Worlds Apart - Part II

by Miss Lydia

Ganondorf has free reign of Hyrule and is slowly destroying the land. To his surprise, seven years after he gained power, his sworn enemies reappear and strike back! Link and the sorcerers set out to save Hyrule! (Read Worlds Apart - Part I first!)

33. Chapter 30

*sigh*

Well, I'll bet most of you have given up on me by this point. I feel so awful, making you all wait so long for even one chapter. Writer's block is a rotten thing. Plus that cursed school and work thing... Curse 'em, I say!! There are times in life when I wish I really COULD throw fireballs.

And then there's that writer's block problem I have... Even when I DO have time to write, I'm usually plagued and mocked by my lack of ideas.

But, luckily, there are times like...yesterday...when the ideas suddenly flow in all at once, and I stay up until 3 am typing.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I'm sorry to put you through this. Thanks for sticking with me.

I'm sure this chapter will be to your satisfaction. ...I'm sure it'll be worth the long wait. *sly smile*

Much love,

Lydia

P.S. Somebody asked me in the review section if I was the one that was drawing the Zelda Infinite comics. The answer is yes. It's just something I do for the folks at the boards. I hope you're enjoying them. I pretend to be able to draw, and they all pretend to be entertained, so it's a good relationship. *laughs*

...You people should leave your e-mails if you're gonna ask me a question. How else am I supposed to answer, silly? ^_^

*****For a better formatted, colored-text-in-some-places, the-HTML-actually-works version of this chapter, please cruise over to http://www.zelda-infinite.com to read it. It's under my GR name.*****

*~*~*~*~*

bWorlds Apart

Part II

By Miss Lydia/Goddess Rinoa

Chapter 30/b

Link sighed impatiently as he silently finger-drummed on the windowsill, glaring at the eastern horizon in a threatening way. He had promised Zelda that he wouldn't leave until at ileast/i sunrise, but that sun just didn't seem to want to rise on this particular morning. The lingering darkness mocked him. Instead of making himself useful in any way while he waited, he just sat there in the chair by the window and continued to stare at the horizon, silently saying to the sun, "If you don't rise soon, I'm gonna come over there and imake/i you rise."

When finally convinced that the sun was ignoring his threats, the exhausted Hylian, who hadn't slept a wink all night, glanced around the upstairs bedroom of Lon Lon Ranch. Princess Zelda had fallen asleep at the table, using her arm as a pillow. Nabooru had slumped down to the floor at some point and fallen asleep. Malon had stayed awake longer, but had eventually stretched across the foot of the bed Gordon was resting in and dozed off.

When Link caught sight of Gordon's broken glasses resting on the bedside table, thoughts of the events of the day before yet again entered his mind. They had been coming and going all night. Most of all, he remembered the hateful way Lydia had glared at him with those red, possessed eyes, and how awful he had felt when he could do nothing for her. He knew her soul - the soul of the girl he had known all this time - was still in there somewhere, in torment over what was happening to her. He wanted nothing more than to take that pain away from her.

He wondered where she was...what she was doing right now.

He took another large bite out of the loaf of bread that he was passing off as his breakfast. He glanced down at it, and another wave of depresson swept over him. What was the fun of eating a meal when Lydia wasn't there to constantly demand her share of it?

With a sigh, the boy's gaze once again landed on the eastern horizon, and he continued to wait.

*~*~*~*

Link wasn't the only one watching the eastern horizon that morning. Ganondorf stood in his tower, as he always did, leaning against the window frame. He had his thick, muscular arms crossed and the expression on his face showed he was in deep thought. His actions the day before had been completely successful. He glanced over at his prize.

Standing at another window, not looking outside but rather at her own reflection, was Lydia. Her red eyes stared ahead at herself, and her hand, every once in a while, went up and twirled the ends of her recently shortened hair. Every time her fingertips touched the butchered hair, her mouth curled with annoyance.

"Hey," she said finally. "Can I ask a question?"

The Evil King turned to face her, but said nothing.

Lydia also turned, and her red eyes stared right into Ganondorf's. "Did you ihave/i to cut my hair? I liked it just as it was."

Ganondorf chuckled, looked out the window, and said, "Now that I think about it, I guess it wasn't really fair to you. But Maya had long, beautiful hair. It was sort of her pride and joy. So, naturally, I wanted nothing more than to slice it all off." He smirked and looked back at Lydia, who continued to glare in his direction. "I didn't really get the chance with her, since I killed her too quickly. I guess I saw another chance in you."

"Gee, ithanks/i," Lydia grunted, and turned to lean her back against the cold wall. "How insensitive and obsessive of you."

"...Most of my underlings wouldn't dare use that tone with me," Ganondorf said darkly.

"I'm not one of your little 'underlings'." Lydia shot back instantly. "Make no mistake. My power rivals yours, and I know you know it. I only help you because it's beneficial to me. I want the Triforce just as much as you do." She flipped her bangs aside, and the mark of the Triforce of Wisdom - which had yet to fade completely, flickered slightly. "If you tell me to go and kill off that Hylian boy with the Triforce of Courage, then I'll do it. ...Of course, I'll probably take his Triforce piece for imyself/i. After that, who knows? I just might come after iyou/i."

