There were many stairs to descend to get to the Ancient Cistern. Instead of walking in awkward silence, Asuriel decided to try to start a conversation.

"So, Link, what do you think we will find at the bottom of these stairs?"

"I don't know. There have been different themes in each temple I have passed through. Probably something to do with water."

And indeed there was water in the Ancient Cistern, lots of water. Along with that, there was a strange statue in the center of the room.

"This is incredible, I have never seen anything like it before. Link, I am afraid that I don't know the layout of this place, but I will happily assist you to solve puzzles along the way."

The Cistern turned out to be a very strange structure. There were many places Asuriel could not easily follow Link because she couldn't climb vines or swing using a whip. Even so, he insisted that the girl come with him so that he could protect her, even if he had to help her along the way.

"Asuriel, in order to swing across this, I may have to carry you."

"Oh," the girl blushed slightly, "that's fine."

Timidly, Link put an arm around the girl, holding her against himself as they crossed the gap. Both were blushing a deep red by the time their feet touched the ground. Link was somewhat acquainted to the feeling of emotional attraction, but Asuriel had no idea of what was going on. Her heart pounded against her chest, her face flushed, and she couldn't make eye contact with Link. She had never reacted to another person the same way.

The next platform they went to, Asuriel took a misstep and almost fell into the water, if it hadn't been for Link's quick reflexes to catch her.

"Thank you, Link."

"No problem." The young hero cleared his throat. "Maybe you could... stay close by my side to make sure that you don't fall again." Link turned away while saying it to hide the red that was creeping back into his face.

"That sound like a good idea."

As they continued through the cistern, an awkward silence befell them as they experienced an unexplainable shyness. Asuriel was baffled. She could interact with him better when she first met Link, but now that she had spent time with him, she felt so incredibly bashful. What in Hylia's name was going on?

When it came time for them to eat lunch, they were both extremely hungry from exploring the cistern.

"Asuriel, what would you like to eat?"

"It doesn't really matter. If you want, we can go to a place in the forest where I usually find some nice berries."

"Actually, I have an idea, but it will take a few minutes to bring it here. Could you wait outside the cistern?"

"Of course, Link. What are you bringing?"

"It's a surprise."

Asuriel followed him out into the open before standing before the bird statue and getting lifted back into the sky. She watched him in wonder as he became a tiny green dot and disappeared beyond the expanse of the clouds. Unsure of what to do, Asuriel wandered over to a sunny patch of ground and sat down, absentmindedly starting to hum the ballad of the goddess. Soon, she was singing it while butterflies flitted around her. The song was cut short as she spotted that familiar green dot falling back to the ground.

"Do you have any bowls we could use?"

"There are some in my room, I'll retrieve them."

When the girl returned, Link was smiling and holding a bottle out to her.

"I want you to try this, it's one of my favorite foods."

"It looks delicious, Link. What kind of soup is it?"

"Pumpkin."

"Thank you for bringing it here for me to try. For dinner, I'll make something for us to eat."

Asuriel accepted the bottle and split the contents between two bowls, although she secretly put more into Link's so he would have more to eat.

"You know, Asuriel, when I was coming back down, I thought I heard that song Zelda was singing at the Wing Ceremony."

"What's a Wing Ceremony?"

"Oh, right. I forgot you don't know what that is. Anyway, did you hear it too?"

"Yes, it is one of my favorite songs to sing." Asuriel turned away from Link as a light blush spread over her face.

"Wait, that was you?"

"Yes." She nervously played with a strand of her hair as she answered.

"Could you, maybe... sing it again."

"Oh, of course. Do you have that harp? It would sound better with it."

Link took out his harp and handed it to Asuriel, who gently began to strum it. Timidly, she started to sing. The boy was enraptured by her, the way her fingers gently glided across the strings and delicately plucked them as they passed. Not to mention that she sounded like an angel. Link would never tell Zelda, but Asuriel could sing much prettier than anyone he had ever heard, even his childhood friend. As her song came to a close, Asuriel cracked open an eyes to steal a glance at the young her.

"That was amazing!"

"Thank you, Link."

"I don't want to bother you, but do you know any others?"

