A/N: This chapter. Took faaaaar too long in the making. O_o It is also incredibly long and there's a bit of exposition...yeah. Well, actually, it just feels long because it's exposition, haha. xD In truth, it's about half the length of previous chapters. Still. Definitely not an actiony chapter, juuust to warn you. Sorry anyone looking for that! I promise there will be more at least after the coming chapter (so, two chaps from now); there might even be some at the end of the next one, depending how it all plays out. ;) But we will get back to danger and adventuring after all this-for those of you who've read the old versions, you understand what's coming, for the most part.

Now, on with the show!

Chapter 11: Revelo

Do not delay, my chosen, and withhold nothing.

Farore's words echoed like bells in his ear, his nerves still on fire from the supernatural encounter that had prompted his sudden search for Tanya and Vanessa. The irrepressible urge to carry out Her orders surged back to the front of his mind as Link cut through the halls toward his quarters with Tanya in tow, quelling the cold, angry fires that had ignited within him upon sight of Aerian. It was almost as if the tunnel vision of battle had fallen across his vision again, and nothing mattered more than completing his new mission.

Link didn't know quite how he did it, but five minutes later Tanya had agreed to invite Vanessa along on the ride; the hero rejoined her at the stable with the other warrior in tow ten more minutes after. Trying not to show his impatience to be away from the castle, he simply tossed a saddle on Epona and swung up on her back as Tanya finished bridling Katara and Vanessa hurried to tack up her massive white stallion, Seril.

He prayed to Nayru for patience as the trio picked up a trot through Castle Town, and Tanya and Vanessa engaged in pleasant conversation behind him.

'Can we please just get to the forest already?'

Once they had crossed the long drawbridge spanning the west fork of the Zora River where it split around the island of Hyrule Castle, the hero swiveled in his saddle to face the girls behind him. Without regard for where they were in their conversation, he interrupted mildly, "How about a good gallop to let these fine horses stretch out a bit?"

Vanessa and Tanya exchanged glances that clearly asked each other 'Where did that come from?' But then the spark of competition he knew too well flared in Vanessa's hazel eyes, and she grinned. "Shall we make it a race?"

A hint of sympathy prodded him at Tanya's 'Oh boy, here we go…' look, but Link couldn't resist the challenge. "First one to the edge of the Forest gets to hear a story?" he said slyly.

Her grin evoked images of dragon teeth in his mind. "You're on."

"Are you guys coming, or what?"

Surprised by Tanya's voice, Vanessa and Link looked around to find that their companion had quietly beaten them to the punch. Katara already stood at the crest of the next hill, pawing impatiently at the grass beneath her hooves; Link could almost hear the mare thinking, 'C'mon, what're we waiting for?'

Laughing, Vanessa put her heels to Seril's flanks and the stallion leapt forward up the rise. The barest shift in her rider's weight sent Epona racing after them both, her large strides easily covering the distance as Katara wheeled around and took off. The three horses' hooves drummed like the growl of distant thunder against the earth, the blue roan leading with the stallion and blood-bay neck and neck close behind. Link felt a grin spread across his face like he hadn't felt since Goddesses-knew-when. For once he didn't try to suppress it as Epona whinnied happily, tossed her head, and lengthened her stride on a downhill, surging past Seril in an effort to catch Katara.

It had been far too long since he and his faithful steed had had a good run like this without some outside force provoking their flight. Closing his eyes contentedly, an old affection that had never been dulled by the centuries flooded his chest; Epona truly was one of a kind. Wild, barely tamed, yet attuned to his every thought, it seemed—

With a jolt as the mare swerved away from the suddenly-near tree-line, Link rocked back in his saddle to slow the charging mare. It took her a second longer than it should have, until he remembered these weren't his younger days and this the original dark palomino mare he had rescued from a small and captive Lon Lon Ranch.

Hiding the pain and sorrow of that loss from his face with practiced ease, he turned Epona around and guided her toward the edge of Farore's Forest where Tanya and Vanessa were reining in ahead of him. Despite his best efforts, though, the flash in Vanessa's eyes and her worried frown told him she had noticed.

"Looks like I'm telling a story," he greeted them with false cheer as Epona stopped a couple paces before the other two. The girls glanced at each other with hints of confusion, but he didn't give them a chance to contradict that. Suddenly serious, he dismounted and moved toward the trees, gesturing for them to follow and leave the horses.