"That's enough out of you, witch!" he shouted. "You're working for ime/i!!"

The sorceress yawned loudly, as mockingly as she could.

Ganondorf trembled with anger, then took a deep breath and rested his cool hand on his forehead. "Calm down... calm down..." After several silent moments, he swallowed his pride.

"All right," he said, "I have a task for you today."

"Joy," the girl replied, turning to him again. "And what would that be?"

The Evil King's eye twitched. "Today, that Link is going to travel through the desert to the Spirit Temple and attempt to awaken the final sage. I want you to meet him there. Then, I want you to bring him here."

"Why?"

"...Because I want to ikill/i him, you stupid girl."

"I could just kill him outright and be done with it. Save myself a trip."

"But I don't itrust/i you. You're a scheming little thing."

"All right, all right, old man. I'll bring him here, if it'll make you happy."

Ganondorf closed his eyes, to keep himself from attacking in anger. Even under his power, she could be ithis/i defiant? "...The sun will rise soon. You should leave now if you're to beat him there. There's an anti-magic barrier hovering in the sky around this tower, but you should be immune to it now."

"Right then. I'll be going now... imy Lord/i..." The sorceress stepped away from the window several paces, then swirled around to face it. "font color=9966FFbDamu Brass!!/b/font"

Ganondorf jumped away as a ball of red light shot from her hands and blasted not only the window, but some of the surrounding wall, out of existance. With another word of magic, the girl had taken flight and was sailing out throught the hole. The Evil King ran to the gaping hole and shook a fist in the air. "This castle has idoors/i, you know!!" he screamed after her.

Angrily, he swirled around and pressed his back to some of the remaining wall, and pulled at his hair, snarling like an animal. "That...little... whelp!" He released his hair and threw his fists into the wall, then closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "...This is only temporary," he told himself. "Just bear with it... It'll all be worth it... Patience is a virtue..." Although, if she kept up ithat/i kind of behavior, maiming would become a virtue as well in the Evil King's eyes.

*~*~*~*

After too long, a single ray of sunlight finally worked up the courage to poke itself up over the horizon and stretch across the dark sky.

"Close enough," Link whispered to himself, and promptly rose from his chair. He silently moved around the room, gathering up his gear. As he strapped the Master Sword to his back, a tired, raspy voice spoke.

"Leaving already?"

Link, a bit startled, turned to find the source. It was Gordon. His eyes were open and he was smiling at the Hylian. Link couldn't help but return the smile as he walked over to the bed.

"I can't believe you're awake already. How do you feel?"

"...A bit beaten up."

"Do you think you'll be able to move soon?"

"Not sure. Magical damage is a bit different than just getting kicked around."

Link was silent for a moment. "...So you remember what happened?" he asked. "You know what happened to her?"

Gordon looked up at the ceiling. "It was ipretty/i obvious." His bangs fell to the side, exposing his forehead. The Triforce mark with the empty Triforce of Wisdom had faded completely during the night.

The Hylian clenched his fists and stared directly at the floor. How could he let something like this happen? ...If she was of her right mind, what would Lydia say about it?

The sorcerer saw the look on his face, and promptly reached over and grabbed his hand. "Hey hey hey, come on. Don't be so upset about it."

Link looked at him as if he were delusional. Maybe he had a fever.

"Think about it," Gordon continued. "I'm alive. What does that tell you?"

"...Um... You're damn lucky?"

"Had she been one hundred percent under Ganondorf's control, I'm sure she would have killed me without a second thought. But she ididn't/i. She stopped herself just enough. ...We still have a chance of fixing this."

"...Yeah, I guess." He still didn't sound very convinced.

"...Where are you off to?"

"Since Lydia will probably come and find ime/i, I'm going to get started at the Spirit Temple. Maybe she'll appear."

"And if she does?"

Link was silent for a moment, then admitted, "...I don't know."

Gordon let go of Link's hand. "You go. I'll probably catch up soon."

As Link turned to leave, the sorcerer added one thing. "...Just be careful. She may still have the Triforce of Wisdom."

Link nodded, then quietly slipped from the room.

*~*~*~*

The sun was about halfway up now. The worn wooden door of the ranch house creaked open and Link stepped out into the young sunlight. After taking a moment for a good stretch, he walked across the path and into the stable. Epona was standing in the corner stall, obviously eagar to get out. It wasn't often that she was penned. As soon as Link entered the stables, Epona raised her head and stared at him. She lowered her head again, grabbed a mouthful of hay from the ground, and stretched her muscular neck out over the gate toward him.

Link smiled sweetly. "Thanks, Epona," he said, "but I already ate, I'm afraid."

The majestic horse stared at him for another moment, then began chewing on the hay.

The Hylian reached up and started to rub her nose. Epona hummed contently. "I didn't really get the chance to thank you yesterday," Link told her. "Charging into that armed mob of Gerudo and cutting a path... it was fabulous."

The horse threw her head back and shook her mane proudly.

Link unlocked the gate and let himself in, then proceeded to strap the saddle onto Epona's back. "Actually, we have to go back there today. Hopefully, this time, we can slip by without trouble." Taking a gentle hold of the reins, he led Epona out of the stables and into the sunlight.

