Midna and Zach took a detour back to the spring to rejuvenate. Once they recuperated, Midna gave him the bad news. "I don't have enough magic to let you see, but I promise I'll keep you up to date on what's happening."

Her companion hobbled in the direction of the cavern tunnel at the far end of the village, where it fed through into the beginning roots of Death Mountain. "If I recall correctly, there should be a platform on the right where I can jump up the grated wall."

"There's no wall."

"What?"

"There's no wall," she repeated. "It's just an incline." Zach shrugged and proceeded up. The canyon walls twisted and curved as the two made their way inwards. After a few dozen paces, the walls opened into a clearing riddled with steam jets and alcoves high above. In each alcove were shadow creatures armed with bows and flaming arrows. "Hold still." Midna summoned the Ordon Shield and secured it to Zach's snout, then patted his neck. "When I say so, run as fast as you can."

"Archers?"

"Archers. Ready, set... GO!"

Zach took a few steps forward but immediately tried to turn around. "Wait, I don't know where I'm going!"

"Go that way!"

"Which way?"

"THAT way!"

"WHICH WAY?!" An arrow whizzed by his head. Midna grabbed the wolf-boy's snout and jerked it to the left. "Stop that, that hurts!"

Midna growled. How useless could this idiot be?! "FORWARD MARCH!" Another arrow got stuck in her ponytail. Zach rushed as fast as his legs could carry him up the dirt path, each arrow landing closer than the last. "Jump to the left! YOUR OTHER LEFT! … Oh wait, that was the right left... No, stay left! ARGH!"

"I don't understand!"

Midna let out a sigh of relief and sagged against Zach's neck. "It doesn't matter... we made it."

Zach's muscles were stiff. He prowled low to the ground and crept along the next passage, using his whiskers and side as a guide. Midna rolled her eyes as they continued up the mountain pass, nabbing three Shadow Insects along the way. "Okay, so now we have three left."

The clearing they entered was not exactly clear. In fact, it was filled to the brim with metal mechanisms not unlike the ones used around the Twilight Realm. Magnets. Giant magnets used to haul ores and minerals from one spot to another, only these were more rigid and hand-crafted compared to the magic-machined ones on her native soil. Were these hand-crafted? They looked as though they were forged with megaton hammers and giant fists.

Midna looked around to inspect the rest of the mining operations. There were several cranes that carried magnets around the facility, though some were in a state of disrepair. It looked as though something very big and very hot smashed its way through the facility, leaving a trail of soot and slag behind. Whatever it was, it had gone further up the mountain—

The air swelled with heat and ash. The ground rumbled, and the top of the mountain spewed fire and stone. "What's happening?!"

"Volcanic eruption!"

"RUN!"

This time, Zach did not hesitate. He sprinted forward just as a humongous stone landed at the entrance to the area, blocking the path back to the village. Zach kept running, even sprinting as fast as possible through the open area. Midna let out a sigh of relief when he carried her into the mountain pass further up the way.

The sky was alight with flaming debris, though the high stone walls of the pass kept Midna and Zach safe from the bulk of it. Midna clutched Zach's fur, her fingers trembling and her heart racing. The air stank of sulfur and Midna had to cough to clear her lungs.

She did not even notice the shadow insect until it stung her in the back. Her muscles went taut and her lungs froze. She was quite sure her heart momentarily stopped but had no way of knowing for sure.

Zach stopped dead in his tracks. The lurch in momentum sent Midna to the ground, though that freed her from the insect's stinger. She pressed her back to the ground, wishing to push all the biting pain from the sting. When that failed, she dug her fingers into the dirt and squeezed her eyes shut.

The mountain roared, its fury shaking the very foundations of the earth. The weight of it all kept Midna in place. She dared not budge an inch for fear of the mountain's ire. Her lungs finally begged her to take a deep breath, and so she did. The air tasted of ash, and a shrill siren took up the rest of her attention.

The rumbling finally stopped, but that siren sound kept ringing in Midna's ears.