Once inside the protective canopy, strengthening and protective magic flooded him through his Triforce. Lips twitching with a smile—the Goddess was protecting her Chosen as she did every time he stepped within the realm of Her power—he halted a hundred yards into the undergrowth where the Forest began to deepen.

"We should be protected from prying ears here," he explained to the trailing girls when they stopped a few steps away.

The hero turned in time to see them share glances again, beyond confusion to bewilderment now. Vanessa crossed her arms, shifting her weight and frowning deeply as hazel eyes pinned him accusingly. "What are we doing here, Link?"

Link sighed, looking away. Now that they were both right here, this seemed far more difficult than he had thought. Farore's presence swirled more strongly within him, steadying his resolve though he refused to look back at his audience again. Taking a steadying breath, he gestured toward the ground. "You…might want to have a seat for this." As they did so, albeit in a manner laced with wary curiosity, he explained, "I'm…trying to reconcile a few things that you two need to know."

He opened his mouth to continue, but just somehow couldn't force life into the words he needed. Fighting with himself, he grimaced and looked down at the ground to one side away from the impatient girls' expressions, rubbing the back of his neck in an old habit.

This was going to take a while.

'Let's start with the least…personal bit to swallow…'

Exhaling heavily, Link ran his hand once backwards through his hair and then plopped himself cross-legged on the lush grass in front of the girls. Still not looking at the pair, he began, "So, Tanya… What do you know about your pendant?"

Seeming surprised at the question, she blinked and then glanced away, fiddling with the aforementioned jewelry. "W-well… You and Zelda, apparently, gave it to me when I was little, and…you think it has something to do with the Triforce because it reacts to you and Zelda…" Suspicion and revelation lit her eyes when the girl looked up at him next, brows furrowed. "There's more, isn't there?"

Unable to hide the guilt in his eyes—though it was from more than this topic, where he had a perfectly good excuse—Link stared down at his fingers, playing idly with the long strands of grass. They were almost like horse teeth, tearing up the vegetation in bunches before gathering another clump together.

"Farore just confirmed my suspicions earlier this morning." He shook his head in rueful amusement. "It would take divine intervention for us to figure this out…" Forcing himself to meet Tanya's eyes despite his hammering heart, he said, "That pendant is probably the most important if not only weapon we have against this new threat—whom She calls Amadeus.

"Apparently…he's Their brother." Holding up a finger to forestall their shocked exclamations and questions—or anything else—Link continued, "What that pendant is…is the fourth piece to the Triforce. It is the end-game, the checkmate, the final word, the last reserve of power. Recall that the Triforce in its entirety grants the deepest desire, the greatest wish of a person's heart, once all the pieces are brought together. But, theoretically, if someone were to have their wish granted the first time around, and then someone else were to gather the pieces again, it's possible someone could overturn the previous wish.

"That is what this—the Triforce of Virtue—is designed to prevent. The entirety of the Triforce's power, until now, was withheld to prevent any one person from completely destroying Hyrule or otherwise doing irreparable damage." His countenance was grim as he met Tanya and Vanessa's eyes separately, as if that alone would impress upon them the importance of this knowledge. "But with the new knowledge that Amadeus himself has now come onto the field of battle, apparently…the Goddesses deigned that it was time this final option was brought into play.

"According to Farore, Amadeus is the estranged brother of the Three, who was inadvertently left out of the creation process. Angered by his exclusion, he created the mirror world to Hyrule—Cerberus—and his lieutenant, Ganon. Fearful of attack against their new world, the Three then created an antithesis to Ganon."

Tanya's soft voice filled the sudden stillness. "You."

Unable to find anything to say—he was still coming to terms with that, himself—he simply nodded. Vanessa was the next to speak, voice harsh with uncertainty and doubt. "Okay, so there's a fourth piece to the Triforce. So…why am I here?"

That question was almost like a kick to the gut. Wincing and swallowing the fear that threatened to jump down his throat, he fought to regain the momentum he'd had. His fingers plucked faster at the grass; he had to consciously force them to still. "Well… The Triforce isn't the only thing I have to tell you about."

Tanya simply appeared confused, but Vanessa's eyes were narrowed in suspicion. "Does this have anything to do with me not being Labrynnian?" Taking Link's silence for an affirmative, she surged to her feet in one angry motion. "You know who my parents are, don't you? You've known all along!"