Once outside, the horse immediately jerked the reins out of Link's hand and charged a few lengths ahead. She neighed loudly and jumped about, kicking her legs, happy to be out of that crammed stall. She didn't stop until Link grabbed her reins again and yanked her head down. He stared her right in the eye. "Don't make so much noise! You're gonna wake-- Hey, don't you look at me like that."

The horse playfully hit him in the torso a couple of times, almost knocking him over. Link righted himself and gave her head a playful shove. "Quit it. Behave yourself." He agily swung himself up into the saddle. "You're like a child sometimes."

Epona twisted her neck around and looked at him with those big brown eyes.

Link sighed, then reached forward and started to scratch behind one of her ears. "Hey, I know you're just trying to cheer me up. But you have to understand that I'm really eager to get going today." He smiled. "Okay?"

The horse stared for another moment, then flared her nostrils once, stamped a foot, and turned her gaze forward.

Link patted her neck. "Good girl. Let's get going!"

With a strike of the whip, Epona charged off, kicking up dust and dirt as she sprinted down the path and out of Lon Lon Ranch.

*~*~*~*

Nervani yawned loudly and stretched out in her chair. She stared at her breakfast dully, poking at it with her fork. The dining room was absolutely buzzing this morning. At least half of the population of the Fortress was eating here today, all talking with each other about the events of the day before. As Nervani listened, she heard broken parts of the story from several different clusters of women. Very little of it was related to the truth - parts of the story had been exaggerated, ranging anywhere from how the sorceress girl was part demon to how that Hylian boy had escaped only because he was eleven feet tall and had arms like tree trunks.

Finally deciding that she wasn't hungry, Nervani abandoned her breakfast and started wandering through the brightly-lit corridors, eventually deciding to go outside and get some fresh air. As she walked, she remembered the events of the day before. Ganondorf had brought an unconscious girl to the Fortress and had given strict instructions - she was to be left alone, and if anyone came for her, they were to be killed. They were supposed to be especially watchful for a boy with similarly small ears and a Hylian dressed in green. ...Sure enough, those two had shown up. Nervani only had the pleasure of meeting and clashing swords with the Hylian, but she heard that the other boy had been attacked by the sorceress before she escaped the Fortress so violently.

Nervani had been returning to her quarters when she had heard the commotion outside, caused by that same Hylian as he tried to escape with his injured friend. Having known that the bridge had been repaired, she grabbed her longbow and got a head start, travelling high on the cliffs to avoid being seen. She reached the ravine just as the Hylian was crossing on horseback. A couple well-aimed arrows had cut the bridge ropes, allowing him to get away without pursuit.

She still didn't completely understand why she had so readily helped him like that. But at the same time, she didn't regret it.

That wasn't the end of it, either. That morning, just before she had gone to the dining room for breakfast, Nervani had happened to glance out the window at just the right time to see the sorceress girl from the day before fly overhead, toward the desert. Normally, her duties to require her to report this to the rest of the women in the Fortress, and possibly to Ganondorf as well... but Nervani decided to pretend she hadn't seen anything.

As she stepped out into the morning air, Nervani started to wonder what Ganondorf had wanted with that girl. ...She started to wonder why the hell he was going the things he was doing nowadays. He seemed so misguided, as if he had lost all sanity somewhere down the road. Maybe that was why she was disobeying orders - Ganondorf's strange behavior was making her feel rebellious.

The Gerudo's eyes wandered until they fell upon the gate to the desert. It was a great wooden gate that blocked the path to the desert, which was the doorway to the sacred Spirit Temple. The gate was abandoned, as entry to the desert was usually forbidden. But this morning, it wasn't. Standing there, pawing at the ground impatiently, was the same horse from yesterday. And staring intently through the holes in the gate was that same sword-weilding Hylian.

Nervani's mouth hung open for a moment, unable to believe that this boy had wandered back here iwillingly/i. Deciding that she'd try to redeem herself for yesterday's defeat, just for fun, she turned around and climbed some vines that hung down the side of the Fortress, then made her way as silently as possible across the roof and onto the clifftop, following it until she reached the gate. She slowly and carefully slid her scimitar from her belt sash, took a breath, then leapt down onto the path.

The horse was startled and reared up on her back legs as Nevani landed on the dirt path and prepared to duel. But to her surprise, her opponent had completely disappeared. She looked side to side, but there was no sign of him. Where could he have...?

Just as she asked herself that very question, she felt the cool tip of a blade press into her bare back.

"Don't move," a male voice warned.

Nervani smiled and shook her head, and raised her arms in surrender. "Once again, I'm at a loss, Sword Boy." She turned her head to look at him.

The Hylian stared at her for a moment, then retracted his sword and quickly sheathed it. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you."

Nervani slid her sword back through her sash. "That's another score for you. I'll catch you off guard one of these days."

Link smiled. "Not in a hundred years."

"What are you idoing/i here? I thought after yesterday you'd never come back here."

"Actually," Link said, lowering his voice and looking through the gate again, "I have business in the Spirit Temple."

