Author's Note: I made this chapter a bit long and introduced some new characters, to make up for being kind of AWOL for a while. Long waits for updates probably equal angry viewers. ^-^; heh... My bad. Honestly, I've just had a lot on my mind. I'm hoping to start college soon, and I've been trying to look for a job. Also, some bad things are going on right now, but, eh. I'll live, I hope! Anywho, enjoy, and review! And if you have any helpful suggestions or constructive criticism, I'm always willing to listen. :3 Love to you all!

DISCLAIMER- Legend of Zelda© Nintendo. I don't own anything having to do with Legend of Zelda. I bought the games and a few manga here and there, and that's about it. ;)


11

"Once again, thank you so much for saving the Great Deku Tree," Saria said gratefully to the group. "We'll all be sad to see you go..."

Link smiled kindly. "I'm sure we'll be back again soon," he said.

"Of course!" Tari agreed, hugging little Kiko one last time. "Take care of my little deku buddy for me!"

Kiko purred, and Saria giggled softly. "Sure thing," she said. "Well... I guess for now, this is goodbye." She put on a brave smile, though she knew she'd really miss her new heroic friends. "We wish you luck on your journey!"

"Thank you, little dear!" Midna said happily to the young girl.

"Later, kiddo!" Hio said, ruffling Saria's green hair.

The group one by one crawled through the small crevice that led to the rest of the woodlands. Link felt something tug at his arm a moment, and he turned around quickly to see the young Kokiri girl flashing an encouraging smile at him. "I know you can save Hyrule," Saria said, her blue eyes sparkling. "Just as you saved our home."

Link grinned. "Thanks," was all he could think to say. He followed the others through the opening in the brush wall, pondering what the young girl had said.


"Lord Ganondorf," said the voice of a young man, who couldn't have been much older than twenty years of age. "You called?"

Ganondorf turned slowly, eyeing the man. He was like a walking shadow. Every one of his features was completely black; his sword, his tunic, even his skin. The only exceptions were his silver hair, and glowing red eyes. "Yes, Dark," Ganondorf finally said. "Good to see you were a success."

Dark Link scowled. "Don't talk to me as if I'm some inhuman piece of work," he said harshly.

The sneer on Dark Link's face immediately disappeared when Ganondorf grabbed him by the neck and pushed him up against the dark, stone wall. "Dear Shadow boy," he began, his voice low and dark. "You work for me. You will do as I command. And I command you to find your human counterpart and bring him to me, alive. The red head, too. We will need her."

"W-what about the others?" Dark Link strained to ask, having a difficult time speaking with the large Gerudo man's hand clamped around his throat.

"Kill the two Twili," Ganondorf said. "I rightly do not care what happens to the Sheikah pair... Killing them would be a waste valuable time." The huge, muscular man glared into Dark Link's red eyes. "And if you ever speak to me like that again, you shadow... I will make you wish you were never brought into this world." He let go of Dark Link's neck, and stormed out of the room, slamming the large door behind him.

"As you wish," Dark Link muttered rather sarcastically, rubbing his sore neck.


"I'm getting rather tired..." Midna muttered aloud. "Do you think we can set up camp for the night?"

"Come on, we're not even half way outta the woods yet!" Hio replied. "How can you be tired?"

The group had been traveling for about two hours. They were hoping to head back to Kakariko, for more supplies before they set out for the next spiritual stone. They didn't know which one they'd need to search for next, however. To Link, it didn't matter what order they found them in, just so long as they have them. But at the same time, he wanted to find them as quickly as he could. He found it very logical to search in the regions closest to them, if at all possible. Perhaps they'd find the Sheikah Amethyst in Kakariko? If not, Death Mountain was very close. The Goron Ruby should be there.

"Link, you awake over there?"

Link practically jumped hearing his name, snapping out of his trance. "Oh! Uh... Sorry," he sputtered. "What's going on?"

Kioshi rolled her eyes. "Come on, Mr. Hero. Focus," she teased. "Look. Over there."

Ahead of them, tucked deep within the lush, green forest, was a small cabin. Smoke was slowly swirling out of the chimney, signaling that someone must have been living there.

Blaine crossed his arms to his chest, as if he were pondering something. "I think we should speak with whoever lives here," he finally said. "I'm sure if we explain ourselves and tell them of our, um.. 'fate,' if you will... they will gladly give us a safe and warm place to sleep for the night."

"...Wait a minute," Tari piped in. "You can't just walk up to some stranger and ask to spend the night..."

Link glanced over at Tari, then at Midna and Blaine, who were staring at Tari with rather bewildered expressions. "Tari's right," he said. "We don't know who lives there. First of all, it's, well... kind of rude to ask that of a complete stranger. Second, what if..."

