A thousand and one sorrys for the HUGE gap in updates. I've got a million excuses, but the most prominent one is this: I was having writer's block with this story, so I started working on a bunch of other writing, and my time management kind of got away from me. But the update's here now, so I hope you will enjoy. I was very cursory in the editing on this one, so I take full responsibility for any suspicious-looking sentence structure you may find. :) Read away!

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Legend of Zelda. All other original characters belong to me.

The Sheikah

Chapter 38: The King

The story of how Torren had died was common knowledge amongst Sheik's clan now, it being mid-morning after the night of the vigil. No one knew exactly how it had happened, because Gilan wasn't really talking to anyone; but from the rumors, it was believed that Torren had saved his father's life in the last moments of his own. He'd given his life to save his Gilan's, and goddesses damn him to the ends of the earth, because of course that was something stupid, stupid Tor might do.

Sheik hunched his shoulders against the chilling wind, a bitter scowl set into his face. Link kept glancing over at him, a lost look about him. Link had been cheerless and inattentive so far that morning. Not that Sheik hadn't been. The only thing he was bothering to pay any attention to at all was his nalí, but Link almost seemed to be disassociating himself with most of the world around him. Until about an hour ago, he'd remained in a constant state of staring off at nothing with a lost and troubled look on his face. Now he was sparing Sheik a few glances, but that was the extent of it. It made Sheik wonder... had this whole nightmare brought back the details of the deaths of his mother and sister?

Sheik himself was... well, not good, but that was to be expected. He was... ah, but were there any words for it? He missed Tor, and it had barely been a day. He hated that his friend wasn't around to kid about with anymore. He hated that memories of them together as kids kept sprouting up in his mind, only for him to have to beat them back down before they broke his heart. He hated so much about what had happened. He didn't... he couldn't understand what made men so cruel. After all, they had to have seen he was just a boy. A teenager. What had he really ever done to them that warranted them cutting out his throat like he was some sort of pig being slaughtered?

And the men who had attacked Sheik... they had been preparing themselves to slice him open just the same, and then he would have shared Torren's fate. He would have been lying out there in that field next to him as Link sobbed over his body. It was only because Link hadn't listened to him, and had come after him that Sheik was still alive. Torren just... he hadn't had that luck...

The clan chiefs and their advisors were gathering near the front of the camp in ones and twos, readying to walk into the city. If Sheik squinted his eyes just enough, he could make out the marks on the land where the earth had been upset to bury the thirteen victims of the previous night. The horizon looked as if some giant beast had dug its claws into the land, leaving thirteen tufts of earth scattered and upset.

Fen marched into sight then, his expression not betraying a single fleck of whatever mess his emotions were. He'd probably just come from Gilan's tent, after all, and Sheik couldn't even begin to imagine the state that man must have been in. "Link-líta," he said, grabbing Sheik's arm as he walked; pulling him over, closer to Link.

"Yes?" Link croaked. His voice was hoarse.

"We've managed to send word into the city, and your brother will be waiting for you at the gate."

"Oh." He blinked.

"You should go now, ahead of the rest of us. It will be better that way, I think." Fen's voice was gruff.

Sheik got an uneasy feeling in his gut as he watched Link cross his arms underneath his cloak. "Just... walk up normally, as I would if I didn't know any of you?"

Fen nodded. "I'm afraid that I—that we cannot send anyone to accompany you. The ice we are treading upon on is thin enough, if you will." He cleared his throat.

"Oh..." Link's blue eyes turned up from the ground to look at Fen. Then he cast them over onto Sheik. Then… he sneezed. "Well," he murmured dully, wiping at his nose with the hem of his cloak. "Um, alright." He looked at Sheik again, opening his full lips to say something else.

But Sheik had already stepped forward and pulled Link into his chest; his one arm wrapping around Link's neck, fingers gently strumming through the soft strands of his hair. "Be careful," he said, staring intently into Link's glassy blue eyes. "Trust no one but your brother and Luca. We have no idea if anyone in there will know of your loyalties, and so we don't know if anyone will try to hurt you. I think that if they knew, they very well might. So watch your back at all times."

Link's hand grasped onto Sheik's arm. "You're crying," he murmured, reaching up and wiping a stray tear out of the corner of Sheik's eye with a rough, calloused thumb. He didn't bother to ask Sheik why. There were so many reasons why he could be shedding tears... but one was the most obvious. "I'll look after myself, I promise," he vowed.

Sheik leaned down and pressed his lips against the corner of Link's mouth, a tired sigh escaping from between the two of them. "And I'll see you later today," he murmured back.

Link's lips twitched up on either side, like maybe he was trying to force a smile, but it never came. "Maybe you'll bring back some good news from the king's court."

Fen wrapped an arm tightly around Sheik's shoulders as they stood there, watching Link walk away to the city. He disappeared into the dark stone walls after only a couple of minutes. Being apart from him only added to Sheik's apprehension, piling onto the pain in his chest.

Fen turned to glance behind him. "Looks like they're all here," he said, gazing out at the small sea of the chiefs and their advisors. "We should stand with Osidian-näba." He pulled at Sheik, keeping his arm around his shoulders as they walked over to stand with their chief.