Nervani nodded. "I see. It's about that girl from yesterday, right?"

Link suddenly looked at her. "Have...Have you seen her?" he asked eagerly.

"...So, she's not the reason you're going? Um... Yes, I saw her just this morning. She flew overhead, and then into the desert."

The Hylian gazed west again with hardened eyes. "I iknew/i it."

"You can probably catch her if you hurry."

Link looked at Nervani intently. "Can you get this gate open for me?"

Nervani raised her hands. "Oh, heavens, no. This path to the desert is supposed to be completely sealed, as per Ganondorf's orders. If I open the gates, it'll be painfully obvious that I'm being rebellious and may have my fingernails torn off. BUT!" Nervani patted Link's left shoulder heartily. "There's a sneakier way. ...But you'll have to leave the horse behind. Horses don't do very well in the desert."

Link gazed over at Epona, who was scanning the ground, looking for grass. "I'm...not sure I should--"

"No worries," Nervani interrupted. "I'll make sure she's taken care of."

"Actually... Could you just make sure she gets back to the Field? She can get herself home from there."

Nervani raised her finger and pointed right at Link's nose. "Only if you promise to give me a rematch sometime."

"All right, you're on," Link said, momentarily amazed by how many personality similarities this woman shared with Lydia. "...Of course, you ido/i know that I'll win anyway, right?"

"Not if I have any say." Nervani then pointed behind Link, toward a ladder that was resting against the right-side stone reenforcement of the desert gate, then started over there. "C'mon, this way."

Nervani started to climb without hesitation, and Link followed, being careful to keep his eyes on his own hands, so he wouldn't embarrass himself. Nervani's full figure was... a little more noticeable from this angle.

After they reached the top without embarrassing incident, Nervani wandered to the railing overlooking the desert, then reached somewhere out of sight on her person and produced a coiled rope.

Link, a bit bewildered, looked the scantily-clad Gerudo up and down. "Where were you ikeeping/i that?!"

Nervani punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could, then tied one end of the rope to the railing, and let the rest of it fall over the side. It was long enough to almost touch the ground on the other side of the gate. "I'll leave this here, so you can get back up. Nobody comes up here, so it probably won't be bothered."

"Thanks," Link said as he swung himself over the railing. "I really appreciate this."

"Hang on, hang on, there's something you should know about the desert. There are two tests on the way. The first is to cross the river of quicksand. After that, follow the posts we've placed. Then the second test - you must be led by an invisible guide, only visible through the...Eye of Truth or something." Nervani sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm afraid it's rather vague, but you can handle it, right?"

Link smiled confidently. "I'm sure I'll manage."

"Okay, then!" she said, giving him another pat on the shoulder. "Stay out of trouble, Sword Boy."

After getting a good grip on the well-made rope, Link replied, "Can't guarantee that." Without further words, he quickly slipped down the length of the rope to the sands below. When he looked up again, Nervani had disappeared.

As he turned and walked away from the wooden and stone gate, toward the desert that expanded out infinitely in front of him, he had passing thoughts of how well Nervani and Lydia would get along. They were the same in so many ways.

He immediately remembered that if Lydia had actually been there, she would have screamed at him for not focusing on what he was supposed to do. Keeping that in mind, he pushed all other thoughts away, glued his eyes on the forboding desert, and started in.

*~*~*~*

After several minutes of walking in what he ihoped/i was a straight line, the scenery - sand, sand, sand, and a little bit of dirt - hadn't changed. The wind was blowing fiercely, forcing Link to keep his arm up over his eyes constantly, and that still didn't protect them completely from the continuous bombardment of blowing sand. His boots sank into the dunes with every step - it took a lot of physical effort to move. The Hylian was already half exhausted.

Just as he was considering taking a short break, he caught sight of something up ahead. It was a...wooden crate? What was something like ithat/i doing out here?

As soon as he reached the crate, he pulled himself up onto it, to escape the constant pull of the sand for but a minute. While he rested his tired legs, he couldn't help but notice the river of moving sand that stretched out before him, just a few yards past where the crate was half-buried in the sand. This had to be the river of quicksand Nevari had mentioned. It was one of the strangest natural occurances Link had ever seen... if it even iwas/i natural. He looked down the length of the river that he could see, but saw no way to cross it.

He realized how much he had taken the sorcerers' flight magic for granted.

Just then, his sharp, somewhat sand-filled eyes caught sight of something red flapping in the distance, across the river. It was some kind of flag, on a thick, short wooden pole. At the flag's base was another wooden crate like the one he had parked himself upon. Then Link realized that this river wasn't as wide as it seemed to be. His Longshot might, just imight/i, be able to reach the other side. He forced himself to stand and fumbled around under his shield for where his Longshot was stored. When he found it, he took aim as best as he could as the sand continued to get in his eyes and blow his hair in all directions.

"C'mon, c'mon..." he whispered under his breath, then let the chain go.

With a ithunk/i, the end of the chain took a hold within the wood of the opposite crate, and with a flick of the wrist, Link was sailing over the river of sand. Since it was so hard to see, he couldn't find a place to plant his feet for a smooth landing, and ended up going right over the crate and rolling several feet before stopping. After muttering a curse word, he crawled back to the crate, gathered up the Longshot, and put it away.

