Our conversation had lasted much longer than either of us had intended it to. I had received all the answers I wanted from Link—he howled at those stones to let the Hero's Shade know he was ready to learn a new skill; that triangle symbol was called the Triforce, which I vaguely recognized the name of once he said it, and it had a long history that ended with him inheriting a piece; and he could 'see' places with his sixth sense that he could jump to in order to bring those stone guardians back to their original spots. He had finished answering my questions sooner than I'd have liked—then it was my turn, and I, reluctantly, poured my heart out.

I had started with the messages my mom had sent me in Lakebed, where she had revealed her delusions about me being her daughter reborn, to which Link responded that she sounded delusional only because she loved me so much. I corrected him—she loved her daughter that died as a child, not me; I was my own being. When he had realized that I'd gone out of my way to refer to myself as a being instead of a person, the conversation delved into explaining how different I truly was from humankind, which led into how I could never have my own children. It had been much more uncomfortable to talk about than I had anticipated, worsened by the fact that Link didn't really know anything about humanoid robots to begin with.

Each response I had given him prompted another question to answer. Yes, I looked female—yes, I had at least some of 'the parts,' and they were unquestionable enough to fool me—no, I wasn't sure that I had the specific part necessary to actually carry a child—but even if I had a synthetic uterus as surrogate robots did, any child I carried could never be genetically mine, because I was not a biological being and I had no genetic material of my own. It was only when it finally came down to the matter of genetics that Link's questions took a personal shift, and the shift left me questioning myself.

"When my parents died, the other adults in Ordon took me in and loved and raised me just the same. If you really wanna raise kids, why let some 'genetic material' stop you?"

I had stumbled over words before coming to the rationalization that it was because I wanted to be able to do all the things that human women could, things that I had once assumed I could do, too. It wasn't like I thought adoption didn't count so much as it was that it just wasn't something I had ever considered needing; I had planned to do things the conventional way because I had never thought I was any different. That was what it came down to—I didn't want to be different.

His trite response left me rolling my eyes. "Ain't nothin' wrong with bein' a li'l different."

"Says you. It's always normal people who say that," I'd said.

"Yeah, says me, the completely normal guy who turns into a wolf," he'd replied.

"...Okay, but still—at least when you're not a wolf, you're a normal human, or Hylian, who can reproduce and grow and age, and you have a spirit..."

Then began the discussion on my spirit.

Though I truly appreciated the consolation and sympathy he had offered, the matter of my spirit, or lack thereof, was the one thing he simply couldn't satisfy me on. He had suggested that maybe I did have a spirit and I was protected from the twilight like him and Zelda (that was ridiculous), or that maybe it was because I came from another world and spirits worked differently there, and finally, that it didn't matter at all whether I had one or not, because it didn't change who I was. I held that it did change who I was, because it set me apart from humanity even further. Eventually, he told me that I would come to accept it one day.

The conversation had managed to loop back around to the same points several times, and by the end, I was feeling at least somewhat better about most of them. I still wished my mom could see me as my own 'being,' and I still wished to be a human who could do normal human things, but Link had a way of making any plight not seem as hopeless.

After I'd had enough of discussing my feelings with him for about the rest of eternity, and both thanked him and apologized for nearly talking his ears off, Midna had warped us to Kakariko Village.

We had only intended to spend a few days there, long enough for Renado to see if he could find information about the Mirror of Twilight, and long enough for Zi to realize that I was nowhere to be found within the walls of Castle Town.

Initially, I was worried about staying in the village too long for fear of Zi, but upon our arrival, Renado told us that he had already passed through on the day Link and I had left for Lakebed Temple. Feeling assured that he wasn't likely to pass through again soon, I became comfortable staying around. I had fun with the kids, getting to practice shooting targets with the bow for Malo and Talo's entertainment, and getting roped into playing dolls with Beth when she wasn't busying herself with comforting the Zora prince. I made a point to spend time with Ilia as well, hoping that seeing more of the kindhearted girl she was would assuage the irrational jealousy that still sometimes flared up when Link talked about her affectionately. Just as I did, Link became comfortable staying around and spending time with the kids and Ilia.

And that was how a few days became three weeks.