"MIDNA!"

She blinked herself to life and found that the weight on her chest was not death or fear, but Zach. Once her lungs ran out, she realized that the shrill siren was her own screaming. Her voice raw, she croaked, "Wh-what..."

"It's okay, Midna. It's over now."

"Why... why did the mountain do that?"

"Must have been Fyrus."

"What's Fyrus?"

"The Goron Patriarch possessed by the Fused Shadow. Its official title is the Twilit Igniter."

When Zach made to get up, Midna grabbed his foreleg. "The... the mountain yelled at us..."

"No, it just had a minor eruption."

Even suffocating in the heat, Midna's blood ran cold. "That was m-minor?!" Her hands shook like brittle leaves. "I-I... I didn't know mountains could do that..."

Zach adjusted his position and nuzzled his snout against Midna's cheek. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Midna glanced behind him, seeing a floating Tear of Light. "H-how did you kill the shadow insect?"

"I didn't. It must have got hit by debris. Are you okay?"

"I-I... the mountain yelled at us..."

"It's not alive, Midna. It was the Fused Shadow, not the mountain." Despite his attempts to calm Midna down, she felt his racing heart against her chest. If her mind was a bit more coherent, she would assume he was calming himself as much as he was calming her. It was scary enough with Midna being able to see. Was it more or less frightening being unable to see the sky burning as well?

"Is... is it going to happen again?"

"Probably. We need to keep moving. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, thank you." Midna released Zach and let him stand up. She grabbed the Tear of Light and seated herself on Zach once again. "Thank you, really. That was... I've never been in an eruption before."

"Me neither." With that, Zach continued up the mountain pass. Midna helped him maneuver around geysers venting hot air from the walls and floor, until the pair emerged to an enormous stone-and-metal tower in the center of the clearing. A bridge connected the top of the tower to the heart of the mountain, while various struts and walkways lined the tower all the way to the bottom.

The air was even warmer here than in the midst of all that machinery down below. Midna wiped her brow and groaned at the glistening sweat on the back of her hand. "Looks like we've found the Goron residential area."

"Goron City," Zach said with a nod. "Two shadow insects left. They should be somewhere around here."

"I sense one down these steps and clinging to the building in the middle."

"Sounds about right." Zach tentatively moved down the steps while Midna kept her eyes on the top of the mountain. Just looking at it chilled her spine. If only that chill extended to her skin; the heat was murder on her head.

The headache only grew worse when she used her hair to crush the nearest shadow insect. "One left," she whispered. "Just one left."

"And then I'll be able to see."

"Aww," Midna cooed a little too quickly, "you're in that much of a hurry to get another sight of little old me? I'm flattered."

"What? No, I just want to be able to see. Is that not sufficient?"

Midna pinched the bridge of her nose. "I was kidding, Zach."

"Oh."

"Last shadow insect is at the top of the city."

"Of course it is." With that, he moved to the right of the tower. Midna guided him to a stepping stone and flew up to the tall ledge leading to the next area. Zach jumped and zipped through the air thanks to Midna's magic, and they continued on. "Hey, if the mountain erupts again, make sure you warp out of here."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

Midna frowned. "You don't want to be warped out of here too?"

"... There's no sense endangering us both. If you go to the village, you'll be safe from the volcano. I'll stay and keep going up to look for the last insect, and you won't have to risk teleporting me unsuccessfully. Then once I get the damn thing, I'll be whisked back safe and sound."

"You can't see."

"True, but the path is familiar enough I can make do." To prove his point, Zach moved to the edge of the cliff face and avoided a continuously-steaming vent in the wall. "Besides, it's just a contingency plan."

"I thought we had a rule about discussing plans," Midna said with a chuckle.

"I thought we would have reached the top by now."

Midna sighed. "Is this about what happened in the village?"

"You'll have to be more specific," Zach said with a dark growl.

"When we yelled at each other just after your eye got stung."

"Oh, I had forgotten all about that. What about it?"

