Not dead! My homework the last few months of my classes just became really stressful and time-consuming, and I ended up spending a lot of what free time I had drawing because that's my #1 stress reliever and I was just feeling stumped with this chapter, and then Ultimate came out and there was holiday stuff and yeah. Excuses, excuses. Here's to hoping for a more productive year for this story than 2018 was.

So, in case anyone forgot (because I kinda did), last time we left off after Midna was saved by Zelda.

The night seemed to drag on and on.

Midna had warped us to Ordona, used her hand-hair to lift Link up to his door because he couldn't climb the ladder as a wolf, and he fell asleep on his floor almost as soon as he was inside. Midna retreated into his shadow to sleep as well, leaving me the only one awake. I couldn't sleep, not knowing that Zi was out there somewhere.

I tried to keep my mind off of everything that had happened, at first by changing out of my damp clothes and putting my hair into a ratty, tangled excuse of a braid, and then by finding and going through that monster encyclopedia Link had mentioned. Every now and then, I couldn't stop myself from looking over at Link, all curled up and sleeping peacefully. It was adorable how sometimes his face scrunched up or an ear twitched or he did that silly thing where he moved his legs like he was running just like my dog often did while he was sleeping...

I sighed as I remembered that I would never see my dog again, and went back to reading.

The blue glow of the Zora's pendant kept Link's house sufficiently lit throughout the night, and I knew morning was finally arriving when the light in the house began to fade from blue to pink. When the pendant no longer gave any light with the sun supplying all that was needed, Midna appeared out of Link's shadow, sitting next to him and stretching while she yawned.

Her orange hair was tousled and down for once, falling over her shoulders with their blue ends curling up on the floor. I was still struck by how bizarre she looked—her hairline was jagged, her spindly arms were about twice as long as they should have been, her legs were shorter than her forearms, her nose was smaller than the tip of a pinky, her head was probably twice as wide as an average one was, and her eyes were the size of lemons and had yellow scleras and orange and red irises—but there was something charming about her strangeness that I hadn't seen the night before.

Somehow it already felt like days had passed since then, though I was sure it hadn't even been twelve hours since we left Lakebed Temple. It seemed like so much had happened at once, leaving me with so much to take in; the Fused Shadows were gone so my chance at getting NEVA back was gone, Link was cursed and turned into a wolf, Zi was in Hyrule and searching for me already, it was all but confirmed that I didn't have a spirit, and Midna was ... different.

"Good morning," Midna said as she saw me sitting at the table. I noticed for the first time that her voice sounded clearer; back when she was a shadow, it always had a slight echo to it.

"Morning," I said. "...So, what do we do now?"

She sighed and looked at Link. "We have to get the Master Sword before we can do anything. And then... It's my plan B. We have to try to find something else."

"What else is there? More Fused Shadows?"

"No. There were only those four, and they're long gone. I'll explain when Link is human again. It's a long shot, but ... it's all I've got left."

After Link had finally woken up, we went outside. I stopped in front of Link's door ahead of him, shocked. Epona was standing in front of his house. I felt guilty for us leaving her near the cave at Lake Hylia, but I was relieved (and extremely impressed) that Epona had found her way back home.

When Link noticed her, he jumped right off his porch and ran up to her, yapping away at her and wagging his fluffy tail. The sight instantly had me in a better mood. I didn't think I had ever seen Link happier than he was while getting to have a conversation with his horse as a wolf. When he realized that I was standing up by the door watching him, he visibly tried to calm himself, but I could still hear the excitement in his voice as he barked out to Epona. Epona nickered at him before walking down the path to the main part of Ordon Village.

"So, do you know where the Sacred Grove is?" I asked him after I had climbed down the ladder. He shook his head. "Did Zelda give any instructions on how to get there or did she only say that it was in Faron Woods?"

"All she said was that it was in Faron Woods," Midna answered. "We'll just have to go there and search around until we find it."

Link barked at something behind me. I turned my head, expecting to see a monster, but all I saw was a squirrel. A high-pitched chirp came from the squirrel, and Link made noises back at it. After the squirrel responded with more chirps, Link lurched off down the path to Faron, making Midna almost fall off his back. I ran after him, but he was too fast for me to catch up. When I made it to the bridge, he was disappearing around a bend in the path. I wanted to yell for him to wait up, but I thought that whatever he was running off to had to be something urgent that the squirrel had told him about.

