A/N: Well this is the chapter I have BEEN WAITING FOR! EEK! Yeap, you have no doubt can tell that I'm SUPER EXCITED for Snowpeak Mountain! Eeeee! *giggles* Thanks to dorianmidona1 for reviewing! Oh and also I'm taking story requests so if you have one in mind, shout it out! R & R!

dorianmidona1: You're welcome! Yes indeed!

Chapter 28: An Icy Tale

There were a lot of shuffling and a sigh that came from the room. It was made from me as I was putting on my tunic shirt before putting the scabbard in the proper place as well as the sword in the scabbard. Lastly, I placed the shield back on.

I flexed my fingers as if to loosen them under the tightness of the gloves. Once I took a step out of the room, I heard a voice spoke.

"You're leaving?" I turned around and noticed Ilia who was beside the "balcony" of the room.

I looked into her eyes though I couldn't tell what feeling it was holding. Sadness?

I sighed, walking up to her. "Yes I am. I would always be leaving from time to time. I'm sorry. It's just…" I paused. "There are some things I need to take care of."

She looked a little disappointed when she lowered her gaze which now fell on the floor.

"Alright." she spoke, quietly. "Don't do anything stupid or reckless or anything out of league."

I started to speak but a flashback tugged inside my mind.

"But, Link…Can you at least promise me this? No matter what happens on your journey, don't try to do anything…out of your league. Please. Just come home safely."

I was deeply saddened when I saw that flashback. How can Ilia lose her memory just like that? It doesn't make any sense…unless she was hit by something then yeah. But still…

"I…" I shook my head. "See you later."

With that, I got out of the Inn and back on Epona so that I can go to Castle Town to visit Telma and where I can find out where to go next.

"One is in the snowy mountain heights…"

The Sage's voice echoed in my head. I instantly thought back to the conversation I had with one of the Zoras who told me about the beast who kept on coming to their village though it only went out to hunt a red fish that was called a Reekfish.

Reekfish? Huh; it's probably just a fish that reeked bad. I snickered in my head at the lame joke.

"Hey honey! How are you doing?" Telma called out. "I heard you were out for four days."

I cringed when I closed the door. Well, I didn't cringe when the door was closed—I cringed when Telma said that.

"Um yeah…" I replied, rubbing at the back of my neck.

"So did you find anything interesting in the old place?" Telma asked.

I shrugged. "Not really. Other than ancient drawings and with lots of skeletons…that's about it."

"Oh. I'm sure old Auru would love to hear about that!" Telma stated, nodding. "Oh! If you want to know where to go next, take a peek at the map that is on the table." she smiled, warmly.

"Thanks Telma."

I jogged towards the table only to observe that the girl, Ashei, was gone.

"Link." I turned around to see Auru greeting me.

"Hi Auru." I smiled back.

"Tell me, did you find what you were looking for in the old dungeon?"

I nodded. "Yeah…I'm just happy that I don't need to go back there."

He chuckled.

"And that reminds me," Shad's voice spoke. "If you're looking for Ashei (which I highly doubt you are) she's at Snowpeak Mountain which is at Zora's Domain." he responded as I looked on the map.

"Ah thanks Shad."

So that's where I was heading to.

The Snowpeak Mountain!

Once out of the Castle Town, I told Midna to warp us to Zora's Domain so that I could reach to Ashei. I shivered once I entered a tunnel that had an icy path which made me to slip a couple of times.

"Shut up, Midna." I mumbled.

I was out of the tunnel though I still shivered at the sudden cold blizzard. Ahead of me stood a figure which was probably Ashei.

"Hey, A-Ashei." I replied through my clattering teeth.

The figure turned around though I yelped at the sudden appearance. It wore an outfit that looked warm but the thing that scared me was the mask. It was in a shape of a beast.

The person chuckled, taking off the mask to reveal Ashei smirking.

"Didn't know you were the type of person to be scared that easily."

I glared at her, causing her to chuckle.

