Disclaimer: We've been through all this. I still don't own them.

A.N: The gods are out in abundance. Five make an appearence in this chapter (three full, two demi), making the grand total of divinities in this a pretty cool six in one fic, which I think has to be some kind of record in the world of Zelda fiction. Oh well. There will be notes at the end of the chapter regarding aspects of my portrayal of the gods- the whys and where I got my inspiration from etc. Other than that, be prepared for an onslaught of philosophy and stuff, although I haven't quite got round to the explanation of the meaning of life... ask Monty Python.

Oh, and here is a promise. This story will be finished before I'm seventeen - which means before ten past two on Friday for those of you that are interested!

Chapter 14: Divine Intervention

For a while no one spoke, no one dared to. The lunar eclipse had subsided and the welcome return of the moon led to the now reassuring glow of moonlight illuminating the battlefield and the weary bodies of the Sages. Endeffera, Zelda and Link stood a small distance apart from the group, staring at each other.

"I believe," Rauru suggested, "we should leave them now."

Heads nodded in agreement at the elderly Sage's words and they departed to the Sacred Realm as silently as the night.

"So what now?" Link sighed.

Zelda could not take her eyes from Endeffera.

"Are you- does Orla..?"

The demi-goddess lowered her eyes and with a gentle movement the child's body slumped to the ground as peaceful as sleep. Zelda gasped softly as two translucent forms stood before them, both dressed in the same way. One she knew well and loved, the second was familiar to her as she had seen the girl with the pale skin, knee length dark blue hair and rich brown eyes in her dreams before the nightmare had begun.

Endeffera and Orla.

"Princess Zelda, Link, there are many questions you seek to ask me," Endeffera said. "Yet there are some I could not begin to answer, no matter how much I wish to."

Link could not take his eyes from Orla's spirit. It was immobile, staring into the distance with pale eyes.

"Why doesn't Orla look at us?" he whispered.

Dawn began to break in the distance as the golden light of the sun's rays began to paint the skies. Zelda frowned.

It's too early for dawn...

Endeffera caught the Princess' anxiety and then opened her mouth in surprise.

"My mother!"

Link turned to be greeted by the sight of a woman glowing with a golden aura, her keen blue eyes gleaming in the light as much as her sapphire blue gown. Her hair shone like highly polished gold behind a dazzling silver and sapphire crown that was topped by an immense diamond, and pooled at her feet like a cloak of golden silk. On her shoulder there perched the small silver owl, Lore, who regarded both mortals with enormous yellow eyes. Her face beamed with a youthful radiance and beauty with the wisdom of the ages showing through in her smile and bearing.

"Holy Nayru-" Link breathed.

Zelda dropped to her knees in awe of her patron goddess, feeling herself to be insignificant to the glory of the impossibly beautiful Goddess of Wisdom.

Endeffera's face was alive with delight and surprise as she ran to Nayru on her silent feet, stretching out her arms to be embraced until she stopped suddenly, remembering her state. Nayru's heart looked set to break at being so close to her beloved child but unable to touch her, as in death Endeffera was as unreachable to her as Orla was to her parents.

"Most high Nayru, I beg of thee- grant that our daughter Orla be returned to life and to us," Zelda pleaded.

For the first time Nayru's eyes met with her favourite, unwavering in their beauty and serenity but also filled with sadness.

"Zelda my child, of all of the mortals in this world my favour and love is bound to you most of all. Yet in spite of this I cannot do as you ask of me. The dead must remain so, else what point would there be to life? It is a cruel law, and one I myself resent most bitterly though I too must obey it. I share your pain, as for centuries I have been cursed to mourn my daughter's death only to wait and watch my grief bestow itself upon you with the death of your child. If I could change the law of the gods then I would, but what you ask of me is impossible."

Zelda hung her head and blinked back her tears as Link's hand found hers.

"Then she really has gone."