Surprisingly, Midna didn't complain, not even after the end of the first week when Renado informed us that he'd looked through every book he had and found nothing about the Mirror of Twilight at all. He'd suggested speaking to someone in Castle Town with a more vast collection of books, or searching the library there ourselves. Later that night when Link and I were outside by ourselves, Midna had come out of my shadow and expressed disappointment that Renado didn't have any leads, but she hadn't attempted to rush us to Castle Town as I expected. "Wherever the Mirror of Twilight is, it's not going anywhere," she'd said. "As long as Zant's not in Hyrule, everyone should be fine..."

When we decided it was time to bid Kakariko Village farewell, it was of our own volition, though the decision was spurred by Link receiving a letter from Telma asking him to come to her bar and bring me. I was nervous to go at first (so much so that I couldn't sleep at all the night before we were to leave), imagining that Zi himself might have requested her to ask for me in the letter. I forced myself as much as I could to focus on the positives of going to the town.

Ever since Link had told me that the Hero's Shade was waiting outside of Castle Town after he howled at the whistling stone for him, I'd been excited at the prospect of getting to see him, and now I finally could. He had been receptive to all the venting I did when we weren't training during the few days we'd spent together while I was in Ordon, and being that he was something of a spirit himself, I had hopes that he could give me answers that no living person could.

After Link stopped at Barnes' to buy some bombs, we were off. We went just outside of the village to where nobody could see us, and then Midna turned Link into a wolf and warped us away.

The nearest twilight portal to Castle Town was by the bridge leading to the western entrance, whereas the Hero's Shade was waiting south of the town. Link surmised that it'd be easier to get to him by going through the town instead of around the wide moat surrounding it, so we came to the agreement to go to Telma's first and see the Hero's Shade on our way out.

My fear of running into Zi rapidly dissipated and became replaced with wonder when we entered the town. When I had been there before, it was dark and rainy, and there were pressing matters preventing me from taking in what little I did get to see. It was the opposite now—bright and sunny and bustling with life.

I had been expecting it to be very medieval, but in actuality, it was mainly the architecture that had a medieval feel to it. The people themselves were quirkier than anyone you would see in a history book. There were a lot of people with unnatural hair colors, and they all clearly cared about fashion, though I couldn't say I found their sense of it to be appealing. Their outfits looked illogical and logical at the same time—like they threw on the first things they grabbed randomly from their closets, but in a way that everything ended up looking made to go together. I could see some similarities from the outfit Luda had given me to the outfits other women wore, and it was clear as ever that she hadn't been lying when she said it was simple for their standards. I felt under-dressed around them.

Though, feeling a bit under-dressed might not have taken up much space in my mind had I not realized that everyone seemed to be staring at me. I had never been one to feel so self-conscious before, but the way that people would look at me and then whisper to each other made me worried that they knew I didn't belong among them. I peeked down at my leg to make sure that my dress was covering the inhuman slash on my thigh. It was, of course—I knew before I even looked—but my uneasiness persisted. Maybe my hair had something to do with it, then. Most women wore their hair up, but mine was down...

"There—that's the swordsman everyone's been talking about," I picked out one woman's particularly loud nasal voice over the noisy chatter of the street.

"The one who rescued the Zora child?" another loud woman responded.

I searched for where the voices came from in the crowd and saw two middle-aged women standing at a nearby vendor. Their eyes, like many others', seemed to be on me, but their words made it obvious that they were actually looking at Link as he walked alongside me.

Well, that was a relieving explanation—everyone was looking at him, not me.

"Did you hear those ladies talking about you?" I asked Link once we got to a smaller, quieter pathway.

"I heard a lot of people talking about me..."

I had no idea how he'd been able to hear more than those women with so many people speaking at once. "I didn't realize you were such a big deal here."

"Neither did I," he said bashfully.

When I caught sight of a sign by an alley that read Telma's Bar, all my thoughts about the nosy townspeople vanished and my anxiety reared its head again. I tried to reassure myself that I didn't have much reason to believe Zi would still be there after three weeks. Still, I let myself fall behind Link so I wouldn't have to go in first. Link, mindful of my worries, looked around inside after opening the door.

"He's not in here," he said, turning back to me.

I let out the breath I'd been holding in, feeling like a weight was lifted off me, and followed him in.

