~ Disclaimer ~ It's not that I don't own anything of this story but I don't own Link, Zelda, Malon, Ingo, Talon, Anju also known as the chicken lady . . .

Link: She could go on for hours. The scary part is, she knows all of us!

^_^ I make it my business to know.

Crys: Hi Nisiko! Just wanna say, thanks for taking over that review! I really didn't like Lace's long speeches and tell ya the truth, I didn't like those long reviews either!

CrysSton16! That is just rude. We are lucky to have reviewers as it is. Nisiko, tell Shadow Knight when he wakes up that she doesn't mean it, okay? Thanks. I personally do like em!

Speaking of reviewers, we have some more! ^_^

First off is Shadow Knight (or would it be just Nisiko?), then there is Farmerboy (I'm not saying anything about Lance just yet.), also Laura (I'm glad you like the song), then there is Veilius and her muses, and hyliansage. And also a new person named Primagen (I like how proper and formal your review sounded but it's too bad no one else can read it. Don't worry, the answers will come in time.)

Now then, here we go one more time.

~~~~~~~

~ Fighting, Recovery, and a Hidden Agenda ~

Link and Gramps left the home. Link thought they would practice just in front of the house but that was not to be. Gramps carried the dragon hilt sword on his waist as he began a fair paced jog. Link was surprised by this but began to jog along with him across the fields. He wondered secretly if he could break a hip with the sword's weight bouncing on his belt. Link decided to try thinking about the sword technique instead.

It couldn't be blocked by shield or by any other blade. Plus, Gramps only wanted one person to know and be able to use this attack at any given generation. It was obvious that the technique held magical properties but what kind of magic could not be defended against except by the same maneuver? Link had never ear of such an attack but he could tell it was powerful nonetheless. Would the attack kill anyone it was used against or could it be controlled?

They continued their jogging at the same pace but Link was used to such exercise and had yet to break a sweat. Far behind them, he could hear the sound of running paws. Link faltered one step, wanting to look back but not daring to. Gramps shouted over his shoulder, "Don't stop now. No Wolfos are about yet. It's far to early after the attack, they won't dare come out for at least three days."

Link wondered if it was wise for the old man to waste his breath like that but he regained his step once again and tried to ignore the sound of paws. He knew it was a Wolfos following them! How could Gramps just let them keep their backs to an enemy? Links heart began to beat faster as the paws drew nearer and then he could hear the steady panting.

"Gramps, are you sure the Wolfos wouldn't come out? That is most definitely a Wolfos. My ears don't fail me!" Gramps ignored him and continued the jog now turned to follow the small stream and began going uphill towards the forest. Link sighed and focused on the sound. It was still a ways off. If they reached to forest first perhaps they'd have a better chance to lose the Wolfos or just stop and fight it.

The paws were very close by then. Running at a sprint, panting coming all that much faster and louder. By then, it had began trying to bark, trying to catch their attention. Link knew the creature was just on his heals and gritted his teeth, sweat beaded at his forehead but still not from the jogging.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as a wet nose nudged one of his hands and a happy bark came up beside him. "SHEKRO!?!" Link shrieked in surprise. Gramps chuckled but Link couldn't contain his laughter. "All right, boy. If you wanna come with us you can but ya gotta keep moving. Isn't that right?" Link called up to Gramps. Gramps nodded and Link began to wonder if the guy was running out of breath. It seemed a miracle that he had carried on this long but neither of them were stopping nor really under stress from the jogging so they continued.

~~~~~

The red eyed man could hardly believe his sights. Though the citadel before him was hardly impressive, he had happened to glance about the field and saw two joggers running upstream. He focused on them, thinking he knew the green clad figure bearing the blade on his back jogging behind the old but well-known swordsman. Though the dawn mists could have mistaken the colors, he was certain the person was dressed in green with that rather silly long hat falling down his back. He chuckled to himself, "Well now, it seems things are moving more quickly. I must make haste as well but we still have a few days ahead of us now don't we, Hero of Time?"

He took a deep breath as he came upon the great front doors of the citadel. He was hardly surprised when three wolves made themselves seen. He frowned at them. There was something unusual about these wolves other than their unusual shade of coats, most seemed much whiter than a true Wolfos but not completely all white like a snow Wolfos and much smaller than the snow Wolfos. Before he could continue his observation of the hounds, one large door opened, revealing a beautiful young lady.

He knew she was the mistress of the citadel and the owner and perhaps breeder of all the wolves about her. Most certainly, she was the one they looked to for upon her appearance, then stopped their snarling and disappeared into the shadows once again. What he did not know nor understand of her was how she could be so happy after the slaughter that took place.

