Beth stood on her toes, arms outstretched toward the streams of white sunlight sifting through the fan of yellow leaves. The tips of her fingers brushed against the line strung through the branches and she hung a carefully crafted paper lantern from it. Then she leaned back and admired her work- that made 8 lanterns, now.

"Talo!" Beth called. "Talo, send up another lantern!" A few seconds passed with no reply. She sighed melodramatically. "Talo, I swear to gods, if this is another one of your- TALO!" she harrumphed at the sight of Talo, who had flopped down in the grass and was snoring quietly. "Boys..." she grumbled just as another voice cut in.

"Here, Beth, I'll help you."

It was Colin. Beth glanced down and a small blush crept across her face. Colin had gotten taller in the past few months. And his voice was deeper. He was thirteen, which made him almost a man, which meant that Beth almost had a crush on him. She smiled and accepted the outstretched lantern in Colin's hand, strung it among the others, and then frowned. She turned to Colin.

"Just 'cause you've grown six inches doesn't make you any less of a wimp," she reprimanded.

"You're welcome, Beth," said Colin with perfect composure.

"Yeah, yeah," Beth intoned. "Hand me another one of those lanterns, will ya?"

Colin handed her yet another of the paper ornaments and she frowned. She was running out of space, and the only empty section of line was quite a ways away...

Beth stretched for the line, straining her arms and back like elastic as she reached for the unoccupied expanse of line- yes- almost there-

"Got it!" she rejoiced as the lantern hooked around the line. "Yes- woah!"

And then she cried aloud as the ladder wobbled and collapsed from under her. Her body raced toward solid ground, and she didn't even have time to brace herself for impact before she realized that impact hadn't come...

"Gotcha!" Colin cried. "Wait- woah-"

And then Colin toppled over with Beth in tow. She landed across his chest with her face inches from his, and he just smiled.

"Saved you," he said, and as an afterthought, added, "...again."

Beth just huffed impatiently. "Still a wimp," she reminded him. A sudden outcry from across the village drew them both to her senses. It was Beth's father.

"Horses! Outta the way! Let 'em through!" Hanch yelled, and he ducked for cover as two horses came storming through the village, coming to a sudden halt in the center of the village. The first to dismount was a woman with long black hair, and Beth watched her curiously as the woman announced very loudly, "I won! I definitely won!" Beth took a few steps closer. The girl was quite pretty. And tall.

And then Beth's heart raced in excitement as the other figure dismounted, a broad-shouldered, handsome man in green...

"LINK!" she cried joyously, racing forward and clasping her hands together admiringly.

"Hi, Beth," he said, only half-paying attention to her.

"I knew you'd come back for me," Beth said dreamily. "Old Colin is such a bore..."

"No, I definitely won," Link now said, facing the girl that Beth didn't recognize.

"I'm not a bore," said Colin, cutting in. He took a few steps closer to Link and gaped up at him, stars in his eyes. "Hi, Link... Glad you're home. Do you"

"Oh, put a sock in it," said Beth gruffly. "He's here for ME. Right, Link?"

"What?" asked Link, turning back to the kids. "Oh- uh, yeah..." He faced his friend again. "If you think that you won, then you are severely mistaken. I gave you a head start!"

"That was your mistake," said the girl with a smile, and she flipped her hair dramatically behind her shoulder. Link grinned in spite of himself.

"Link, who's your friend?" Beth now asked, trying to brush off the hint of jealousy in her chest. This girl sure made Link smile...

"What's that? Oh. Uh. Beth, Colin, this is Ashei. Of Snowpeak."

Beth pouted. "Snowpeak? Is that a city?"

"No, it's-"

"Then I don't care," Beth decided, crossing her arms. She turned away and poked her nose into the air, realizing after a second that Colin was gaping at her. "What?!"

"Just because you have a crush-"

"Do not!" cried Beth, fighting back another blush. "You have a crush! Staring at Link with those stupid googily eyes of yours-"

"Is your dad here, Colin?" Link asked suddenly.

"Yes, he's at home," said Colin, and his face fell. "Uh, Link-"

"-Thanks, Colin!" Link answered, and he turned to leave.

"Wait" Colin cried, but Link was already running off with Ashei in tow. He watched after him longingly, and then a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

"Come on, Colin!" It was Talo. "These Fall Festival lanterns aren't gonna hang themselves!"

