The following morning, Link was standing by his window looking out over the lawn of the castle. He had gone to the King earlier and told him everything that he and Zelda had learned from Aurelia, and now his majesty was dispatching troops. Apparently an astronomer had seen a familiar glint of gold in the sky hanging over Death Mountain the previous night; the troops were going to Goron City.

There was a knock on Link's door.

"Come in," he said.

A page opened the door a crack and peeked in. "The tailor is after ya, sir," he said. "Somethin' about a weddin' costume."

Link thanked the page and tossed him a coin. He rushed out the door and set off towards the tailor's.

"There y'are," the tailor said when Link entered. She was an old seamstress, and the work she did was gorgeous. The hero stood up on the pedestal and the tailor took his measurements.

"So, have ye met Princess Ayara yet?" The old woman asked.

"No, who's that?"

"Lady from Bespar who's to be marryin' ye!"

Link's breath caught in his throat.

"We're expecting her arrival in six days."

"I see," Link said.

"Well, ye're all done!" The tailor said, rolling up her tape measure. "Off with ye."

"Thank you," Link said, and left the room in a hurry. He went straight to Zelda's room and knocked loudly.

She opened the door. "Etiquette?" She asked, letting him in.

He sat down in a chair. "...We've got to end it."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, sitting down beside him.

"In six days," Link began, "there's a princess coming to meet me from Bespar. Princess Ayara of Bespar is to be the Queen of Hyrule-my wife..."

"Oh..." Zelda's eyes grew distant.

"There's no way we can do this. We've got to end it..."

Link turned to look at her, but he said nothing. Zelda glanced at him, then looked away; and then she rose from her chair and left. After a little while, Link departed the room as well. He hated himself indescribably for what he had just done.



Far off, in a distant wing of the castle, high in a tower, Rauru himself was leafing through books in the library. King Harkinian had assigned him to look up information on the situation they currently found themselves in, but how on earth could they defeat a Triforce? There had to be something here...

And yet, there so apparentley wasn't. Triforce monsters...Triforce prophecies...Triforce bearers...heck, it didn't even say anything about a Fourth Force. Maybe the libraries were out of date.

He stayed up there for several hours at least, trying book after book after book, but nothing at all helped. He finished one stack and took a breather before trying another. At this rate, it seemed like the only way would be to turn back time to keep Ganondorf from ever even touching the Triforce in the first place!



In her room, Princess Zelda sat in the window for a long time. From where she was sitting, she had quite a spectacular view of Hyrule Field. She could see her father's troops moving towards Death Mountain. It reminded her of that fateful banquet that felt like so long ago.

If Link hadn't insisted on going after the Moblins in the first place, then none of this would have happened. Damned noble bastard, she thought sadly. And yet somehow she loved him, more than anything. What kind of game were the Goddesses playing? This wasn't funny. She left the window.

And then it dawned on her: maybe there WAS a way. What had her father said three days before the banquet? The words echoed in her mind.

It was a crazy idea, she knew, but nonetheless Zelda began to make her way through the castle halls to the throne room where the King was reading over a document. He lowered the paper when he heard the princess enter. "Zelda!" he said cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

"Father," she said slowly. "I know how dearly you would like for me to inherit the throne and be Queen of Hyrule..."

"Well, in a perfect world, yes," he answered, giving her a confused look.

"Hear me out," she said. "Calatia has no relationship with Bespar at all."

"Yes, neither do we."

"No, but we have an excellent relationship with Calatia."

"Of course."

Zelda took a deep breath. "What if Princess Ayara were to marry Harlan instead of Link?"

She paused, but her father did not say anything, so she went on.

"And then, I could marry Link and be Queen of Hyrule, just as you wanted. Harlan and I are best friends, so I'm sure that our relationship with Bespar would grow ideally." She held her breath and waited patiently for her father's answer. The entire throne room was listening intently now.

King Harkinian looked long and hard into Zelda's eyes. Her reasons were all credible, but she wanted to marry for love. She always had. It was so obvious to him: his daughter had fallen in love with the Hero of Time, his heir. And...she WOULD make a good queen.

"Well," he said finally, "I see no reason why that couldn't work. If all involved parties agree-keep in mind that that may be a slim chance. But, you have my approval," he told her with a smile.

"And mine." Queen Larina had been standing in the doorway. She now stepped into the room. "With all due respect, we may need to be allied with Bespar. Their natural resources are some of the most healthy in the world."

"That is a two thirds majority," King Harkinian commented. "Impossible to beat in matters of such politics. In fact," he rose from his chair, "It's a definite."

Zelda's face broke into the smile she was famous for. Her father embraced her warmly, and she him. "Go on, then," he told her. "I'm sure there's a lot of people you'd like to tell, hm?" The King retreated to his throne, smiling himself, and picked up his paper.

"What are you looking at?" The Queen asked.

"Hm? Oh, something Rauru dug up in the library," he said. "Some sort of spell."