The lighting in the bar was just as dingy as it had been at night time, though much like the streets, it was more alive. It wasn't packed by any standards, but several of the tables were taken this time around. The one that had been taken before still was, though the people around it weren't all the same. Shad was sitting in the seat where an older man had been sitting before, and a new man was sitting across from him. A woman that I recalled seeing before was there still, too, leaning against the back wall.

Telma noticed us after the door had swung shut behind me. She leaned over the bar she stood behind and grinned at us. "My, you two made it here quick!"

"You did say to come right away in your letter," Link said as we walked up to the bar.

"Mercy, but you have good timing. I was just talking about you!" She motioned to the back table with her hand. "Remember those friends I mentioned, the ones trying to help deal with all the troubles in Hyrule? These are the allies I wanted you to meet, honey. There's actually one more of us, but there's been a disturbing turn of events in the desert, so he's gone to check it out. You ought to be sociable and go talk to the folks who are here—they're a jolly bunch! And you, darling," she said, her eyes finally leaving Link and looking to me, "have a friend looking for you."

I tensed up. "He's not here, is he?"

"Not anymore. He was coming here often these past few weeks looking for you. When I went to write a letter asking Link here to visit, he asked me to ask for you to come along, too—but he got impatient. The friend of mine who went to go check out the desert, Auru, left earlier this morning with the woman who asked for his help, and your friend left with them. If only he'd waited a few more hours...!"

So I'd been right in my assumption that Zi asked her to ask for me. I knew it. She had no reason to ask for me otherwise.

"If only he'd waited a few more hours, I could be on my way to dying," I finished her sentence harshly. "He's not my friend anymore. He wants me dead."

Telma's expression was caught between confusion and terror. "The boy you talked to here a few weeks ago? He's been speaking of you so fondly... Why would he want you dead?"

I sighed. "It's a long story..."

"Well, I won't allow him in my bar ever again, okay? You're always safe here, honey. And if either of you ever need anything, I'll be here to help."

Someone from one of the tables walked up to the bar and asked for another drink then, so Link and I took our leave to the table in the back. Shad gave me a repentant look as we approached.

"I overheard what you said to Telma... I'm terribly sorry about the other week. I had no idea that boy meant such harm to you. I wouldn't have ushered you inside with him had I known," he said.

"It's all right. You didn't know any better," I said with a shrug.

"Your name is Vanna, correct?" he asked, and I nodded. He looked at Link with a warm smile. "And you must be Link. I'm Shad. Wonderful to meet you. I've heard all you've been up to from Telma. You're rather formidable!"

"It seems the entire town has heard about me from Telma," Link said, looking embarrassed again.

"The townsfolk have been troubled lately with all the strange things that have been happening, and Telma thought it wise to spread word that there's someone out there braving the dangerous to help people. You've given everyone hope, old boy." Link looked even more flustered at that, his cheeks and ears an endearing shade of pink. "Even Ashei here was moved by the lengths you went to to save that Zora boy, and it takes a lot to impress her," Shad went on, gesturing to the woman leaning against the wall.

Ashei crossed her arms and looked at Link with a piercing gaze that almost made me flinch back. "All the soldiers in Hyrule are cowards... It was unexpected to hear about a warrior with any courage, know what I mean?"

"Your actions truly have given hope," said the helmeted man sitting across from Shad. His voice, with its Southern twang, sounded familiar straightaway. I wasn't surprised when he took off his helmet, revealing himself as Rusl—Colin's dad. He looked rougher than I'd remembered.

"Rusl?!" Link said. "What are you doing here? Uli..."

"She's still got a couple weeks left before she's due... I was only coming up here for a short visit." He sighed. "Ever since... You know. I've become troubled by my own inaction. You've inspired me to get back in touch with my friends here and help the cause as much as I can."

While he spoke, I was looking over the large map spread out over the table. I noticed the names of a few places we had been, and names of places Zi had mentioned, like Snowpeak and the Arbiter's Grounds. The latter one, located in the Gerudo Desert to the west, gave me pause. The list of temples and bosses Zi had given me indicated that the Arbiter's Grounds was supposed to be the temple following Lakebed... And now we had finished Lakebed Temple, and Zi had headed to check out the desert.