Link stood up and looked around, wondering where to go next. Everything looked so incredibly the same, save of course for the red flag next to him. Then he noticed another flag a little farther into the desert. He remembered what Nervani had said - after the river of sand, follow the flags. Leaving the river behind, he ventered out into the open again, wading through the sand, fighting the fierce winds. After what seemed like a longer time than it actually was, he finally laid his hands on the wooden pole of the flag, and started looking around for the next one. As soon as he caught sight of a flicker of red, he continued on.

This continued for quite a while. Link wandered from flag to flag at least fifteen times, and in no straight line, either. The placement of the flags felt very random to him. That was, of course, partially due to the disorientation of wandering around in this place. He was getting extremely tired, and was doubting that he could go much farther. And yet something new refused to appear. Link began to worry that nothing was going to change - that he'd be wandering out in this desert following a false path that went in circles until he starved to death.

But thankfully, something large suddenly appeared up ahead. It was a brick building, barely a story high, with a stone path winding up and around it. It looked like a large stepping stone.

When Link pulled himself out of the sand and set foot on the stone, he stopped to rest against the north side of the building, which was blocking the wind. He picked sand out of his ears and shook it out of his hair and clothes. What a lousy place this was. He hoped the temple wasn't too much farther away.

After only less than five minutes, Link stood up again. He would have rested longer if thoughts of Lydia hadn't plagued him. He kept imaging her standing over him, calling him lazy, pushing him to continue on. Right after that, he would always see that angry glare with those red, possessed eyes.

He had to get to the temple inow/i.

Deciding he needed a better view of the surroundings, he walked up the pathway that wound up to the top of the building, once again getting attacked by the blowing sand. As soon as he set foot on the roof, he stiffened slightly and his hand shot up to the hilt of his sword reflexively. He could hear something - much like the familiar sound of a Poe hovering around. But he couldn't see anything. There was just the sound.

Then he noticed the plaque on the roof, on the north side. It had some kind of writing on it, and he cautiously walked closer to see it. It looked like old Hylian. It said something like "One with the Eye of Truth shall be guided into the Spirit Temple by an inviting ghost.".

So that's what Nevari meant by the 'invisible guide'.

Still keeping one hand on his sword, Link reached into his tunic and pulled out the Lens of Truth. As he gazed through it, the source of the sound was revealed. It was indeed a Poe. As soon as it realized it had been seen, it started moving away quickly. Suddenly, a whispy voice spoke.

"iI'll be your guide on your way, but coming back, I won't play! I'll show you the way to go, so follow me and don't be slow!/i"

Without hesitating, Link ran foward and leapt from the roof, softly landing in the sand below. Forcing his legs to move, he chased the Poe. It continued to fly away, changing direction abruptly on several occasions, almost causing Link to lose his balance. The Poe led him through the sands, seemingly aimlessly, for several minutes. Eventually, it suddenly stopped, turned around, and sped back exactly the way it had come, following its own path. Link would have followed if he hadn't seen the two Gerudo flags side by side just past where the Poe had stopped and turned around. This must be where he needed to go. Without turning back, he ran past the flags and continued ahead.

The wind slowed, and eventually stopped, making the sun visable once again. Before he knew it, Link found himself standing at the mouth of a ihuge/i clearing, surrounded by stone and sandy walls. There were huge rocks, a small oasis on one side, and one of those Triforce platforms that had become oh-so familiar by this point sitting in the sand over on the north side. South of the platform was a huge trilithon - two enormous stones standing vertically, with a third sitting on top horizontally. Behind the trilithon was an absolutely enormous building constructed of brick and sand. Link squinted from the sun, gazing at the mountainous structure at the other end of this wide area. There was an interesting carving in the front of it, in the shape of a woman. Below her was a large open door.

The Spirit Temple.

Feeling confident, having survived that awful desert, Link sprinted forward toward the Temple, determined not to waste any more time. He hadn't gotten very far when his sixth sense warned him of something, and he jumped to the side as a green...thing...about a foot high, with spikes sticking out of it, dug itself up into the open air, and started charging after him. Not exactly seeing the fun in that thing digging into his leg, Link charged away from it in a tangent direction, and the green thing sailed past him and eventually burrowed back into the ground.

Before he could even think he had lost it, Link heard another one come up nearby, and had to change direction again to avoid it. Before that one had even burrowed down again, a third came up, then a fourth and fifth. Several came up in front of him as well. Link quickly realized that he was relatively surrounded. Now, obviously, these things weren't capable of killing him or anything. But if they all came at him at once, as they were obviously planning to do, judging by their movements, it sure would hurt like hell.

Not exactly in the mood to waste time with these things, Link simply stopped and waited. Within a matter of seconds after he stopped running, the little green things and their spikes all charged and closed in quickly. Before they could throw themselves into their target in a kamikaze fashion, he swung his arm up and around, then hit the ground hard, releasing Din's Fire. The dome of flames expanded and blew all the little green monsters away. By the time the flames had dispersed and the green guys were retreating into the sand again, their target had already run ahead and out of reach.