"I don't understand," Link argued. "If Mortis is defeated, if he himself is dead then surely that means there is no death any more. Your laws have been thrown out of balance. If he's dead-"

"Mother," Endeffera argued, "please spare Orla. She is innocent of all that she has been punished for. She deserves to be given her life for all of the needless suffering that has befallen her."

"Dear heart," Nayru soothed, "I would grant you any desire that I could but this is one that I cannot-"

The goddess fell silent as a strange tapping sound hit her ears and all eyes turned to the previously ignored Fierce Deity mask that lay discarded behind them. It began to glow white before strange ethereal blue flames licked at the wood and then burst into the sky in a pillar of blue fire. A figure began to appear in the blaze and as the fire subsided Link's hand instinctively flew to the Master Sword that rested in his scabbard.

The Fierce Deity stood before them all, greater and more magnificent that Link had ever seen him.

"Finally it has ended," the deity commented before his eyes found Nayru and Endeffera and widened considerably. "You- you are here? How?"

"It cannot be..." Nayru breathed.

"Father?" Endeffera inquired softly.

Tears filled the Fierce Deity's eyes as he ran to his daughter and finally fell as he was unable to take her into his arms and embrace her as he longed to do.

"What trickery is this? Why can I not hold you?" he demanded angrily. "You are here before me, why can I not hold you?!"

"He's Valour?" Zelda whispered, somewhat guiltily at interrupting the moment.

Nayru stared at the father of her child in amazement.

"You reveal yourself now? Now that I believe all of this hardship is over you torment me by appearing here? How can this be?"

Valour turned from the spirit of his child to her mother, his face filled with love, which caused Link considerable surprise. He'd never pictured the Fierce Deity as anything other than fierce.

"The curse that I brought upon myself is broken, my exile is done. Mortis is gone, as is my need to fight him for vengeance."

He found himself facing the two mortals, who stared at him with open surprise.

"Hero of Time, I can only apologise to you for the way in which I have acted toward you in the past."

Link was about to cut an angry retort when Zelda gripped his hand forcefully to remind him of his place.

"I needed your power to gain the strength which was needed to face Mortis. Alas, that strength was not enough for us to defeat him, yet I had underestimated the strength bestowed upon you by my mother's Triforce. For my interference I am truly sorry."

An apology from a god, that's not something you get every day.

Zelda frowned at Link's comment.

Idiot, Lady Nayru can hear all thoughts.

Link swallowed hard and glanced sheepishly at Nayru, who offered him a knowing smile.

"He is much like his mother, I can understand why you show such delight in receiving an apology from him. I have yet to accept such an honour."

Endeffera giggled whilst Valour looked confused before his expression shifted.

"These two should have their child returned to them," he said suddenly, gesturing at Zelda and Link who stared at him in disbelief. "That corrupt fool is no longer a threat to anything anymore, therefore the prophecy should not have to be repeated."

"I will not repeat myself from henceforth," Nayru said in a terse tone, "I have not the power to grant that. It is not within my jurisdiction. The only one who has the right to grant what you ask is the Great Father, seeing as Mortis is no longer."

"What I don't understand," Zelda began, "is how the order of life and death will be affected by the loss of Mortis. Without a god in charge of it, there can't be death."

Link nodded to strengthen Zelda's point, even though he was in truth more confused by this talk of the non-existence of death than he had been when his father in law had attempted to enlighten him on the different matters of government amongst the various races.

"It is a problem, Nayru," Valour commented. "A problem indeed."

Nayru paused for a moment, her thoughts causing her to frown. Lore ruffled his feathers and blinked his immense yellow eyes, seeming to think as intently as his mistress before his attention turned to a spot in the distance. He hooted softly, catching Nayru's attention, whose gaze followed his.

"My sisters draw near, perhaps they can aid in this judgement I must deliver."

The same golden aura that had accompanied Nayru flooded the plain where the group were assembled, also bearing golden visitors in its midst. Din and Farore appeared beside their sister, both robed in their respective colours and crowned by silver, ruby and emerald with the same diamonds crowning their ornamentation. The similarity of their features was astounding, the only physical difference between each being the colour of their eyes.