"I..." A different but no less unpleasant heat built in Midna's cheeks. "I was..." Wrong? Eugh, just the thought of admitting that lurched Midna's stomach. Was she even wrong? Just because he lost his sight was no excuse to lose his temper on her.

Except that he did not snap at her until she provoked him.

But she was just trying to get him to calm down so he would stop screaming in her head. Any rational person would understand that!

But Zach was not rational at the time, he had just been stung in his sole remaining eye. Was Midna rational after losing everything in the Twilight Realm? As a matter of fact, she was! She had decided to go to Zelda and when that proved to be less than a good idea, she had headed for the forest. She was very rational, so what was Zach's excuse?

He had to relive a trauma that never healed.

So what? What about Midna's trauma? What about her people's trauma? One man—one boy's hurt feelings were so much smaller than a whole realm's suffering. If nothing else, his temper tantrums were no way to treat Midna, his partner! Partners look out for each other, make sure they are okay, comfort each other when they... when they suffer injuries like Zach's.

Midna closed her eyes and tried desperately to will away the building feeling of shame in her heart. She was ashamed of herself, but why? What did she do wrong? She just needed to be—

—a careful, considering, and above all, level-headed Queen, her father said a lifetime ago.

Slowly opening her eyes, Midna looked down at Zach's head. A light dusting of ash and soot covered his injuries, which surely had to hurt the boy. Yet, beyond that initial spat, he never said a word about it. In fact, during the eruption, he had devoted his energy to consoling her. She was grateful for it as well, for if he had been...

If he had acted the way she had acted to him, she would not have taken it well.

Oh. Oh.

Midna helped Zach up the final leap to the top. There, the entrance to the city itself awaited with two Goron spirits guarding the entrance. Zach walked right past them, past the hand-carved edifices of a Goron chief and a boy with a strange pointed hat, and into the heart of the city.

The city was separated into four levels; Midna and Zach entered at the top floor. "This is Goron City?" Midna wondered aloud. "Not much to speak of, it's just this big room. Where do they all live?"

"Fuck if I know. Where's the shadow insect?"

Midna stretched her senses out. For all their efforts getting to the top of the tower, it was a simple matter finding the insect. There it sat, buried in the center platform held aloft by several ropes, hoping Zach would not find it.

Find it he did. He sniffed the dirt, chuckled to himself, and dug easily through the ground. The insect panicked and sprang to life, only to fly right into Zach's open maw.

As he crunched down, Zach growled, "Got you, didn't I, you little sucker!"

Elsewhere...

"Necktie!" cried the Goron at the entrance to Eldin Province.

The other Goron shook his head and gestured at the black wall of Twilight. "No, no, it's nectar."

"Nickel?" The patrolman cupped his crusty chin. "It's an 'N' word, definitely an 'N' word." Both shared a secretive glance before the main Goron cleared his throat. "Klaatu... Verata... Niobium!" At first, nothing seemed to happen, and then the Twilight wall cracked down the middle and exploded in a dazzling display of light and shadow. "Ha! I knew it!"

"Lucky guess..."

I kept my eyes shut tight even after my human feet landed in the spring. I reached up and touched my closed eye. The sting was gone, completely healed. Even the damn dirt that got stuck in it on the way up the mountain was wiped clean.

"Well," Midna said, "I'm glad we're finally ready to get the second Fused Shadow."

After a moment, I opened my good eye and was so relieved when I saw Midna floating before me. "You're a sight for sore eyes," I said with a smile.

"Aw, you missed me?"

"... Thanks for helping me."

Midna stared at me for reasons unknown. Her face was hard to read since she was in her shadow form. All I had to go on was her eye blinking every few seconds. "You... you're welcome, Zach."

She returned my fake eye and so I returned it to my left socket. It felt so good to see again, and while my eye was a bit sore, I saw Eldin very clearly. Like Ordona and Faron before it, the Light Spirit took the form of an animal made of light. Its preferred shape was that of a great eagle or owl, its wings tipped with golden circlet designs and its talons clutching the orb filled with Tears of Light.

