Chapter 1

Zelda awoke with a start, her fingernails gripping her pillow as she struggled to calm her breathing. Bringing the pillow close in an embrace, she struggled to remember what scared her so much. She figured it had to have been her dream but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what it was.

"Hey Zelda, you-oh!"

Zelda turned to see Link had walked into her room, the sixteen year old dressed in his civilian clothes on his day off with his sword strapped across his back. The teen had turned his eyes up to the ceiling as he said, "I thought you'd be up by now, sorry. We'll be waiting for you down in the stables."

"Hang on," Zelda said, stopping the teen from turning and leaving the room.

Link turned his eyes to her as Zelda sat up in bed, not bothering to cover herself any more than her nightgown was doing.

Zelda ran a hand through her mess of blonde bangs hanging in front of her eyes as she thought how to ask what she wanted to know. "Have you ever had a nightmare but couldn't remember it when you woke up?"

"Yeah," Link nodded. "I'd wake up running out of my room but no idea what scared me. Talon used to make fun of me for it. That's what you had?"

Zelda nodded her head as she looked down at her lap. "For some reason I want to say you were there or…" She shook her head. "Never mind, I don't even know what I dreamt." She looked up at him and said, "I'll be down in a bit."

"Okay," Link said, not sure about leaving the girl. He turned and went out the door, closing it behind himself before leaning against the wall. It'd been a few months since the incident with the Twinrova and it still hurt him when she wore something that showed the scare permanently slashed in between her breasts up to her collar bone. He should've been able to stop those witches before they got that far, but he'd been too slow. If it had not have been for Saint Helan of Arcadia, she would've died in that.

Link let out a sigh, trying to remember what Grandfather kept telling him. It was in the past and he can't change that. He pushed himself off the wall and headed down the stairs to the main part of the castle. He made his way to the stables to find Mido and Oto sitting on a bench just outside.

"Well?" Mido asked, the first to notice Link walking over. He quickly got to his feet, expecting to be off soon.

"She just woke up, she'll be down in a bit," Link offered. He looked at Oto and asked, "Where's the basket?"

"Already attached to the horse," Oto said, throwing his thumb behind him towards the stables. "It was a good idea to get her to have a day off, but should we really be here?"

"Oto," Link growled, knowing where his friend was taking this.

Oto held his hands up to show he meant peace as he said, "I'm just saying."

"There's nothing between us," Link pointed out for the umpteenth time as he looked away from his friend dropping his hand. "Anyway, she's queen, she'll have to marry some royal."

"Like Zelda's ever done anything by the rules," Mido said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Does that mean he's actually admitting it?" Oto asked, looking up towards Mido as if to act like he was gossiping.

"You two sound like a bunch of midwives," Link said, eyeing the two. "Isn't there anything else you two think about?"

"It's either this or recipes," Mido said, throwing an eye at Oto.

"Or sword technique," Oto said, looking at Mido as he stood up.

"Then how are you two friends?" Zelda asked, still braiding her hair as she walked out of the side door.

"We have a few common grounds," Mido offered, dropping his arms.

"So where are we going?" Zelda asked, tying off her braid before tossing it behind her shoulder. "All I've been told is a picnic."

"Just out to Faron Woods," Oto said, leading the way into the stables.

"What rumor are you following to send us out there?" Link asked, knowing his friend far too well. He turned away from Oto's already packed horse and found Epona's stall. Opening the door, he petted her muzzle while quietly offering her a, "hey girl."

"Well since I was right about there being other people beyond our small little section of the world," Oto said as Link pulled off Epona's saddle from its spot on the fence and put it on her back.

"Bragging much?" Mido asked, already sitting on his own horse as he waited for Link and Zelda to finish saddling their horses.

Link reached under Epona and tightened down the saddle before unstrapping his baldric and attaching his sword to the right side of the saddle. He turned around and reached for her bit and harness as he offered, "Let him have that," He gave Epona the bit and added, "No one else believed him."