"Fen?" Sheik murmured, a question weighing heavily over him.

Fen looked down at him with a sad sort of expression. "Sheik?"

How could he get the words out? His breath hitched before he opened his mouth again to speak. "Whatever we were after... Peace, freedom... Whatever we had the potential to be, it couldn't have been worth this, could it?" He honestly wasn't sure anymore. He didn't know.

"Sheik..." Fen murmured. "Whenever people are forced to fight for what's right, there will always be violence. There will always be hatred thrown against them, often in such cruel ways that it is impossible to understand why."

"That's just it," Sheik answered. "I don't understand. I know we were their servants, I know they fear us partly because of how we are trained to fight, but why do they hate? Hatred is just so strong a thing."

They paused as one of the chiefs from a different clan began to lead the way towards the castle. "In... older times, Sheik" Fen murmured thoughtfully, "Magic was much more prevalent across the land. In the last few hundreds of years, it's been in a heavy state of decline. It's more myth now than anything; but in the time of the Heroes, the Force Era, and the Sky Era—"

"What?" Sheik stared up at Fen as if he had sprouted a pair of wings.

"The Sheikah's blood used to be rich with magic, Sheik. That's part of why the Hylians began to fear us so long ago. I know you know the creation stories, because I taught many of them to you myself. When the goddesses created the Sheikah, it is said that they poured fire into our veins."

"Link said that once," Sheik murmured thoughtfully. "He said that that's why our eyes are crimson."

Fen looked seemed to consider this. "Well, he is not wrong. Our people... we are trained to fight from a very young age, yes. But we used to have much more than that in the older days. The ancestors of your ancestors."

"Magic?"

Fen nodded. "A very long time ago, our whole tribe was magic. But such things weren't as common among the Hylians. And after all, isn't it natural to fear what you don't understand?"

Sheik wasn't about to forgive generations of Hylians just because they 'didn't understand.' "Why did our people lose the magic?"

Fen shrugged. "No one knows, Sheik. It just started to... die out."

"Was it at the same time that our people were enslaved?"

Fen shook his head. "No, Sheik. Long, long before that."

"Has anyone else ever had it since it was lost?"

Fen tilted his head thoughtfully. "I have heard of a few, though I do not think there have been any for centuries."

"Well... what made them different?"

"I trust you know the story of Impa?"

"The princesses' guardian?" Sheik asked. "She was a sage. She had to protect the princess from—"

"From the Shadow Man, yes. In the Era of the Hero of Time."

Sheik caught on quickly. "Are you saying that she had magic? Impa?"

Fen shrugged noncommittally. "It is rumored."

It was then, as they walked, that Sheik thought maybe he knew what had set Impa apart from the rest of them. There were no stories of her wielding great amounts of magic like there were in the really ancient myths. Her soul task had been to keep the princess of her time safe and guarded, during the seven-year long war between Hyrule and the Shadow Man. It was said that she was already a seasoned warrior when she was called to be the little princess's attendant, and that—in the absence of the girl's true mother—she had come to truly love the princess. So Sheik thought that maybe, just maybe, it was desperation that awoke the ancient magic sleeping in her veins. It was desperation; the need to save and protect her charge from all the dangers that were intent on snaring her that called that ethereal force from its dormancy to her command. Because maybe the Sheikah's magic wasn't dead at all; maybe it was sleeping.

The pageboy bowed to him before speaking in a tumble of words. "Your Majesty, the soldier from the contingent who fought with the Sheikah—."

"Yes, get on with it." King Nohansen interrupted the boy before he could say anymore. He didn't have time for anything but the point of the matter.

"Perhaps you'll remember... he arrived at the castle four days ago, and is still waiting for an audience with you, Your Majesty."

"Yes, I have been rather busy, haven't I?" he remarked in a voice that was close to sounding like a warning. "It's ridiculous, really, that this... this freedom thing should spring up now of all times, when—"

"Father!" Zelda muttered from her seat in front of the desk. Her arms were crossed haughtily over her chest, and her expression looked as if it could cut through stone. "It didn't spring up from nowhere, and you know it! You're the one who ordered those soldiers into Termina in the first place!"

"To eliminate the threat of a rebel army that was threatening an invasion of my kingdom!" Nohansen thundered. "Honestly, girl! I spend more time arguing with you than I do governing Hyrule! You wouldn't be sounding so bold if those devils had of invaded Castle Town and murdered you like they planned, now would you?"

Zelda answered with a huff and roll of her eyes, turning back forward in her seat to stare out the large window behind the desk, fuming.

"Send for him, then," the King sighed, shuffling around some of the reports that were lying on his desk, trying to see if any of them had anything useful scribbled on them. "I'd quite like to hear his excuses as to why things didn't go according to the report in the letter that was sent to me."

The page nodded and bowed before exiting the room.

"Why can't you just grant them their freedom?" Zelda muttered from her chair in front of his desk, not bothering to look back at him. The whole reason she was sitting there in the first place was so that she could observe some of the things a monarch did in their everyday life. The girl had to learn to run the kingdom someday, and yet all she had done since arriving in his office was run her little mouth.

