I've been so busy these past few weeks and I'm really sorry...but Thanksgiving break starts Saturday so I'm going to update. A lot. I promise (and this time I really am telling the truth.)


The only 'other' sitting at the wooden table is Ashei, and she looks decades older amongst the dusty crates and barrels of ale. Kylan realizes that she is the only one left—Shad and Rusl are settled down, and Auru is dead, and perhaps that's why she looks so sad as she sits there alone in the candlelight. She watches him with unsurprised black eyes as he sinks into the seat across from her.

"What happened to you, kid?" Ashei asks, gesturing to the bandage around his head.

"Ordon was attacked and the queen is gone," he says. She lets out some sort of gasp and leaps out of her chair. "I'll explain when Telma comes in."

"We need to get Rusl in here," she blurts out. "And…and Shad." She forces the name out of her throat like it's painful to say. It was no secret that Ashei loves Shad, has loved him for a very long time, but he is married with a daughter and Ashei is left here, all alone with a mug of bad ale.

"I don't know where they are," Kylan chokes on the words, thinking of six-year-old Lily and kind Uli and strong Colin and his parents

The door opens and he catches fragments of conversation and drunken singing before it closes and Telma walks in. She approaches the table with an expression that is almost afraid, and on her it stirs up something in Kylan's stomach, something that feels like terror.

"Tell me everything," she says very calmly as she takes a seat, and the story begins to spill out of Kylan's lips. It doesn't take long to tell, but he feels a stab of pain that is almost physical when he says, "Alari is gone, searching for Prince Navin. She left without me, and I have no idea where she is now."

The silence that follows feels as heavy as a blanket of snow, and it piles on top of Kylan until he can't breathe. Ashei is the one to break through it, her eyes dark and grim as she surveys the two of them carefully.

"We need to learn more about this Ebon character. Find out who he is, yeah? Only Twili are supposed to be able to create portals."

"And what he did to Midna and Link," Telma says, her voice low and serious. "The Triforce is supposed to choose its own master. But he took the Triforce of Courage from Link, and maybe the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda, and possibly Midna's magic. Anyone who possesses power like that…" She rubs her temples, then stands up and started to pace back and forth.

"But the thing is, he didn't get the Triforce of Courage," Kylan points out. "Alari has it. That's what helped her escape."

"I hate to say it, because we've always done everything on our own," Telma says, whirling around to face the other direction. "But we need help."

"Agreed," Ashei says. "We can call on all the allies we've made, yeah? Get together a group that can rise up to meet this threat. We do have plenty of friends in high places."

"I think our best bet right now is to lay low," Kylan suggests. "We shouldn't make this a public thing. People would panic."

"Well," Telma concluded, coming to a halt in front of them. "Kylan, how do you feel about some research?"


I do not own Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or any of its original characters. If I did, well, that'd be awesome, but I don't.