"What if they know we're trying to find the spiritual stones?" Kioshi added harshly, as if she'd just read Link's mind. "There's still a possibility that they might want to kill us." She placed her hands on her hip as she glared at the Twili couple.

Kioshi and Midna continued to bicker, Midna insisting that she needed a warm bed, and Kioshi telling her to toughen up. Link tuned them out, and turned to look at the small cabin.

He then noticed the door open slowly, and a figured stepped out. "Hello, there!" said a kind and airy voice. It was a young girl, who couldn't have been much older than eleven or twelve. Her golden hair was tied up into two pigtails, and she wore a lovely aqua-colored dress with a matching tiara-like headband. "You travelers look a bit lost. Could I be of assistance?" The girl stepped out a little further, making it easier to see her childish facial features. She curtsied politely, and giggled.

"Ah, yes," Blaine began confidently, "we have a favor to ask of you, Miss. Would you mind if-"

"Blaine!" Kioshi shouted, trying to keep her voice low so only he could hear her. "She's just a young girl..."

The small girl smiled once again. "You all would like a place to stay for the night, wouldn't you!" she exclaimed happily. "I'll go tell my maid that you all will be joining us for dinner tonight!" She skipped back up to her cabin, then looked back at them once more. "Oh, and my name is Princess Agitha. Ehee!"

"That was easier than I thought," Hio uttered, a single eyebrow raised.


"I really do hope you all enjoyed your meal," Agitha's kind, middle-aged maid said. Her name was Marcel.

"It was great!" Tari exclaimed. "You're a fabulous cook."

Marcel beamed. "Why thank you!" she replied happily, picking up each of their emptied plates from the dinner table.

"We really should be thanking you," Link said, smiling sweetly.

The dark haired maid patted him on the shoulder. "Anything for Hyrule's very own hero, and his friends!" Marcel was still grinning. "I honestly can't believe you all are here, in my very own home!" She took the dirty dishes and walked out of the room, still mumbling happily to herself about how thrilled she was to meet them all, Link in particular.

"So, Miss Agitha," Midna began. "You called yourself... Princess, earlier? You are a princess?"

Agitha giggled softly. "Yes! Princess Agitha, of the bug kingdom!"

Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing, and stared at the young girl.

"Erm... Bug kingdom...?" Kioshi questioned.

"Uh huh!" Agitha answered. "I collect insects, and care for them all. They're like my children." The young girl stood. "Come on, I'll show you!"

The group stood, and followed the blond girl. Link looked over at Tari a moment, an eyebrow raised. "Interesting little girl, huh?"

Tari laughed softly. "Well, I guess she'll at least keep us entertained..."

Agitha led them through the back door of her home, into a small clearing, filled with bushes and colorful flowers. Agitha stood in front of the group and spread her arms wide. "This... is my Bug Kingdom."

All around the clearing were small, golden insects, that almost appeared to glow. There were so many that the woods surrounding them began to sparkle, lighting up the darkening sky. "It's really quite pretty, Agitha," Midna said, glancing around in awe. "There are so many of them..."

"Odd thing to collect, I guess," Tari said to Link. "But it's so pretty..." A golden butterfly fluttered towards her, and landed on her shoulder.

"Yeah..." Link began slowly, watching as Tari lifted the small butterfly onto her fingers, bringing it to her lips for a gentle kiss. "Beautiful..." It took him a moment to realize he wasn't exactly thinking about the scenery as he'd said that. Wait, what just happened...? He blushed a bit and looked away, shaking the thought from his head.

"Ooh, I know..." Agitha said excitedly, sitting cross-legged on a large rock that circled a small garden, along with many other similar sized rocks. "How about a nice story, before we get settled for the night?"

"Eh, sure," Kioshi said, sitting down beside the young girl. "You're a pretty unique little girl, Agitha. I'm sure you'd tell some amazing stories."

"Unless she meant for us to tell the story," Hio said, taking a seat beside Kioshi and playing with her long, black hair. "I have a pretty good one, if anybody would be interested."

Agitha's small, freckled face lit up with excitement. "Oh, please tell!"

The rest of the group agreed to stay for Hio's story. They all sat down in a circular formation, surrounding Hio, the storyteller. "Now as you all know," the blond man began, "there are many, many different races of people, scattered about Hyrule. You have the Sheikah, like Kioshi and I... the Hylians like our very own Hero over there... the Ordonians, the Gorons, the Zoras, the Kokiri, the Gerudo tribe, and even the Twili, apparently... But there is a legend of a very special race, that once lived here; a tribe that came straight from the Heavens above us, the Azura."

Agitha, Blaine, Midna and Link listened intently, already very interested in Hio's tale. Tari looked up a moment, then continued to play with the butterflies and other various insects that seemed very attracted to her. The glowing gold of the fluttering bugs seemed to make her face glimmer in the evening darkness.