Nohansen sniffed, sitting up straighter and fixing his daughter with a good hard scowl. "And why should I? They don't have it bad, you know. In all these centuries, the rulers of this kingdom have been good to them. We barely take twenty-five of them out of the desert a year. The rest are allowed to live there in their stupid sand, with their precious training and traditions. We don't bother them apart from that. This system has worked for generations, and now all of the sudden it's not good enough for those sniveling dogs? Why should I have to change anything?"

"You rip families apart," she argued, glowering up at him. Such a mean expression did not belong on a princess.

"You weren't complaining nearly this much when you got that little sand devil all those months ago." He picked up one of the reports, scanning the words on it with tired eyes. Sheikah, Sheikah, Sheikah. It was all about the Sheikah. Every single report on his desk consisted of spies reporting on the status of their camp.

"Sheik didn't want to be here! I was as kind to him as I could be, just so he could see that I wasn't the same as the rest of you! And you weren't killing them all those months ago!'"

His eyes slammed up to meet hers. "As I've said before, girl, the ones in Termina were planning an invasion; I was merely protecting my people when I ordered their extermination. And you know full well that the attack the night before last was the townspeople. I did not order it, nor do I ordain it. It was of their own volition."

"But you didn't do anything to guard against it, either! You know that they killed some of them! You saw them all standing out there around the torches last night! The men that did it need to be punished!"

"The Sheikah do not need our protection. They need our... instruction. Our... guidance. And they need a firm hand. What this whole rebellion tells me is that I shouldn't have let them linger so far from my gaze, out in that desert of theirs. I should have kept them where I could see them, and then maybe none of this ridiculous mess would be happening! Maybe then, they wouldn't have killed my soldiers!"

She leaned forward in her chair. "Your soldiers killed them first!"

He pounded a fist on the desk. "Silence, girl!"

"Sire?" Nohansen looked up. The same pageboy as before was standing near the door, a tall man with a thin beard in soldier's uniform standing unsure behind him.

"Yes, fine. Go ahead," he muttered, gesturing to the soldier.

"Major Ryan, sir. Left in charge of the battalion sent to Termina."

Both the page and the soldier bowed low. Nohansen waved the man forward, shooing out the pageboy at the same time. "Yes... left in charge when the Colonel... Ballen, was it? Left in charge when Colonel Ballen rode ahead to speak with me. He promised me a lot of things, Major. None of which have come to pass. I'm sure you're here to explain why that is?" He fixed the soldier with a steely, disapproving gaze. A look that could kill.

The soldier's eyes widened. "Colonel Ballen isn't here, sire?"

Nohansen chuckled. "No. No, he left Castle Town more than a week ago. Just as soon as we received your slow-arriving letter about the battle with the Sheikah in Hyrule Field, in fact. The battle which you lost."

The Major had the sense to look sheepishly down at his boots. "I... I did have to order a retreat, sire. That is correct."

"The prisoner you had been keeping, the one scheduled for execution. I am also told that he escaped during the battle."

"He... did get away from us, sire. Back to his own kin in the confusion."

"Yes... he is a slippery little thing, isn't he?" Nohansen watched his daughter's face carefully as he spoke. "Truly one of the best of his kind. Slippery, sneaking, and as much as I am loathe to admit it, far more skilled than any of the soldiers I have under my command." He turned his eyes coolly back up to the Major. "Better than you, certainly," he finished with a smirk. "When they first sent him here, he was made to demonstrate his abilities before my court. Needless to say, he astonished us all. Even my own Sheikah guard was surprised. But I'm quite irritated to say that my guard also disappeared from my service, roughly a month ago. In fact, all the Sheikah in Hyrule seem to have slipped from service, apart from a few who were caught in the act and put to death."

He watched, interested, as the Major flinched at the mention of execution. Zelda was still glaring daggers at him.

"Is the answer to all this," he continued, "That they really are just... better than us? My men and women in service outnumber them, and yet we still can't seem to beat them back. What's more, Major, my men tell me that King Balistrade had offered them aide. I know this because there are currently five hundred Terminan soldiers on my doorstep, just sitting there." He barked out a laugh, causing the Major to flinch again. "They are just camped there, right outside this city. I'm sure you've seen them," he said in a patronizing tone.

"Yes, sire." The Major said, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

"I don't want a battle with them. Do you know why? I don't want to lose any more of the men than you have been losing. But I have no desire to truly grant them their freedom. How do I know they won't try to overthrow the kingdom? I have no reason to believe that they will peacefully go away after the get what they want. However, we both know that if I do not give them said freedom, they will fight us for it. And if that happens, Major, if more Hylians have to die, I will personally eviscerate you."

The Major swallowed, nodding fervently. His fear was quite obvious. "And so I encourage you to find a solution to—"

"Your majesty."

Nohansen looked up, irritated as a second pageboy entered the room. "What is it?" he hissed in a sharp voice.

"Your Majesty." He bowed low as he spoke. "There is a group of Sheikah here to see you, sire. From the camp. A Terminan man is with them."

"They're here now?"

"Yes, sire. Waiting in the grand hall."

Nohansen hung his head, a laugh working its way out of his throat. He looked back up, shaking his head. "Send them in, boy."

The page bowed. "Yes, sire. I will fetch them."

"The King will see you now," the page said breathlessly, still half-running as he approached them.