She dropped the mask of happiness and replaced it by one of deep sorrow quickly enough that it seemed only the imagination saw her joy. But the Sheikah was sure of his eye and of his ability to read the eyes. She was beaming in joy! He narrowed his eyes, knowing she could not see them and addressed her, "Are you Miss Katie, the one who sells Wolfos for protection?" She nodded sadly but her eyes seemed to spark with curiosity and delight.

"Yes, I am she whom you seek. I live here alone with my pets after all. Please, come inside. It looks like rain will fall today." She stepped aside slightly making the path inside the house clear enough. "Tank you." He said as he passed her to go inside. "It's my pleasure." She said sweetly. He noted the dangerous toe in her voice and decided to make the visit as short as possible. The door closed behind him with an echoing shudder of the house. Outside, the wolves continued their breakfast.

~~~~~

Andrake was still tied miserably in bed but the young assistant had fallen asleep. It was lucky that the stranger had blocked her view when he gave the vial to Andrake. Andrake looked at the red contents, they seemed to glow slightly and there was definitely a swirl of some creamy color among the vibrant red. He tried blending the colors by shaking it but all this did was speed up their lazy shifting until the colors slowed down once again.

He sighed and passed the vial between his fingers and over his knuckles, absolutely bored but rather wary of drinking it. The red eyed man had asked rather unusual question about the foreigner. What if knowing the boy had meant death? That didn't seem logical for the man had ample time to kill Andrake as he was bed-ridden and the girl most certainly would not have been able to stop him.

He sighed more harshly, this time at his own paranoia. He winced and clutched the vial in his hand as pain riveted from the rough sigh. His side hurt like mad and then his wince didn't help his swollen ankle any. Angrily Andrake bit off the cork to the potion and quickly drank it down before he could think about it.

Warmth spread through his mouth but intensified to a fire in his throat and to his belly. Yet rather than burn him alive, the fire was comfortable and burned away only the pain as it coursed throughout his body. Andrake blinked in surprise as soon as the fire was gone, the pain had evaporated away like water.

He slapped his own side, bracing himself for an explosion of renewed pain but felt nothing. He fingered his side, noting it was not numb for he could feel the touch but there was no pain at all, nor could he feel his own scar through the bandage. He moved his foot around, noting there was no pain in that movement either. Sitting up against the ropes, he could see his ankle and saw it was its normal size again. He almost laughed with joy but refrained as it would have woken the girl.

Andrake closed his eyes, recalling the face of the red eyed stranger and told himself to thank the man next time he is seen. Grinning, he reached to his ankle and removed an incredibly short knife, only used for cutting ropes, vines, or for carving which was a small hobby of his.

He cut the ropes and sat up, stretching out stiffened muscles and only winced at the cracking of his spine and shoulders. Then he regained his cape, set it about himself and stood up finally. He tested the ankle, hopping on it alone and felt the urge for speed as he sometimes did after being cooped up. With a nod to no one in particular, he swept himself out the door, wishing the young girl a good rest.

~~~~~

Link thought he really was going to collapse when they stopped. They had run into the forest, jumped from boulders and through bushes, cut their way deeper, and then climbed up a waterfall. Link sat heavily on the ground but the view from the plateau that they had reached was amazing. Shekro lied down beside Link, not too happy with the journey himself but grateful to have stopped finally.

Gramps turned to Link and held up the dragon hilt sword. Link looked up at him, wanting mercy but slowly he drew himself up and unsheathed his suddenly very heavy gilded sword. "Link, the weariness you feel now will be similar to the one you will feel after properly performing this attack just once. Thus, you will need to learn it and practice it continually as well as build up your stamina.

"Therefore, we will jog all the way back this evening and return the same way tomorrow morning. I am not being cruel, I have to prepare you for the battle to come. You have hidden potential and I take it upon myself to draw it out of you." Link felt like curling up in a bed somewhere but didn't dare back out of the agreement just then.

He made a mental note to himself to stop making agreements. They always ended up with him in a very bad situation with these people. Link stayed attentive to his new teacher as Shekro crawled to the side away from them and laid under a tree to fall fast asleep. "Quitter" Link growled. Shekro yawned in return.

"Link!" Gramps nearly snapped, commanding Link's total attention, "With your sword, do you hold any magic based attacks within you?" Link nodded and Gramps asked for a demonstration. Link complied as Gramps calmly stepped away.

