Navi rose with the sun as she did each morning. She rolled over on her little bed and saw Link still sleeping, his face towards the window, and towards her. She felt a smile spread over her lips, her irritation at the Hylian ebbing away in the warm light of dawn. Over the past fortnight, Link had studiously adhered to his duties in guarding the stranger. Navi watched them both like a hawk, her eyes peeled for any hint of threat from the stranger.

She sighed. She hadn't seen anything yet. But she knew it in her bones. The stranger was dangerous, even if Link couldn't see it. It frustrated her to her core that he wouldn't just take his sword and do the deed quickly, instead of prolonging this ridiculous, slow dance of trying to get to know the woman, asking her questions and listening to her ramble about every inane thing under the sun.

It was blindingly obvious to Navi that the stranger, dangerous though she was, was completely stupid. She had no concept of the world around her, contenting herself to asking stupid questions about things every Hylian child knew about.

Yesterday, she had interrogated poor Link for hours about the goddesses. Navi sneered, picturing the stranger's simpering face in her mind.

"Who are they? Where do they come from? Is there proof that they created the lands? What is it? Can I see? Tell me more!"

Navi shook her head and shrugged off her little blanket, tidying her shift. She flew down to Link's pillow and patted his nose affectionately. He had answered every question with an enduring patience Navi had not known he had. Though she wished he reserved some of it for her. He had been rather short with her of late. She felt a shudder of irritation shiver through her wings. The way he smiled at her sometimes, that patient, almost caring smile, as if he was a parent watching his child learn about the world and taking pride in it! How silly. He was better than that.

Link stirred under the covers, and Navi flittered to the edge of his pillow. His eyes dragged open, and he peered blearily at her.

"Good morning," she said, smiling brightly.

"Morn-uh," he mumbled, raising a sluggish hand to rub his eyes. "Whatimesit?"

"Just after sunrise," Navi said. "You should sleep some more. You look like you need it."

Link mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Navi flew around to face him, noting with alarm how the bags under his eyes seemed to have grown, the lines on his forehead more pronounced than before. He rose unsteadily to his feet and ambled into the bathroom. Navi sighed, a soft smile on her face. It was the same every morning. At least he was healing quickly from his whipping. The cuts on his back were mere pink stripes now.

She settled on his pillow, breathing the air heavily laden with his scent, watching the hands on the timepiece crawl by. Ten minutes passed before he emerged, his hair wet, and his eyes considerably more alert than before.

"Shall we go to breakfast?" Navi said. She wasn't particularly hungry, but she was craving more of that crispy bacon. It crunched so delightfully between her teeth.

"I thought we'd go to town today," Link said, picking up his clothes. He disappeared behind the corner screen, throwing his sleeping clothes out from behind it to land in a crumpled heap. Navi fidgeted, eyes on the crack between the panels. She could see nothing.

"That sounds nice," she said. "We never go to town any more. Has Zelda asked you to go and do something?"

"No," Link replied, appearing from behind the screen, pulling on his tunic. Navi snatched the second offered to her and drank in his corded muscles. The way the early sunlight played off the curve of his chest was delicious. "Thoria hasn't seen Castle Town yet. I thought it would be nice for her."

Navi's mood soured instantly. Of course, it would be about the stranger.

"Can't she be looked after by someone else for once?" she complained. "She's always following you about."

Link shook his head, strapping on his greaves. "I'm supposed to have her follow me everywhere," he said.

Navi flew to him as he picked up his hat.

"It's never just us anymore," she said, settling on his shoulder. "I miss it being just us."

"I know," he said. "I understand. But it's not so bad, Navi. I could be saddled with a hag who can't hold a conversation to save her life."

"You are," Navi muttered. Link didn't respond, concentrating on putting on his hat and fixing his hair in the mirror. Navi waited patiently as he fussed with his darkly golden locks, so dark they were almost brown. He combed his fingers through his fringe, and smoothed his eyebrows with his thumb. He raised his lip and ran a tongue over his white teeth.

"You think they're going yellow?" he asked her.