Sheik looked up sharply. He remembered this boy from his days working at the palace. He'd spoken to him quite often. Sheik remembered those days well, before he had seen Link in the marketplace; when he'd given up all hope of ever seeing that mysterious Hylian ever again. He'd been rather fond of the pageboy. One might even have called it a crush. But of course, that was before he'd met the love of his life. He wondered for a moment whether or not the page recognized him.

"Please come with me," he said, waving them all to follow in the direction he had just come from. They snaked around the corridors, going up several flights of stairs and down long passageways. Sheik was familiar with the layout of the castle, so he knew where they were the entire time. When their rather large group arrived at the ornate doors leading to the King's study, they began filing in, one by one. There were nineteen of them, and Sheik was standing with Fen near the rear of the group, so he was nearly the last one through the door. The page remained outside, watching them all as they disappeared through the threshold.

When Sheik passed by him, their eyes met, and the page's—Benson, if Sheik remembered correctly—eyes widened. The rest of the Sheikah were in the study by now, leaving just Sheik and Benson standing outside, staring at each other.

"Hello," Sheik finally said, breaking the silence.

"It's... it's you," he breathed. "Wow. I mean, we all wondered, and then... I mean, we all heard about—" As he spoke his eyes traveled downwards to the obvious flaw: Sheik's missing left arm. His eyes widened. "Oh sweet goddesses, what happened to you?"

Sheik's lips quirked down, a sudden wave of sadness washing over him. Sure, he'd been in bondage while working there at the castle, but goddesses knew it had been a simpler time. He hadn't fallen in love with Link yet, but so many who had died were still alive back then, and—

Sheik shook his head to clear it. "I... it's a very long story." He nodded to Benson. "I'm afraid I don't have the time to tell it."

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be here?" Benson asked, eyes still wide and shiny. "I'd heard something about you being captured, and that they were going to put you to death. What if you're recognized?"

Sheik forced a smile, the pain of it stabbing in his chest. "No more dangerous for me than any of them," he murmured, nodding into the room. "I have to go. It was nice seeing you again."

Benson smiled at him. "You too."

Sheik turned and entered the room, making his way over to the side of the mass of Sheikah, standing behind where Osidian and Fen were planted. He had a clear view of the room from there, which was ideal. He could see most everyone. The King, the Terminan man, another pageboy he vaguely recognized, Princess Zelda—

Princess Zelda? What was she doing in there? It seemed the girl had noticed Sheik just as soon as he had her.

"Sheik!" she shouted, jumping up out of her chair in front of her father's desk, padding over to him quickly. Osidian and Fen parted before her, staring with something like amusement as the Princess threw her arms around Sheik's neck and hugged the life out of him. He didn't know what else to do, he was so startled, so he just sort of... stood there. But his fondness for the girl got the better of him, and he allowed himself to wrap his arm around her in return.

"You're not dead! I thought for certain you were dead, and I—." She paused, looking down. While she had been speaking, she'd made to grab both of his hands in hers; but of course she couldn't, because he didn't have two hands anymore. She looked back up at him, sky blue eyes wide and glassy. "What in the name of the goddesses happened, Sheik? They hurt you. What did they do to you?"

"Girl, you will leave this instant!" A loud, booming voice thundered from the desk. Sheik recognized it as the King's. His eyes flashed up to meet his, and they narrowed dangerously. Zelda bit her lip in frustration, squeezing Sheik's hand and curtsying to everyone in the room before exiting.

"You, come forward!" King Nohansen barked, looking straight at Sheik. King Nohansen was a very tall man. He was strong and well-built, with golden hair long enough to be tied in a leather band behind his head, and the beady and cunning blue eyes of a wolf. A thin, off-blonde beard covered the lower half of his face.

Sheik looked to Osidian for permission. When his chief nodded, Sheik stepped forward to the front of the room; but when he did, a man he hadn't been able to see from his previous position came into view, standing to the left of the king's desk.

"You?" Ryan's jaw dropped as he beheld Sheik. "You're here?" He cursed under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest. Something was clearly wrong with the man, besides the obvious. He seemed almost... fearful.

"Silence!" Nohansen barked, turning his steely gaze on Sheik, attempting and failing to intimidate him with it. In a much calmer voice, he said "You're the one, then. The one who used to guard my daughter."

Sheik raised his chin. "Yes."

"You started this whole bloody mess!" the King accused.

Sheik shook his head calmly, feeling empty and hollow. "I did not, sire. The rebels were forming in Termina long before I was ever chosen to guard your daughter."

Nohansen snorted in disdain before waving him back. Once again, Sheik turned to Osidian, waiting to receive a nod from him before he fell back behind him and Fen.

"Well why don't we just get on with it, then?" Nohansen said loudly, sounding as if the entire affair was doing nothing more than boring him. "Let us... discuss your precious freedom. But not here. My office is too small for all of you. We'll have to go to the council chambers." He stood up, pushing past them all. Ryan followed in his footsteps; but he at least had the decency to look sorry about it. "I honestly don't even see why you need to all be here when two thirds of you don't even have the capacity to understand a decent bloody language when you hear one." the King remarked snidely on his way out.

