Across bridges, between mountains, watching lazy palms overhead give way to newly flowering oaks and pines, heading south, then west, then north, with clouds or stars above, sand in her boots, muscles weak, heart pounding but never stopping; Aurelia gave chase like it was the only thing she knew. And now her horse had grown weak, its endurance run low.

The chase had led them all through Faron, almost as far as Lurelin Village, and then west to the ruins of Old Lurelin. Aurelia had heard the tale - the storm that had destroyed an entire fishing village and forced its people to meander until they found a new home in what was known today simply as Lurelin. Cinelgen is my storm, she had told herself. I will endure. My people will endure. There were times when Aurelia had wanted to give in and let Cinelgen go. But each time she had such a thought, she looked upon her younger sister Hana and remembered the sister she had lost. "For Cassiah," she had told Hana. "We will kill him for her if nothing else."

Cinelgen had led the chase north, into the southern reaches of Central Hyrule, and at one point even into the ruins of the old Colosseum. They had almost caught him then when the entire group had encountered a silver Lynel. She had lost one of her number to the beast; horrifyingly, it had spit fire. Aurelia could still hear the screams. In the chaos, Cinelgen and his stragglers had escaped.

But suddenly, unexpectedly, they had reappeared in Hyrule Field. One of her scouts had spotted them walking in broad daylight, Cinelgen's hair like a beacon against the fields of renewed green. Her scouts had also reported seeing the lizard Beast walking down from Death Mountain, coming to rest on the cliffs and soon, being enveloped with light.

"We saw the same thing with the bird!" said Coya, one of the acolytes. "Some strange magic…"

Link, Aurelia surmised. And perhaps, the Princess too.

Aurelia thought that Cinelgen would seek to catch the Beast. She thought he would take them into Eldin, where she knew Link would be. But instead, Cinelgen kept on westwards, unhindered by the emptiness of the roads - a lingering effect of the conflict - and pushed further towards Necluda, leading them up a grassy slope into the mountains. When his party spotted hers, the chase began anew.

Hard and fast Cinelgen pressed his cohort - no more than half a dozen now - the grass and dirt kicked up by their horses' hooves. And harder Aurelia pushed hers, unafraid that her horse might fall. She had almost fifteen in her number, seemingly the last Yiga left in Hyrule; double what Cinelgen had. They could end this now.

The mountains pressed in close, soon narrowing into a winding pass, the path adorned with strings of wooden charms painted brown and red, marking what seemed to be a hideout beyond. An old Yiga settlement? Where is he taking us?

"We should slow!" Hana called from behind her. "It could be a trap!"

"No - we outnumber him more than two to one. We press on!" Aurelia called back.

Without warning the pass widened into a village. It was older than any Aurelia had seen, with architecture that she did not recognise. What was this place? How had she never heard of it? Was it only known to those who were bladed?

Undeterred, Aurelia led the charge into the village and was confronted with a vision of chaos. Several of the houses in the village were in flames, another one soon following as a duo of bomb arrows were fired towards it. Smoke filled the air, as did the stench of mud and the sounds of shrieks. Aurelia's horse reared at the sudden onslaught, and an arrow that sliced through its neck caused it to topple. She landed hard, pain lancing along her body, feeling her eyes rattle in her skull like marbles. She clawed at the grass and mud under her palms, crawling away from her still squirming horse.

"Find him!" she cried over her shoulder as her Yiga scattered. "We're being attacked!"

If she was heard, she could not know. The black smoke was pervasive, and the village all but disappeared. Eyes stinging and mouth tasting of ash, Aurelia staggered to her feet. A man with hair and garb both of white sprung forth through the smoke, a thin sword raised towards her. Aurelia dodged, spinning on her heel to elbow the man in the back. He crashed to the ground, and Aurelia fled forwards, intent on finding Cinelgen.

Who was he? Aurelia had not recognised him; she had never seen him among Cinelgen's followers, and she had thought the village abandoned. There was no time to think. She reached a deep pool with a Goddess statue at its centre, where she found Coya facing off with another dressed in white garb. Another stranger. Who are these people? Reaching for her sickle, Aurelia rushed towards Coya, but the acolyte pushed his attacker into the pool before she could reach them.

"Find the others! Find my sister!" she ordered. "Something… isn't right!"

"By your word, Chief," Coya said, patting her on the back and disappearing into the smoke, the title startling her. I'm not your Chief, she thought as she pressed on through the village. Out from the haze emerged an enormous raised house, with steep stairs leading up to a wooden dais. It was there that she spotted Cinelgen, avoiding the chaos, his Duplex bow in hand, two fizzling bomb arrows held between his fingers. It was him, she realised, he set these fires. Why?

It did not matter; the time had come. Aurelia raced up the stairs, a dagger in hand. Cinelgen caught sight of her immediately, raising his bow and nocking an arrow in her direction. At that moment, the doors of the house burst open, and a tall Hylian girl - again with the white hair - leapt forward to tackle the Gerudo. Cinelgen loosed his arrow, but it missed, the debris exploding behind Aurelia. With a hard slap across the face, he gained the upper hand on the Hylian girl, but the tussle had given Aurelia enough time the climb the stairs, and draw her sickle. Clumsy from the adrenaline and the leeching panic, she swiped towards Cinelgen's neck when she reached him, but he deflected her blade with the limb of his bow, releasing the Hylian girl, and rising to shove Aurelia backwards. She teetered on the edge of the stairs, and nearly fell, but regained her composure to close in on Cinelgen once more. His eyes were laughing, green and greedy for her; as though she were prey or a lover, it was hard to tell.

In the distance, there was the call of a horn, and soon another round of screams. The Guardian, someone shouted, and just for a moment, Aurelia turned.

She saw blue, and then her vision went white, pain splitting like lightning across her temple. She crashed against the wood of the dais, tasting blood on her lips. Above, the hazy vision of a Gerudo in red and purple retreated, and was replaced by the Hylian girl.

"Are you hurt?!" the girl cried, pulling Aurelia up. When their eyes met, and Aurelia's hood fell away, her face froze. "Wait… you're not Sheikah..." she stammered, and Aurelia saw on the girl's face - the tattoo of the eye of the Sheikah. An inverted Yiga eye.