"You look wonderful," Navi said. She ran a finger along his cheek. "You could probably do with a shave, though."

"I might later," he said, scratching his stubbled jaw. Navi pouted. She preferred his cheeks smooth and youthful, so much nicer to rest against than the coarse hair that appeared nightly on his otherwise perfect face.

Navi settled against his neck and grasped his earring as Link left their rooms and strode along the corridor. Silently, she willed him to slow his pace. The size of the castle mean it would take him at least five minutes to reach the stranger's rooms, but it was five minutes she could stretch out. Five minutes of having him all to herself.

But too soon they arrived. Sunlight dipped through the windows of the corridor, blinking in and out of existence as clouds passed over the sun.

Link knocked, his knuckles rapping the dark wood. He lowered his hand and shuffled his feet, shifting his weight from one side to the other. Navi cast a curious glance at his face. To most people, his expression would be blank, impassive. But to her, she saw the way his eyes moved over the door, the way the corners of his mouth twitched one way, then the other.

She frowned. Was he… nervous? Did he too sense something wrong with the stranger, that made him uncomfortable like her?

The door opened and the stranger was revealed, dressed simply in a dark brown blouse and… Navi wrinkled her nose. Black travelling trousers and knee-high black boots. Her hair was tied back today, showing off her weird, round ears.

"Morning!" she said, in what seemed to be an attempt at cheeriness.

"Good morning," Link replied. He seemed a little breathless. Navi watched him curiously. His eyes were bright, and he was smiling. How strange.

"I thought we could explore the town today," he was saying. "We've been cooped up in the castle for a while now."

"That sounds nice," the stranger said. "The castle's too big to be 'cooped up' in but I agree. A change of scenery would be good."

They began to walk together, side by side. Navi fluttered off Link's right shoulder and settled on his left, away from the stranger. She didn't like the way the stranger stared at her, as if she had never seen a fairy before. Navi knew she claimed that fairies didn't exist where she came from, but she suspected that was a lie. In what world did fairies not exist?

Navi kept her silence as the pair made small talk, rambling about nothing. Furtively, she glanced at the stranger, searching for any strangeness about her, anything odd, anything dangerous. Infuriatingly, she saw nothing but a very ugly woman with round ears, making her Link laugh with some jape or another.

"I heard Lord Umbre called on you last night," Link said. His tone was light, but Navi detected a deliberateness behind his words. She listened closely. Was Lord Umbre a threat as well? Was he in league with the stranger?

"Ha!" the stranger laughed. "He did. He said he wanted to 'show me around'."

"The castle?"

"Yep. A 'moonlight stroll,' he called it. I told him you had been showing me about and that I didn't need another guide."

"Oh."

"He was a bit pushy," the stranger continued. There was a smile on her face that showed too many teeth, that didn't reach her eyes. Eyes that were flat and hard. Navi shivered. "Wouldn't take no for an answer. Kept offering me all sorts of things if I'd just walk with him a while."

"Like what?" Link's tone lowered. Navi stared at him. He sounded concerned.

"Money, jewels, flowers, fancy new clothes to replace my 'common garb,'" the stranger ticked off each item on her fingers. "Rooms in his own personal manor, with all the sweets I could ask for, my own pony, of all things." She laughed. "I believe your nobility have no concept of what 'no' means."

"You could have accepted," Link said. "Money and jewels sounds nice."

"I am not a kept woman," the stranger said. "I have never been, and I never will be."

"I didn't say you should be," Link said. "Just take the money and run."

The stranger laughed. "Nah. No point, is there? Your princess would have the whole kingdom after me if I did a bunk."

"True. But all the same, having the nobility on your arm is nothing to sniff at here. He must have been quite taken with you."

"Oh yeah. Kept telling me how 'beautiful' I was, the git. He fucked off after I told him that he looked like the way a bucket of horse piss smells."

Link burst out laughing, the sound loud in Navi's ears. She flinched and glared at the stranger, and Link. He was trying far too hard to be nice. The joke wasn't even funny.