"My name is Eldin. O youth chosen by the gods... The dark power you seek lies in the sacred grounds of the proud mountain dwellers. But already those grounds have been defiled, draped in shadow and seeded with evil. You must go to those sacred grounds and cleanse them..."

With that, I and turned around... and was immediately glomped by a scruffy little Ordonian boy.

"Zach!" shouted Talo as he clung to my waist. Behind him gathered the other village kids and Renado and everyone else I saw inside the shaman's house. Except the ancient man...

"Okay, that's enough male-to-male bonding, kid." I gently grasped the boy's arms and pried him off me. Kneeling in front of him, I had Midna summon something into my hand. "I believe this is yours."

Talo's eyes widened and he plucked the item from my palm. "My headband!"

I chuckled and patted his shoulder. "What did I tell you about crawling under gates, kid?"

"Haha, see, Beth?!" the boy called. "I told you Zach would save us!" Beth crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact.

I walked up and shook the tall shaman's hand. "Hi, I'm Zach."

"You are the one whom these children speak of?" Renado asked. I nodded and he bowed his head. "We are well met. I am Renado, shaman of this town. And this..." He gestured to Barnes, paused, and then moved to the black-haired girl. "This is my daughter, Luda."

I nodded and said, "How'd you kids get away from the Bulblins?"

"The beasts took us," said Colin, "and I think they wanted to take us west, but the big one said no. He said that his master wanted us here..."

"Huh, the west is Lake High-Leia, right?" I asked.

Renado raised an eyebrow. "Lake High-Lee-Uh, yes." I had to fight hard to ignore Midna's soft giggle. "At first, I couldn't believe they had come from so distant a place as the Ordona Province."

"Hoo, yeah, that was a pain," I said with a grimace. "Days of trudging along and setting up camp whenever it got dark." I glanced down at my shadow.

"You walked from Ordona Province to here?" asked Barnes, raising his visor. "What kinda tough guy are you?"

It was too easy. "Let's just say I'm out of this world."

"Ugh, that was painful."

"Hey, you are too."

"... This is true."

"It was like a nightmare," said Malo, his eyes staring at the ground.

Renado nodded. "Nightmares are everywhere these days, it seems. This village has certainly seen its share of recent hardships—"

"Like losing the general lady," said Barnes. "Hey, Zach, did you happen to find her?"

I shook my head. "No sign of her."

"In any case," said Renado, "you must take these children and flee this village before more nightmares descend."

I sighed. "There's a gate blocking the exit to Hyrule Field. We're locked in here unless someone has a horse. The big Bulblin, King Bulblin, has the key to unlock the gate."

Renado frowned and said, "I did not realize you understood the Bulblins so well..."

"It's like I said!" Beth shouted. "He started this! It's his fault!"

"Calm yourself, child," said Renado.

I cleared my throat and said, "I know because it is my business to know."

"Wow, rude much?"

"Not now, Midna!" I shrugged. "I know it looks like I'm some sort of double agent or whatever, but I'm not. See?" I held up my right hand and showed them the Triforce. "Ask Eldin, it'll back me up. I'm here to help, and that means that I'm gonna have to climb that mountain and calm the Gorons down."

"This is just so fun," chirped Midna. "Really, it is. You're all gung-ho to climb the mountain, it's rather admirable."

"Thanks."

"Well, except for the fact that you don't know the way, you don't have the equipment, and—"

"Aaand that's enough of that." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I'll do that after I get some rest, though. I've been walking almost on all fours for the past few days."

Renado waited a moment and then gestured to the nearby inn. "You may rest up there. I trust you have a plan for persuading the Gorons."

As I walked with him and the others, I noticed the ancient man in the shadow of Renado's house. "Yeah... something like that." His thick bushy eyebrows kept me from seeing his eyes, but I knew he was watching me. "Who's that over there?"

"That is Sahasrahla," said Luda. "He is our village chief and elder."