Link continued to run, sprinting under the trilithon, and didn't stop until he had run up the stone steps of the Spirit Temple. He stood with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. What in the world iwere/i those? They must have been Leevers. Having never been in the desert before, he'd never seen them before, but had heard about them. They were more annoying than dangerous, but if you get enough of them together... Yikes.

No matter, however. Link had work to do. After the short rest, he started into the Spirit Temple, ducking out of the gaze of the brutal sun.

He had to stand still for several moments while his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. It wasn't actually dark in the temple, but compared to the desert, it seemed so at first. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a wide staircase in front of him. On either side of the staircase was a tall tablet, with a cobra head on top. On the tablet was more old Hylian writing.

It seemed that once one walked up that small, carpeted stairway, there would be two ways to go - left or right. Link wanted to see what was up there, so he started forward. After taking a few steps, one of the two small clay pots that rested on either side of the stairway suddenly lifted off the ground. After hovering for less than a second, it threw itself at Link. The Hylian threw his head to the side as the pot whizzed by his ear. It crashed into the wall behind him and shattered.

"W-What the?!" Link shouted out of surprise. As he stared at the broken remains of the pot, he heard the second pot take flight, and had to jump away again to avoid getting hit square in the nose. The second one met a similar multi-pieced fate.

..."'Haunted Wasteland', indeed...," Link said.

Link made quick work of the stairway, and glanced to his left and right. It did indeed look like there were two ways to go, but it also looked like neither would be of much use to him. To his left was a wall with a small hole in it, and he knew perfectly well that there was no way his adult body would fit through that thing. To his right was a large block - at least ten feet high - with a crescent moon shape carved into it. That block was completely blocking a hallway. There was no way he could budge it if he tried - the thing had to be fifteen feet high and just as wide. Maybe a fireball could reduce it to pebbles - but both people he knew that were capable of that kind of thing weren't in commission at the moment.

Then Link remembered the cobra-headed tablets. He ran back down the stairs and up to the tall tablet on the side of the room with the small hole. He quickly translated the old Hylian into the present-day language in his head, then read it aloud to himself.

"If you want to proceed to the past, you should return here with the pure heart of a child."

So he would have to come back here as a child. But even if he were to return the Master Sword to its place, how would he get back to the temple? Even iif/i he were able to sneak past the Gerudos, he'd never make it through the desert.

Link wandered across the room to the tablet that stood where the giant block was. He read it aloud.

"If you want to travel to the future, you should return here with the power of silver from the past."

That confirmed it for him - the only way he could get anywhere in this place was to come back as a child. Although, that didn't solve his problem, either. Without one of the sorcerers there to fly him over the desert, he'd never make it back as a child.

Link turned around and left the temple, squinting against the bright sunlight, wondering aloud what he was supposed to do now. He bit his lip in thought, and eventually decided that he'd go back to the the Pedestal of Time and decide what to do then. He began to walk. As he neared the trilithon that towered over him, he suddenly got a bad feeling, and looked around. Something compelled him to look upward.

What he saw hit him like a punch in the face. Someone was standing on the top stone of the trilithon. Her blue clothes and short brown hair blew in the wind, and the strong sunlight reflected from the lenses of her glasses, but even that didn't hide the red eyes that were glaring menacingly down at him.

Before Link could even call out to her, Lydia leapt from the stone, using the power of a flight spell to propel herself downward at such a speed that Link couldn't even move before she was upon him. She held a ball of white light in her hand, and rammed that hand into Link's torso before he could get away. Link felt the spell spread through him even faster than pain from the blow to his chest, and everything went black.

*~*~*~*

Link slowly started to come to, and forced his eyes to open, ignoring the stars that danced before them. Things were blurry at first and he wasn't sure where he was. When his vision cleared and his body started to regain its coordination, he became aware of his surroundings, and felt his stomach drop. He found himself high in the air, watching the bleak landscape of the destroyed Market passing under him. He also realized that he was being carried by two slim arms.

So that was it. Instead of killing him, Lydia had been ordered to take him to Ganon's Tower. ...That spell must have been a sleep spell. He thought it had looked familiar. Lydia had used it once to stop a bar fight at the Tavern.

Making sure not to move, to make it seem that he was still asleep, Link wracked his brain, trying to think of a way out of this. He couldn't let Lydia take him all the way to the Tower, or they'd both be in serious trouble.

The only way out of this situation would require falling, so Link waited for a good opportunity to get himself out of Lydia's grasp. He needed somewhere he could land and still be able to get up immediately afterward, or else there'd be no point to it. He had to be able to stand and run in order for this to work.

Soon enough, the remains of the Temple of Time became visible. In earlier times, the temple had been surrounded by trees. Those trees were dead now, but they still stood. That was better than nothing, and Link knew it was his best chance.

Link also knew that even though Ganondorf had control over Lydia's mind, she was still Lydia, and was probably still viciously ticklish. As soon as she was passing over one of those dead trees, Link sprung into action. He swung his arm up and rammed his fingers into her ribcage as hard as he could. She screamed in shock and dropped him.