"Oh, you're one to talk," Colin grumbled under his breath, but he followed Talo back to the big yellow tree anyway.

...

A knock on the door called Rusl to attention.

"Who's there?" he called, pulling his attention away from the hearth.

"It's Link and Ashei," the visitors answered, their voices muffled by the wood. Rusl perked up in interest. What were they doing in Ordon? He crossed his small, warm house, and then unbolted the door and opened it.

"Link? Ashei?" he asked, squinting against the morning sunlight. "Is something the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter," Link answered, and there was something strange about his stature that Rusl couldn't quite put his finger on. Was it joyful? Sorrowful? It almost seemed a mix of both.

Ashei spoke up. "We thought we'd stop by, you know. Say hello, yeah? We're in town for the next few weeks."

Rusl's brow furrowed and he scrutinized the pair before him. There was definitely something strange about their sudden arrival.

"Uli's nursing," he finally said. "Would you mind stopping back later?"

Link and Ashei consented to this and trotted back off into the village, and then Rusl shut the door skeptically and turned back towards his wife.

"I'm not nursing," said Uli with a small smirk. "What'd you say that for?"

Rusl sat down beside her. "Something's strange about those two showing up all of a sudden. They didn't even write first." He caught her eye, and she just shrugged.

"I don't think there's anything strange about it," she remarked. "This is Link's home. He's welcome here whenever he pleases."

"Yes, but Uli," Rusl pressed, "Link hasn't been home in nine months. Why on Earth would be return home now?"

"I don't think that's any of our business," Uli argued, and Rusl shook his head, getting to his feet.

"I think of Link as my son," he said. "I think whether he's feeling all right is definitely my business."

Uli frowned. "You suspect he's unwell?"

"I don't know," Rusl answered, "but I'm going to find out."

...

"HORSES!" cried Hanch in alarm, and once again he ducked for cover in a nearby pumpkin patch.

It was afternoon, now, and villagers perked up as two horses came galloping into the village, a rickety wagon in tow. They lined themselves up with the mayor's house and suddenly two figures leapt out, a man and a girl, and they scrambled for the mayor's front door. They burst through and the mayor glanced up from his writing desk in irritation.

"Oh, for the love of- Ilia?!" Bo cried, and Ilia zipped past him hanging onto a boy's wrist.

"No time to talk!" Ilia cried. "He's gonna blooow!"

And at the last second she grabbed an empty bucket, thrust it into the boy's arms, and turned her head away as he hurled into it. After a few seconds he surfaced and sighed in relief.

Bo glanced between the two, his expression demanding some sort of answer to his unasked question. Ilia chuckled.

"Motion sickness," she explained. "Shad's not as good at wagons as he thought."

Bo blinked a few times. "Who's Shad?"

The boy finished panting and then grinned. "I'm Shad," he said, offering his hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mister Mayor."

Bo just stared at the boy's hand and frowned. "Uh..."

Ilia slapped Shad's hand down and just laughed. "Oh, you two will get along great! Father, Shad's a good friend of mine."

"You rode here together?" Bo questioned worriedly.

"Yes!"

"Together?"

"Well, yes."

"In a wagon?!" Bo cried in a blatant panic.

Ilia's smile faltered. "Father, what are you suggesting?!" she cried, and Shad coughed very loudly, his cheeks flooding with red. He adjusted his glasses uncomfortably.

"Oh," sighed Bo, clearing his throat, "nothing. May I ask what brings you home without writing?"

"Oh, we're here for the Fall Festival," Ilia bluffed. "I've brought a few friends with me, but they're going to need somewhere to stay. I was thinking Shad could stay in my room-"

"-Absolutely not," Bo cut in. Ilia sighed.

"Daaaad, I wasn't finished yet!" she sighed. "I was going to say that Shad could have my room, and then Ashei and I can bring blankets into the wrestling room and sleep on the ring in there. It's plenty comfortable."

Bo considered this for a second before shaking his head. "Very well," he sighed. "But for the goddess' sakes, Ilia, write next time you're going to turn my office into a tenant house!" He stood and made to leave. "I've got to deliver a letter," he grumbled. "You two stay here. And for the love of the gods, no you know what while I'm out!"

And he slammed the door shut on two very red-faced teenagers.

…...