Navi snuggled closer to Link's neck as they entered the sunshine, trotting down the white, marble steps. She held tightly to his earring, taking care to stroke his cheek with her wings as they went. She tuned out the chatter, concentrating instead on the soft baritone of Link's voice, the sound conjuring images of sunlit, burnished wood shelves in an old shop, of deep, forest greens and the scent of wheat in summer.

The stranger began to babble excitedly as they passed under the open portcullis, her inane conversation turning to frivolous questions about the world around her, including a torrent of foul language as she stumbled on the uneven road. She kept up a steady stream of nonsensical queries until they reached Castle Town, when she finally managed to shut up for all of five seconds.

Navi stirred herself, stretching her wings and flying off Link's shoulder to better see around them. She had learned over the years to always be alert for danger, no matter where they were. And, as strangely distracted as Link had been of late, it was up to her now to warn him of any impending peril.

The long road from the castle narrowed somewhat, turning from marble to cream stone to grey brick. Houses and shops sprung up in a wide circle, a fountain dominating the centre of the plaza. People bustled to and fro, and Navi delighted in watching them glance towards them, and then stop and stare. Stare at her hero, at the reason they all were alive.

Below her, Link hesitated for half a heartbeat. Navi saw him glance about, his feral eyes taking in everything before him. One foot shifted, as though he was about to take a step back.

Navi hovered. Link's unwillingness to bask in the adoration of the people he had saved was something she simply did not understand. He was the Hero of Time, the Hero of Twilight, of the Four Swords and the Sky and all the rest. He deserved their love, deserved to revel in it. But he never did. He ducked and shied and avoided the public as though they were diseased. She watched as his heel came down, shifting his weight onto his back foot.

But then the stranger grabbed his hand, as familiar as though they were old friends, pointing excitedly at one of the market stalls. Link smiled, and allowed her to lead him over. Navi followed, shaking her head. It would have been better if they had gone back to the castle. There was no telling what the stranger could do, what damage she might cause out in public. Yet here she was, pretending for all the world that she really was just a lost soul, fascinated by the world around her.

Navi flew back down to Link's shoulder, turning her back to the items on display as the shopkeeper patiently explained the variety of tools to the stranger. She observed the crowd, growing ever closer and thicker as the people murmured to one another, pointing to the Hero in their midst. Some noticed her, pointing and smiling. Navi raised a hand and waved regally at them, fluttering her wings and shaking out her lustrous blue hair.

"What's that?" the stranger asked. Navi grimaced. Her voice was like nails on slate.

"A Skulltula talisman," Link said. "It is said to bring wealth."

"Does it?"

"I don't know. I've never bought one."

Navi shook her head. Link's unending patience was one of his best qualities, and one of his worst. His dedication to his duty and orders was admirable, but did he have to suffer this endless onslaught of moronic questions?

She felt Link shift, and glanced his way. His hand was on the stranger's elbow, guiding her to the next stall, pointing out an array of knives laid out on red cloth. Navi tensed, but the stranger did not reach out and grab one, turning to sink the blade into her Hero. She looked, nodding, questioning, smiling. Link's smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, eyes that were soft and gentle, the eyes of a powerful wolf turned eager puppy.

Navi kept her guard up as Link led the stranger around the market, studiously ignoring the crowd that furtively gathered behind his back. He was talking himself now, his voice low and melodious, while the stranger listened. He had rarely talked so much. He directed her about the market, his hand on her arm, pointing out various oddments. As Thoria became absorbed in an intricately woven necklace, he touched her shoulder for her attention, pointing out the carvings on the stone walls and explaining their meaning. The stranger listened with rapt attention, listening to stories even the smallest child knew.

Link bought them both small meat pies, the smell enticing. Navi's mouth began to water as they were handed over, and Link broke off a piece of the crust, drenched in thick, beef gravy and offered it to her. Navi refused, surprising herself. As good as it smelled, she would not let her guard down.

They wandered some more, Link stopping to say hello to a curious gaggle of children, who stared at him with wide, adoring eyes as their mothers fanned their faces and blushed.