Sheik bristled at that—they all did; those who understood that they were being insulted—but they all followed behind him out. Sheik found himself missing Link more and more as the minutes trickled by.

When Link reached the gate, Davin was waiting just inside for him, standing next to a soldier; they were making idle chatter, but Davin looked rather uncomfortable about it. When he saw Link approaching, he smiled and waved, said something to the soldier next to him, and stepped past him, running out to Link.

"Hey," Davin greeted him warmly, grabbing on tight to Link's hand. He smiled half-heartedly at the soldier as they passed by him, heading into the city. "The city's been on really tight lock-down, but even more so after last night," he said, taking Link down a series of side streets. "We don't even know what happened, Luca and I, but—"

"Some people got killed," Link answered numbly.

Davin still hadn't let go of his hand, and Link wasn't quite sure why. Dav's green eyes dropped down to study at him as they rushed along the nearly-empty street. "Is that true?"

Link opened his mouth to speak, but ended up nodding instead.

Davin grimaced, but kept silent as he pulled Link into a narrow door in the side of a wall, leading him up several flights of steps before they came to one of many old, peeling doors. Davin knocked three times, looking down at his feet as he waited. Link stared at him, those few seconds that it took for Luca to open the door stretching on endlessly. Everything had changed. Why was everything changing? Link disentangled his hand from his brother's just as the door swung open.

"Come on in," Luca greeted them with a small, reserved smile.

Link walked into the tiny space ahead of his brother. Tiny... may have been giving the room too much credit. It was a mouse hole, really. Link ignored everything else and walked over to a small couch pushed up against the room's one window. He gazed outside at the empty, gray street; wondering where Sheik was.

"Link, you have to tell us what happened down there."

Link looked up. It was Luca who had spoken. He was standing in the middle of the floor, while Davin had sat down at the table. Link hadn't even heard them moving.

"Uh," Link swallowed, his throat feeling thick and clogged. "Well, uh, some men came into the camp while everyone was sleeping. Everyone was saying that they took out the sentries first somehow, and that's how no one knew they were there until it was too late. Sheik almost died, but he didn't." Link closed his eyes, breathing air deep into his lungs. "But Torren did, protecting his father, and twelve others with him."

"Torren?" Davin asked from the table. He and Luca had had several run-ins with the boy. "Goddesses, really?" he asked, staring at Link with shining emerald eyes, almost as if he were wishing that even though Link had said it, it wasn't true.

Luca just cursed angrily, turning and kicking out at a chair, sending it toppling over.

Link stared at the chair, biting his lip and blinking rapidly to keep the tears from coming out. The floor creaked, and then Davin was next to him, holding him. Out of what seemed like nowhere, Link realized that he was so, so tired of keeping himself together. And so he let himself collapse.

"Sheik took it so hard," he whimpered, grabbing fistfuls of Davin's shirt and holding him right on back. Davin pulled him tighter to him, arms wrapping around his back, rubbing, soothing. Link had all but climbed into his lap. "I've never seen him cry so hard. And you should have seen his father," Link choked out, eyes squeezing shut past the hot, fat tears sliding down his cheeks. "Fen was holding him like a baby. I mean... they just... came through and killed them... Why?" Link looked up, struggling to see past the streams of water running down his face. "I don't understand, Davin. Why did this happen to us? Why is it happening to them now? Why can't we just be back in Ordon? With Sheik, and Luca, and Jas, and Rosalyn, and mom, and Haera, and..." He sniffed, laying his head down on his brother's chest. "I'd give my life to have all of this, all of it, erased. I'd give it in a second."

"I know thing are shit," Luca murmured from across the room. Both Link and Davin looked up at him. "I know, everything's so bad. But Link, don't say that. Don't, because things are about to get so much better. Later today, tomorrow maybe. The world is going to change, that's a promise, but the darkness always gets bigger before things get better. All of them, every single one of the Sheikah knew that this thing wasn't going to come free. It's awful; it's disgusting that Torren or anyone else that you love has to be taken from us, but we have to go on living. We have to keep working towards the brighter future that they gave their lives for."

Link shook. "But our mother—"

"Gave her life so that you didn't have to. Same as Torren did for his father. It's awful, so awful that things like this happen; but they do, and we have to live with them. We have to live without the people who we wanted to see stay with us forever. You have to be there for Sheik. So don't say things like that, alright?"

Link sniffed, blinking as he stared off at the ground and thought. "I know that," he finally said. "I just... I can't see this working out anymore. I used to be able to. A few weeks ago everything seemed fine, so reachable."

"It still is, kiddo. I promise. They're reaching for it right now."

"So, where do you live?" Duncan asked jovially. He grinned at the girl across from him, his mouth stretching so wide that he thought his cheeks would split. "Can I come home with you? That would be much, much cheaper than having to rent another room for Addica and myself. Plus it will speed along our inevitable bonding! I'll remind you that we have less than two weeks to get to like each other enough to travel away from here. Well, you have less than two weeks. I already like you! Quite a lot!" He finished with a grin and a wink.

Haera smiled kindly at him as she drank from her pint. That's right, the girl was drinking beer, not sipping daintily at a glass of wine or water! Heavens be praised! "I never bring strangers home."