I rounded one final corner into the clearing that housed the Forest Temple, and I picked up my pace when I saw the reason why Link had run off. Up closer to the giant tree were monsters that I had never seen before, not even among the countless entries of the monster encyclopedia. They were wooden creatures that moved like marionettes hanging from invisible strings, and they were attacking a monkey.

For a brief moment, I became aware of how ludicrous all of this was. This guy I'd been spending time with over the past few weeks got turned into an oversized dog, he had a conversation with his horse and a squirrel, and now he was attacking monster marionettes to save a monkey. I wondered if my life would ever go back to making sense.

By the time I made it to them, Link was already lunging at the last marionette and shredding it to pieces with his teeth. Its broken remains fell to the ground piece by piece and poofed away until none of it was left.

The monkey—it was Rose from before—stood from her cowering position and warily checked to ensure all the monsters were gone. I was surprised that she didn't seem frightened by Link at all after seeing him viciously attack the monsters, despite the fact that he had attacked them to save her. She seemed giddy to see him, almost like how Link had been with Epona. She led us over to the gorge and motioned toward an opening in the cliff face that surrounded the clearing while squeaking something at Link.

"Does she want us to go check out that tunnel?" Midna asked. Link nodded. "All right, let's go!"

"And how exactly are we supposed to get down there?" I said.

"The same way Link got up to his house last night. Thanks to me not being stuck as a shadow in this world anymore..."

Midna floated off his back and down to the tunnel. Her hair outstretched into the shape of an arm and reached all the way over to snatch up Link, and she quickly pulled him over to her. My turn was next. Before I could even yell, I was dropped from Midna's hair-hand and tumbled forward to the ground in the tunnel.

"Could've been a little more gentle," I grumbled as I stood up.

She settled down on Link's back again. "Could've, I guess. But Link didn't complain..."

"Yeah, because he's a wolf!"

Midna laughed loudly, the sound echoing down the small tunnel. Link huffed through his nose, making me join Midna in laughter. He couldn't properly show emotion through his wolf face, but the corners of his mouth pulling up a touch was enough to let me guess that he thought it was kind of funny, too.

Link led the way out of the tunnel and into another part of the forest that was more abyss than ground. When Midna floated over to a section of the ground with a devilish smile on her face, I knew I wasn't going to like what was coming.

At the very least, it was over quick, and we were close to another small tunnel in no time. I had started to walk to it, but I stopped when I saw Link sit down in front of a stone with a design carved into it and a perfect circle cut right through the middle. Upon noticing that he seemed to be listening intently to something, I began to listen, too, and I realized that there was a faint whistling melody coming from the stone. After a few repetitions of the short melody, Link leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and began to howl along with it.

'...What is he doing?' I mouthed at Midna.

She shrugged exaggeratedly in response.

After the song was done, Link stayed in the same position for a good thirty seconds before he looked to come back to his senses. He shook his head and stood up, and then carried on into the tunnel as if he hadn't just done something really weird. I followed him inside, looking forward to him getting the Master Sword and becoming a human again so I could ask him what that was all about.

Stepping out of that tunnel and into the forest felt like stepping into another world. I'd been wrong before when I thought that the alcove in Kakariko's graveyard or the Spirit's Springs were the most scenic locations to exist. This was. The way the light shone down through the foliage, the misty glow—it seemed like it had been ripped from a painting, a masterpiece too beautiful to exist in real life. I didn't think there could be any place more fitting of being called the Sacred Grove.

While I was taking in the scenery, I noticed another moss-covered stone much like the one Link had howled at on the other side of the tunnel. The wind whistling through the triangle-shaped hole in the middle played a different melody, and the design carved into its surface was a design I'd come across several times since coming to Hyrule. It was the same as Link's birthmark, the mark on the metal shield from his basement, and even the mark on the metal shield at Malo Mart. I had once been fine thinking it could be a coincidence to see it on multiple things, but the appearance of that stone pushed it out of coincidence territory. I decided to ask Link if he knew about the significance of that shape as well when he would become human again.

When Link noticed the stone, he sat in front of it and howled along to its melody. I expected him to freeze in place afterward as he had done with the previous stone, but instead, Link stood up when the song finished. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue light appear at the top of one of the massive trees.