He fell for a distance before he started bouncing off the branches of the tree. He tried to swing from branches whenever he could, and succeeded about half the time. Sometimes he managed to grab a branch to slow the fall, only to get rammed in the stomach by the next one. Sometimes the branches he managed to grab simply broke. Plus, the ground came up and hit him before he was prepared, and it knocked the wind out of him. Although in a lot of pain, Link forced himself up immediately, and started to run for the Pedestal.

He bounded over rocks and rubble, tripping several times and cutting up his hands stopping his falls on the rocks, not stopping for anything. If he stopped, Lydia would get to him before he was ready.

The Pedestal appeared like a rising sun, and Link sprinted for it, unsheathing the Master Sword as he ran. He skidded to a stop right before it, and turned around quickly.

Lydia was iright/i there. Link yelled in surprise in spite of himself. He had expected her to be following, but hadn't expected her to be standing right behind him when he stopped. But there she stood, glaring at him with those red eyes, with her arms crossed. She was so close that her nose was practically touching his. Link could feel her breath when she spoke.

"...Okay...," she said angrily. "Ganondorf told me to deliver you to him ialive/i. And I iwas/i going to. But now you've just plain pissed me off. Looks like Ganondorf will just have to deal with a little disappointment."

She reached up and grabbed his shirt collar, and pulled him even closer to her. "Do you have any last requests before I extinguish your insignificant, yet troublesome little life?"

Link swallowed hard. Now or never.

"Actually, I do have a final request."

In a completely unexpected move, Link swung his free arm around Lydia and pulled her against him, holding her tightly as he used his sword arm to ram the Master Sword down into the Pedestal of Time.

"Come back to me!" he shouted.

Lydia shouted angrily and tried to pull away as the blue light rose around them, but Link held onto her with an absolute deathgrip. There was no way in hell he was going to let her go now. She struggled and clawed at him and was no doubt going to start blasting off spells any second now, but he still wouldn't loosen his hold even the smallest bit. Everything depended on this. After a moment, everything went white.

Things darkened down again and the wind died away, and they were once again surrounded by the strong walls of the Temple of Time, the Master Sword again resting quietly. Link slowly let go of the sword.

The girl had stopped struggling. Her forehead was lowered against Link's shoulder, her fists up against his chest, as they had been when she was trying to get away. She stood perfectly still.

Link stood quietly as well, saying nothing. Just waiting. He had a theory that Ganondorf would have no control over Lydia's child body, but he wasn't well schooled in the ways of magic and didn't know for certain. He waited patiently, to see what had happened. If she was still under his control, Link would be in a lot of trouble.

Finally, Lydia made a noise. It was a quiet, weak little sob.

She started to shake. Her knees gave out and she slumped to the floor, and Link sat down with her and held her as she started to sob loudly and uncontrollably, clinging to him with everything she had. Link smiled and stroked her long-again hair as the girl's tears soaked the front of his shirt. He had been right - Lydia was herself again, at least for now.

After several straight minutes of loud crying, Lydia finally started to calm down. Eventually she worked up enough effort to speak.

"...Did I kill him?" she whispered.

Link knew right away that she was talking about Gordon. "No," he replied. "He's going to be fine."

Lydia started to cry again. "I couldn't stop myself! I couldn't help it! I tried so hard to stop, but I couldn't! I.. I.."

"It's all right. Shh."

"No, it's not! No no no!!" She pulled her face from his shirt front and looked at him with her normal green eyes. "This is how it's gonna happen!!"

Link was a bit bewildered. "...How what's going to happen?"

"That dream! That horrible dream! It's exactly like that! Having no control over my own body! The dream's gonna come true!" She sobbed again and sank back into Link's arms. "...I don't want you to die!"

Both were silent for several minutes, save for Lydia's exhausted crying. Link tried to think of something to say. He knew she was right - it could very well happen. But he also knew how strong she was.

"...Nothing's set in stone, Lyd. We can still change the future."

He felt her shake her head.

"Yes, we can," he continued. "You're not alone in this. We can overcome it together."

Lydia was silent for a while, then asked, "...How can you be so confident? How can you just iknow/i I'll be able to stop myself when that time comes?"

Link smiled. "Because I have faith in you."

She lifted her head and looked at him. "That is so corny," she said whith a slight smile. The look on his face was so kind and sincere that she couldn't help but feel better and more confident herself. "...Okay," she whispered. "I'll try to be strong."

The boy smiled again and patted her head like the child she was. "That's my girl."

Lydia shoved him. "Hey, I may not look like it right now, but I'm seventeen years old. Don't treat me like a kid!"

"But you so often act like one, it's hard to keep track sometimes."

"S-Shut up! I do not! I am perfectly..." Lydia stopped, smiled at Link, and threw herself into his arms again. "You're so wonderful."

"I try."

Lydia eventually pulled away and wiped the tears from her face. After a tired sigh, she put a hand on her chest and frowned.

"I don't have it in this young body," she whispered, "...but I...took the Triforce of Wisdom from him. I remember how it felt. I could feel the new power, but at the same time, I could feel the sorrows and pains of the people of ages past." She paused and looked up at Link. "It's so burdensome... How can you and Gordon put up with it all the time? Or Zelda for that matter?"