"Ease up, Link, yeah?" she then looked at me as if she was studying me before a smile was placed on her lips. "I've heard great things about you…Telma looks out for me, so I stop by her bar pretty often. I'm Ashei." she introduced herself. "Anyway…What are you doing in a dangerous place like this?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

She looked at the snowy ground before she looked at me again. "Ever since Zora's Domain got covered in ice, this mountain's been much colder than usual, yeah? Not only that, but I heard a really weird story from the Zoras."

"You mean the one with the beast?" I offered. Her eyes held a questioning look. "When I went to visit the Zoras, they just mainly spoke about the beast that kept on entering their home."

She nodded. "Yeah, it's that one. Of course, I was curious so I came and waited…and as they'd said, a giant appeared. Yeah, it looked like this…it's not my best drawing though."

Ashei handed me a paper that contained the beast. It looked more of a yeti if anything.

The more I stared into the eyes of the beast, it didn't looked like it wanted to hurt anyone.

"Apparently, this thing's been stealing red fish from the village. I want to investigate further…but I can't even see the path through this blizzard, yeah? I'm sure you're here because you're curious about the mountain, but you'd best not go without a plan."

I smirked. "So come on then. Let's go."

Ashei stared at him. "Did you not hear what I just said? I can't even see through the blizzard!"

I chuckled. "You have such faith in me. Look," I intensely stare at Ashei. "The beast kept on hunting the Reekfish, right? So what if we were to hunt the Reekfish and just follow the scent?"

"I always knew you were clever but sometimes you can be so daft."

I frowned. "And what's wrong with my plan?"

"Well gee I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that we can't follow the scent because we are not animals!" she shouted.

I smirked. The irony…

"And even if we can follow the scent, what makes you think that you, yourself, can go through this blizzard? You're barely dress!" she exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not cold."

She raised an eyebrow, wearing a disbelieving look. "Really? Yeah, right. Which is why I can see you shivering…"

I scowled. "You know what? Just stay here and I'll be back with the Reekfish." I grumbled, marching way back down.

She just smirked while forming a plan in her head. Ashei then looked through the blizzard.

Sorry Link. But this one is mine!

I transformed into a wolf once Ashei couldn't see me and went to the mother and child rocks to hunt for the Reekfish. I carefully eyed the Reekfish and when the time was right, I used my paw to lash at one of the Reekfish. The creature jumped out of the water and landed right in front of me. It still moved around so I sunk my sharp teeth into it so that it would be killed.

The only thing that was radiating off was the horrible stench from the fish.

Ew…ew…ew…

How can the beast stand this?

I then went back to where I found Ashei though my eyes were still focused on the scent. All of a sudden, I felt an immense pain that jolted through my forehead so I snarled, being uncomfortable. Within a second, I was transformed back into my human.

"What the hell, Midna?!" I asked, sharply.

"You don't use your eyes do you? Or your brain…" Midna stated.

"What?" I glared at her, rubbing my head.

"She's gone."

"Ha, yeah right. Anyone would be dumb enough to actually go through—oh for Din's sake!" I yelled.

There I saw an empty spot.

"Ashei is gonna get herself killed! She even said herself that it's best to not go without a plan! What was she thinking?!"

Within a matter of seconds, I was transformed back into the wolf and I began to search for Ashei through this horrible blizzard. Sometimes, I had nearly fell in the cold water when I was running on the broken ice pieces that was scattered throughout the lake.

Once out, I continued to follow the path that may lead me to Ashei.

-Ashei-

"Thinks he's all smart!" Ashei grumbled as her hand was placed in front of her as if that will keep the blizzard away from her face.

"Ha! I was the one who found out about this so I should be the one to find the yeti. Not Link." Ashei growled while she was holding the dead Reekfish.

She suddenly gasped, tripping over a small snowbank and she fell to the ground.

"Ugh! Just great!" her eyes went wide when a pile of snow was dumped on her from a tree. "Are you kidding me?!" she muffled while Ashei was taking off the snow.

After she got out of the snow, she grunted when the strong blizzard's wind blew her to the side. Damn wind.

The girl was at least thankful for wearing a warm suit but there was just this feeling that couldn't stop bugging her.

It was guilt.

She didn't know why she was feeling guilt.

