'Good morning, Master Link.'

'And to you, Corrus.' Link replied, gently shifting his hat into a more comfortable position as he set off down the echoing hallway. The royal retainer and master of the day to day affairs of the castle, smoothly fell in step beside him. The elderly man always put Link in mind of a fancy, well used quill, so often he was to be found buried in sheets of paper.

'Did sir sleep well?' Corrus inquired politely. Small talk, big question, Link thought. The feeling of being watched hadn't gone away even after several days, the prickling on his neck was now a constant companion, and at least twice he had woken again from the same, new nightmare, memories of this land and a world that hadn't existed, and without Malon he had just clamped his sheets over his head and sweated it out…

'Just fine, thank you. Ready for day four of standing practise.'

Corrus smiled. 'Good for the soul, sir. I believe there will be significant progress today, judging by the Queen's appraisal of events.'

'Oh good, a few more days and I might have started getting bored.'

'I would cherish it, sir. Myself, I have had quite enough excitement over the last ten years, I believe. Will the young master be joining the Queen for breakfast?'

'Of course.' Breakfast and Bureaucracy, all he got to do these days. Not that he was complaining about peacetime, but peacetime had little need for heroes, and he slightly resented being pulled from his gentle country life.

'Excellent. She has been harrying the staff for several hours already, now you may take that pleasure instead.'

'Does she ever sleep?'

'Not to my knowledge sir. You will find Her Majesty and lady Impa in the larger dining hall.'

Link rubbed the back of his neck absent-mindedly. 'Thank you, Corrus. I'll see you later on.'

'Try not to have too much fun, sir.'

Link smiled and waved as he set off down the imposing main staircase of the castle. As soon as he was out of sight, he massaged his hand gently. His left hand, the one with the triforce symbol burned into it, had started twitching gently in the night, and he couldn't seem to stop it.

'And with that in mind, I believe we can more evenly-'

Link caught it first, the hitch in Queen Zelda's voice. Looking up from the map, he caught her with a hand halfway to her head, the beginning of a frown on her face.

'I- my apologies everyone.' She blinked and resumed her speech with a tiny shake of the head that sent her long, golden hair shimmering. 'As I was saying, opening up our lands to a more diversified population, as well as structured farming of Hyrule Field…'

Link caught Impa's eye. The older woman was frowning deeply, and he knew she felt the same unease. Neither of them had seen Zelda's focus crack before, not even for a fraction of a second, and certainly not with no apparent reason. Impa shook her head almost imperceptibly, and he bit his lip and turned his gaze back to the meeting. What had happened?

He gave the room his most focused look of the week. Nothing unusual, the large, airy hall was the picture of studied diplomatic calm. The room was one of the highest in the rebuilt castle, and by extension one of the safest, the guards around the walls were at ease, barely even squeaking boots on the polished marble floors. The assembled elders and other visitors were seated or standing around Zelda's elaborately carved circular table, and the map held most of their attention. Zelda herself was back in effortless command of the room, as if nothing had happened. The Queen, taller than almost every other Hylian, straight backed and elegant, moved with an easy grace that inspired nothing but rapt, devoted attention from her visitors, none of whom seemed to have noticed anything awry. He settled back slightly, trying to will the hairs on the back of his neck to lie flat again. Maybe he was just on edge from lack of sleep.

'…and I will personally oversee the fair distribution of- gah!'

'Your Highness!'

Link jumped to his feet as Zelda folded over the map, but Impa was already by her side, steadying the trembling woman as she clutched her head.

'It's… just a headache I- AAH!'

Zelda's hand gripped the edge of the table as she hissed through her teeth with pain. She was steady, and none of the suddenly animated crowd noticed everything on the table rattle from the force of her grip.

'Are you alright? You lot, move back, give her some room…'

Link waved the crowd back as far as he could, then turned as a double, piercing scream echoed around the room. He spun in shock to see Impa fall to her knees as well, clutching her head as if trying to pull it apart, while Zelda clamped her teeth over the scream to regain control. The edge of the table splintered under her hand.

'The… Sacred Realm is… tearing!' She seethed.

'What?!' Link stared at her, not registering.

'Something is… breaking the seal we put there…' She raised both trembling hands to her head and Link rushed to grab her shoulders before she fell.