Duncan chuckled warmly at that. "That's what I like to here. I'm glad you don't. That's very smart of you, actually. Although I don't suppose you might make an exception? I'm very docile, I promise you."

She pursed her lips, hiding a small grin behind her glass. "I'm not sure yet. For starters, I'd like to know how in Nayru's wisdom you know my name when I've never met you before in my entire life."

Duncan frowned. How was the best way to explain that bit, exactly? He swiveled his head, looking down at Addica with a frown. Addica wasn't... well, he wasn't paying attention, for one. He was shoulders deep in Duncan's pack, looking for something. Perhaps it was better just to be out with it.

"I... am a seer, of sorts."

Haera's brow pricked up in interest as she leaned forward to rest her chin on a soft-looking, creamy-skinned hand. "A seer," she said. "You can see the future."

Duncan, for once choosing his words very carefully, took a moment before speaking. "I said a seer of sorts, my lady. I... I cannot just see the future, although I do know a few who can. My medium, so to speak, are a person's eyes. Eyes allow you to see into a person's soul, they say." He picked his gaze up off the table and stared at her. "Well," he continued. "I've found that to be very true. I can look at someone, gaze into their eyes, and know things about them that I never wouldn't have known otherwise in a million years."

"Almost like a fortune teller, then," she surmised, her expression softening.

Duncan thought about that for a moment. The thought had never occurred to him, but— "Yes, I'd say exactly like that. Only I don't need a crystal ball. Only a pair of eyes."

"So then you learned my name from my eyes?"

"No."

"Then what was all that about leaving together in two weeks? You saw that in my eyes?"

"Again, no... And also yes." Duncan was surprised that she had so readily accepted the idea of him being a seer. Everyone knew there was some magic in the world, tucked away in bits and places, but most everyone that Duncan had met had been at least partially skeptical.

She cocked her head, a few strands of rich brown hair slipping from her ponytail and falling against her neck. "I don't understand. How can the answer be both yes and no?"

"Because I see it there, in you." Duncan peered wistfully into her eyes, seeing their entire future ahead of them; although the images he saw were a bit hazy. "But I saw it, I saw you, in someone else, long before today. I saw you, and this gorgeous, beautiful land that a whispering voice named 'Algeia,' and I saw us, there, together and happy, laughing."

"Who was the woman?"

"She knew you. Agnus. Apparently she lived in your village with you when you were a girl. I can do that sometimes, catch snippets of someone from people who haven't seen them or even given them any thought in years. It's a bit like a thread, actually. Imagine that everyone you know, you tie a thread around. That thread gets knotted and twined and stretched all about in ways you really couldn't imagine. Follow that thread, and it can lead you to meet some very interesting people."

"Alright, then. That's how you knew I would be here, and it's also how you knew my name. Did you also see the leaving together thing from Agnus?"

"Er... No. I... during my travels, I came across a Sheikah, who was—"

She blinked a few times, her head bobbing back in surprise. "A Sheikah? Really? Where?"

"Here, in Termina. In a little town near the border."

"What was he doing there?"

Duncan's lips pulled into a grin as he shook his head, chuckling. "I'm getting to that bit! Anyways, I looked at this Sheikah in the eyes—we'd tripped over each other in the marketplace—and I instantly sensed something there, about him. It took a bit of searching, but there was some sort of... connection to you buried there. It was so faint that I almost let it slip past me, but I caught on to it. He was connected to you by some fated, roundabout way."

Haera cocked her head—quite adorably, Duncan noted. "But I don't know any Sheikah."

Duncan laughed, getting really excited about what he was going to tell her next. "No, be he certainly knows your little brother. Link." He waggled his eyebrows in a 'if you know what I mean' sort of way.

She didn't answer at first. Her face had gone blank as she stared vacantly over Duncan's shoulder. He gave her a minute to let it sink in. This girl had ran. She had no idea of the whereabouts of any of her family. She had no idea if any of them were even still living. She probably thought everyone from her village was dead. "Link's alive?" she said finally, her voice a hollow ghost of itself.

Duncan grinned broadly, from ear to ear. "Ah haaaaaaaah," he trilled. "And so is your other brother, and your other other brother. And your father, if you're interested in that sort of thing." He chuckled.

Her face lit up like the goddesses-damned sun, it did.

"Your mother, I'm very, very sorry to say... was not so fortunate. I buried her myself, actually." Haera's face fell slightly, letting forth a small, heartbroken frown. Of course, she'd thought them all dead, all this time. Learning that her brothers and father were actually alive probably lessened the blow some, but not by much. Duncan continued anyways, wishing he could do something to lift that heartbreaking—completely kissable—frowny little pout from her pretty face. "After I spoke to Agnus in your village and learned all that I did from her—about you—I went to your house and found her there. Buried her a little ways out, in a patch of ferns. I thought that would be nice for her. I've been following the progress of your family ever since that day. And it was because of that Sheikah that I just mentioned that I got my next big clue."

Haera wiped at her nose with the sleeve of her green dress, trying to smile up at him from underneath wet eyelashes. She gasped a little when she said her next words, like she was trying to keep down the crying. Duncan couldn't quite tell if she was happy or sad. It was an amalgam of the two, he was sure; and both were fighting for dominance and control of her body. "Right... the—the Sheikah. Who knows Link?" She said her baby brother's name like it was something preciously fragile, and easily broken.