"So this is where you grew up..." Ashei said, turning her head this way and that as she took in the sights and smells and overall feeling of the village. Air: clear and cool. Smells: sweet, but spicy, like pumpkins. Atmosphere: lively and crisp with the promise of a golden autumn.

And golden it was. Leaves glistened yellow and red and orange like fire in the chilly, mountainous climate. Paper lanterns were strung in the trees, awaiting that weekend's Fall Festival. Twilight was falling, now, and the last of the year's fireflies hung in the air, glistening faintly in one final farewell to summer.

The pair moseyed over near the creek and Link kneeled down beside it, dipping his hand into the water and letting the current stream through his fingers.

"In almost a month," he said, eyeing the water, "it will have been a year since everything started."

Ashei watched him with dark, wide eyes. Link. Strong, war-hardened jaw, expression drawn, eyes icy, like blue fire, muscles tight and tense against the fabric of the tunic, hair slightly tousled as the wind ruffled if mercilessly... She had a sudden, inexplicable crisis as she realized This Was Link and that There Was Only One Of Him. This was her friend Link, the boy who she often took for granted- and he WAS a boy, for Din's sake, he was hardly eighteen... It wasn't fair that a boy like this should be burdened with the memory of what had crafted his entire nature.

"You miss Midna a lot, yeah?" Ashei asked, and Link's reflection smiled faintly in the water.

"Of course I miss her. It's like... like a part of me is gone. Like... If somebody cut off your legs." He glanced at Ashei. "You're so used to having them, and so you would keep going to stand up, and then suddenly you would remember that you don't have them anymore, and you would fall. Well, it's like that with Midna. Every time I see something that reminds me of her... A person that she would find ridiculous, or a landscape that she would find beautiful, or a joke that she would laugh at..." He turned back to face the water. "But then... Well, then I go to call her out of my shadow. To get her attention, to say, 'Midna, look at this!' ...And then suddenly I remember. And after a whole year, you would think I would have been able to leave her behind me. But the truth is that you can't leave anything of that scale behind you. Especially not a girl like that. She was breathtaking, Ashei..."

Ashei was quiet, and Link leaned back on the heels of his palms. "But lately," he continued, "when I think of Midna, I think of you. Ashei, you and Midna are a hell of a lot alike. And I remember that I still have you here, and that there's only one of you, and I remind myself that I can't keep fighting with you all the time. I can't. Because I won't screw up this time, I won't lose you like I lost her..."

"Funny," said Ashei quietly.

"What's funny?"

Ashei shrugged. "I was just thinking the exact same thing."

Link continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. When he spoke up, his tone was skeptical.

"Why did you come here?"

Ashei looked surprised. "Well- I mean- I'm your friend, and this is your home, and I know how you must be so eager to return here after so many months in Castle Town-"

"You don't know what home is, do you?" he interrupted. "You didn't have one growing up."

Ashei pressed her lips together firmly, face turning slightly pink. "No," she said quietly. "I didn't."

Link stretched his feet out in front of him and crossed his ankles, leaning back on his elbows and pulling out blades of grass as he spoke.

"You say that your father always wanted a boy and that your mother disappeared shortly after you were born. And since there was no hope for a son after that, your father made a son out of you."

Ashei was frozen. "That's all true."

"He probably pushed you to do things you weren't capable of, both physically and mentally, and probably punished you when you fell short..."

Ashei's eyes narrowed and she looked down. "I always fell short," she said, and it almost sounded aggressive.

"And so you ran away, from place to place, joining groups and cults, whatever it took to feel like you belonged somewhere-"

"Stop talking about it-" Ashei cut in, but Link didn't heed her warning.

"-But after awhile it became clear that you didn't fit in with anyone. So you joined the Resistance, not out of passion for Hyrule, but because it was one last attempt to have people who cared-"

"Stop it-"

"-And even now you're skeptical about how we feel about you. It makes you cold, it makes you afraid to reach out sometimes, and so you keep to yourself... Because you've been raised to trust no one. And after all this time..." he caught her eye. "After all this time, you still don't feel at home. And that's why you're here." He finished his speech, folding his hands behind his head and flopping back on the grass. Ashei was glaring at him.

"The hell does that mean?!"

"It means that you're here because since you think it's my home, then it might feel like your home, too, because I- and I will say this with as much humility as I can- am the only person who you are openly attached to. I'm the only person that you claim to be wholly yours, even if the bond isn't romantic."