Farore was the first of the pair to move as her eyes fell upon Valour.

"My son!"

In what Din regarded to be a very ungodly move, the Goddess of Wisdom moved to embrace her son openly and in the view of mortals. She rolled her eyes in disgust whilst her other sister shook her head. Unlike Nayru and Farore, Din remained childless, unwilling to share her power or glory with any, be they male or female, mortal or other.

In the mean time, Link was growing impatient. It had all been very well entertaining the spirit of Endeffera when he was still exhausted and battered from the battle, but it was getting beyond a joke now, plus he was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable in the presence of these obviously superior beings. Zelda sighed beside him, looking tired and fraught with nerves and fatigue, which instantly caused Link concern. He reached across to take her hand and squeezed it lightly in reassurance. She smiled in response and turned her attention back to the three divine sisters, meeting the eye of Nayru as she did. The Goddess nodded to her, aware of her thoughts, and turned to her sisters.

"I greet you my sisters and ask you what brings you to this plain?"

Din regarded her fondly.

"Little sister, we bring tidings from our father with regards to the situation which we are now faced."

Farore rolled her eyes now, resentful of the eldest sister's condescending manner.

"As has already been established, we appear to be a god short, a blessing though it may be," she remarked.

Valour caught Link's eye, a gleam of amusement now shining in his own. Link looked again, alarmed to see that the eyes of the Fierce Deity were now the same rich brown as Endeffera's. He was even more alarmed to see his former fear actually wink at him.

"One of the minor gods will be getting a promotion then," Link joked.

"You regard this as folly, mortal?" Din sneered.

"I warn you sister, my champion-" Farore warned.

"Link," Zelda hissed.

"I apologise, I was only trying to relieve some of the tension from this situation," he responded quickly.

Nayru and Farore smiled while Endeffera, who had been silent since the arrival of her aunts was looking pensive.

"It is not as simple as 'promoting a minor god,'" Din continued, "someone must be willing to fully undertake the responsibility of ending everything for everyone and must not be corrupted by desire for a more attractive position."

"I hardly think that our father will be treating the new God of Death with such negligence as to inspire the same emotions of loathing that our brother held," Farore argued. "Although I do agree with you in the wisdom of our choice, which is why ultimately the decision must rest with Nayru."

Nayru did not look in the slightest bit perturbed by this information.

"This will not be an easy decision to make," she murmured. "Death is not a responsibility that I would choose to hold, nor do I know of any of our fellows who would welcome it willingly."

"Death is not as harsh as you make it out to be, it is not so much an end as it is a new beginning to a different sort of life, a life of non-existence. It would not be so terrible to oversee the passage of souls between the life of the living and the dead."

The eyes of the three goddesses flew to Endeffera, who stood beside Orla's spirit over the small princess' lifeless body. She held their gaze unflinchingly, only holding out her hand to hold Orla's.

"Are you saying that you would undertake such a task were it offered to you?" Din asked sceptically.

Endeffera nodded earnestly.

"I would."

Zelda gripped Link's hand tighter.

"The dead in command of the dead," Farore said softly. "It is a novel idea, I must say."

"Only she would not be dead," Valour whispered. "She would be restored. Mortis' power would be bestowed upon her, bringing her to life again."

Nayru's eyes were brimming with unshed tears of happiness.

"You would be happy with such a role my child? To be the Queen of the Dead for all eternity?"

There was silence as the child regarded her family, the two mortals and finally Orla's body.

She nodded.

"I would not hesitate in undertaking such a position."

A beam of light shot from the clouds, bathing Endeffera's form in its radiance. Zelda and Link stared in awe as it subsided, revealing the solid form of Endeffera, garbed in robes of deep purple and black. This time, there was no hesitation from Valour, who flung himself at his daughter and held her without any restraint, kissing her all over her face. The new goddess wept in her father's embrace as Nayru forgot all her previous restrictions and went to her small family, finally reunited with those she loved for the first time in a thousand years.