All the emotions he had been wrestling with, struggling to control, exploded in answer to her angry accusations. "It's not like I wanted to keep it from you! Gods, Vanessa, if you knew how hard this is for me to tell—"

"Don't give me that, Link," the girl hissed, eyes flaming and a rigid finger stabbed toward him. "I've trusted you. All this time we've known each other, and I've trusted you with—with everything. What makes you think you have the right to withhold anything, much less something of this magnitude?"

"Stop, Vanessa."

His cold voice served to freeze her tirade in an instant. Her eyes sheened over with a film of horror he had hoped never to see in her gaze, and he was certain then that his expression was as frosty as he felt.

But Link was beyond anger at the moment.

"How dare you think to know my motives for what I do or do not, what information I deign to give or omit. Have you ever had the weight of an entire world on your shoulders?" When her expression started to thaw from fear back into righteous anger, he snapped, "And I'm not talking about worrying whether or not you fail to retrieve the next key to a keep you've never seen to free the one great hope of all worlds from imprisonment. I'm talking about facing down Evil itself and being the last line of defense before the whole world falls into chaos and darkness and only an act of the Goddesses could possibly save Their creation.

"Try living with that for four. Hundred. Years. And then tell me that I was wrong to do what I've done."

Silence swallowed the clearing. Link hardly noticed, crystal-blue eyes boring angrily into shocked hazel eyes. Despite the fact that she was practically standing over him, the dominance his glare had over her might as well have had her groveling in the dirt.

"Are you done?"

Visibly swallowing, Vanessa averted her eyes and slowly sat on the grass again. Tanya offered her a sympathetic glance and a hand on her shoulder, but the other girl simply shrugged it off and scooted away from her. Frowning hurtfully, Tanya turned back to Link. "So…what now?"

Link exhaled, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. Once he'd had a moment to regain his composure and thoughts, he opened his eyes again and said, "You both know who Lord Adriel and Lady Mara were, correct?" Tanya nodded, and although Vanessa didn't move, Link already knew she did. Taking a breath and bracing himself for yet another outburst, he continued, "Tanya, you were not their only child…and they had not always lived in Hyrule. Their stay in Labrynna was short, but meaningful, for when they returned to Hyrule they would leave behind them a child destined to serve as a failsafe for the eventuality that the Hero of Time would at some point face a threat too great to handle alone."

Tanya's eyes widened in surprise as everything that had been said finally clicked, and she whipped her head around to stare at Vanessa. Trepidation gripped Link's stomach as silence slithered between the trio, waiting for someone to break the stalemate.

To his surprise, it was the Mistress of Light who did so.

"I'm…Tanya's older sister."

—

Wide awake, Tanya wandered through a labyrinth of dark hedges and wide, flower-packed courtyards carpeted in thick grass that reminded her of Farore's Forest. Despite being in the middle of a massive city, the gardens were wide open to the star-drenched sky in a way that gave the girl a feeling of being out in the middle of the plains.

Untouched. Carefree. Wild.

Alone.

She sighed, thoughts unfailingly returning to the conversation in the forest again. The energies that had been swirling through that clearing… Just remembering them almost made her stomach churn.

So much pain. So much mistrust.

'Odd,' she mused, pausing before a merrily chirping fountain. 'Here I am, having once held just as much animosity toward Link when I first met him…and now, I feel like defending him. I'm sure one to talk about mistrust, aren't I?' Stepping up to the wide rim of a pool around the fountain, she stared sadly at her reflection and dipped a finger into the water. Ripples shattered through the image, distorting her face until she could no longer recognize it in the moonlight.

It was a fitting metaphor for how she felt right now.

The sound of stones shifting underfoot caught her ear. Tanya quickly looked up to see Link standing in the entrance to the next garden over, looking almost like he had been caught sneaking around.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" She watched as he shook his head briefly and slowly approached the opposite side of the fountain. Looking back into the pool, she idly flicked her fingers through the dark water. "Me neither." When he didn't say anything, the girl glanced up at him; he was staring across the distance at her, eyes seemingly locked on her hand.

Suddenly unnerved by his expression, she withdrew her hand and seated herself on the rim of the fountain, nervously twisting her fingers in the fabric of her pants to dry them. When she looked up again she was startled to find him only a few paces away, eyes troubled and aglow with moonlight.

'The nocturnal wolf on the prowl' ghosted through her thoughts briefly.

They remained like that, almost frozen in a tableau, for an indefinite period of time before Link sighed heavily and walked over to settle on the stone beside her. Tanya watched him curiously while he stared out at the unseen horizon, the moon a sliver of illumination that limned the curves of his features.

"Are you…alright?"