"But you are," Aurelia said. She looked back down the stairs towards the village, spotting a line of frog statues painted with the Sheikah eye. This wasn't a Yiga hideout at all - Cinelgen had indeed bled them into a trap. Aurelia scrambled to her feet. He planned this.

In the distance, Cinelgen was riding from town, the remainder of his followers in tow. Around her, the village burned, while below the Sheikah fought her Yiga. As they have for thousands of years. And in the midst, unmistakable; the five-legged Guardian who had taken her eye, panicking and rampaging, swatting savagely at any who crossed his path.

Aurelia seised the Sheikah girl by the shoulders. "Link!?"

"Not here. Eldin!" the girl replied, face wrought with fear.

Aurelia pointed to Rhoamet. "Then why-?"

"To keep him safe!"

A beam of searing energy arced across the courtyard below, exploding against a cliff's edge that bordered the town. There was another shriek, this time one she recognised, and Aurelia could do nothing but watch helplessly as one of the Sheikah warriors buried his blade into Coya's chest. We will destroy each other, once and for all. It had to be stopped.

But... Cinelgen was escaping, riding out through southern pass. From below, Aurelia heard the shouts. The familiar words; kill it! Shut it down!

"Stop!" she cried, unable to deliberate any longer. She bounded down the stairs to the courtyard. "Stop, everyone!"

Her Yiga had been pushed into the centre of the village, surrounded by the Sheikah. Hana saw Coya's body, and wailed at the sight, while the rest of the Yiga kept their sickles raised, ready to meet any further attacks. Aurelia burst through the crowd to reach her people, heading straight for her sister Hana, who was crouching over Coya's body. "These aren't Cinelgen's people!" Aurelia told them. "They are Sheikah! We cannot fight them!"

"Are you sure about that?" one of the Yiga spat.

"As your Chief - no, as your Master, I command it! Stand down!"

The Yiga who challenged her stood a foot taller than her at least; he was younger, but stronger, an acolyte named Theo. "Do not fight me here," Aurelia whispered. Theo bowed his head and turned back towards the Sheikah that surrounded them.

Before the tension could break, another beam of energy rocketed above their heads. A trio of Sheikah was trying to subdue him, but one made the mistake of attacking, and the Guardian began to panic once more. Without thinking, as if drawn to the creature, Aurelia ran towards the Guardian. His beady eye flashed, and his remaining metal legs thrashed, but fearless she dodged between them and leapt onto Rhoamet's shell. He wheeled away from her, broad head and body spinning, but Aurelia held firm, gripping one his handles and pulling herself up onto his domed head.

"Rhoamet! Rhoamet!" Aurelia cried, struggling to keep her hold on him. "Don't you remember me? Aurelia? I was a friend of Link!"

Backwards still Rhoamet stumbled, and around him, Aurelia caught sight of the Sheikah scrambling to evade his path.

"Link! I knew Link!" she said again, directing the words to Rhoamet's shining eye. "I need you to calm down, if not for me then for Link!"

At last, Rhoamet began to slow, and then, he started to blink. Aurelia had not learned much of Link's code, but she remembered a few things. Most of all, she remembered the phrase Rhoamet used the most.

Link

"Yes!" Aurelia beamed, patting Rhoamet's ceramic head. "Link! I knew him. He's coming back for you, I know he is."

And at that, Rhoamet sat, plonking down against the grass. Above, the sky had opened, and a torrential rain put an end to the fires that Cinelgen had started. Aurelia climbed down from the Guardian's body and turned to see the Sheikah of the village staring at her in shock. Her Yiga were unharmed, still crowded around Coya's body, but still encircled by the blades of the Sheikah.

Aurelia looked up at the dais. "We are not your enemy!" she told the Sheikah girl still waiting there. An elderly woman had appeared by her side, wearing a full hat adorned with heavy, dangling chains.

"Then who are you?" the elderly woman asked.

There was no point hiding it, even if it meant more danger. Aurelia had no qualms with the Sheikah, despite her own birth; in fact, these were the first she had ever met. And her people were injured, in need of respite, lest they die before ever reaching Cinelgen.

Raising her right arm, Aurelia peeled back her sleeve, revealing the tattoo of the Yiga eye. Before she could speak, the Sheikah bristled, but she ignored them.

"My name is Aurelia of Karusa Valley. I was born to the Yiga, and now, I am their Master," she addressed the elderly woman. "But I have no fight with your people. I am a friend of Link's, and I am known to this Guardian. My people were led here, tricked by Cinelgen!"

"Yiga!" someone cried. "We should kill them all!"

"Traitors!" cried another, moving forward with his two-fold blade pointed towards Aurelia.

"No!" came the voice of Sheikah girl from the dais. She ran down the stairs, positioning herself by Aurelia's side. "This Yiga saved my life. It was Cinelgen who attacked our homes! She tried to stop him!"

The elderly women held a hand to her chin. "Is this so, Paya?" she asked ponderously, walking one step at a time to the base of the stairs. When she approached, the crowd parted.

"It is, grandmother," the Sheikah girl answered.

The Shiekah elder stood before Aurelia, looking at her with laboured, knowing eyes. No truth would escape this woman, Aurelia saw.

"I am afraid I cannot allow you to stay. There is too much history between our people," the elderly woman began. "But I can allow you to go. Travel north, and find a fairy fountain. There you can rest, and heal your wounded."

"Thank you, sincerely. We will do as you say," Aurelia nodded, and then she looked to Rhoamet. "Will he be safe with you?"

"We cannot keep him here!" protested one of the Sheikah. "He almost destroyed the town!" The Shiekah muttered in agreement, many casting concerned glances towards the automaton.

"We promised Link that we would watch over him," the elderly woman scolded. She moved through the crowd towards Aurelia, and when she reached Rhoamet, she placed a frail hand on one of his legs. "My apologies, Rhoamet," she addressed the Guardian. "We failed to keep you safe, but at least you had a friend here."

Rhoamet looked down at the tiny woman, and then to Aurelia, and back again.

Yes, he said. Aurelia.