I looked over to see a small creature falling from the tree. His feet landed gently on the ground, despite the height he fell from, and he giggled and waved at us. He looked somewhat similar to the marionettes, but he was smaller and moved like a normal person, and he held a glowing blue lantern in one hand and a weird horn in the other.

He took in a deep breath before raising the horn to his mouth and blowing out one long note, sending leaves flying out from each bell of the instrument. Two marionettes dropped down on each side of him, and they started to slowly float forward with their sights set on Link. The creature giggled before running off and going through another tunnel that faded into view.

Link launched himself toward the marionettes, and landed on one and ripped it to pieces with his teeth. He moved so fast from one to the other that it was hard to keep track of where he was, leaving me surprised when I realized he was already on the final one. He barked back at me when that one was down, then ran toward the tunnel the little creature had gone through. I ran after him, but like before, I was unable to catch up to him.

I emerged through the other side of the tunnel, in another little sectioned off area with multiple tunnels to leave through, and Link was nowhere to be seen. The tunnel nearest to me was the first one I ran to, but after seeing that the forest beyond it was empty and only led to even more tunnels, I turned back around and went through the other one. Link wasn't in that area, either—he had to have already gone through another tunnel, though it could have been any of the ones I'd seen in either place.

My hand itched toward my arm, longing to use the TPort that wasn't there to get me out. I groaned and plopped down to the ground, grasping at the roots of my hair in frustration. Link would come back to look for me, so staying put was likely a better idea than going through tunnel after tunnel and potentially only leading myself farther away from him.

Eventually, I relaxed against a tree and closed my eyes, hoping to get some sleep. The woods seemed like the perfect place to rest—not only was the scenery calming, but Zi probably couldn't get there, so the only potential danger came in the form of the marionettes that cared more about Link than me...

Or so I thought until I felt something rough slap me in the face. I had known it was one of the marionettes before I even opened my eyes, yet I was still startled when I did. Three of them were in front of me, and their faces were far creepier up close. As I rushed to get to my feet and get my sword out, they kept on swinging at me, but it was more to their detriment than mine; while getting slapped wasn't exactly pleasant for me, every hit would break off bits of their hands.

Several splinters and little tears in my clothes later, the marionettes were dead, and I changed my mind about waiting around for Link. The forest couldn't have been that big. I was bound to run into him sooner or later.

I ended up running in circles, and sporadically fighting off more marionettes that appeared. Everything blended together, and it became impossible to tell where I had come from and where I had been already. Once, I found myself back where we first entered the woods, though I could only tell it was the same place by the stone with the triangle-shaped hole. An idea came to me when I saw it: if there was something distinct I could recognize in each part of the forest, it would help me to not get lost.

After a while of pondering how exactly to do that, I decided on carving small numbers into the walls toward the end of each tunnel I left. They were discreet enough so as not to disturb the beauty of the forest, but visible enough for me to see if I had been somewhere already.

I did what I was certain were several runs throughout every single part of the woods after I had numbered each and every tunnel I'd found, and still, there was no Link. Perhaps if I'd gone through each section once and not run into him, I could have easily brushed it off as us just being in different places at the same time, but I became more worried with each pass through the woods where I didn't see him. I was stopped at the end of one of the tunnels, contemplating sitting back down and waiting for him again, when I heard something faint in the distance. It wasn't the sound of wolf paws against the ground like I wanted to hear, but it was something I hoped could lead me to Link; it was the sound of the little wooden creature playing a song on his horn.

I followed the sound and found him sitting up on a high branch of a tree. He didn't notice me. Sitting up there, swinging his legs and playing his goofy horn, he looked so innocent, yet I couldn't help but wonder if he had done something to Link.

As if just to prove me wrong, I heard soft footsteps approach me from behind, and when I turned, there he was. I sighed in relief.

"There you are," Midna said. "Link's been sniffing around for you."

"Don't run off so fast next time," I said to Link. "I was starting to worry that something bad happened to you..."

"The only bad thing that's happened is that that little guy up there won't stop running and hiding from us. I think he's trying to lead us somewhere, but he's doing it in the most annoying way possible."

I looked up at the little creature. He was still playing his horn, apparently without a care that we were some twenty feet below him discussing him.

