It's another cold clear morning in Wolfpeak. It's also just another day of the week - townspeople going about their business, shops opening for the day. Rangall, mayor of Wolfpeak, is out and about, making rounds when there is a clatter of hooves on cobblestone. It's an odd time of year for travelers, he thinks, and turns to the sound. A pair of riders are moving in at a walk, carrying banners with the royal crest of Hyrule, gold on blue.

What fresh hell is this?

He watches them ride into the square and stop in front of the inn. They dismount, hitch the horses and head inside. Is this a royal vanguard in his small town? Why?

He heads over to the inn to catch them negotiating with Asham, the innkeeper.

"Hello, fellows. You don't look like the typical travelers we get here."

"They are here to rent the entire inn," says Asham, unable to keep the disbelief from her voice.

"The entire inn?"

One of the riders turns. "My name is Captain Nusso and this is Sir Timill. We are advance riders from a party that includes Queen Zelda. She has decided to bless Wolfpeak with an extended stay."

"The Queen of Hyrule?" He isn't sure royalty has ever set foot in his town, even though it's larger than most spots on the road, and it does do some trade. It's no Rito Village, for certain. What business in the region could the queen possibly have that made staying here make sense?

"Her party will be here in the next few days, and she needs a place for everyone to stay. She will pay the going rate for all the rooms."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

The road slowly widened from a couple of ruts in the ground to cobblestone, and then he saw the arch declaring the entrance to Wolfpeak. He let Epona stretch as they went under it, giving her her head and stretching his legs out a bit. It had been a slow ride. Impa had ridden with him for most of it, and managed to trade her chestnut horse for something a little bigger and calmer. The stitches had been removed from her forehead yesterday, the scar was still pink and angry looking. She seemed otherwise recovered. He was still feeling more vigilant after the skirmish on the road, and it was wearing on him.

"It's going to be nice to have a real roof overhead."

He makes a sound of agreement. "I hope our friend doesn't decide to try larger targets while we are here. Or ever, frankly."

Impa suddenly goes silent. It's long enough that he turns to normally seems to bubble under her skin, and that is silent, too. "Everything ok?"

"I hadn't thought about that." She says softly.

"You are now, though. I'm sorry, I didn't." He reaches out to touch her shoulder. "We can go talk or something, if you want."

"Maybe let's just stop for a minute." She reaches up and rubs at her scar.

"There's a little area just outside the arch, that's probably good." They both turn back and head for the spot.

Impa sighs. "I'm not used to this sort of threat. It was very personal."

"It doesn't really go away, but it gets quieter." He offers. "Most of the time. I don't know what the accommodations are going to be, but I'll stay with you."

They sit on their mounts in silence for several minutes before she says "I would like that."

"You helped me a lot."

She turns to meet his eyes and half smiles. "Well, then" her tone is lighter, it's almost her, even if it is just a good facade. "I think we are working through dinner tonight?"

He follows her lead. "The sooner we figure out these stones, the better."

Dinner is Link and Impa and Zelda in a private dining room of the inn that has been quickly converted into a remote Hyrule castle. Impa has tacked a diagram on one wall of the five stones laid out into a shape Zelda calls a rhombus but to Link it looks like a rectangle with a top that is too short. There are two stones marking the top, and three below. There's considerable debate about measurements between the stones. Impa thinks these are rigid. Zelda thinks as long as proportions are maintained, the portal could be as large or small as desired. Links has no opinion. He sees his role as more one of action and thinks they are both smarter than him, anyway.

It's late when Zelda dismisses then both, with plans to head to the snowfield for experiments. Impa has managed a small, private space to herself, while Link is bunked with most of the royal guard. He goes to sleep in her bed, back to back in the narrow space. She is up before him in the morning, saving him a cup of coffee.

The morning is cold, but clear and sunny, at least. Link is layered in his tunic and cloak, hood pulled over his head. He suspects he is in for a lot of standing and keeping watch while Zelda and Impa go over things.

They place the stones in the odd, not really a rectangle formation Zelda has shown them, taking care to put them in the right order and the right distance apart, at Impa's insistence. Zelda stands at the longer side when it's done and reaches her hand out, the Triforce on the back glowing.

"Oh," her voice is soft. "You can feel it."

Link keeps a respectful distance with Impa, but he can still smell magic, and the air seems to crackle with it. "Can you open it?"

"Let me try."

She reaches with both hands and slightly bows her head, closing her eyes to concentrate. Link shifts his feet and watches, hoping it will just spin open and they will be done in this cold wasteland. He hears Impa catch her breath and hold it. The hair on the back of his neck raises, and the air seems to thicken as Zelda slowly tilts her head and pushes her hands forward a little more. There's potential. He can feel it, but it's just potential.

After several minutes, she drops her hands and looks up, frowning. "Hm. Something is not quite right. Let me try again."