Acting on the advice of the Sheikah elder, Aurelia took her Yiga north into the woods, and they made camp by the luminescent Fairy Fountain that was hidden there. Once or twice, she had been curious to attempt to summon the being that dwelled in the pool - perhaps to seek aid in healing her wounded, or even just for curiosity's sake. But the day had been extraordinary enough, what with a truce between the Sheikah and the Yiga, and her own success in calming Rhoamet. Aurelia did not want to push her luck.

The plan was to move on at dawn, and continue the search for Cinelgen. The loss of Coya was a tragedy, yes, but thankfully the rest of her kin were mostly unharmed. A few cuts and bruises, one or two slashes, a broken bone. They were safe, and able, for now.

Rhoamet had been led to the fountain as well, and Aurelia had told him to sleep, and wake for nothing but Link's voice, promising that the Champion would surely return from Eldin soon. And soon it was - sooner than Aurelia expected - that she heard Link's voice for herself.

"Aurelia! Rhoamet!" came the call, and when she turned, she saw two riders bounding into the woods. Link, outfitted in blue and white, and a golden haired girl that could only be the Princess. She was a regal little thing, but a touch less proper than Aurelia had been expecting. Her hair was short, barely past her shoulders, braided away from her face but otherwise unadorned. Her clothes were practical and weathered, and beneath the girl's dark woollen coat Aurelia spotted a leather chest guard. And at her back, most curious of all, was a white and gold bow, though strangely she carried no quiver. Link still wore his goggles around his neck, Aurelia saw. He raced straight past her, making a beeline for his Guardian. When the automaton woke to his voice, Link cried out with joy, leaping onto Rhoamet's shell to wrap his arms around his domed head.

"You okay, buddy?" he asked, and Rhoamet replied with a simple, Yes. Satisfied, Link returned to where Aurelia stood, helping Zelda dismount from her horse.

"Where did Cinna go?" he demanded.

Aurelia smirked, leaning back and tucking her thumbs into her belt loops. "Pleasure to see you too, Champion." She nodded to the golden-haired girl and bowed. "You must be the Princess. Honoured."

Zelda bowed in return. "I've heard much about you, Aurelia." The Princess smiled warmly, in a way that was almost unsettling. "Was Cinelgen truly here?"

"Aye, he tricked us into fighting," Aurelia explained with a sigh. "I had to let him go to stop it. I wish there had been another way, I really do."

The Princess face betrayed no anger or disappointment. She merely nodded in understanding, and said, "At least your people are safe."

"What about Inglis?" Link interrupted. "He has the Slate, you know."

"Inglis?" Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen him in weeks. He was with Cinelgen in Faron and then he just… disappeared. I assumed he escaped."

Link's brows furrowed. "Well he didn't," he said bitterly, face twitching at the words. "He is still loyal to Cinna."

Aurelia clicked her teeth, shaking her head and muttering, "Stupid boy. Stupid, stupid boy," The revelation bothered her more than she expected. "That bitch Milagre, he's still enraptured by her despite everything."

"But I thought she ended things…" Link said, and Aurelia could not help but laugh.

"When it suited her, sure, so that Cinna knew she was loyal." Aurelia kicked the dirt with her boot, low frustration bubbling within her. "But I know Mila. She doesn't look it, but she's a hoarder. Books, trinkets, memories, love. The boy will die before he's free of her."

The golden Princess listened quietly, face a little clouded with confusion, and Aurelia wondered how much of the Winter Link had told her. "If I may, Aurelia," she asked. "Why are you here and not in the village?"

"I have allowed them to coalesce here, away from the village,"

They turned to see the elderly Chief standing behind them - the woman who Aurelia now knew as Impa - accompanied by her granddaughter, Paya. "I have come to check on your party, Aurelia, if that helps."

"But she stopped the attack," Zelda said. "This woman saved your village. Why exclude her?"

Impa spoke plainly, her words almost law. "She is Yiga. For time immemorial we have been enemies-"

"She is Link's friend, and the only person in all of Hyrule to find Cinelgen," Zelda protested. "Put aside your enmities, Impa, no matter how immemorial. I will not see her people mistreated for their birth."

"Well now," Aurelia smiled. "I can see what he liked about you."

"As you say, Princess," Impa said somberly, her head bowed low, though Aurelia caught a smile dancing on her lips. "Do as you please, Aurelia of Karusa. Come into the village, or rest here. I will ensure that you are free to do either."

The elder turned to walk back into the village, but her granddaughter begged her to wait one moment. "I just want to thank you," Paya said, her hands at her chest. "And apologise. You saved my life, all of our lives, even knowing who we were."

"It's what anyone would have done," Aurelia shrugged.

"Of course," Paya said shyly, and she escorted her grandmother back down the path to the village.

With Link's help, the rest of the Yiga were healed with the power that he had once used to repair what was left of Aurelia's eye. Once they were done, Aurelia looked towards the direction Cinelgen had fled. "How are your horses?" she asked. "We have another chase yet."

"Where would he have gone?" Zelda wondered.

Aurelia looked around at her recovering group of Yiga, and down towards the still smoking village. The answer was not difficult to find; "He will go where he can cause chaos," she said.

Down through the mountains of Necluda they raced, across Blatchery Plain and once more through Fort Hateno, to the place where Zelda quietly hoped she would not find Cinelgen. The Hylians have suffered enough, she thought in silent prayer. Preserve them this day.

But the prayer was not answered. Link and Zelda rode breathlessly ahead of Aurelia's Yiga, finding Hateno already under attack. Cinelgen's motley of followers were tearing through the town with torches in hand, setting fire again to the homes and cutting down any who got in their way. But the fires would not catch, the rain overhead relentless as it had been since their arrival to Kakariko the night prior. She was thankful then that Link had decided to leave Rhoamet in the village once more; she had heard about his outburst. And the scene before her was much worse than Kakariko had been.

The inhabitants of the town were in a fray, fleeing from the burning buildings and stumbling across the muddy ground. Leop stood outside the general store, distraught as the town burned around him. Zelda broke away from Link and the Yiga, hurrying to where the mayor stood.

"Get your people north!" she commanded him. "To the Tech Lab, the building with the blue flame!"

Leop gave an affirmative nod. "Yes, Princess," he said, and began rounding his people up to push north through the town.