"Huh, that sounds so familiar. Ah well, I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Renado nodded. "Yes, we need to spend this evening taking stock of our resources. I fear what the beasts have done to our supplies of food—"

"And bombs!" said Barnes. "If they blew up my storage shed..."

I chuckled. "Your bombs are fine, Barney. Is there anything you can tell me about the Gorons, like how to get to them?"

"My name's not—"

Renado cleared his throat and opened the inn door. "They recognize only strength. A normal person could not persuade them, but... I do know one person who was able to best them and earn their trust." He retrieved a loaf of bread while I sat down. "The children know of you, so you surely have met the mayor of Ordon, Bo."

I took an offered piece and popped it into my mouth. Once the morsel was swallowed, I said, "I know him, yeah. While I'm there, I'll let him and the other parents know their kids are safe."

"Wait, wait, what?" I glanced down and found Midna's eye glaring up from the shadows.

Renado nodded. "Of course, getting them back would be best, but we could not keep them safe from the monsters on the road without a horse and cart. As for the Gorons, I am sure Bo will be able to tell you how best to win their trust."

"Excellent," I said with a clap of my hands. "I'll set out tomorrow."

Renado escorted me to one of the spare rooms of the inn. It was rather spartan, with only a bed and wardrobe, but it would do. Once the door was closed, Midna popped out of my shadow and pointed a finger at me. "We're not about to leave after we just got here, are we?"

I sighed and unbuttoned my vest, using my phone's flashlight as a guide. Its battery was at seventy-five percent. "To get to the Gorons, I'll need something from Ordon Village. I wish I had thought to grab it while we were there—"

"No kidding!" Midna clenched her fists and started pacing. "UGH, this is a disaster! We have no food, no money, no plan, and now you're going to drag me through another week of this?!"

"Hey, give me a little credit," I said. "I at least know what to do. We get to Ordon, grab the Iron Boots, get back here, save the kids from the raid, then climb the mountain. No biggie."

Midna removed her helmet and vanished it into her 'purse'. She stamped her white foot on the floor. "No biggie? Zach, that is what you'd call a biggie! I can't believe this! I've half a mind to just climb the mountain myself and leave you here!"

My jaw clenched. "Then go ahead and do it! See how you handle the Bulblins, Dodongos, Fire Slugs, Beamoses... Beamosi... Beam—The laser eye thingies!"

"Don't underestimate me," Midna snapped. "I helped defeat the giant plant, I held my own every single time we encountered shadow beasts, and I've helped kill those shadow insects. I could very well carry this story without you, knowledge or no." She sighed and held her forehead. "I'm too tired to continue this argument. Right now, I'd rather just crawl into bed and sleep."

"What do we do about the sleeping arrangements?"

Midna shrugged and hopped onto the bed. "Eh, it's better than the ground—"

"Excuse me?!"

Midna blinked at me and said, "I am going to pretend you didn't just raise your voice at me again."

"After everything I just went through," I growled through clenched teeth, "you don't even have the fucking decency to let me have a nice soft bed to sleep in?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!"

Midna leapt up, jabbed her finger at my sternum, and snarled, "Don't you dare scream at me! If you had bothered to wait for me to finish my sentence, you would have been relieved to hear me say we can share the bed!"

"I... wait, what?"

"You think I don't feel bad for what happened?" she asked. "You really think me so callous as to ignore such an injury? I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since it happened!" She sighed and sat on the bed, her arms folded on her lap. "I... I'm sorry."

"... what."

"What?"

"... nothing." I pulled out my sleeping mat and tossed it to the floor. "You can have the bed."

"Why? You need a place to sleep too."

I shrugged as I tossed Midna her blanket and settled myself down on the mat.

"Zach—"

"What now? You get the whole bed to yourself, Midna. You don't have to share with some jackass like me. Seems like a total win, right?"

"What's a... whatever. You want to act like a baby and refuse the bed? Fine. Good night, 'hero'."

"Good night, Midna."