasn't a lie. Her plan only ever went as far as regaining control of her own realm. The Light World's problems were their own business, and in her state she couldn't really afford to care about them as well. And it's not like they cared about her either. They didn't even know she existed, and those that did were afraid of her. Hmm. But Link came around.

"What made you change your mind?"

Explaining all that had happened over that time was perhaps an impossible task, but it could be summarized easily enough.

"I learned more about you, and then it wasn't that scary anymore."

Midna couldn't ever recall being afraid of anyone from the Light World, although she eventually found that she had started to care for at least some of its inhabitants for much the same reason. Once she saw Zelda and Link's kindness, she couldn't quickly turn her back on them as had once been the plan. Of course, no one else from either of their worlds ever had the same opportunity.

"Maybe that's all we need to do. Let our peoples get to know each other."

"It looks like we're the only ones who can go between our two worlds."

Midna smiles as her quickly formed and mildly deceptive plan now became clear. The dimensional shift between their two worlds meant that no one could enter the other world without undergoing an almost devastating physical change. The Twili actually lost their physical form in the Light World, and could only exist as dark and bodiless shadows, while the humans and other creatures of the Light World turned into spirits who likewise couldn't be seen, but who felt as if they were living in a nightmare. Thankfully, both Link and Midna found ways to overcome these problems during their quest, and as such were the only ones who could be legitimately expected to frequent each other's realms.

This meant that they would be forced to work together, which it seems to Midna that neither would mind. But with a thought, Midna quickly realizes that this isn't a fair thing to expect of the hero.

"I can't ask you to stay here any longer. Your people need you."

Link could never really be mad at Midna, and he understood why she was saying that. With the fate of both worlds at stake a few years ago, it was unquestionably true for both of them. But now, what exactly did his people need him for?

"Do you know how long I've waited to do...something again?"

"Probably about…"

"Yeah, that long. I'm not going anywhere."

Link had reacted slightly harsher than he meant, so he smiles to try to relieve some of the tension.

"Hyrule will be fine for a little while. Besides, it sounds like your people need me more right now."

While Link was unquestionably the hero of Hyrule, it turned out he was also the divine beast of Twili legend. This technically meant that he had responsibilities to both worlds, and so Midna welcomed his line of reasoning at the moment. But he only became this beast in the Twilight, instead of the spirits the rest of his people turned into (an occurrence thanks to the power bestowed upon him by the Goddesses). They had eventually found a way to work around this, partially thanks to Zant, but…

"I actually thought you might've turned into a wolf again."

Link smiles and indicates the sword on his back by touching the tip of its handle.

"Eh, the Master Sword can have the rest of eternity to sleep."

***

This time, two pairs of footsteps echo through a hallway in the Palace Of Twilight. However, like the other hallway, there are a number of Twili walking around, and they regard the sudden appearance of an outsider quite strangely. For the moment, Link doesn't notice, though, as he looks up and down the walls of the palace.

"I'm missing the giant paintings and statues of your likeness."

"I had to kill the last artist I had working on those. The position's still open if you're interested."

Link has no intention of acting surprised at the nonchalance of Midna's response, but instead echoes the lack of emotion.

"Too bad the hero thing takes up all my time."

As they continue down the hallway, Link notices a Twili regarding him rather curiously as they pass by.

"You sure it's alright for me to be in here?"

"I keep the fused shadows with me for a reason. No one will say anything."

Link smiles at the sentiment and turns his glance back toward the path in front of him.

"The iron hand of Midna."

They come to a door at the end of the hallway, which looks similar to (but smaller than) the one to Midna's bedroom. And also like before, Midna merely waves her hand in front of it, which causes the door to glow with a green pattern before sliding open. The two walk inside.

***

Another dark room lies in front of them, although this one is much quieter than the one they were just walking through. And smaller too, although the walls are somewhat difficult to see. A center aisle goes through two sets of stacks of books. They go perhaps seven or eight deep down the center, and extend for a short distance on both sides. Naturally, the stacks go above eye level, and thus obscure the view of anyone entering.

For Link and Midna, this lasts for but a moment, as Midna leads Link purposefully down the center aisle, past a librarian who sits at a desk near the front. This librarian looks up, but offers no other reaction upon seeing who it is.

"It always bothered me how Zant was able to surprise us in that light spirit's cavern."

It had bothered Link more what Zant did once he was there. For one, he stole the Fused Shadows after Link had spent what seemed like ages traversing three long and exhausting dungeons. This casual discarding of Link's hard work might have been considered one of the meanest things the Usurper King did during his short time in power. That was until Link watched him use his power to throw Midna around the cavern a few times, and then practically harass her into joining him. Perhaps it was fortunate that he was knocked out shortly thereafter, although the subsequent rush to save Midna's life after the encounter was not something he would ever forget.

Midna turns down an aisle near the back of the room, and continues walking as Link looks up and down at the various books he passes by.

"I figured he spread twilight throughout Hyrule in order to survive there."

Something Link figured as well, inasmuch as Midna could only appear as a shadow in Link's world (and thus was "forced" to freeload throughout most of the adventure), but was very much in the flesh in any of the twilit areas. But as soon as Link and Midna returned from the third dungeon, there was Zant standing right in front of them, no twilight necessary. Sure, the cavern became twilit shortly thereafter, but he theoretically shouldn't have been more than a shadow until then, which obviously wasn't the case.

Midna comes to a stop near the end of the aisle, and reaches for a large dark tome which has some words in an unrecognizable alphabet written on it.

"It won't surprise you that returning to the Light World has been a popular subject in our literature. Many of the books here are devoted to it, but no one was successful until Zant."

She hands the book to Link for his perusal, and he makes a cursory and somewhat surprised look at the cover and a few of the pages.

"While we were trying to get back here, Zant was making sure his legacy as 'our people's greatest ruler' would live on. Which of course included a detailed explanation of how he was able to get back to the Light World. And his theories on how the Twili could survive there."

Link nods thoughtfully and hands the book back to Midna.

"So how did he get back?"

"It really wasn't too hard after all. You're just bending space, and then creating a portal where the two worlds intersect. I mean, it's not something everyone here could do, but…"

Midna trails off and smiles a bit sheepishly, as she realizes her excited response glossed over a thousand years of magic (and plenty of science) to someone who had absolutely no experience with it. And it's not that Link couldn't possibly understand it, although it certainly sounded like it made some sense, sort of. But he knew that he didn't, especially given his education level. Nevertheless, he nods as if he does.

"Bending space, huh?"

This reaction brings a smirk out of Midna, who nods while deciding not to pursue the matter further. Link continues after a moment.

"Alright. So, what do we do?"

"Um, you're the hero."

"Riiiiight."

Link's one word response is deliberately long, as if he had been trying to think of the right answer and couldn't, but was finally and thankfully reminded of it. Thrown on the lead, he thinks for a moment.

Bending space, portal, two worlds, go between two worlds, problem going between two worlds…

"Did you find whoever was trying to close the portal?"

Midna is quickly reminded of her return from the Light World, and takes a large and quick breath before responding.

"They were gone by the time I got there."

"We should probably try to find them and…"

Link reaches up to the sword on his back, and grabs the handle as if he is ready to pull it out. After a quick thought, he smiles and moves his hand back down to his side again.

"…um, hear their concerns."