Legal stuff: The Legend of Zelda and its characters belong to Nintendo, not to me. Self-made characters however, do belong to me, so no copying.
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It took them most of the day to cross Hyrule field. The ride was pretty much uneventful, unless you count the time a Poe popped up in front of them and nearly caused Zyte to fall off. Link had a good long laugh at that, the memory of it still caused tears of laughter to well in his eyes.
It was nearing sundown as they approached the entrance of Lon Lon Ranch.
"Good thing we got here before sundown, if you thought the Poe was bad, you should try riding when Stalchids are popping up everywhere," Link gave a small chuckle, causing Zyte to mutter something under her breath.
"That's not very nice!" Navi, who was trailing behind them, shouted at Zyte.
"Watch it Navi, or you might just wake up one morning to find yourself trapped in a bottle," Zyte hissed back at her.
"You wouldn't…"
"Just watch yourself," she said, her face splitting into a wicked grin.
"Children…" Link warned.
He slowed Epona to a walk as they neared the stable. Link hopped off Epona's back and helped Zyte get off, she winced visibly as she shifted her wing, the bumpy ride had not helped the fractured bone.
Epona, knowing she was home, gave a loud whinny to announce her presence to the other horses. Malon, who had been in the stable at the time, came hurrying out.
"Link!" she shouted when she had seen him, and immediately ran over and smothered him in a hug. A dull blush rose into his cheeks.
"Where have you been Link? I haven't seen you in ages."
"Been traveling a bit," he said in a crushed voice.
"Oh sorry!" she quickly released him.
"So where's your dad and Ingo?" he asked, gingerly feeling for broken ribs.
"Oh they're both gone for a couple weeks on a delivery run. I'm taking care of the horses until they get back."
"You know Link, if you don't want to introduce Zyte, that's fine with us, we're finding this rather entertaining," Navi said smugly.
"Navi!"
He quickly turned, Navi was floating beside Zyte, who had a very smug look indeed.
"And who is this Link?" Malon asked.
"Er, this is a friend of mine, Malon meet Zyte."
"A pleasure to meet you," Zyte said, bowing slightly.
"Likewise, so what bring you two here?"
"Actually, Zyte's been injured, and since you've been studying medicine I thought you could help."
"Injured? Let's take a look."
She strode over to Zyte and started looking at the cuts on her shoulder.
"Well these don't look too bad, some Teric root should help these heal right up."
Link coughed, "well, that's not the only injury, she also has a fractured wing."
Malon looked confused, "a fractured what? I'm afraid I don't understand."
"A fractured wing," Zyte said softly, stretching out her wing so Malon could see.
Malon's eyes widened, "uh, no offence or anything, but what are you?"
"A Light Soaran," she said simply, her eyes lowering to the ground.
Malon turned to Link, "right, so, how exactly did you meet Zyte?"
"Tell you what, why don't you two discus that while you treat Zyte's wounds."
Malon smiled broadly, "now that sounds great, I haven't had anyone to talk to in a week, I'd love some company." She started for the farm house, humming softly, looking absolutely delighted.
Zyte, on the other hand, looked as if she'd rather be riding Epona through a field of Poes.
"I'm not so sure about this, I mean, she seems nice and everything, but…"
"But nothing, go in there and have a chat, you'll enjoy it, I promise." Zyte still looked hesitant, Link gave her a small push, "just go, I'll be right out here training Epona, I'll even get Navi to stay with you."
"Aw, do I have to?"
Link glared at Navi, "yes you do, and no buts."
Zyte sighed, "Alright, I'm going, but if I start screaming bloody murder you'd better come and see what's wrong or else."
She started walking toward the farm house, Navi floating serenely behind her. Link sighed, he hoped Malon wouldn't give her a reason to scream bloody murder.
Luckily, no screams were heard the rest of the afternoon. Malon had treated Zyte's wounds excellently and had even sewed up the tears in Zyte's tunic. At dinner, Link was treated to a long talk between the two girls, who had clearly become fast friends. This, of course, was before Zyte discovered how much Hylian apples tasted like lecan fruit, and unable to contain her joy at this ate four in ten minutes flat.
Night quickly fell, Link volunteered to sleep in the stable with the horses. His mind however, refused to let him sleep. It kept buzzing with thoughts about the Dark Soarans, Zyte's shadow twisting ability, and the thoughts of a hidden race above the clouds. Finally realizing he wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon, he got up and decided to go for a walk.
Walking out into the slightly chilly night, Link moved out toward the corral to get a better view of the stars. Taking in a deep breath of the night air, he let it out with a sigh. Then he heard a soft humming. Looking for its source, he noticed a silhouette sitting in the crook of a tall tree. He smiled, looks like he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.
Zyte was humming softly, gazing up at the stars.
"You can't sleep either, huh?"