Link's whisper sounded like a stone breaking glassy water. She raised an eyebrow at his general question and turned her gaze in the same direction as his, bracing her palms on the back edge of the wall on which they sat. "Depends what you're asking about, I guess."

The warrior glanced over at her briefly, then away again. After some hesitation, he rephrased, "Aerian… Did he…do anything? Weird? Out of the ordinary? …Untoward?

Perplexed by the sudden conversation starter, she studied him a few moments before answering. "Well… I mean, he did kind of creep me out, and I felt uneasy, but…" Tanya shook her head. "I…don't think he did anything that really could constitute "untoward", or merit some sort of investigation." When he turned dubious, worried eyes on her, she smiled and put a hand on his upper arm reassuringly. "Really, Link, I'm fine. I appreciate the concern, though." Her smile fading, she turned his query on him: "What about you? You seem tense…"

He merely grunted noncommittally at first. Feeling slightly put off by his odd attitude, she removed her hand and laced her fingers together in her lap.

"What about…?" He waved vaguely at the pendant.

She couldn't help but chuckle; of all things, he was concerned about that? "Well, I guess it isn't every day you hear you're carrying around the fourth piece of a divine relic, but…" She shrugged. "Somehow…that doesn't bother me? As far as I'm concerned, right now, it's still the same necklace I've worn since I was four."

Link's troubled expression didn't go away as she had hoped, however. Staring at some point near her feet, he muttered, "H-how…how are you so calm?"

Another shrug. "I guess, after so many surprises already, I've just…gotten used to it? It's almost not worth lingering over anymore, or I'd end up sitting in a miserable bundle in my room all week until I probably died of starvation."

She had said it with humor, but something about it caused him to wince. After a few moments of silence, he glanced up at her and took a steadying breath. "There's…more to it." He rubbed the back of his neck—a regular nervous gesture, she had noticed. Exhaling, he began to explain.

"Farore…told me about the origin of my immortality." He took another breath; she was beginning to wonder about his state of mind with how on edge he was acting. "Apparently, in the interim period when my soul was waiting to be bonded to my body, Amadeus broke into the Goddesses' palace with the intent to destroy or warp me in some manner favorable to him. Farore found him in time…but not before he could place a curse of immortality on me, which would only break once Ganon was destroyed."

Link fell quiet as if pondering what that meant for the past four hundred years. Curious why he had told her this—and now instead of back in the forest—she queried, "So, that has…what, to do with the Triforce?"

That got another sigh, and then he buried his face in his hands, twisting his fingers through long golden bangs. She thought he might never answer for how long he stayed silent.

"Because, Tanya…you are the fourth Bearer—" He finally lifted his head to pin stormy, dangerous eyes on her. "—and you are also going to be immortal."

At first Tanya might have thought he was trying to pull a fast one on her, and he'd be laughing in a second. Except, those eyes… His eyes were the farthest thing from humorous. It almost scared her how many emotions she could see fighting for dominance inside him.

"W-what…what do you mean?"

He was still staring at her. "If we don't defeat this Amadeus—or Ganon—for good, you will also not age." Hesitation. "You…will face the same curse I have."

It finally clicked; her eyes went wide.

The Goddesses had created her with some very explicit purposes in mind. Bearer of the fourth piece, meant to defeat Ganon, live as long as that was necessary…

Yet there was one major difference between her and Link:

She wouldn't be alone.

"L-Link…"

The hero finally looked away. "I'm sorry, Tanya. If I could do anything to change your circumstances, I would. You…shouldn't be forced to live with this like I have."

Tanya barely had to think; she could have chosen to agree with him—but she also knew she could never do that. She shook her head emphatically and gripped his shoulder sternly.

"No, Link. You don't have to do that."

Link glanced back at her in surprise. She offered him a small smile. "You've done so much for me already. I… I want to help you. If this is my way to do that, so be it."

He shook his head disbelievingly. "Y-you don't understand, Tanya—how dark, how…lonely…this path gets." His voice quieted and cracked; he stared down at his hands. "If you knew…just how painful it gets…"

Her hand instinctively tightened on his shoulder; she could hear the pain he was talking about in his voice. "But you forget, Link—I won't be alone like you were. I'll be alright. Even if it takes another hundred years or more to stop Amadeus and Ganon…I promise: I'll be there to see it through. To the end."

His hand covered his eyes, the web of his thumb braced across his brow. "Y-you're… You're trying to help…" He shook his head, his voice below a whisper. "D-don't…don't try."