'The balcony… something is… coming…'

She staggered past him and Link tried to shout to the crowd while half carrying, half being dragged towards some iron and glass doors by the Queen. 'Get the guards! And the royal physician, see to Impa and-' A delicate gloved hand grabbed his collar in an iron grip and shoved him through the doors to the wide balcony that hung from the side of the tower. A warm wind whipped at them, the pleasant summer sky darkening far too early…

'There.' The word caused Zelda even more pain and he looked where she pointed, the blood pounding in his head was nothing compared to the shivers running down his spine. This couldn't be related to whatever had invaded his nightmares, but a glance upwards stilled his thoughts.

The sky was bruised, darkening to purple at the zenith, with darkness swirling in what had just been a cloud-free afternoon. From the balcony, they could see most of Hyrule, and a shadow spread quickly across the field as the rippling bruise expanded, a lurch in his stomach as he saw the ranch thrown abruptly into shadow…

'Link. Listen.' Zelda growled. The crowd spilled out around them guards shouting to keep order, nobles shouting to ruin it, but none of it registered for Link, Zelda's command had been too powerful. She shuddered in his arms and managed to stand tall again, though her teeth gritted against the pain.

'Something has broken into the Sacred Realm. Smashed our seals, all of them. The pain-' She blinked furiously.

'Will you be alright? You and the other Sages?'

'Doesn't matter. We need to worry about what's-'

She broke off in agony, gritting her teeth as unnatural thunder rolled across the country from the boiling tear in the sky. Link stared up to see golden lightning spreading through the cloud, then flinched away as a crack exploded into light far, far above. He blinked frantically to clear his eyes, in time to see Zelda scream out as bright red blood sprayed from her nose and ears.

'Zelda!'

He went to support her but her hands clamped on either side of his head like a vice, dragging him down so their foreheads touched. Blood still pouring from her nose, she stared him down, her rich purple eyes blazing with an intensity that made him wince.

'Out of time. Something has… come out.'

Link swallowed, more afraid of her at this point than anything that could be imminent. Unless… He put his hands over hers.

'Ganon?'

'I… yes. But also something… some awful power has aided him. I don't recognise it, but it's… too much. For me, or… for you.'

'I can-'

'Link.' Her hands tightened on his head. 'Use the mask.'

He recoiled in shock, but she held him like a vise.

'How did you-' He managed, suddenly sweating ice.

'No time. Use it… it's the only…' Another burst of blood sprayed from her nose and she slumped in his arms.

'Your Highness!'

Hands reached down to help the unconscious woman, Link barely registering as the royal guard pulled her away. How the hell did she…? He'd never told anyone about the… the other world… he'd even sometimes managed to convince himself it had been a dream, if not for the guiltily hidden and half forgotten sack under the floor…

'Master Link!'

He shook his head and stood upright, suddenly dazed and adrift. Corrus was staring at him anxiously as the crowd busied itself around the Queen.

'I hate to bother you, sir, but I must observe that, as my lady predicted, something is indeed…' He didn't need to finish the sentence, something was gleaming in the sky where the boiling clouds had exploded.

'What is it?'

'I can't make it out, sir.'

Link squinted, but whatever it was was too small to even see, they could only track it by the gleaming reflections from the lightning around it, but it moved agonisingly slowly.

'That's what she was worried about… it must be incredibly high. Where has it come from?'

'Well, it could be the moon, sir.'

Link didn't notice his own grip tighten on the edge of the balcony.

'Something… like that. Where is it going to land?' He turned to see the neat little man fiddling with a lens and a piece of thread.

'I am no expert, sir. But it would appear to be falling straight down. Assuming it will land where these ghastly clouds first appeared, if memory serves, it will be somewhere… oh dear, potentially within the ranch, sir.'

Link felt the shock and confusion rush out of him as if he had been punctured, to be replaced with an all too familiar gut punch, cold fear. His blood turned to ice and he fought to keep his voice steady.

'Are you certain?'

'It's my best guess, sir.'

Eyes tracking the slowly descending gleam, suddenly tense, he asked the best question he could think of.

'Who's at the castle today?'

Corrus understood at once, but hesitated long enough to give Link his answer.

'I understand Masters Talon and Ingo are downstairs as we speak, making deliveries. I heard them arguing on the way here. But Miss Malon was not with them, she must still be-'

He turned to find himself suddenly alone in the shouting crowd. Link was gone.