Ashei narrowed her eyes. "We'll aren't you full of yourself?!"

Link smirked. "You're wrong, though."

Now Ashei gaped at him in bewilderment. "Wrong about what?!"

"This isn't my home. Not anymore, anyway."

She scrutinized him. "Why not?!"

"I haven't been here in nine months. The people here are alien to me. They coo over a baby for I've never met, discuss a harvest I didn't plant, and the kids have grown and changed from children into teenagers. The war changed these people. They're not who they once were. No one is-" at this Link froze. Then he shut his eyes and turned on his side. "...No one is who they once were. This village is full of strangers."

Ashei shook her head. "That's not true."

"It IS true. Because they don't know me, either. They think they know me but I've changed. You all say it yourselves. You say that I'm sick, that I'm mental..." He kept his eyes closed. "I know why you brought me here. I've known since the moment you proposed the idea. And Ashei, if you want to help me, then there's only one thing you can do."

Ashei was watching him intently now, wide-eyed. "...And that is?"

Link opened his eyes. Took her in. Frowned. "Don't treat me like I'm different," he begged, "because I'm not. People will say I saved Hyrule and that I'm a hero, but the truth is that there's nothing heroic about it. I killed hundreds of creatures and people, too. I've stuck a blade into a living body only to yank it out of a dead one, and Ashei, I know that that wasn't good for me. I know that I've been through tough times. I know I was sick when it was all over, that I wanted to die, that I took to drinking-"

"-You say it all so openly," Ashei cut in. "Like it doesn't bother you to say it."

"It's not like it's a secret!" Link finally cried. "You're right, I am mental! I'm not in control of who I am sometimes! But it's not going to change if you go around behind my back talking about me under your breath. I just..." He turned away. "I just want to be treated normally, like I was a few months ago. Because, yeah, I've had some issues in the past, and I've got some issues now. It's going to be that way for awhile. But you can't treat me like a dying child. You have to be honest with me, and with everyone else, too. And we're going to have to face the way things are right now."

Ashei's face fell. "You talk like you don't want to get better."

"If I'm being honest, I don't know if I want to get better. Because sometimes I think that feeling better will mean going numb. And I don't want to go numb, because Ashei-" he gripped her hand- "Going numb would mean forgetting everything that happened. And I don't want to forget."

…

"…Are you awake?"

It was a whisper from the other side of the sumo wrestling hut. Ilia's voice. Ashei gave a soft groan.

"Yup."

"Me too."

"Obviously."

Ilia paused. "I'm sorry I made you sleep in the wrestling ring."

"Nah, 's fine…"

"…Ashei?"

"What?"

Hesitation. "Nothing."

"What?"

Ilia huffed. "I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

They sat up in unison, the blankets sliding off of their shoulders, and peered at each other through the darkness.

"Honesty time. Why can't you sleep?" asked Ilia.

"I'm worried about Link, obviously," Ashei answered. "Why can't you sleep?"

"I'm worried about Shad."

"What—why?"

"Because… because, I don't know, he's in my room, and Dad thinks he and I are a thing, and what of Dad skins him because of it…?"

Ashei smirked. "You're worrying over nothing. Why don't we get out of here and do something?"

"Might as well," Ilia answered. "My mind won't stop whirring…"

They staggered to their feet and kept the blankets wrapped around them as they crossed the room tenderly, pushing the wooden door open with a squeak. Bo's snores came rumbling from the other side of the room and the girls crept across as quietly as they could, trying to reach the front door without rousing the mayor. Ilia stepped on something as she went—it gave a soft squeak—and for a moment all was silent as Bo's snores ceased. For a few pressing seconds there was a fear of waking him, and then the snores picked up once more, and the girls snuck out successfully.

The air was cool and the moon high. Crickets chirped in the grass, the cold, clean water trickled in the distance, and from somewhere in the night an owl hooted. Ashei took a few steps farther into the village; there was no one else outside.

She could feel Ilia's presence behind her and she realized that this was the first time the two of them had been alone; really alone, not like the times when Link and Shad were one room over and could hear everything they said. This was just them, just the two girls, in a village where everyone but them was sound asleep and they were the only souls that stirred.

Ilia didn't say anything and Ashei didn't expect her to, so a few moments passed silently before the mayor's daughter spoke.