That puzzled her. "W-what? Link, what're you talking about?"

And then his hand was a vice grip atop hers and his gaze met hers. She couldn't breathe for a moment. His eyes were like windows filled with bright blue flame that both ensnared her and revealed an array of indescribable emotions: sorrow, agony, rage; yet also, very faintly, hope, wonder, and…

Trust?

"L-Link…?"

He gave the slightest, most subtle shake of his head she'd seen yet. "Don't. Just…don't."

The clipped, overly clear pronunciation and the command itself only served to confuse and worry her further.

Shifting slightly to better face him, she pleaded, "Link, please, if there's something I can do—"

In the next second, almost before she knew it, he had planted his free hand behind her and cradled her cheek in the palm of the other, nearly looming over her so closely she could feel his breath on her face. Her heart skipped a beat before racing onward like a horse out of a starting gate. Anything she could have said quailed under his dangerous gaze.

And yet, deep beneath the surface, she could see some of the same confusion in him that she was feeling.

Drawing in an uneasy, shuddering breath, she gently reached out to run her fingers along his hairline. Her voice came out barely louder than a breath, almost as if she were afraid of shattering glass.

"Link, please…"

And then, like the lightest breeze, he was suddenly gone.

—

Not only his centuries'-old walls had crumbled.

His control—his sanity—was also failing.

The inner wolf he'd only felt a handful of times previously kept growling in his mind, prowling his dreams, feeding on the emotions of centuries and the confusion of the present.

And Link didn't like it. At all.

"What am I doing?" he mumbled to himself, head in his hands and fingers tangled in his bangs. The branches of the hedge at his back dug painfully into his skin—he had sat fairly far back against it—but he didn't care.

"What is wrong with me?"

A breath of air where there should not have been preempted Midna's appearance out of his shadow. "Well, that was…interesting," she commented from behind his left ear. "For once I'm not sure if I even really know what to say to that."

Link's lip lifted in a snarl that was evident through his voice. "Go away, Midna."

She hmm'd slightly in false contemplation. "I don't think so. This is becoming far more interesting than I could have anticipated." He could hear the grin in her tone. "Amazing what one can learn when one is as unnoticed as someone's own shadow, hm?"

Anger howled within him again, but this time he fought it down. The hero was beginning to get tired of it, let alone the fact that he didn't feel like moving.

Or otherwise giving into the imp's attempt to get a rise out of him.

Resigning himself to her presence with a sigh, he demanded, "What do you want, Midna?"

"Oh, who said I wanted anything? I'm getting enough entertainment out of this as it is," she chuckled, swinging around from behind his shoulders to—probably—hover in front of him. "Now you, on the other hand… You look like you could use some help." There was no mistaking the sympathy in her tone. "And a lot of it."

Again with the rage—the wolf came to the fore. "I don't need anyone's help—" he snarled, glaring up at her, "—least of all yours!"

Midna simply tutted and crossed her arms, shaking her head disappointedly. "Wow, what a spectacle—I never thought I'd hear of it, let alone come to witness it myself. The so-called "great" Hero of Time, reduced to a snarling, sniveling huddle of nothing under a hedge refusing to ask for—or even accept—help." Her smirk made his stomach twist into nervous knots somehow. "All because one little girl has his wolfy hormones all in a tizzy."

The wolf roared angrily; Link jumped to his feet as if to attack Midna, but simply clenched his hands when he remembered he couldn't physically harm the shadow. He settled for glaring daggers at her instead.

"What. Did. You. Say."

A wicked grin splayed across her face, showing her fang-like canine teeth. "I said, your inner wolf is so gaga over Tanya, you can't keep your thoughts straight." At hearing the snarl he couldn't suppress in time, she grinned wider. "I'm right! I'm right and you know it, wolf-boy!" the imp crowed.

The surge of fury that nearly overwhelmed him turned his vision red—but then he froze and actually thought about what she'd said.

Tanya… 'Do I…really…love her?' Something about that instantly flushed his cheeks with warmth. Looking down at his open palms, he recalled the scene he'd just experienced and the emotions that had coursed like fire through his veins.

"M-maybe it's just infatuation," he protested shakily, closing his fists.

Midna shook her head knowingly, but smiled indulgently at him. "Well, there's only going to be one way to know, at this point." She grinned evilly when he blanched. "You know what I mean, don't you?"

Link suppressed a groan and, for once, managed to swallow his pride.