Duncan's lips quirked. "Right, yeah. They're lovers, actually." He grinned wider when her eyes widened to the size of coins.

"They're lovers?!"

Duncan nodded. "Aye, and quite serious about each other too, might I add. If it weren't for this bloody war they're right in the middle of, they probably would have already shacked up together. There's no doubt in my mind, actually."

"Wait..." Her eyes narrowed as she worked something out in her mind. "So did you see Link there, then, in the town?!"

"Not at that time, no." Duncan's heart may have shattered a little when he saw the disheartened look that came over her. "They were apart when I met Sheik. Link was back up in Hyrule, fetching your brothers and pa, because there were these Sheikah rebels down here in Termina who were going to attack Castle Town. And from what I gathered, Link was rather worried that the Sheikah wouldn't give a damn who they were hurting once they got up there, they being so cross and all. So he went up into Hyrule—alone—to get the family and bring them back down to Sheik."

"Why alone?" she asked. "If they're lovers," Duncan didn't miss the little smirk on her lips as she said that, "Then why not go together?"

"Sheik is basically Hyrule's most wanted," Duncan supplied. "He was the princess's bodyguard. Escaped with your brother so that they could snog and shag each other in peace, I suspect. Though I gathered that they didn't become lovers until later into their journey."

She smirked again, and goddesses, Duncan was really, truly, loving every bit of this girl.

"So your brother brought the fam home to meet his Sheikah boyfriend—can't tell you that went over well, although everyone apart from your dear old dad warmed up to him well enough. Oh, and did I tell you that he brought Luca with him?" Duncan knew that she would know who Luca was well enough.

She barked out a laugh, more and more of her light returning to her eyes. "Davin's squeeze?"

Duncan's eyebrows shot straight up his forehead. "You knew about them?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm his big, nosy sister. 'Course I knew. I'm surprised the whole village didn't, to be honest. Had to run away quietly from the barn with my eyes burning more than once."

Duncan burst out laughing. Addica, who had found what he was looking for—his Sheikahn book—started laughing too, although he had no idea what was going on. Little parrot, he was. "You are a delight, Haera, you really are." They smiled at each other for a moment, the images he was seeing of them in her eyes getting sharper and more defined bit by bit the more they bonded. That future was indeed coming true, if he had anything to say about it. Which he did. "So anyways, I was surrounded by your entire family—surrounded by all these visions of you—and it was during that time of staying at an inn with all of them that I learned about what you were like. Because I saw you in all of them. I'd known of you long, long before any of this, actually. Before even Agnus. About three years ago I came to this city because something told me that I needed to know the layout of the place, because there would eventually be something here that it was really important that I find. Agnus was the first time I got a real glimpse of you, though."

"I just can't believe you," she said, but there was a sparkle in her eyes that said she really did. "I can't believe any of this. It's so bizarre. This morning I was working at the seamstress shop like I have for nearly a year; and then this strange, very handsome man stops me in the street and tells me all these bizarre things, invites me to dinner, and tries to convince me to take him home with me. He tells me that my brothers are all still alive, and that he's basically been trying to stalk me for the past three years. And you want to know the craziest thing?"

Duncan grinned. "What might that be?"

Her eyes were dark now; playful, but with something so much more... delicious in them. "I'm seriously considering taking this man—a stranger—and his very short, very adorable little companion—home with me."

"In that case, I'm quite glad I haven't told you the most bizarre thing yet." Duncan smiled softly, completely enchanted with her.

"And what is that, Duncan?"

"That my whole life, I suspect, I've been meant to fall in love with you."

"I don't even see why this whole thing has become such an issue, honestly," King Nohansen muttered from his giant, ornate chair at the head of the long table.

It was Osidian who spoke. "We are here simply to end this. We will not raise our children to be plucked up from their homes, you taking as many as you need when they come of age." Osidian reached behind him, grabbing at Sheik—who had been standing quietly behind his chair—and pulled him forward. "This one. Sheik. He has been a victim. And because of your men, he lost his arm."

Sheik glanced at Ryan standing behind Nohansen. He coughed, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

Nohansen looked up at Sheik without interest, waving his had dismissively. "I don't care about your little sob story twig boy, Sheikah, so quit parading him about as if he's something I should feel sorry for. The bottom line is this: I see no reason to free any of you. There's certainly nothing to warrant it after the kind way I and my predecessors have treated your people. There is no reason for this. But since your little... rebellion, you have gone behind my—your King's—back, and somehow deceived King Balistrade into helping you as well."

Osidian and all the other chiefs and advisors turned to look at Fen, who sat beside Osidian. He was the expert on the Terminans. After all, he was the one who had forged the alliance with them.

"I spoke to King Balistrade and made the alliance myself," Fen said evenly. "He has every intention of aiding us in a battle against you if that is what this comes to. Like it or not, Nohansen, we will have our freedom. Your choice is whether or not we'll have to take it through bloody means. None of us want to do that, but we are prepared to if we must."

Sheik was surprised. Fen was just an advisor in a room full of chiefs, and yet he had been allowed to speak with all the authority of someone who commanded the entire Sheikah army. Sheik felt pride for him surge up into his chest.