Through the chaos, Link, Zelda and Aurelia weeded out the attackers but found only four. They met them as they stormed the inn; Aurelia cutting one down with her sickle, Link finishing off two with his Master Sword, and Zelda piercing the last through the eye with an arrow. The rains did not cease, and soon the fires were out, but Cinelgen was nowhere to be found. Leop returned down the hill to the inn, his leathery face red from exhaustion, but he reported that all who he had evacuated were safe, taking refuge with the researcher that lived there, and his daughter.

"I have not seen your Gerudo," Leop frowned. "No one has."

"But he must be here!" Zelda insisted, turning to scan the town for any sign of Cinelgen.

"So where did he go?" Aurelia added. They all looked then, but it was Link who found him.

He pointed towards a waft of smoke coming from the southwest, long and thin. With a hint of resignation, he said, "Home."

The fire was still lit, crackling softly in the hearth. The curtains were drawn, and the windows shuttered, and so, no light breached the house, the only illumination the fire, casting drawn and looming shadows.

Cinelgen did not turn when Link and Zelda entered the house alone. He stood before the fire, his long velvet cloak wet and hanging on the mantle to dry, his hair soaked against his scalp, his hand held out to the flames. Zelda spotted his Duplex bow still slung over his back, the accompanying quiver half-full of arrows.

"This place really is lovely," the Gerudo said. "So simple. Unassuming. It makes sense really. What else would be left, after what Ganon did to the world?"

Link spoke before Zelda could even think of a reply. "Not much. But it is still worth something," he said, ambling towards the fire. "I know it can be lonely, for people like us."

Cinelgen laughed bitterly. "Us?" he said. "There was never an us, you said so yourself. We were never on the same side."

"But we could have been," Zelda argued, following close behind Link. "We never needed to be enemies. You said my people were leaves to the wind, but you fed the flames that scattered them."

"I've never had a 'people,'" Cinelgen scoffed.

"What about the Gerudo?" Zelda asked.

He gave a desultory wave of his hand. "I never knew them. I've never been within ten miles of Gerudo City. My mother raised me in isolation. She told me how I would be treated."

"But you had Gerudo in your followers," Link challenged him. "Devotees!"

At last Cinelgen turned. "Outcasts. Interlopers. Bandits. Those were my followers." He paced through the room, running a long-fingered hand over the furniture, his emerald eyes never meeting theirs. "People that didn't like the narrow paths they were given. My mother told me that mine was a life of isolation, that my aunts and cousins would hate me just for who I was."

He raised his eyes, reaching slowly for his bow. Zelda readied herself, a hand shifting towards her own weapon. Cinelgen went on, unaffected by the rising tension.

"My mother was murdered, in Gerudo Valley, by a bladed Yiga who found our little hut. I wanted to kill that masked bastard more than I ever wanted anything, but I let him take me to Karusa. You know why?"

Zelda held her breath. Cinelgen's voice was thick as caramel, rich with a heavy burden, a lifelong weight finally given up. His eyes became glassy with tears as he spoke. "I learnt that the only change is the change we make. I knew then that this whole world - this monster infested, empty, isolated world - needed to change, and the Yiga taught me how."

"But… none of this needed to happen," Zelda said, trying to understand. "Change is inevitable and arduous, but it need not be destructive."

The Gerudo shook his head. "What else gets anything done? But, I almost gave up, I admit. Your attack took nearly everything I had." He ran a loving hand over the limbs of his painted bow, fingers tracing between the spikes. "I was ready to let you have your turn. But that golden haired beauty - I forgot she had a family."

"All the Yiga had a family, Cinna," Link frowned. He had raised a hand to the hilt of his Sword. They were all ready, waiting for whatever ripple would break the tension on the surface.

"Families I destroyed, I know," Cinelgen conceded. "Little Aury reminded me that destruction is all I am. She said I would destroy towns, well, she got what she wanted. I was told I would always be compared to that King of Thieves, but I wanted to be more. I wanted to shape chaos into being." A weak smile broadened on his weathered face, revealing yellowed teeth. "Like a God!"

Cinelgen drew two arrows from his quiver, preparing to nock them into his bow. He moved slowly, as if drunk, or in a dream. Zelda cast a quick glance towards Link; he had tightened his grip on the hilt. Any second now and the room would implode.

"Were you going to die alone, Cinna?" Link warned. "After all you've done?"

"I am not done," Cinelgen shook his head, nocking the arrows. "Tell me; Inglis, did he succeed?"

Link's eyes darkened, a hard scowl forming on his face. "Where did you send him?"

Cinelgen shrugged. "Even if you find him, he will always belong to me. My regime ends with him."

"Where did you send him?" Link demanded.

The Gerudo said nothing. His only answer was a whistle, his greedy smile turning expectant, but nothing happened. Instead, the door opened, and Aurelia stepped into the house. Cinelgen's eyes went wide with horror.

"Where are my men!?" he barked.

"Oh, your ambushers?" Aurelia spun her bloodied sickle between her hands in a lazy, loping circle. "Men stationed on the roof to massacre us all? Gone. As with the last of your troops. Your regime is over."

With a growl, Cinelgen loosed the two arrows towards them, but Zelda blocked in time with a barrier, and lighting fast Link surged forward to seize Cinelgen's bow and snap it in two. It fell broken to the floor, splintered and useless, while Aurelia's Yiga flooded into the house to drag Cinelgen outside. He flailed and kicked, roaring insults and threats, as they hauled him into the centre of the town. The rains were falling harder now, the rolling clouds above a sullen and oppressive grey. With fearful eyes, the villagers that remained in the town watched from the safety of their homes or crouched behind walls and around corners. Zelda spotted Leop among them, keen interest on the old man's face.

The Yiga shoved Cinelgen to his knees, binding his arms tightly behind his back. When he struggled, one of them socked him across the face, and again when the Gerudo did not relent. After a third punch, he was subdued, blood running down his chin from where his lip had been split. Aurelia reached for her sickle, but Zelda stopped her.

"We promised him to Chief Riju."

"And Riju will have him," Aurelia answered, holding her sickle raised. "Once he is dead. I must do this for my people."