Black streaked up through the air, and suddenly Midna was behind the creature. With a swift kick of her tiny leg, he fell off the branch. Though he hit the ground hard, he was giggling as he got to his feet. The stone wall built into raised earth behind him disappeared, and he ran through the passageway behind it. Since he didn't call for more marionettes this time, it was easy for us to take off right after him and stay on his tail.

He led us through several passageways, only to come to a stop at a stone structure. He turned around, and with one final giggle, shot up into the sky and out of sight as a wall on the structure disappeared. Even before Link and I went through the newly-present archway, I could see through it that the building was missing its roof. The state of decay it was in became more apparent with each step inside. Entire slabs of walls were gone, the bottom half of a staircase was nothing more than rubble, and the very floor was almost entirely covered in leaves and moss.

Only three things in the dilapidated building were in okay condition; one was a shiny plaque on the ground that featured the three-triangles-in-one motif, and the other two were identical towering statues. The statues, like everything else, had grown moss in places, and they looked rusted in some spots, but at least they were both whole.

While Link went to the plaque and howled the melody from the last stone, I went to the door behind the statues. The door, too, had the triangles engraved in it, though it also featured a stylized bird beneath them like the shield at Malo Mart did. I tried to push the door up into the wall like I suspected was necessary from the lack of a handle, but it didn't budge. It didn't budge from being pushed left or right or down, either.

After Link's howling came to an end, I heard two loud thumps behind me. I turned around and gasped when I saw that the statues had changed positions and appearances. The engraved lines along their bodies were glowing blue, and one of the statues had moved between Link and me while the other had moved behind him. Midna shot up off his back and came over to float beside me, to my slight aggravation. Not that I minded her being next to me, but it bothered me that she was leaving Link to fend for himself as a wolf between two giant living statues who were wielding giant war hammers that looked like they could flatten someone in an instant.

Link, from where I could see him between the statue's legs, though, didn't look to mind Midna leaving him, nor did he look frightened by the statues. That would have placated me were it not for Link's tendency to bite off a bigger piece than he could chew. What did finally quell my worries that the statues were hostile left me confused instead—Link and one of the statues turned to the right while the other one turned left, Link hopped forward, and then the statues closest to me hopped forward. Link then turned and hopped again, and this time both statues followed his lead, though they each went in opposite directions.

"What...?"

"He's seeing something we can't," Midna answered my unfinished question.

"That's obvious," I said as they hopped once more. "But that doesn't exactly explain why they're doing ... that."

"At least we're getting close to the Master Sword, so he'll be human again soon and he can tell you. It's a shame, though. I'll miss him being a wolf."

"Why? Because he can't backtalk to you?"

"Well, yeah, there's that, but he was a wolf when we met, and I've spent a lot of time with him as a wolf. I'm still not entirely used to his human form."

I looked over at her, more confused by her response than I was by Link and the statues. "What do you mean? He was just cursed into becoming a wolf last night."

"Remember how I told you that the only reason Link doesn't turn into a spirit in the twilight is that he's the Chosen Hero?"

"Yeah?"

"Because he's the Chosen Hero, he turns into a wolf in the twilight instead. Last night, Zant didn't curse Link into becoming a wolf—he cursed Link into staying a wolf, even in the light," Midna said.

I looked back to Link then, still hopping around with the statues. It was strange to think that he had turned into the wolf he was now every time he'd left to clear the twilight, though him having previous experience being a wolf accounted for him being good at walking around on four legs and fighting with his teeth.

Link and the statues continued to jump from place to place for several minutes and stopped when the statues were back in the same position they had been in when we first entered the ruins. The door rumbled behind me as it opened on its own, and the statues stopped glowing. Midna floated over to Link and situated herself on his back again before he started on his way to me and the door. I got a slight head start going through the doorway and up the flight of stairs beyond it, and I slowed as I reached the top.

The foggy room at the top of the stairs, if it could still be called a room, had been overtaken by nature more so than the room at the bottom; the 'walls' were more comprised of greenery and broken pillars than actual wall, and there was no ceiling either, allowing beams of light to shine down through the surrounding trees. More important than all of that, however, was the sword in the middle of the room.