This time, she steps into the rectangle. This time, he can almost feel the weight of whatever she is trying to call around him. There's color at the edges of his vision he can't quite identify. Whatever she is doing this time seems better, but it isn't quite there.

She spends the rest of the afternoon trying variations on conjuring the portal. She stands inside the rectangle for some. Others she steps outside and takes different positions on the perimeter. She consults Impa and they compare what is laid out on the ground to a copy of the diagram of the stones' layout. He tracks the sun across the sky and calls for a stop as it starts to sink.

Zelda turns to him, looking annoyed. She would stay all night, he thinks.

"Zelda, you can try tomorrow. If I bring you back with frostbite, your guard captain will never let me near you again."

"It wants to work. I can feel it. I just don't know what's missing."

He crosses the distance to her. "Tomorrow. We should both rest and get some dinner. But we also need to go, I don't want to be stuck after dark."

Impa places a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want to be caught after dark, either. Tomorrow."

She finally agrees. They pack the stones up and head back to Wolfpeak, splitting up at the inn. Link and Impa head to dinner in the common room at the inn. They sit in silence, waiting for their meals to arrive.

"There's something there, certainly." He finally says. "She called so much...power? I don't know what it was, but I felt it. But nothing happened that I could see."

"I felt it, too."

"She says it wants to happen."

"Try and hope tomorrow, then."

He nods and they eat in silence. Link tries not to project the what if it doesn't work running in his mind into it.

He spends another night with Impa. She startled him awake once, whispering "Its really you, it's just you." In his ear as she comes out of a nightmare. She doesn't settle back to sleep after that, or at least he doesn't think so as he spoons up with her. She is gone in the morning again, and he takes his time rising. He takes a quiet assessment of his body in the morning-his back isn't bad, and his left leg is pretty tolerable for the moment. Maybe Zelda has figured out the details she missed yesterday. He can hope.

They are back on the snow field resetting the stones by mid morning. She is outwardly calm, as always, but she fusses with her mount's mouth this morning, and her quiet seems to bubble somehow. This time she carefully looks at the pattern and slowly walks the perimeter, seemingly checking its every line. Impa stands to the side with him. Zelda has insisted on setting the stones herself this time.

"I've been looking at this wrong." She suddenly says. She doesn't seem to be addressing anyone. Then, louder. "I've been looking at it wrong. Link," she whirls to face him. "I need you to come closer. It won't work without you."

"What?" He wishes he would have something clever to say, when she suddenly addresses him like this. He hopes at least he looks smarter than he feels. Impa gives him a tiny shove toward her.

Zelda beckons him with a hand, a little impatiently. "Come here. You've been saying it. The base of the triangle needs to be together. This doesn't work without you."

He isn't sure what she wants, but he steps forward to her side.

"Look," she points to the stones on the ground. "It's not a rhombus, Link. It's two triangles. They share that center point. It's the base of the Triforce."

He only sees five stones on the ground, and in his head, the lines he draws between them make a single, continuous shape.

"It's like this." She steps away and uses her heel to drag a line from the garnet at the top of the figure to the the opal serving as the central stone on the lower line. Then she draws another line from the opal back up to the amythest at the upper line. "It's two triangles. It's not one shape. It felt the most right yesterday when I stood inside, but it was missing you." She leads him to the right of the opal, and stands him inside the triangle she has partially drawn for him. "Stay here."

He stands and hopes whatever she is about to do works. He glances back to Impa, who raises her eyebrows. He can feel something warp the air around him as he stands inside the stones. Power, potential wanting to be something else. When she steps into the triangle on the left, it's a physical weight on his shoulders - and a small, soft groan is torn from him.

She heard it. "Link. You're ok." It's not a question. He glances toward her. There is an intensity rolling off her, he can feel it like an undertow. There's fire in those blue eyes. She knows who she is, he thinks. She owns her power, whatever it is. And then there's that sweetness in the air, this time he can taste it. Magic swirls and crackles. He forces himself to stay on his feet as the air between and in front of them splits open, revealing a darkness torn in their reality. He doesn't know if he is looking into Lorule, or the Twilight and maybe they are the same, anyway, did it matter?

Somewhere, in the distance he hears her voice that's it Link, that's the portal and he isn't really sure if he hears her or she is speaking directly in his head. His head swims and he thinks his nose is bleeding, how is he supposed to fight when he feels like this? He staggers out of his triangle, and the portal collapses as he drops his hands to his knees and tries to sort out what has happened.

She spreads her hand out between his shoulder blades, and this time her voice is in his ear. He knows because he can feel her breath on him. "It works. Link, it works."

"Zelda." He still has his eyes closed, and he can still taste magic. "I can't. I can't even stand up in that."

"You will, though. We just need to practice. Someone once told me it was good to practice new skills." He thinks he can hear her smile as she says it.

He slumps his shoulders. It's going to be a long day. Somewhere, Impa laughs.