Zelda stood firm, squaring up to the taller woman. She willed herself not to be intimidated. "Your people have historically been enemies to the crown. I cannot let you-"

"Then I will pledge my support to you, and forever put down my blade against any and all citizens of Hyrule. As will my people, if you allow me to kill this traitor."

The Yiga woman's gaze was as sharp as her blade, but there was honesty in her severity. Zelda looked to Link, and without hesitation, he nodded.

"Why do this?" she asked. "You do not know me."

Aurelia pointed her blade towards Link, grinning cheekily. She winked and said, "I know he trusts you, and I know I trust him. You want to rebuild Hyrule. I want to give my people a new home. Our ambitions align."

Cinelgen had been watching with an amused smirk, his bright lips red from the blood. "The Princess and her Knight," he taunted, writing against his binds and gnashing his teeth. "Made murderers by none other than myself! You aren't brave enough to kill me!"

The eyes of Hateno were watching; as were the Yiga, and Link and Aurelia. The time to make the decision was short. Feeling her Father standing at her back, Zelda stood before Cinelgen, and raised her hand towards him, speaking as loudly and clearly as she could.

"Cinelgen of Gerudo. You are accused of numerous crimes. Murder. Treason. Conspiracy. Usurping the crown, and many more."

Link approached the still squirming Gerudo and crouched before him.

"I'm not just a Knight," he said quietly.

"For your crimes, I, Zelda of Hyrule-"

"Then what are you?" Cinelgen spat.

"I don't yet know. But I will always be more than you. In every way there is. Words hurt, but words disappear. And you were never anything but words."

"-sentence you to death."

Zelda lowered her hand and nodded to Aurelia.

"You were wrong about us both," she said as the Yiga woman drew her sickle once more. "I'm not a Princess, Cinelgen. I'm a Queen."

Aurelia's sickle glistened, now washed clean by the rains, and it caught the light when she held it against Cinelgen's neck. He stiffened, understanding crossing his features, andfought to the last, thrashing and whimpering, begging softly, you can't, you won't. Aurelia was swift, unfeeling; an executioner born.

Cinelgen made no sound, and struggled no more, the smile on his face outmatched only by the bright red smile that split his neck. He slumped forward, falling face down onto the mud and grass, his red hair turned black by the rain.

Minutes passed before any in the crowd moved. Even Aurelia watched with a solemn stillness, muttering at last, "Well, that's that." It was Link who checked that the Gerudo was indeed dead, finding, or perhaps not finding a pulse, and giving the signal of what had come to pass.

The villagers had not departed, eager, if a little greedy, to witness the aftermath. Zelda surveyed the crowd and saw only strangers. And yet they are my people. Do they understand what has happened here?

Raising her voice against the incessant rain, she said, "All of this happened because I allowed Hyrule to falter - a failure I will never forget. And I know you do not know me, but that will not stop us. We will work for the rest of our lives to ensure this never happens again. And I promise you, Hyrule will never falter again."

In the crowd, she spotted Leop once more and saw the old man smile.

And just when she thought a silence had fallen, through the sound of the rain and the roar of thunder overhead, Zelda heard the sound that had been their first call to action; the first hint of the chaos she had just quelled, of the regime she had just ended.

It echoed between the mountains, so loud and so deep that it shook the ground; the trumpeting roar of an elephant.

All turned towards the cliffs in the north, to where Divine Beast Vah Ruta sat perched atop her plateau. And all watched as, impossibly, the Beast fired a tremendous blast of energy towards Hyrule Castle, the great beam soaring through the sky, and narrowly missing the mountains to the west.

"Goddess preserve us," Aurelia murmured.

They were powerless against the retaliation that followed. In the far away Hebra mountains, Vah Medoh angled towards Lanayru. On the cliffs of Eldin, and the mesas of Gerudo, Vah Rudania and Vah Naboris followed, orienting themselves towards Vah Ruta.

Link's gaze was set steadfast to Lanayru. "It was Inglis," he murmured, almost mournful. "He has the Slate, he must be with Vah Ruta."

There was no more convincing needed. Zelda was already making for her horse. "Someone needs to go to the Castle, to protect it-"

"-and someone to Ruta, to stop her," Link added.

In unison, with terrible understanding, their eyes met. She felt that Link's thoughts were her own then. She could almost hear them. And as further proof, they turned at once towards Aurelia.

"I will take the body to Kakariko so that it is secure," she said, not needing any further prompt. For the first time since they had met, Zelda saw fear in the woman's eyes. She cast a nervous glance up towards the Beast in Lanayru. "End this tragedy before it begins."

The Castle to the west. The Beast to the north. This was where their paths split once more. Zelda intertwined her hand in Link's, unwilling to surrender him just yet.

"I lost you, for so long," Zelda squeezed his hand so tight that her own knuckles ached. "And then again and-" The words were on her tongue. If she said them, they would be little more than a whisper. "What little time we've had and I… Link, what if we never see each other again?"

Link drew her in close, running a hand through her hair. "You know I-"

"No. No don't," Zelda pushed away from him. "Say it when we return to each other."

He laughed, his face so sweet and bright that it hurt her to look upon it. "Don't want to jinx it?" he teased, and Zelda could not help but smile.

"Even now, you make it all seem okay," she sighed, shaking her head. "How?"

He was at ease as he always seemed to be. Shrugging and undemanding, Link made no show of the revelation; "I dunno. Maybe because I love you."

Zelda slapped his arm. "You-!" But then she kissed him, deeply, desperately, feeling his arms pull her in close. "You are not allowed to die," she whispered as they drew apart. "Not again. Not just because you've said it now, and not just because I love you too."

For a moment, it seemed they might not be able to part as circumstance demanded. Link clutched her tight, beholding her with an expression that was nothing short of joy, and if there was anything around them but him, Zelda did not see it. But the rain had not stopped, and it was a sudden flash of lightning overhead that reminded her of the storm before them. "Let us go," she said. "Go so that we can return."

Releasing her, Link gave a short and formal bow. "As my Queen commands," he said, and they parted ways.

The paraglider caught the gusts of air easily, sending Link soaring high above the cliffs. A gift from an old rival; a gale to carry him to the Beast beyond. There was a certain glee in it; the rush of the wind past his ears, and the rush of blood through his veins. She loves me, he repeated in his head. He was courage born then. Let the storm come.