Tanya was going to need an escort to the ball tomorrow night. Zelda had been trying to talk him into it for the past few days. She had even had an outfit made up and a sword drawn from the Royal Armory.

And if it would get him answers…

He sighed. "Guess I'm going to the ball for the first time in a couple decades."

—

Tanya twisted awkwardly in front of the mirror, nervously smoothing the golden taffeta of her wide skirt. She had been uncertain about the design at first when Zelda and the head seamstress had been explaining it; but it had looked good on the mannequin, and the seamstress had assured her some modifications could be made to accommodate her particular tastes.

Now the final product stared back at her through the mirror, wide-eyed as an owl and far more perplexed.

"I never thought I'd ever do something like this," she commented to Zelda behind her. Pursing her lips and appraising her reflection, she complained, "I feel like a doll."

The princess chuckled at her pouting and walked up beside the girl, patting her on the shoulder comfortingly. "You look gorgeous. Don't worry too much about it and just have fun tonight, alright? You can really use the break," she said sympathetically.

Tanya thought immediately of the previous day's events, especially last night. It had been at the forefront of her thoughts on and off all day.

"We all can," the girl murmured in response.

Noticing her pensive look, Zelda leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "Link's coming to the ball tonight; I asked him to escort you." That immediately made Tanya tense, but if Zelda noticed she didn't show it. She simply patted her shoulder again and leaned away. "He's done this many a time, so he'll be able to walk you through it all. Just relax and try to enjoy yourself."

Before she could lose her nerve and regret saying it, Tanya blurted, "I'm not so sure it's such a good idea to have Link go with me."

She could see Zelda's raised eyebrow in the mirror. "Oh? If you're worried about the dancing, or making a fool of yourself—"

Tanya shook her head vigorously, the few free, curled locks of her bright red bangs gently tapping the sides of her face. Irritatedly tucking the flyaways behind her ears—only to have them spring free again—she stuttered, "N-no, no, it's…nothing like that." She paused and looked away from Zelda's expectant—knowing—gaze, struggling for words. Her fingers brushed over the pendant's surface of their own volition. "H-he… He…told me that the pendant is the fourth piece of the Triforce. And that I…I'm burdened with the same curse he is."

That actually registered with Zelda. A moment of shock passed across her face before she could school it into sympathy and second-hand melancholy—directed at Tanya this time.

And then realization and an expression she didn't like which she could only call "scheming" dawned on the princess' countenance.

She obviously chose her words carefully. "I would think he would have shown some measure of relief for the fact he'll no longer be alone, and that he can be there for you like no one could be for him."

Tanya finally turned from the mirror to face the monarch head-on. Despite herself, words just began to roll off her tongue. "That's…what I tried to tell Link. He was so torn up about it; said if he could, he would change my circumstances so I didn't have to go through what he did. That's when I pointed out that I wouldn't be alone like he had, and…" She trailed off, holding her white-gloved hands palms up and staring at them like they would have all the answers. "He…didn't seem to like that thought very much. Something about it just…set him off. He…said that I was trying to help, and that I shouldn't—that he didn't want help."

Those eyes…

She shook her head, fighting to speak past a lump of frustration growing in her throat. "H-he—he…looked so…hurt, and confused." A swallow. "I just…want to see him happy, for once. He's hardly ever genuinely smiled since I've met him."

A tiny sound that Tanya soon pinpointed as a quiet chuckle made her look up in surprise at Zelda. The princess was smiling, although obviously trying to keep it under control. "You are certainly in a unique position to do that. And, it seems to me, you also care about him enough to work that kind of change." She allowed her smile to widen slightly. "I've already noticed a little thawing, actually. If you ask me, honestly, I think he cares about you more than he lets on, too."

Realizing what Zelda was implying, a quiet gasp passed Tanya's lips and her eyes widened. "W-wait, you mean—I don't—He really—I—I…" She could barely find words to express the sudden rush of emotions through her chest; her cheeks felt on fire. Feeling suddenly weak-kneed, she carefully sank into a nearby chair, one hand to her forehead.

Zelda's voice was soothing, but also strangely triumphant. "Well, it seems to me the only way to know for sure…"

Tanya gulped down the sudden burst of nervous butterflies fluttering into her throat from her stomach. She knew exactly what Zelda meant.

One way or another, she would have to face Link eventually—sooner rather than later, as Zelda had implied.

Swallowing again, Tanya slowly stood and adjusted her skirts. The ball would be starting within the hour; it was time to be going.

It was time to face the music—and Link.