"Yes, there are many song that I know that are ages old. I would like to sing them for you one day, but perhaps we should continue with our mission."

Link nodded and they once again journeyed down into the depths of the ancient cistern.

The walls of the cistern shook slightly as the feet of the giant statue touched down at the bottom of the structure. The two smiled at each other at their success and began to make their way to the door that led into the statue. When they entered, Asuriel and Link stared down at the bottom of the room, focusing on the door that would lead to a new, unexplored part of the cistern. Before when Link fought the enchanted skeleton, Asuriel did not join him, but now she needed to be able to follow him. Unfortunately, the boy needed both of his hands to properly deploy his sailcloth, leaving Asuriel with no choice but to hold onto him. Both the children realized this at the same time and waited for the other to suggest the possibility. After a moment of awkward silence, Asuriel took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around Link's torso, grateful that he could not see the color her face had turned. Link was also a bright shade of red when he stepped off the edge and drew out his sailcloth.

The trip to the bottom was incredibly slow, partially because Link had used his sailcloth immediately so as not to frighten Asuriel who was not use to free falling. He could feel her grip around him tightening as she clung to him. His landing with Asuriel went much smoother that it did with Groose. One thing that Link noticed about the girl was that she was incredibly light, barely weighing anything. It actually disturbed him how easy it was to carry her, for she was a light as a flower.

The sight that greeted the two when they stepped through the door surprised them. They had expected to see something similar to the rest of the cistern, yet the atmosphere in that place was stale and humid. Directly in frond of them, deranged and discolored bokoblins swayed and crept ominously crept towards them.

Immediately, Link rushed forward and knocked the two monsters down. He turned back to Asuriel to make sure that she was safe when he felt something grab him. Spinning around, he slashed at the bokoblins again, but they arose for a second time.

"Asuriel, I don't know if I can kill these things. Run ahead, I'll be right behind you."

When he glanced back to see if she had gone, the boy saw her standing paralyzed in place, staring wide-eyed at the creatures. Making one last swing toward the undead bokoblins, Link seized the girl's wrist and pulled her down the hallway behind them.

As they rounded a bend, more of the same creatures emerged from the ground, but Link brushed passed them. He carefully ran along a path that ran next to what appeared to be a lake of blood, but the substance seemed more unnatural than that. He came to a stop under a cave like structure that resembled a clawed hand.

"Asuriel, are you alright?"

The girl nodded her head, still a bit shaken.

"Will you be okay here if I take a look around?"

She nodded again and sat down. Link began to explore the strange area, moving deeper into the heart of the cistern. Eventually, he found the way out by means of a silver thread, but decided that he shouldn't leave Asuriel behind. Carefully, Link back-tracked to the place he left her where she sat in silence.

"Are you ready to go, Asuriel?"

She looked up at him, and he could still see the fear in her eyes. How as he supposed to climb back through all that mess if she was too scared to move? Suddenly, he had an idea.

Link pulled out the harp and did his best to strum it the way Asuriel had. Sure, he learned the ballad of the goddess, but the version he knew wasn't exactly relaxing. Asuriel seemed to calm a little, but she was not ready to go. Taking a deep breath, Link did his best to sing the lyrics.

This appeared to help the girl, who began humming the tune. Soon, she was singing it with Link, tentatively at first, but gaining confidence in each line. At the end of the song, Link lowered his harp and offered his hand to Asuriel. She in turn grasped it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

They continued to move towards the silver thread. Because Asuriel could not climb the vines well in a dress, Link tied one end of his whip around her waist and secured the other end to his belt. This was less difficult than he imagined because she was so light. Finally, they made it.

At first, Asuriel refused to approach the string due to the bones the littered the ground. But, after a bit of coaxing, Link managed to get her to stand by the thread while he began climbing. He focused on nothing else but the bright light at the top that marked when they would come out of that goddess-forsaken place.

He didn't notice the shifting of bones as monsters rose out of the ground, the trembling of the line as cursed bokoblins climbed up towards him, or the light alleviation of weight from the whip that was tied to his belt. He only looked down when he heard a small scream coming from the bottom of the pit as the bokoblins carried Asuriel away.