Vah Ruta remained perched towards Hyrule Castle, a faint but ominous red beam aimed towards the Castle centre. The hurried and desperate journey to reach her had not been easy; the rain was nothing short of unnatural.

When he finally climbed over the perch of Ruta's Plateau, Link was nearly spent from relying so heavily on Revali's power to carry him up along the slick and unscalable cliffs. His fingers were red raw and aching from the climbing, as well as half frozen from gripping the icy cold rocks.

On the plateau, he was met with a retinue of anxious Zora, waiting by the banks of the pool at the centre, with Ambassador Larella leading them. She looked a Princess crowned, adorned in weaving silver jewels, the necklace she wore bearing a brilliant sapphire; but the Prince was not with her.

"Link!" she cried, running towards the cliffs to meet him. "Praise the Goddess. Sidon has been taken!"

"Where is he?" Link asked, and forebodingly, Larella turned to Vah Ruta. It was only then that Link realised the Beast had been completely sealed, the entrance closed and the pavilion archways at its stern blocked by panels of ancient ceramic. And worse still the Beast seemed to be sucking water in through its body and launching it into the air through her trunk, great waterfalls of water cascading down into the lake; it was the way she had been when he'd first encountered her. So you are the source of the rain, Link realised.

"He was captured," Larella began to explain. "We tried to get in, but Ruta is sealed from the inside, and they have archers posted atop her…"

Squinting, Link spied the trio of archers with lean longbows stationed on Vah Ruta. "How long ago?" he asked.

"A few hours. I was here with him. We noticed the smoke in Necluda and then these Hylians came from nowhere and..." Larella wrapped her arms around herself, shaking, from the cold or from the shock - Link placed a steadying hand against her own, and she swallowed, regaining her composure. "I don't know if they have taken control or if he is being forced. But I know Sidon would never voluntarily fire Vah Ruta."

Link turned back towards the Beast. Hylians, Larella had said. Inglis is here, and Mila too. He looked upon Vah Ruta's outer workings, and concentrated, thinking on a way he might force a way inside. Some way he might reset her. He focused on what he had been; what he had done. The repetitions, the recapitulations, each Beast he had met with its own story and personality.

Link looked up Ploymus Mountain and understood what he must do.

"Larella, who among your number is the strongest swimmer?"

Down through the field and between the Duelling Peaks Zelda raced; a lone Queen on her horse, riding hard for home. Absurdly, she recalled a time when she had wanted nothing more than to be alone. To be an independent traveller, without the burden of duty or importance.

But now, she could not imagine riding slower. She could not imagine tossing aside her duty. The home was hers; it had always been hers. She was born to protect it.

She spied Vah Medoh tucked amongst the Hebra mountains. Zelda tried to picture the white-feather Rito Warrior at its helm. What are you thinking? She wanted to ask him. What do you make of all this?

Zelda was not sure what she would do once she reached the Castle. But she had to protect it. Not just because of the people who now lived there; Hyrule Castle was the only proof left that she and her family had ever lived at all. It was the only proof that her home had once been united. If it crumbled; if it fell, then there was no hope left.

She emerged from between the peaks and turned her horse northwards.

There had only been time to scavenge four shock arrows from Ploymus Mountain; the savage Lynel who lived there had found him not long after that. Link had narrowly escaped the beast by leaping from the cliff's edge and sailing with his paraglider back down to Vah Ruta.

None other than Larella herself had volunteered to carry Link through the waters in his slapdash, haphazard attempt to unseal Vah Ruta. She would be quick and harder to hit, on account of being small in size. Just like Rhoamet, Link could not help but think, hoping his own beast was okay.

Together they tore through the waters, arrows swishing into the waters from above. Larella approached the first waterfall, leaping up through the column of water and launching Link high above Vah Ruta. Once he began to fall, he felt his pulse slow, and his eyes dilate. Time flowed differently; and there it was, the song that Zelda so favoured. But he had heard it before. Or perhaps he had always heard it?

The first shock arrow found the nexus, and Ruta shrieked. The second found one of the archers posted, before Link tumbled down into the waters. The next three in series followed; an arrow for Ruta and an arrow for the archers, until Ruta was appeased once more. She shuddered, jolting in the waters, and her sealed walls slid open.

"Launch me again! Before they reseal her!" Link shouted to Larella, and the Ambassador carried him to one of the waterfalls, scaling the water one last time to send Link skywards. Angling his paraglider towards the stern, Link sailed into Vah Ruta as Larella called from the waters,

"Bring him back to me, Link!"

He landed in the central chamber, its waters still flooded, and met with a familiar face; Sidon, bound hand and foot by thick ropes, and bloodied from whatever beating it took to bring him here. He was barely conscious and did not seem to notice Link hurriedly rush to his side and frantically pat his cheeks to try and stir him.

"Sidon!" Link whispered harshly. "Are they here? Inglis and Milagre?"

The Prince's mouth fell slowly open, his enormous yellow eyes little more than slits, swollen and black from the beating. "Link?" he croaked, before smiling a crooked, broken smile. "My friend, you're here!"

"Of course," Link assured him, working the ropes that bound him. "Friends keep each other safe."

Though I failed you on that front, Link thought. But it was not too late. He could save Sidon, and then he would save Inglis - as the Akkalan boy had expected him to do. Summoning his strength, Link placed his hands on his chest and felt the power coalesce between them.

"They went to the trunk, the two Hylians," Sidon managed, grimacing at the pain of speaking. "... what are you doing?"

"I have a gift for you, Sidon, given to me by your sister," Link answered, steadying himself against the strange feeling of hollowness; of letting out a breath that never seemed to end. "She'd want you to have it."

"Anything for her," Sidon grinned, revealing broken teeth and bloodied lips. Focusing, Link pressed the ball of power into Sidon's chest and watched it dissipate from between his fingers. In seconds, the Prince began to heal, and at that moment, Link felt Mipha's presence between them. Thank you one last time, Mipha, he thought, chest heaving at the sudden rush of grief.