Link held his sword even but angled to where the point was behind him. He searched within himself, recalled the meeting with the great fairy, and felt the power surge through his wrist and envelop the blade. He focused on it, pouring his own energy into it and felt the radiance of his blade intensify. Then released it all with a fast spin, creating a giant halo of power all around him.

When he was done, Link realized he was even more drained than before. It seemed odd for just one move usually didn't tax his energy like that. Link looked at his sword for a moment but Gramps said, "It wasn't a change in your sword. That was an impressive attack but do you understand how it works?" Link explained his previous meetings with the great Fairy, not afraid to tell his new teacher anything. Gramps nodded but had to hold back chuckles.

"Link, this great Fairy you speak of only brought out your own hidden potential. The others with the magic they granted you seemed to cast it into another par of you. A part you lost when you left that land. No matter, the point is you had that power within you the whole time and now, I'm going to dig just a bit deeper into you to draw out even more.

"It's not often I come across one like you although Andrake had a good chance of learning it. I trust you more than that one who would give up his only family just to become a knight."

"Sir?" Link didn't quite understand just yet. Gramps frowned at the memory but said, "Andrake is Crystal's older brother. You cannot tell her this at all, though. She seems to have pried into your life once and I doubt she dares venture there again." Link hoped this didn't mean he couldn't look deep into her eyes anymore.

"Link, now the magic which you drew upon was your own spirit. I want you to recall that energy to your sword again and hold it for as long as you are able. When you no longer can, pull it back inside. Don't release it into an attack. You will find yourself quite weary but not so much to where you can pass out. You may want to sit while you do this. Meditate even. Now, begin."

Link nodded and sat down, closing his eyes, he felt into himself for the magic once again. Like an ever-glowing candle, he could almost see it within himself. He delved deeply into it, causing the flame to rise. He was aware that the magic was coursing through him.

"Okay, now try to bring it down. If you keep it at that, you'll run out of strength all too quickly. Bring it as low as you can but still hold onto it." A voice from the outside said. Link focused on those words and obeyed. After all, his flame was his to control.

For what seemed like hours on end, Link held the flame and often when he was bored from it, he would play with it. Calmly, he focused the power and tried to maintain it in a simple form. Compressing it down without losing any of its power, he formed it into a ball. Smiling at this, he lengthened it like it was dough and pulled the flame as high as it would go. When e pulled it long enough, he could feel the strain himself of that move and let it go back to its normal form.

Gramps watched in amazement as the power glowing in Link's sword diminished but grew at the base of the hilt. He saw Link smiling as the boy concentrated and then the power narrowed and stretched upward. Shekro awoken, feeling the magic changing shape and saw Link still sitting in the same place but with what looked like a spear of light originating from his blade. Shekro yawned, knowing Link had no intention of fighting with it just yet and tried to fall back asleep.

Link looked at the flame even deeper. He was becoming tired with it but refused to let it rest. He had been familiar with it for a very long time but playing with it was still interesting. Sweat was still beaded at his forehead and beginning to roll down his temples.

Time moved at a snails pace for as long as Link watched the flame. It seemed much smaller than before. Seeing this, Link strengthened it until it was vibrant and not so lulling in intensity. But this sudden effort threw him out of focus. He opened his eyes and saw the sword holding an afterglow of power before it returned o its usual steel with ingrained gold dust.

Gramps nodded in satisfaction. Link had held out longer than he had expected. Link looked back to him in puzzlement, "What happened? How much time has passed?" He looked up at the sun. It was just trying to fall, a little past noon. "Have I been meditating that long? It didn't seem like that."

"Good. That would mean you are already very comfortable with your own magic. Tell me, are your hands tired?" It seemed an odd question to Link but when he thought of it, his hands did ache somewhat. He nodded to Gramps and began twisting his wrists, letting the blade turn slowly in the air, feeling out how much he could move before the pain took hold of him. He still could move about a lot. "Now that you can 'play' with your magic, see if you can stretch it out one more time. But for heaven's sake, aim it that way!" Gramps pointed a bit furiously away from himself.

Link didn't know if he could pull out his magic once again, not without a green potion. He was tired! But, again not wanting to disappoint the man, he held out his blade and forced the magic to ignite once again within him. He could feel the candle flame and made it grow out straight before him. He could see then the magic coming through his blade. He thought it would glow only about a foot past the blade tip but he pushed and stretched it, the beam grew longer like a vine but at the same time, it narrowed.

The sides of the blade were visible as the light that was the power pulled away from the sides to gather in the middle and extend longer as Link enforced it to. It was soon looking more like a spear than a sword and Link, not wanting to release it in a spin attack, looked worriedly to Gramps.