"How bloody dare you address me that way, you Sheikah scum! I should have you hanged, drawn, and quartered for your imprudent tongue!"

"That would also incur a battle," Kyla-näba murmured from across the table. The way he said it almost sounded like a dare.

Fen was apparently having a right fun time waving his fanny in front of the king, because he kept right on talking. "I address a man with honor and respect when he is deserving of it, Nohansen."

The King's face reddened into a maddened rage, and he slammed his fist down on the table. "I look after my people! I run my kingdom well, Sheikah, no matter what you say! The Hylians are all well-cared for!"

"At the expense of a thousand people acting as your ready slaves," one of the other chiefs muttered. Sheik thought his name was Yahlin, but he wasn't quite sure. Surprisingly, though, he spoke perfect Hylian.

"You are in a completely helpless position!" said another. "Do not waste lives simply because you can for the sake of your pride!"

"We want nothing else from you," Fen spoke up again. Sheik would be amused by his boldness if he wasn't so worried. "We make no other demands than freedom. After it is granted to us, we will go back into our desert and stay there! You will see no more of us." Sheik wondered if Fen really had the authority to be making such promises.

"He is right," said Yahlin, glancing at Fen, perhaps thinking the same thing as Sheik. "We are honorable. We seek nothing else aside from independence. You will see no underhandedness or slight of the hand during these negotiations, just so long as we are given what it is we have come here for."

Nohansen's glare was shooting fire and daggers at them all. "How do I know that you aren't after my land? After our women, or our treasury? From what I've seen of your lot, all you are is a bunch of sneaky and underhanded deserters and thieves! Hylians were killed when the Sheikah already in service escaped from their masters. Hylians were killed in that battle on Hyrule field, Hylians were k—"

"So were many Sheikah," Kyla-näba interrupted. "But there is no need for anyone else to die alongside them. That is the point we are all trying to get across to you!"

Nohansen narrowed his eyes, chewing on his lower lip. He seemed to be deliberating something. Finally, after more than a minute, he spoke. "If your people are to no longer be in my service, then I don't want any of you anywhere near my land."

Almost immediately, shouts of protest swirled their way around the room; and before anyone could blink, an all-out shouting match had erupted.

"The desert is our home!"

"Not anymore, it isn't!"

"You cannot force us to leave!"

The room was in utter chaos until finally, someone shouted above it all. "Very well! We will leave Hyrule behind, if that is what it takes." Sheik wasn't sure who had said it, but many around the table looked very displeased with the idea.

Nohansen pointed a finger directly at Yahlin's chest, so Sheik assumed it had been he who had agreed to leaving and ended the shouting-match. "My conditions are this: the Terminans leave at least a day ahead of you. And my soldiers escort you off my land. And none of you; you, or your children, or your children's children are to ever set foot in this kingdom again! Because if you do, you will be killed!"

Many—almost all of them—looked as if they wanted to protest, but surprisingly no one did. Sheik suspected that they, like him, were getting used to the idea of just... picking up and leaving. Forren-näba was the next to speak. "Then if we send the Terminans ahead of us tonight—"

"My soldiers will lead you out in the morning," Nohansen finished, looking tired and incredibly cross. Ryan, behind him, did not look much better.

The Terminan representative in the room cleared his throat. "If that is the case, I formerly request permission to leave the council early in order to ready my men. This is... awfully short notice." No one stopped him as he scooted out his chair and hurried from the room.

"Then all of us are in agreement?" Osidian-näba called out into the room, his gaze running over each of the chiefs and their advisors. Everyone nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Then very well," Nohansen snarled, violently pushing back his chair and standing up. Ryan scrambled back a few feet out of the chair's path as it fell on the floor with a resounding crack. Everyone's eyes rose to meet with Nohansen's as he looked down his nose at the lot of them. "Here's hoping that you regret this day for generations upon generations. You're a stupid lot. This... this agreement was the biggest mistake your people will ever make!"

With that having been said, the King glided out of the room, his nose held high in the air; not sparing any of them a final glance as he graced his way through the door.

"Well, then," Fen murmured under his breath. "It is done."

For some reason, Sheik wasn't so sure. It all felt... too easy to him. It didn't feel done. Granted, Nohansen had been desperate to avoid a battle because of the Terminans; so much so that he was sending them away early. But Sheik had never in a thousand years thought that he would just... agree, just like that, after less than an hour of deliberations. And then Nohansen just leaving like that? The whole day had built up a knot of unease in the pit of Sheik's stomach; and he could feel it tightening even now.

The best the Sheikah could hope for was to get out of Hyrule as quickly as possible. Because... it wasn't their home anymore. They would need to find a new place to call their own, but... where? Where could more than a thousand people find a home?

Thank you for reading! I'm telling you now, there will be two more chapters of this story, followed by an epilogue, and then that'll be it! It makes me a little jittery, wrapping up more than a year's time of fic like this, but it's definitely exciting! A big thank you to all who have followed, favorited, and reviewed this story; and most of all, everyone who has stuck with it through my inconsistent updates! You all are a nicer than that incredible feeling you get when you've just beaten a Zelda title for the first time! :D