"Thank you."

Link got on Epona and strung the harness around so he held the reins in his hands. He looked over at Oto as he saw Zelda getting on her horse, noticing she had grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows to attach to her horse's saddle, and gave a small flick of the reins to start Epona out of the stables. "Well?" Link asked, waiting for the rest of Oto's story.

"A few weeks ago, someone came into the Milk Café claiming they saw a Minish," Oto said.

"Minish are just children's stories," Mido threw off as the four road towards the castle gate.

"Grandfather always said they were real," Link pointed out.

"Well, we'll just have to see," Zelda said, riding around to take the lead. "If we're lucky, we'll find one."

"What are they supposed to look like?" Mido asked. "All I remember is that only good children are supposed to see them."

"They're supposed to be the size of a thumb," Link remembered.

"If I remember the stories right, there's three types but the ones we'd be looking for are forest Minish," Oto said. "They've got ears like us but pointy noses and fingers on their feet as well as their hands. Feather like tails that are as long as they are tall and normally dress in grass blades or leaves."

"You've been looking into them again, haven't you?" Link asked, throwing a look over his shoulder as he was surprised his friend remembered so much.

"I asked your grandfather for help," Oto admitted as the four waved towards Jothan on duty guarding the castle gate. "Apparently in the old books they were called Picori."

"I wonder why the name change," Zelda mumbled more to herself.

"Actually the books Grandfather has are pretty detailed about them," Oto said, reaching into a pouch on his saddle as he ordered his horse to walk beside Link's. He pulled out a book and handed it to Link, adding, "He said you could actually read this, but there's story about some hero that helped them when they were forced into our world."

"They don't belong here?" Mido asked, surprised.

Link took the book and rested it on the back of Epona's head to flip through the pages, seeing it in the script from before Skyloft. Knowing he shouldn't let Epona drive herself through town at least, he closed the book for now and slid it into the pouch on the left of his saddle.

"No, apparently there was some battle and they ran here for safety," Oto said. "The book's supposed to say more about it, Grandfather was getting tired by that point so I said I'd get Link to read it."

"Thanks," Link said, half meaning it because he was now curious.

"I'm starting to worry about the old man," Mido said as Oto slowed back down to ride behind Link and Zelda.

"Well he is, what a hundred and something?" Oto said.

"One hundred twenty-five," Link said.

"In a few months he'll be the oldest living Hylian ever to have lived since we started keeping record," Zelda said, remembering something she had found.

"What, the old king didn't care to destroy that record?" Mido asked, surprised.

"Actually he did," Zelda informed. "Lady Impa just found copies in a collection a family donated to the castle library a few months ago."

"Still, anyone to pass their one hundredth birthday is old enough," Oto offered. "Just to know someone that old is enough."

"Doesn't your cucco count?" Link asked, throwing a glance at Oto. "She's six our years old, that's gotta be close to a hundred in cucco years."

"That's sixty-seven in cucco years," Oto offered, "She's got a few more years."

"You don't have any grandparents, do you?" Mido asked, just realizing it as he looked at his friend.

"It's just me and Mom," Oto explained, looking at the sheikah. "I never knew her parents and I don't know anything about my father's side."

"Nothing?" Mido asked, surprised.

Oto shrugged. "Link overheard his mom and mine talking about my father, saying he had come past the ranch one day a few years ago, but he left before I was born. Link's family actually helped raise me before I could help in the café."

"I always thought Mother and Mrs. Karimi were childhood friends or something," Link offered.

"So you two are like brothers then," Zelda said with a smile as she looked over at Link.

"Does that mean I'm related to Talon and Trina?" Oto asked.

Link let out a laugh. "They'd be thrilled to think they had a second older brother," he said with sarcasm in his voice.

"Come on," Zelda said, taking a glance at the morning light above them. "If we want to make it to Faron Woods by noon time, we better hurry up."