The man was not smiling as he witnessed the feat a second time but he said, "Now, pull it back into you. Replace that energy whence you brought it out. Guide it back into you and let it relax again." Link did this, welcoming the energy back into himself and felt himself grow a little bit stronger as he did. Soon, all the power was back in its candle form before it went out all together.

After that performance, Link and Gramps began to spar. With Link's magic exhausted, it would grow just a little bit stronger for the following day where Link would practice it even more. Gramps explained even as their blades clashed and sang through the air that the attack Link was to learn would require all the power Link could harness if the boy was to be able to remain awake after it was performed.

The magic was no different from the spin attack but it was an evolved form of it. It began in the heart, went through the blade but rather than being shaken off, it welled up all about the blade and was thrown like a wave at the opponent. Once properly done, the magic would wash over the enemy and draw the life out of him. Link faltered in a counter attack by this new news and said, "But, if it kills anything, why is such a move allowed to exist? It sounds to me like an inferno that no one can control."

"Controlling it is something only a master can do. A beginner, like yourself once you get a hold of it, can only perform it properly. Don't worry, Link. If you are desperate for it to do something, or NOT to do something, it will obey you. It is, after all, your magic." Link nodded, satisfied and continued to block the fast blows Gramps delivered with the dragon hilt blade.

They continued to practice, not even stopping for food and then began their jogging down the mountainside at the end of their practice. Once they were home, Link felt almost too tired even to eat but he forced himself to, knowing food was important after using so much energy and magic. Gramps went ahead and began cooking up some rabbit stew as Link once again returned to Crystal's bedside. She was still sound asleep. He smiled down at her and reassured her, "Don't worry. I'm here again and won't leave until I have to. I wish you could've seen us today though. You would have been proud of me. Well, I'll wait to tell you about it until you can listen. Until then, sleep well."

~~~~~

The Sheikah had to get out. He learned all he needed to know about the Wolfos but Katie insisted he aid her in her war against the bloodthirsty Naturals. He had to decline but when he opposed her and reached for his cloak once again, one of the two white wolves, which were her personal pets, growled and snapped at the air right before his hand. He did not move away nor was he foolish enough to reach further. He said coldly, "Katie, if you will call off your guard, I must be leaving now."

Katie went towards him and outrageously set her arms around his waist, wanting him to stay. He gritted his teeth in anger of her forwardness and said, "I must leave now." She cooed like a dove but protested, "Aww, but you can't leave me now. The rain might fall and I'll be left all alone again. Please, don't leave me alone."

He turned around in her embrace to face her. He could see a look of dawning triumph in her eyes but contained his growing will to force his escape. He had to remain calm. "You can at least tell me your name before you go." She said temptingly. He stated in a lower voice, which made her slightly shudder, "My name is the only thing I carry dear. I am not so swift to pass it out. Now, if you will, I can not stop moving forward. Stand your wolves aside."

Katie pouted but motioned her wolf aside. The Sheikah pulled his cloak about himself quickly enough, ignored the feel of the enraged stare drilling into his back, and left. Once outside, however, he decided it best to ride away rather than walk. He raised two fingers to his lips and let out a sweet, sharp whistle. A black horse with neither saddle nor bridle appeared from no where and ran up to him in greeting. It eyed the wolves warily but stayed put until his master was mounted and began to ride away.

Katie continued her angry stare as he rode out of sight. Her pet, his head in her lap as she absently stroked it, felt her anger and began a growl deep in his throat. Katie smiled fiercely at her pet and said, "Soon, you will do my bidding. All we need to do is fix that little problem between you and your brother. Then you can give my regards to the Naturals as you spill their blood."

The white wolf almost lovingly nuzzled her and she began to scratch his large ears on his large head. She laughed musically in her throat as she thought about that day when her pride and joy would be brought to reality.

~~~~~~~

Wah! I really wanted to get to a certain point before stopping but I have to now!

I know CrysSton is not going to like this. She hates it when we need yet another chapter.

Well, we know quite a lot more about the attack and about magic in general, don't we? His chapter wasn't a complete waste. Also, the redhead Sheikah has his work cut out for him.

Andrake is up and about and you know he has his own plans. Katie also doesn't seem too happy with the Sheikah for turning her down, eh? Who would not have turned her down? (Don't answer that.)

Lastly, we have yet another mystery to wonder about. Katie's pride and joy? It has something to do with the brother wolves but you will have to wait just a while longer to find out what that is.

Till next time!