But, I told myself, he had never said anything about where we would have to go between the temples. We weren't looking for a temple—we were looking for the Mirror of Twilight. There was no guarantee that it was in the desert simply because the next temple was.

"So, you guys know a lot about Hyrule," I started. The group collectively nodded. "Link and I need help finding something called the Mirror of Twilight, hidden somewhere in Hyrule. Do you know anything about it?"

They all looked at each other silently, then back to me. "I've never heard of such a thing," Shad said.

"Me either," Ashei said.

"Neither have I," Rusl said.

"Nonetheless, Auru might have," Shad said. "We each have our specialties, but Auru likely has the broadest knowledge of this land; he used to be a tutor for Princess Zelda. Come to think of it, I do believe I have heard him speak of a noteworthy mirror before... A cursed mirror, he called it. I can't be certain it's the same one you're searching for, however."

"Did he ever say where that cursed mirror was?" I asked.

"It's someplace in the desert, I understand," he said. "As Telma told you, he's actually gone to investigate the desert today, with a woman from the desert herself, at that. Though, he was only going as far as a lookout tower by Lake Hylia—he's a bit old to be crossing the desert these days. Perhaps you should try to catch up with them and ask about the mirror."

I tried my hardest to hold back a grimace as I looked at Link. He didn't seem bothered by the information—in fact, he seemed pleased that we had a lead already—but he probably wasn't thinking about the fact that Zi had left with Auru like I was.

"Sounds like a good enough idea," Link said to me. "Couldn't hurt to go ahead and ask him. We could always come back to the library here later if he can't help us."

"I-I guess..." I said.

"I'll help you search the library if the need arises. I'm afraid to say I've yet to read even half the books there, but I am quite familiar with it," Shad said.

"We might be seeing you soon, then," Link said.

"Be careful out there, Link," Rusl said. "Please."

"Always am," Link said. He straightened himself out and turned to me. "Ready to go?"

I merely nodded. I wasn't really ready to potentially run into Zi again, but I was about as ready as I ever could be.

After being bumped into and nearly knocked over by rushing townspeople so many times that I lost count, we made it out of the southern exit. The Hero's Shade, in his golden wolf form, was waiting next to a staircase. I realized for the first time that his being a wolf made sense—like great-great-grandfather like great-great-grandson. Being a (sort of) werewolf had to run in the family.

We came to a stop in front of him. He stood up and looked at us one after another. In the blink of an eye, he split into two separate wolves. One of them pounced at me, and then my vision went white.

When I could see again, I was back in the mystical, snowy realm of my subconscious, and the golden wolf was sitting some ten feet ahead of me. I hadn't realized how much I missed being there. Even though it had only been a month, I felt nostalgic. I longed to go back to those days in Ordon, back before my life had gone entirely off the rails.

With a howl, the golden wolf transformed.

"We meet again," he said.

"Finally," I said. "There's ... something I've been wanting to ask you about."

"You may ask anything. But first, I must ask you: do you wish to train with me today?"

"Depends... I get that you're this master swordsman, but are you also a bowman, by any chance?"

"I am a master of the bow as well."

I grabbed my bow and an arrow. "Then will you help me get better at using one?"

"That bow was..." he trailed off, then nodded his head once. "Yes."

Several targets appeared at varying distances away from me as the Hero's Shade came to my side. I went ahead and got into position and nocked the arrow, aiming for the closest target. The Shade, once stopped, was silent for a moment.

"...Who taught you to hold it like that?" he said. He reached out and repositioned me himself, from my legs to my fingers to the angle of my arms. "There. Now, you may start shooting, and ask the question you have for me."

I loosed the arrow, and to my surprise, it was a bullseye. I wanted to be proud of myself, but I knew it was only because he had righted my aim for me.

"So..." I said as I pulled out another arrow, "it's ... not one specific question I have for you. It's ... a lot, I guess."

"Pertaining to what?"

I shot that arrow at a new target and missed. "...I don't have a spirit or soul or whatever, and I wanna know what that means," I said, trying to feign indifference.

"You have no spirit, but you do have a soul."

"Huh?" My bow arm fell to my side, and I looked up at him. "What does that mean? And how do you know?"

"To have a soul is to be alive. I know you have a soul, for if you were not alive, I could not enter your subconscious as I do. This is what has been plaguing you—worry that you are not truly alive, correct?"