"I know that Link's condition scares you, Ashei. It scares me, too. But we can't let it take over our lives." She sighed and pulled her blankets tighter. "I think that it's important that we look after him, I do. But Link is his own person. We can't strip him of his independence, that's not fair. And besides, we're our own people, too. We have our own lives, and our own problems, and… well, we might have to get used to facing those on our own. We can't keep using Link as a distraction from the things that are important to us, too. Because we don't know if… well, as far as Link is concerned, you know him, there's no guarantee that he'll always be around…"

A pit formed in Ashei's stomach that felt remarkably like alarm. "Are you suggesting that—"

"I'm suggesting that we don't lose our own individuality in the midst of all of this," Ilia finished. She was staring furiously at her feet. "A few months ago, I feel like we were all really happy. Even when all of this was beginning, when Link was starting to get sick… you see, the first night I was with you guys, Link and I had a pretty bad fight. He told me I didn't understand anything, and I never told you, because I knew you hated me."

"I don't—"

"—Not anymore you don't," Ilia finished. "I should have realized right then and there that things weren't right. I should have done something to stop it. But instead I kept telling myself that everything was okay, that I was just making a big deal out of things. You were the only one who realized something was wrong. And so you unleashed this whole thing, you realized what was happening, and Link kept getting sicker… I kept trying to stop you because I thought you were going to hurt him. But I realize now that that's not what I was afraid of at all. I wasn't afraid of Link getting hurt. I was afraid of things changing. I didn't want anything to change." She was crying, now, and Ashei wished there was something she could do to stop it.

"Ilia—"

"—Let me talk," Ilia demanded. "I wanted Link to be the same boy I grew up with. I wanted him to be that stupid, silly troublemaker I knew as a child. I didn't want the war to change him. All I wanted was to laugh with Link and Shad and you forever, and then you insisted on changing that, and I hated you for it. I hated that you could waltz in and disrupt everything, and I also hated that you could get away with it. I hated that there was somebody in the world who understood Link better than I did, who made Link happy when I couldn't, who he trusted more than he trusted me. And so I got angry with you. And tried to stop you. And I'm so, so glad that I failed. Because Ashei…" she caught her eye and Ashei's heart faltered in her chest at the sight of the teary-eyed girl.

"Yeah?" Ashei took a step forward and gripped Ilia's hand. Ilia sniffed.

"I'm glad that I failed, because I realize now how important you are. You're the key to this. You make Link really happy, while the rest of us can only ever make him fake happy. Because while I understood Link before the war, you're the only person left who understands Link after the war. And that's what he needs. Someone who understands. And I can't do that for him."

Ashei stood still as Ilia collapsed forward into an embrace that she hadn't anticipated. She stood there for a second in slight bewilderment, and then she stepped back, leaving the girl to her own devices.

"Stop this," Ashei commanded, and Ilia gaped at her in utter shock.

"Ashei—please—"

"I know you're upset, but you said it yourself." Ashei's hands found . "We can't lose who we are over this. We can't get to feeling sorry for ourselves. Link can't have a bunch of blundering idiots at his aid, yeah?"

"Ashei—"

"I've gone through a fair share of pain in my life. We all have. It's made us who we are, and as soon as we start feeling bad about it, we're going to lose sight of that. Link's condition is just another trial that we're going to have to face. And you're right, there's no sense in fooling ourselves into thinking that things haven't changed. Everything has changed. But crying about it won't change a thing."

"Have mercy…" Ilia said quietly, and Ashei just turned away.

"I don't have any mercy for you, Ilia of Ordon. I think it's foolish that you display such weakness in a time where we must push ourselves to be strong. If you think that I'm not just as terrified, as desperate, as upset as you are, then you're wrong. My heart's breaking for Link. But I'm not going to fall to pieces over it. I owe it to Link to pull myself up by the bootstraps and keep on going, yeah?"

Ashei could hear Ilia give a long sniff from behind her before drawing back inside the house. The door creaked open, and Ilia's voice drifted across the garden before she shut it.

"Don't bother following me back inside. You're not welcome in my house anymore."

And then the door slammed shut, and Ashei was left alone as usual.

UGH BORING CHAPTER. Thank you for dealing with me, I am, &c...

The next chapter heralds the (long-awaited?) Fall Festival, where there will finally be something besides just dialogue. There will be politics, there will be romance, there will be… Telma?

Thank you all for 50+ favorites and 60+ follows. Much obliged. :)