Sidon gripped Link by the shoulders, his lucidity and strength returned. "Link, you must find them," he urged. He let out a weak sigh. "They took Ruta from me. They will use her again,"

There was no time to ponder. Link helped the Prince stand and said, "Go then, Larella is waiting for you. I will find these Hylians."

Their bickering could be heard from halfway across the Beast; they were stood atop Ruta's trunk, by one of the control terminals, arguing so fiercely that Link thought for a moment they might come to blows.

"Are you insane!?" Inglis shouted. "You have no idea what you are doing! You cannot fire her again!"

"I am following orders," Milagre snapped. "As should you!"

When Link glided in and landed on the trunk platform, Milagre for once could not hide her shock.

"Champion?" she hissed, immediately stowing the Sheikah Slate in her hands and reaching for the dagger at her belt. Inglis on the other hand, could barely suppress a smile, turning swiftly to grab Milagre's arm. "Don't," he warned.

Link held up a hand, but for a moment did not speak. He wanted to take in what he saw; to observe, and understand, as his months in Hyrule Castle had taught him to do. "I've not come to fight you, Milagre," he eventually said. "But you are making a mistake."

Milagre shoved free of Inglis' grip. "You know nothing of me. Either of you!"

"True, I'll admit it," Link said. "You were the toughest piece of the puzzle. If you wanted power, you could have had Cinna killed at any time. But then I realised. Something I didn't understand until I'd experienced it for myself." He lowered his hands. "You love them both. You want what you had with them both."

"This is nonsense!" Milagre protested, but the sudden fury on her face told Link that he was right.

"I understand, I really do," he went on. "You want things to be the way they were," He looked to Inglis. "So much so that you would wage war for it." The Akkalan had not moved, stuck in Milagre's shadow, though he was blocking her path to the control terminal.

"The way things were?" Milagre spat. "That is the opposite of what we wanted. For ten thousand years my people were hated by all, simply for disobeying your Princess' ancestor! Cinna was hungry for change, I gave him his direction. I knew that if that Hylian bitch retook her crown, nothing would change! I am the pilot of this Beast now, and when Cinna rules-"

"Cinna is dead," Link interjected, hardly believing the words. "If nothing else will convince you, then let it be that."

Inglis' face dropped. "How?" he whispered. Milagre was not as easily convinced. She glared at Link with sceptical, hating eyes as behind her, Inglis began to weep.

This was the last thing he wanted, Link realised. Despite everything - all the plotting and lies and gambles to keep himself alive - he'd wanted the trio's friendship as much as anyone else's. "I'm sorry, I mean that," he said earnestly. "I did not want Cinna to die."

"You dare!" Milagre seethed. She surged forward, wrapping a strong hand around Link's neck and shoving him towards the precipice of the platform. "You are an interloper, an imposter. Nothing more than a Knight who thinks himself sharper than his sword."

"Mila! Stop! He's telling the truth," Inglis pleaded, grabbing her by the arm and trying to wrench her backwards. "I know the way he lies and he isn't now!"

Link flailed in the Yiga woman's grip, managing to kick her in the gut. She wailed, stumbling and releasing Link over the edge of the platform. The stone of Vah Ruta's luminous head rushed forward to meet him; reaching for his paraglider, Link held out a hand towards Ruta, focusing, and at the last moment, another great gale erupted through the air. The sail cloth caught the wind at the last moment, and Link careened upwards back towards the trunk platform.

He landed hard, in time to see Inglis try and fail to restrain Milagre from reaching the control terminal. Before he could stop her, she placed a hand on the terminal. Vah Ruta shuddered, shifted to the right, and unleashed a second blast of energy. The blistering beam this time reached its target, smashing into the western wing of Hyrule Castle. The explosion sent an enormous black cloud of debris and smoke high into the air, the shockwave so strong that they felt the gust of hot air from Vah Ruta herself. Recovering, Link noticed a faint red beam aimed from the rocky cliffs of Eldin and another from Gerudo.

"We need to move!" he roared, but it was too late.

Vah Rudania fired in retaliation, its beam striking Ruta's side flank. Link reached for the terminal, managing to grab Inglis by the arm, but he could not also catch Milagre. He looked up just in time to see her thrown from the trunk, her scream ringing out high and shrill. Inglis cried out, lurching forward to jump after her, but Link held him tight, and as suddenly as it had began, Milagre's screaming stopped.

A lattice of fire and energy crisscrossed overhead as the Beasts traded volleys. From the base of Central Tower, where she had stopped to let her horse catch its breath, Zelda watched the unfathomable; the Divine Beasts turned against each other, and the sky alight with power wrought into corruption.

Vah Ruta had fired first, obliterating Zelda's tower in the west wing of Hyrule Castle, and most of the Royal Apartments. Vah Rudania had fired back, and Vah Naboris threatened to do the same, with Vah Medoh alternately aimed at Naboris and Rudania in warning. Naboris then fired at Ruta, followed by Medoh at Naboris, the Beasts shrieking under the immense impacts, flame and smoke and ash raining down where each Beast was hit.

How? She wanted to ask. How could this happen? Is Link alive? Can anything be done? Can anything be saved?

Questions she had no time to answer. If she could not find a way to end this, no matter how impossible the feat seemed, then everything - their trials and triumphs, their pain and scars and tears and everything else they had endured - it would all be for nothing. All over again.

Not this time around, Zelda thought, and she looked down at the golden mark on her hand.

If all else fell away, she would still have the power. And once, I used it to control Medoh, and Rudania too. Perhaps, if by some miracle she was strong enough, she could use it to do the same once more, but with all the Beasts. There would not be time to reach them all. She would need some way to use the power remotely… some way to send out a signal…

Zelda looked up to the peak of the Sheikah tower in front of her. There was a terminal on its balcony, she remembered. And this tower was the most central of them all. It was wishful thinking, the definition of it. But what was a wish, if not hope? And what was hope, if not simply a decision to keep faith?

Heart full, the decision made, Zelda approached Central Tower and began to climb. Hand over hand, from foothold to foothold, as the rains made the ancient metal slick and cold, she climbed, until below her Hyrule grew small, and at last she reached the top; utterly exhausted, soaked through and shivering from the rain, but triumphant. And summoning the last of her strength, she crawled towards the terminal.