I pursed my lips. "No. I know I'm alive, even if I might not be by some standards. There's no reason why I shouldn't be considered alive when trees and grass are alive, and they can't even talk or move on their own or think. It's just... I'm worried that I can't be a person without a spirit. That not having a spirit puts me on the same level of trees and grass—technically alive, but ... with nothing ... deeper, I guess."

"For someone worried that she has nothing 'deeper,' you do seem to be considering this very deeply."

"I guess I have a tendency to do that," I quietly said. "But... Does that mean you think I count as a person? Because I can think deeply?"

"What I think should not matter to you. Look into yourself to find what you believe."

I frowned and huffed. "You won't tell me what not having a spirit says about me?"

"I will simply not tell you my thoughts on whether or not you count as a person, as that is something only you should answer for yourself. I believe it is fair to inform you of what your lack of spirit says about you objectively. However, I ask that you shoot another target first."

I quickly got out and nocked another arrow, wanting his answer as soon as possible. He warned me not to rush, but he didn't get to finish his sentence before I was already letting the arrow go. I missed the target I was aiming for so terribly that I unintentionally almost hit another.

"As your skills improve, it will not take as long to aim with confidence, but a novice such as yourself must take your time to aim properly if you want to hit your target. Try again, slowly."

I did as he said, and I hit another target, but only barely. "Does that count for you?"

"Yes, that counts."

"So, what does not having a spirit mean?"

"The spirit is a divine gift that allows one to exist with neither body nor soul, and thus one without spirit would cease to exist when the soul departs and the body perishes."

"...Is that just a complicated way of saying there's no afterlife for me? No heaven, no hell, no anything?"

"Yes."

I turned my head, not wanting him to see if I started to cry. I tried to reason with myself in the same way I did when I first learned that I didn't have a spirit, by telling myself that it didn't matter because I never believed in that stuff in the first place, but that didn't make it hurt any less. An afterlife was one more thing I could never have. Everyone else would all get to go on to eternal paradise (or perhaps eternal agony) while I would go on to eternal nihility. I would be nothing one day and I would stay nothing forever, and forever, and forever, and forever...

I gulped and attempted to banish the thought from my mind. I still had a soul, so maybe I could live on in some other way. I blinked back tears and got back to shooting arrows to keep my thoughts more occupied. "What about my soul, then, when I die? What does 'the soul departs' mean? That it dies, too...?"

"After the soul leaves the body without life, it may lie dormant forever, or it may go on to inhabit another vessel to bring it life one day."

I nocked another arrow. "Kind of like ... like reincarnation?"

"It is reincarnation."

"Oh..." With his affirmation, my mind went elsewhere, causing me to miss the target I'd been aiming for. "If souls can reincarnate, can spirits go from one body to another?"

"Spirits do not reincarnate in the same way souls do, but we are able to go from one body to another, though only if we are denied from heaven and remain on earth. I am inside you now."

"You basically took over my body and you're making me hallucinate, and I'm not really here in this realm, is what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"But, if you wanted to..." I said as I successfully shot a target, "...could you just live in my body, without making me hallucinate?"

"I suppose I could possess you if I had the desire to." He paused. "You are thinking about acquiring a spirit of your own," he said. It wasn't a question of if I was, but rather a plain statement that he knew what I was getting at.

I shrugged. "How could I not think about that?"

"I have never heard of such a thing being done; I was merely saying that I believe it could be done, not that it ever would. Lingering spirits wander the world searching for closure to the life they lost, and permanently possessing somebody is unlikely to bring the closure they seek. And you, the possessed, would no longer fully be yourself with a spirit that was never yours living through you. It is not something you should wish for."

There went whatever hope I had for that—not that I had any idea how I could possibly manage to basically steal a spirit for myself anyway.

I shot an arrow at the farthest target and missed it sorely. I hesitated after nocking another.

"...Why would a spirit be denied from heaven?" I asked.

"Regrets."

I looked up at him. It was impossible to see any emotion on his skeletal face, but that one word had enough melancholy in its essence that it wasn't hard to imagine him with a frown.

"I am done with Link," he said suddenly. "There is still much for you to learn. Do not neglect your training between now and the time we meet again. I will return you to consciousness now."

Before I could question him further, everything faded away.