Startled, Zyte nearly fell out of the tree. She glared down at Link, "don't do that! You want me to fracture my wing again right after it's healed?"
"I take it Malon's treatment worked then?"
She stood up on the branch, balancing slightly before giving her wings a flap and taking off. She circled the tree once and landed softly back on the ground.
"You tell me."
She threw back her head and stared up at the clouds, "its really pretty up there, I'd love to show you, I bet Malon would love to go too, there's a healer in my village by the name of Ksumber, I'd bet Malon would be able to learn a lot from him."
"Hoo hoo, yes, a pity that even now someone seeks to destroy it."
They both wheeled to face the voice. Sitting in the tree was a large owl.
"Link, we meet again."
"Kaepora! It's been forever since I've seen you."
"Yes, and yet the news I bring is not good." He turned his large eyes on Zyte. "You see, there has long been a scheme to destroy the Light Soarans."
"What?" Zyte said, looking extremely fearful.
"Yes, that is why I am here, Link, you are to go with Zyte to the Temple of Twilight above the clouds, you will have to find out what you need to do from there."
"You mean you don't know?" Link asked, crossing his arms.
"Hoo hoo, this has only recently been brought to my attention, therefore I do not know much about it."
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly equipped to go flying above the clouds."
"That is why I am presenting you with this." Kaepora extended his wing and plucked a single feather. He dropped it and let it flutter down to Link's feet.
Link reached down and picked it up, "what am I supposed to do with this?"
"Wait."
The feather suddenly disappeared, Link started clawing at his back.
"Hey! Ow, that itches!"
A pair of golden brown wings suddenly appeared on his back.
Zyte held her hands to her mouth, clearly shocked.
"Wow." Link gave his new wings an experimental flap. "Well, this is, different."
"Indeed, if you ever need them to be hidden, just focus on them and they will disappear, do the same to make them reappear. I suggest you leave first thing in the morning, until then, it might be a good idea to get some flying lessons."
With that, Kaepora flapped his own wings and took off into the night. "Hoo hoo, good luck!"
"Well, we might as well get started on those flying lessons, ready to start?"
They spent most of the night practicing, by early morning, Link had gotten quite good at taking off and staying in the air, his landings still needed some work though.
"Well at least the clouds are a lot softer than the ground," Zyte counseled him after a particularly rough landing. It was agreed that Zyte would shadow twist into a Zeira and bring him up there though.
That morning Malon was greeted by a pair of bleary eyed people, both of which quickly made up lies about why the looked so tired.
They had also agreed that they should probably travel a little ways away from the ranch for wind and take off space reasons. And they didn't want Malon to completely freak when a giant bird suddenly appeared in the middle of her pasture.
"You will come and visit sometimes, won't you?" she asked Zyte when she heard they were leaving.
Zyte smiled, "now that I know what's down here you couldn't keep me away even if you tried."
Malon waved them a farewell as Epona trotted out to Hyrule Field, Zyte was already in the air above them, clearly enjoying being able to fly again.
A good three miles from the ranch, Zyte swooped down on them to tell them this was as good a place as any to take off.
Zyte shadow twisted into a Zeira, a large, fiery red bird that sported a long tail and a pair feathery, tufted horns not unlike Kaepora's on top of its head. The large talons and hooked beak looked ready to tear anything that came too close.
"I'm guessing Zeiras aren't peaceful, are they?"
"Nope, they're pretty deadly predators, they mostly like to eat Guays, but they will go after Light Soarans if they're not being careful."
Link settled onto the Zeira's back, his legs hanging down on either side of its neck, looking like he was not going to enjoy this at all.
"Alright, here we go." Zyte spread her wings and gave them a flap, raising them off the ground.
Link quickly shut his eyes, he didn't like this at all. They continued to rise, Link suddenly felt liked he had passed through a rather brief rain storm.
"You can open your eyes Link, we're above the clouds."
Link cautiously opened his eyes, finding himself surrounded by a sea of white.
"So where is this Twilight Temple?" he shouted into the wind.
"It's on the other side of my village, no one has been there in at least a two hundred years though, but I want to pick up some stuff from my home first, and tell everyone I'm not dead."
Zyte turned a sharp left.
"You'll start seeing it in a few hours, until then, I suggest you enjoy the view.
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Authors note: Hey all, what do you all think so far? Until the next chapter, keep reviewing, I love to hear what you think!
Oh, and parry, if you want some good stories, some of my personal favorites are Misplaced by Saranomy, a great FFX fic. The Infinite Gate by Red Chaos Mage and The Way the Wings of Time Blow by Aria Zephyr, a pair of fics coinciding with each other. The Legend of Zelda: The Golden Land by Jedi SSJ, a great fic with two Links! ^_^ And finally The Dream Walker and StarCrossed Souls: Twilight of the Spirit Sword by Hero Genkaku, StarCrossed Souls being an awesome Soul Calibur II fic.