Nah. That's not probably it, she thought and resumed walking through the horrid blizzard while being unaware that a certain hero was trying to find her.

Gee. The blizzard is getting worse by the minute! Ashei thought.

Suddenly, she stopped as she thought she heard a branch snap in half followed by a growl. Ashei whirled around and stared at the spot ahead of her. After a few minutes, she laughed at herself since she thought it was just a silly thing.

But, the growl became louder and more clearly which caused the poor girl to be stiff so she slowly turned around and gasped. There, ahead of her (like a few centimeters away) were a pack of wolfos.

She got paled at this but then quickly regain her composure. She was a warrior for heaven's sake! She has a sword. She can take them out without any help.

Slowly and quietly, she unsheathed her sword.

"So," she started. "Who's going to be my first target?"

-Me-

I shivered from the harsh coldness and I could already feel some of the ice sticking to my fur. Midna was hiding at my shadow as I told her to.

Where could the girl be? Why do girls always have to be so stubborn?

I then told Midna to transform me back into a human so that maybe if she heard my voice she could go towards it.

"Ashei!" I called out though stumbling a bit because the wind pushed me to the side. "Ashei!" I yelled a bit louder.

After four calls, I began to be worried. Even in my wolf form, I can't find her and smell her scent. Oh, how I wish she dropped something…it'll be easier that way, anyway.

"I give up, Midna. I can't find her." I replied, saddened. Even though she's rude, a pain in the butt and all those other things, I can tell she can be a nice person…when she wants to, that is.

"You know as well as I do that you're not the type of person to give up so easily. I believe in you, Link. I know you can find her." Midna responded.

I gave her a smile. "Thanks but I…" I sighed, running through my now frostbitten hair. I scowled when I touched an icy part.

Stupid blizzard.

Suddenly, there was a scream which jolted me awake as I had my eyes wide.

That scream…

"Midna, transform me back to a wolf." she did so and I immediately dashed towards the scream.

Come on. Scream again!

I halted when I heard whispers coming.

Link…Link…

The voice sounded weak and it made me to think that the person might've been injured. As soon as I thought about that, my blood ran cold when I thought about Ashei…

Ashei…

I quickly sniff the ground, hoping to find the scent of the blood. When I didn't, I continued to run forward until the scent of the blood became stronger and that made me to go faster.

Hold on Ashei! I'm coming!

"Hold on, Link. Maybe you should transform back…"

I gave her a look that said "just a bit longer". She nodded and went back to hiding while I continued to run non-stop. Finally, after a long period of running, I was able to see a blurry figure ahead. It seemed that it was in trouble since it was on its knees while something else was surrounding it. That made me to quicken my pace.

However, as soon as I leaped in the air, I felt something being shifted inside my body so I automatically knew that I was going back to a human. I stumbled forward a bit when I landed on my feet though I resumed running.

Just in time, I jumped right in front of her as I took of my shield to place in front of me. The wolfo banged itself against the shield, re-colliding back. The creature stumbled backwards. I then took gripped the hilt and raised the sword downward so that the tip of the sword was facing the wolfo.

My grip turned white while I continued to stare at the wolfo. The more I stared at it, the more I came to the conclusion that it didn't need to die. These creatures are probably misunderstanding. Slumped with defeat, I put my sword back in its place as I watched the wolfo running away.

A small grunt was heard, snapping me back to reality.

Ashei.

I whirled around and ran towards her then slid on my knees so that I could be on the same level as her.

"Ashei." I spoke.

She fluttered her eyes open though she didn't move her hand from the side. "Li…Link?"

I cracked a soft smile. "Hey. Don't move. It'll only make it worse. Um…" I fiddled with my pouch pocket, hoping to find the gauze. I breathed out a sigh of relief when I found some and instructed Ashei to move her bloody hand away. She reluctantly did so but because she was wearing clothing, I didn't wrap it that great. Nonetheless, it still worked…somewhat…

I then went at the back of her head to hoist her head on my lap while my arms wrapped around gently above the waist. I leaned over her so that I could try and make her warm since she was so cold.

"Hang in there, Ashei." I whispered.