"Hmph," Kioshi said in disbelief. "That's just a bunch of-"

"So anyway!" Hio continued, interrupting Kioshi. "The Azura were a very unique race. Very special indeed. Most of them possessed magical powers, but one trait that every Azuran had... was a pair of large, beautiful wings. Almost like that of an angel, or even a giant, human-sized bird."

"Wings?" Agitha questioned, already on the edge of her seat. "They could fly?"

"Indeed they could," Hio replied. He then continued. "They were fascinating creatures. A normal Azuran at first glance would appear to look like a perfectly normal human. In fact, most other races confused them with Hylians. Until they saw their wings, that is. And not only did they have the ability to fly... but they had the ability to heal. It was, quite literally, in their blood. This made them excellent warriors, because once they were injured, they'd heal in almost no time at all."

"That's totally logical," Kioshi grumbled sarcastically.

"What else, Hio?" Agitha asked, getting rather impatient.

Hio laughed lightly. "You sure do love stories, don't you," he said to the small child. "Moving on. Like I mentioned moments ago... Their blood was what possessed those magical healing powers. If one consumes even the tiniest amount of the blood of an Azuran, their wounds will heal. If an Azuran were strong and skilled enough, he or she could harness the powers within their blood into actual healing magic. That, however, was rare."

"Hm..." Blaine uttered slowly, pondering this. "Blood, with healing powers? Very interesting."

"It saddens me to say this," Hio began, "but that's the reason why there are no more left to this day. The Azura were all hunted down, for their blood. It was said, that dark witches used their blood to make potions to resurrect the dead. Actually... Many, many years ago, before any of us were even born... As you may have heard, there was an evil ambiance swarming all throughout Hyrule, similar to what's happening right now. The Azura left their sacred place in the sky to help us in our time of need, but... They were hunted and destroyed. Not only was it to aid the 'dark side,' but... that very occurrence, was what completely wiped the Azura from existence."

Agitha gasped, her bright blue eyes wide with wonder. "Wow..." she whispered. "Who knew such creatures existed!"

"It's only a legend," Kioshi said. "Nothing but a little myth, a bed time story told to children who want entertainment."

"Come on, Kioshi," Hio said. "You can't tell me you don't believe in them at least a little...?"

Kioshi sighed, and shoved him playfully, laughing.

Link glanced around at everybody for a moment. Hio and Agitha were trying to change Kioshi's mind about the myth. Midna had fallen asleep in Blaine's arms, and he began to play with her long, auburn hair gingerly. Tari sat there quietly, playing with a golden dragonfly that had landed on her finger.

"You seem rather quiet," Link said softly to his friend, suddenly worried something was the matter with her. "Did his story bore you, or something?"

Tari giggled in response. "Nah, it's just... I've heard it before. From... my father." She lifted her hand, and the dragonfly quickly flew away. "And like Kioshi said, it's only a myth."

"You sure nothing's bothering you?" Link asked. He instinctively brushed some of her golden red hair out of her face, the same way he did when he was cleaning the dried blood off of her the day they met. Realizing what he'd done, he jerked his hand back, and quickly averted his eyes.

"How about another good one?" Hio said happily.

"Please?" Agitha begged.

Tari ignored the others and looked over at Link. "I'm quite alright," she said, smiling. "Just, ya know... Tired."

"I know what you mean," Link replied rather humorously, trying to get rid of any awkwardness there might have been. "We've had a long couple of days."

"It's kind of nice to just relax for a little while," Tari said, inching closer to him. "Especially knowing we have such a long journey ahead of us."

"True..." Link uttered quietly, feeling somewhat warmer sitting next to her.

The group continued to listen as Hio began a story about how he once encountered a large fire-breathing dragon, and almost died. Kioshi was still accusing him of making everything up, to which Hio replied, "I'm just being a good entertainer."

As he listened to Hio's tale, Link felt something soft and warm against his shoulder. He noticed Tari had fallen asleep, resting her head against him. Blushing deeply, Link held his breath, trying not to move for fear of waking her. Or perhaps out of nervousness. After a few moments though, he smiled, realizing it felt kind of nice being this close to someone for a change.

"...and then he swung his gigantic, spiked tail, right at my face!"

"Oh, no!"

The night began to grow darker and cooler as Hio continued to entertain young Agitha. A cool breeze blew by, causing some of Link's blond hair to blow into his face. He brushed it back carefully, hoping not to wake Tari up with too much movement. He then noticed her begin to shiver, and without even thinking, wrapped his arm around her shoulders. ...What in the world am I doing? Link thought, feeling his face begin to turn red. For a split second he glanced down at Tari, who was sleeping soundly against his chest. But... her company... Might as well enjoy it while it lasts, right?