Zelda couldn't bear to watch as the knife of grief and jealousy twist in her breast. How she wished that it were she and Link embracing Orla! She choked back her tears as silently as she could muster, but not quiet enough for Link not to notice. He took her in his arms and held her gently.

"At least we know she's in good hands."

Endeffera caught Link's words and smiled to herself.

******

It is time for you to leave.

She looked around her in confusion as a soft voice spoke through the silence.

"I don't understand."

You do not have to stay here, you can go back, if you want to. Back to breathe again, back to live. Back to return here when the time is right.

"I can go back?"

Yes. You can go back to where you belong, where everything will be as it was. You can grow old, have children and watch them prosper. You will see your world live its golden age under its greatest ruler. But you will live, and live you must, for your importance cannot be underestimated. You are the future.

Endeffera appeared, robed in purple and smiling.

"I am living again Orla, and so must you."

In a moment of joy and fear, the little princess ran and hugged the Goddess, who returned the embrace.

"How will I manage without you? You're a part of me-"

"I will always be with you Orla, there's always going to be a part of me here."

She pressed a delicate hand against Orla's heart before pressing lifting the girl's hand to her chest.

"And you will be right here with me forever."

She kissed Orla's brow and then smiled brightly.

"I want you to know that I am grateful for everything that you have suffered for me, and in return I will keep you safe until it is your time."

Orla watched in surprise as she produced a small ring made of white gold, inscribed on the underside with ancient runes that glowed purple.

"As long as this ring is in your possession, you are under my protection."

Orla smiled as she slipped the ring onto the ring finger of her right hand.

"Thank you."

She closed her eyes as warmth filled her body and she began to float upwards. To where she did not know, but her last thought before she got there was how much she longed to be there.

******

Link opened his eyes sleepily and sat up suddenly in surprise. He didn't remember falling asleep, and to find himself lying in the middle of a field with Zelda curled up beside him was somewhat of a shock. He looked around him, alarmed to find the gods gone and the sun already rising in the east as dawn began to wake the earth. He was also pleasantly surprised to find that all of the weariness and aches from the wounds obtained in the battle had vanished without a trace. Zelda murmured and stirred beside him, looking just as confused as he did.

"What's going on? Where is everybody?" she asked sleepily.

He kissed her gently on the top of her head.

"I don't know, there's no sign of-"

A barely audible murmur behind him caught him off guard. Rising quickly to his feet, he drew the Master Sword from its scabbard and turned to face whatever it was that was waiting for him. Zelda too was on her feet, summoning magic to face whatever it was.

Orla's body lay on the ground behind them, devoid of the goddess' clothing and totally nude.

Link sighed in disappointment and sheathed the blade before stooping before the child's body, taking her gently into his arms and staring at her face.

"It seems that we helped everyone last night except ourselves," Zelda said sadly.

Link stared at Orla's face, puzzled by how her colour now seemed more healthy than when he'd last seen her, but then again the light of the early morning sun was always rosy-

Orla sighed.

Zelda let out a gasp of delight and ran to them, kneeling beside Link and pressed her fingers against her daughter's neck. She almost fainted when she felt the gentle beat of her pulse beneath her fingertips, growing stronger by the moment.

"She's come back to us!" she cried.

Link blinked in disbelief before Orla proved her being by breathing deeply, opening her mouth to take a deep breath of the clear morning air.

"Thank you gods!" he cried, hugging Orla tightly before kissing Zelda exultantly.

All of the heartache and grief of the last few days evaporated in that kiss, the knowledge that Orla was alive and theirs again warming their hearts and erasing the anxiety that had established itself. Their embrace lasted for an instant as their daughter murmured before she began to stir, her eyelids fluttering as though she was coming out of a deep sleep. Moments later her eyes opened as she stared dazedly up at her parents.

"Mama, Daddy," she murmured.

"Yes darling, we're right here," Zelda soothed, clasping her hand.

Tears shone in Orla's eyes as she began to cry.

"I didn't mean to kill Alanya, really I didn't. It was an accident."