They came to Shad's bookshop, the windows dark and the door locked. Link placed his hand on the small of the stranger's back, drawing her forward and pointing out the piles of books in the windows. His hand lingered until the stranger shifted, stepping closer to admire the written works. As she stepped back, Link's hand rose, seemingly without his knowledge, and rested between her shoulder blades as he coaxed her onward again.

Each time he touched the stranger, Navi's rage grew, until she was shaking with fury.

"I need to talk to you," she growled in his ear, as the stranger examined a handheld mirror at yet another stall.

"Can it wait?" Link asked. "I can't leave Thoria."

"No," Navi said. "Now." She fluttered off his shoulder and hovered in front of his face, arms folded.

Link looked at her, his expression politely confused. He took a step away from the stall, keeping the stranger in the corner of his vision. "Is something wrong?"

"You're supposed to be guarding her," Navi said, her tiny fists clenched. "Not escorting her about like… like… some lady!"

"Thoria is a lady," Link said, his brow creasing. "At least, from what I can see."

As if to demonstrate his point, the stranger bounced to his side, grinning like an idiot. Link glanced at her, his eyes flickering down as her chest bounced as well in her too-tight blouse. His throat worked as he swallowed. It was the last straw for Navi.

"See what the commons think of you now that you're seen carting a floozy about," Navi sneered, with as much venom as she could muster. She had the pleasure of seeing the stranger's face go from happy, to confused, to hurt, before she saw Link's eyes. They were almost glowing with anger, and his bared teeth seemed unusually sharp.

Navi decided to make a quick exit, flying high and fast, aiming for the castle. She would visit Zelda in her chambers, and tell her about what had happened, about how dangerous the stranger was.

How she had… Navi shook her head. She had done something. How she… she… was too large-breasted, and flaunted it in front of people by… wearing clothes not tailored to her. No. That wasn't dangerous, Zelda wouldn't be able to act on it. How she had… um…

Navi squealed in frustration. The stranger was so sneaky! Nothing she did was overt, her nasty ways just couldn't be put into words! She was too familiar with Link, that much was obvious. She had no right to make him smile at her the way he had started to. No right to make him touch her at every chance he had today. It was her fault. She must have cast a spell on him! A spell to make him stupid, so she could be evil and horrible and he wouldn't even realise!

Navi slowed as she reached the castle, angling her wings and flying up, the sun hot in the sky, the wind cool on her skin. She sniffed. The way he looked at the stranger should be the way he looked at Zelda. His princess, his partner in saving Hyrule, another bearer of the triforce. They were destined for each other, couldn't he see that?

Even to Navi, the thought was hollow. She felt a longing in her heart, in her stomach, in her loins. The look he gave to the stranger was a look he should save for his best friend, the friend who had waited for him for centuries, for him to be reincarnated so that they could be together again. He should save that look for her and her alone.

Navi flew past Zelda's window. She didn't want to see her anymore. No, what she needed was to go home, home to rest. But a day in the fae realm could be a day here in Hyrule, or a week, or a year. She never knew how much time would pass. She hadn't been home since she had found Link again.

But there were things in the fae realm that only existed there. Old magics, ancient books, strange flowers and living winds. There was something she had to find. A magic she hoped existed.

Navi lit on the roof of Hyrule castle, drawing on her own magic. She sang an incantation, the words one long, unbroken sound. Her fingertips sparkled, and a swirling, purple and pink portal appeared before her, both flat and fathomless at the same time, filled with all the stars of the night sky and the blackness of a moonless night. From within, the perfume of the fae realm slid through, intoxicating and enchanting. To Navi, it was the smell of home.

She cast a look back over Hyrule, her sharp eyes searching for her Hero. He was down there, somewhere, with that stranger. The goddesses only knew where he was touching her now. How he was looking at her now. He was blinded by the stranger's spell. Navi would make him see the truth.

Navi stepped through the portal, the opening shrinking behind her and closing the gateway between their two worlds as surely as if it had never existed.