The rain had thickened into hail that battered down against the rocks. For the first time since the winter, it had begun to snow. Only this time the snow stung, bringing pinpricks of pain that somehow, somehow, broke through the numbness he felt.

Inglis pushed the wet hair back from Milagre's eyes, but they did not open. He carried her from the water, struggling under her weight, where he was met by the retinue of Zora waiting by the pool, Larella, and Prince Sidon among them. They watched wide-eyed, unsure how to approach the grieving man before them. Should we arrest him? One asked. No, not yet, Inglis heard Larella reply. He is in shock.

Shock. Shock that had made him foolish; made him jump. Inglis had wrangled himself free of Link, and had leapt from the trunk down into the waters after her, but Mila was already dead. She had hit Vah Ruta in her fall. Her face was scarred and broken, but her hair was lovely and long as it had always been. Inglis ran his fingers through it, thinking that it felt like silk.

Link was ushering him towards the bank, having jumped into the water after him. "Inglis, I'm sorry," he soothed. "I need to take the Sheikah Slate."

"It was Rudania," Inglis said suddenly, ignoring Link's words. He fell to his knees, his strength gone at last. "I inducted Yunobo, and he killed her. You killed Ganon, didn't you Link? After he killed the Zora girl you loved? Did… Did it help?"

As he took the Sheikah Slate from Milagre's belt, Link said, "I killed him five times over, Inglis. And no, it did not help."

Behind them, the Beasts had not finished their fighting. Rudania to Naboris, Medoh to Rudania, Naboris to Ruta, yet again. We have to move! Sidon! Someone shouted. Any moment and they might hit us.

Inglis did not feel Link turn towards Central Hyrule, did not see that the tower there had begun to turn gold, and did not hear Link instruct Larella and Sidon to stay and watch over him.

"Zelda is at the tower," Link told them. "That must be her. Whatever she's trying to do, I need to help her."

But Inglis did hear ethereal sounds as Link teleported away, and he hoped the others would soon depart too. He could not look from Mila's face. If he did, she might disappear. The Ambassador crouched beside him, gingerly wrapping an arm around him to help him stand.

"What do the Zora do with their dead?" he asked her.

"We send them home," Larella answered with a frown. "To the water. But she is Yiga, of the desert, so she will return to the fire. Come, strange child. When the rains stop, we will build a pyre."

The terminal was cool beneath her palm; around her, the lights of the tower had turned gold.

At first, nothing happened. Zelda wasn't sure if anything would. But she had controlled the Beasts before. Still - her plan went far beyond control.

Zelda focused, whispering words of prayer. Father help me, Mother help me. Preserve me now, grant my wish. Let me save them, this last time.

Her focus was broken by the silvery sounds of materialisation behind her, and the quiet footsteps along the stone. "Zelda?" His voice brought a lance of pain through her, accompanied by a discordant joy. Fearful, she drew her hand from the terminal.

"Go," Zelda said cooly. "You should not be here."

Link joined her at the terminal and gazed upon the golden lights. "...what are you doing?"

She could not help it; there were tears in her eyes now. "Something terrible. Something I don't want you to bear witness to," Zelda admitted, placing a gentle hand on his chest to push him away. "I have to do this alone… you never chose any of this, and you don't need to-"

He drew his sword and placed it between them. From the look in his eyes, Link understood.

"I did choose. I chose to save you; chose to fight for you." With an almost predestined purpose, Link pushed to hilt towards her, urging Zelda to take it in hand. "And I choose now to be by your side."

"I have to shut them down, Link," Zelda admitted at last.

He took her hand in his, bringing it to the hilt. "I know."

"All of them."

"You don't need to explain."

In the distance, another beam of energy crossed Hyrule; this one from Naboris to Medoh. And then another from Medoh in return.

Determined, Zelda, at last, took the hilt in hand, her other placed on the terminal. Together, their power combined, Link and Zelda issued the order, and for a moment, the sky was gold.

In the west, Vah Medoh's propellers went quiet.

In the south, Vah Naboris' static dissipated.

In the north, Vah Rudania's half-dozen eyes blinked shut.

And in the east, Vah Ruta's hail finally ceased.

The Beasts were asleep, with permanence this time. Not even their pilots would be able to wake them. Only the power, should Zelda deem it.

But it was not just the Beasts. She could sense it. The last little beacon of light; the ancient automaton in Kakariko, unable to escape.

"I'm sorry, Link," Zelda said quietly, running soft fingers against the back of his hand. "My powers… they've grown so great that I don't have a full grasp on them. I can sense… that I did more than I meant to…"

Link's eyes went wide, and he snapped his hands away from the Master Sword, reaching for the Sheikah Slate. No… no, no, no, he was muttering, frantically tapping at the screen in vain hope.

"It will still work," she informed him, reaching down to retrieve the Sword. "The Towers and the Shrines. They are different from the Beasts somehow. You might yet reach him in time, to say goodbye."

The colour had drained from his cheeks, and his mouth bobbed open and shut, but no words came beside, no, no, no. Zelda handed him the sword and watched as he hurriedly teleported away, before sinking to the ground to give in to her own tears.

The Sheikah had travelled to the Graveyard, and the Yiga too. Link saw a streak of white-gold hair, belonging to a woman who was kneeling before the Guardian, and he knew then that it was too late.

He ran without thinking, chest feeling as though it might burst, nearly slipping on the mud. The air smelled of smoke and rust. Somehow, after so much, he still hoped. But the lights had already gone out, and the cores were already quiet. His Guardian slept, his five legs tucked in close, and his open eye black.

Link's vision blurred as he fell at Rhoamet's side. His throat turned was dry and hoarse from the cry that could only be his own. Wake up now, he sobbed. Wake up now, please. Someone had an arm around his shoulder. He could hear weeping. And somewhere in the haze, was a voice inflected with a dozen other voices. His father, Zelda, Aurelia, Inglis, Cinelgen and so many others. A knowing voice, foreign and familiar, until he realised it was his own;

"He was at peace, at least," he said. "The Goddess was kind."

A/N: The next chapter will be the last, and will be posted with an Epilogue. I'll also be publishing an Author's note soon after the epilogue goes up as its own chapter!