"It's alright sweetheart, Alanya's alive. You didn't hurt her," Link said softly.

Orla smiled sleepily and yawned.

"I'm so tired," she whispered.

She snuggled closer to Link's tunic and closed her eyes. Zelda looked alarmed.

"She's alright, just sleeping," Link said softly as he transferred Orla temporarily to Zelda as he removed his cloak.

"She doesn't remember," she said quietly.

Link nodded as he draped his cloak over Orla's sleeping form and took her back into his arms.

"That's probably a good thing. Maybe she will one day, but for now let's just consider this a blessing."

Zelda continued to look puzzled.

"I wonder if it's just her."

Link shrugged before a grin spread across his face.

"Speaking of blessings..." he began.

Zelda smiled.

"I assume you're talking about the baby," she laughed, letting her hand rest across her abdomen.

Now Link looked at it closely, there was an added roundness there.

"You assume right," he beamed. "How did that happen?"

His wife laughed and stood close to him.

"If I have to explain that to you now..." she teased.

"Don't tease me. You know I mean when. When is she making her appearance?"

"So you don't trust my prediction?" Zelda huffed in good humour.

"It sounds too good to be true," Link laughed. "When can we expect the son and heir to grace us with his presence then?"

"In the autumn," she smiled, "I'm about two months along."

Link looked at her aghast.

"You mean we have to wait another month until I can brag to Aidyn about being as virile as him?" he moaned.

Zelda laughed softly.

"It's only a month, you can last that long."

Link smiled at Zelda and then at Orla who was fast asleep in his arms.

"I don't think I'll ever rush things along, I'm going to make the most of everything, starting from now."

Zelda smiled back.

"You and me both, my love."

******

seven months later

The clock in the Temple of Time chimed three o'clock in the distance, its toll heard by virtually no one as most of the town lay sleeping. It was certainly the case with the majority of the Royal family.

Unable to sleep, Link sat on the edge of Orla's bed where both of his daughters, now aged eight and almost three, lay cuddled up together as they slept with the almost full grown Fang lying across the end of the bed. He smiled contently to himself before biting back a yawn and returning to his bedroom.

At first he thought that Zelda was asleep as well, although the blankets had been cast back beneath her feet. He moved softly to the bed and smiled as Zelda shifted and mouthed a greeting to him.

"Are you alright?" he asked as she put a finger to her lips to silence him.

He tiptoed to his side of the bed and smiled at the sight of Zelda lying on her side with the tiny new baby, just two hours old, at her breast.

"He's just going off to sleep," she whispered. "The girl's didn't make it then?"

Link shook his head and gently eased himself onto the mattress beside her and watched his son's small body rise and fall with each breath. He gently brushed his hand over the fine layer of hair that crowned his head, smiling proudly.

"They were both fast asleep in Orla's room. Do we have to call him Harkinian?" he whispered.

Zelda smiled and shook her head.

"No, I like what you wanted."

Link grinned like a cat that had got the cream and gently lifted the newborn from the bed, pausing to allow Zelda to kiss his downy head.

"Goodnight baby boy."

Link smiled.

"Sleep well Izak Harkinian Ferras."

to be continued

******

The Gods: I've taken most of Nayru, Farore and Din from the Ancient Greek portrayal of the gods. As you've probably already noticed, giving Nayru an owl is a direct take on Athena/Athene/Minerva the goddess of wisdom and her owl. Also I didn't give the three goddesses blue/red/green hair like they always seem to do, because in Ocarina they are golden goddesses. I figured I'd keep them blonde. I made Endeffera's colour purple because purple is the Sheikah colour, and they seem to have a lot to do with death.

And Valour and the Fierce Deity being the same guy? That I didn't spring out of the blue, I've placed hints throughout the last half of the story. ^_^ I decided to change his eyes to brown when he became Valour again because I always figured that the creepy pupiless eyes lacked soul, and Valour's soul was returned to him when his banishment ended.

And if you think that was the end of the story, then you might want to consider looking at the chapter bar...