As soon as Link got to the top of the stairs and noticed the sword, he ran for it. It started to glow white, becoming more intense the nearer Link got to it. When he was mere inches away, there was a sudden pulse of bright light that sent Midna flying off his back. Light radiated from Link's body, filling the entire room with more and more light until there was nothing but whiteness.

In a flash, the light dissipated. In the place where he had been as a wolf stood a human Link, donned in his signature green. Link reached forward and wrapped both hands around the hilt of the Master Sword, and with a tug, pulled it out of the pedestal. He raised it skyward, and the fog cleared from the room in waves.

"The sword accepted you as its master..." Midna said.

I walked farther into the room as Link took a few experimental swings with the sword. I didn't notice until I was next to Midna that she had something in her hand. It looked like the black and orange object that Zant had embedded into Link's head.

"What is that thing?" I asked.

"It's the embodiment of the evil magic that Zant cast on Link," Midna answered. "It's definitely different from our tribe's shadow magic..."

At his name, Link turned toward us, though his eyes went right back to the sword he still held out in front of him. He was admiring it like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Should we leave you two alone?" I said.

"Huh?" Link looked up at me with an innocent expression, and I couldn't help but laugh a little. His cheeks turned a light pink, and he put the sword into the new blue and gold scabbard that had appeared on his back when he transformed. "So... That's the thing Zant put in me?" he asked, reaching a hand out.

"Careful!" Midna said, drawing it to her chest. "You'll transform back into a beast if you touch it!"

Link took a step back. "We should get rid of it."

"Maybe that would be for the better, but on the other hand ... if we kept it, all I'd have to do is put it back in you for you to transform into a wolf again. And if you can go into your wolf form freely, that means I can take you through the twilight portals whenever." Midna's eyes narrowed and she grinned. "Since Zant was kind enough to give this to us, we should be thankful and use it all we can! All you have to do is tell me when you want to transform."

"But how's he supposed to tell you when he wants to transform back into a human?" I said.

"I dunno. Bark three times?" Midna offered.

"Three barks it is," Link said.

Midna folded her hands behind her back. "So, um, now that you're a human again... There's something I need to talk to you both about. Would you mind coming with me to find something called the Mirror of Twilight? It's hidden somewhere in Hyrule, and it's our last potential link to Zant."

Link gave her a small smile and nodded.

She looked over to me. "You too?" When I nodded, she smiled. "Thank you guys. I... I don't actually have any clue at all where the Mirror of Twilight is, though, so we'll have to ask around. We might find a clue in the bustle of Castle Town..."

I frowned. "Castle Town isn't very safe for me right now..."

"You'll be safe. There'll be a lot of people in the streets during the day, and I'll be there with you," Link said.

"And I can warp you two away in an instant," Midna added. "Just ... better not to do that in front of a crowd, probably."

"Or maybe we could spend some time in Kakariko Village," Link suggested. "Renado is a wise man, and he has a lot of books. He might be able to find information about the mirror for us."

"That sounds good. Are you okay with that, Vanna?" Midna asked.

"Kakariko's good," I said.

"Good. So, shall we go?"

"Actually ... why don't we stay here for a bit?" Link said. He looked at me. "You wanted to get some stuff off your chest back in Lakebed Temple, but you haven't had a chance to with everything that's happened since."

Right. I'd basically promised him I would tell him about what was bothering me. About my mom's delusions about me being her daughter, and how I realized that I could never have my own children and that any semblance of a normal future was stolen from me, and since then my whole spiritless ordeal had come up, so I wanted to get that off my chest, too... But there was so much to explain, some of which likely necessitated getting into uncomfortable details...

"I don't need to talk to you if you don't want to listen..." I said. "Actually, I've got a lot of things I'm interested in hearing from you, like about those stones you howled at, and the triangle thing that keeps showing up everywhere, and what was going on with you and those statues jumping around..."

"How's about I answer all your questions, then you let everything out?"

I sighed. "Really, you don't need to listen to my problems. It's probably stuff you're not interested in hearing about anyway."

"You know, I ain't sure it'll happen anymore, but before all this stuff started, I was lined up to be the next mayor of Ordon."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"That's got to do with me having to know how to listen to people and make them happy so I can be a good leader."

Link sat down and patted the ground in front of him, and looked up at me expectantly with a hint of a smile on his lips.

...How could I have said no to that?