He smirked at her. "What a worldly statement. I guess your wisdom has gone up a few notches from rock-bottom since getting a hold of that thing."

Lydia threw her finger out and pointed right at his nose. "iUncalled for!/i" She lowered her arm again. "...Seriously, though..."

"Don't worry so much. Just think of carrying that burden as your chance to make the world better. That's what I've always done." He smiled. "It works."

She smiled and nodded as her eyes wandered over to the majestic Master Sword, resting peacefully. It was then that she caught sight of something viciously out of place - the same pink ribbon that she remembered tying her hair back with. It was tied around the hilt of the Master Sword, the same way she had tied it to her own sword after swearing to save Nabooru.

Lydia looked at Link, her eyes dancing with emotion. "What's that?" she asked.

Link looked at the floor, his face turning red. "Nothing," he said quickly. "I-I just... didn't want to forget to return it to you. That's all."

The girl looked at him for several moments, then smiled, her heart melting. If Link had one flaw, it was that he was a rotten liar. But it was obvious that he was being bashful, so she decided she'd spare him the embarrassment for now. She diverted her gaze to the floor for a moment in thought, then said, "So... we have business in the Spirit Temple, right? We have to get through that small hole."

"You know about that?" Link asked.

"I got there long enough before you did to have time to look around first. We need to get something from this time in order to get through that temple." She took hold of Link's hand and started to pull him. "We can't waste any time. The sooner we awaken the final sage, the sooner I...er... iwe/i...can go and rip Ganondorf a new one. He deserves no less for chopping my hair off. Big jerk-faced stupid-head."

As she continued pulling him along behind her, Link smiled. There had never been a time when he appreciated this girl more than he did right then. Things definitely would work out. She was determined to beat this, and Link knew he'd be right there with her, and nothing made him happier.

*~*~*~*

It was mid-afternoon now. The sun was high, beating down mercilessly on the already hot sand. The desert was relatively silent, save for the few crows that occupied the skies overhead, along with the small girl that was flying toward the Spirit Temple.

"Gaah...," she moaned loudly over the rushing wind. "Did you get heavier?"

Link turned his head and looked up at her. "Did you get weaker?"

"Shut up. You're just getting fat. You should exercise more." Lydia turned her gaze up ahead, ignoring Link's entertained laughing, staring intently at the sandstorm that was now visable. Last time, she had had to fly up over the clouds to get over it, and doubted it would be any different now. That storm was constant, even across the span of years. Weather changes were rare - it was almost always sunny and incredibly hot. She could already feel sweat starting to gather in the regular trouble spots. As she neared the sandstorm, she steepened the flight angle so suddenly that Link squirmed a bit, as if worried he would fall.

Things around them turned gray as they went into the clouds, then suddenly bright as they broke out again. The winds weren't as strong up here, and the clouds below them looked as beautiful as freshly fallen snow. At that moment, Lydia was able to put aside her worries for the first time in a while and just enjoy the world around her. She didn't tell Link, but she was loving it so much that she actually circled the temple several times before actually dropping down below the clouds again.

Once below the clouds, the Spirit Temple was immediately apparent. She started to descend toward the Triforce platform that rested in the sands on the north side, then stopped when Link shouted up to her.

"Let's land at the door!" he warned. "There are Leevers everywhere down there!"

Lydia changed the direction gradually and made for the stone stairs of the temple. "Leevers?"

"Trust me, you'd hate them."

The girl shrugged and left it at that. If he was so sure about it, they were probably icky, and she wanted no part of it.

She set Link down on the stone as softly as she could, then touched down herself. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make it look somewhat less wind-ravaged.

"God, it's hot," she complained out loud. "How could ianyone/i stand to actually live out here? Not to mention, ihow/i long has it been since my hair's been this long? Auuggh..."

Link took hold of her hand and started pulling her inside. "The sooner we get done here, the sooner we can ileave/i, okay?"

"I know, I know. I'm comin'."

As the cool shade draped itself over them as they walked inside, Link had a thought. "...Speaking of your hair, what happened? It was even shorter than before."

Lydia grew annoyed very suddenly. "Oh, that jerk has this obsessive thing with Maya. Apparently, she had really nice hair. So, he takes pleasure in butchering mine."

"...How off-putting," Link said. "W-Wait a second. Maya? He knows about Maya?"

"Oh yeah...," Lydia sighed. "He got an up close and personal look into my mind while he was taking it over. He knows who the kid and I are."

"...iGreat/i."

The girl waved her hand. "Ah, it doesn't really change anything. He just gets even imore/i pissed off when he sees me, and to tell you the truth...," A sly smile crawled across her face. "...I kinda enjoy pissing the guy off."

Link smiled and shook his head. "We all have our guilty pleasures, I guess. ...If it makes you feel any better, it's still pretty cute."

The girl laughed. "Man, I could be ibald/i and you'd still think it was cute."

Suddenly, Link stopped, then raised his hand signaling his companion to stop. He had that someone's-here look on his face again, and Lydia looked around them. All she saw was stone walls, the stairs, and those huge cobra-head things. Before she could whisper in his ear, he started to sneak forward. She silently followed, on guard, as Link snuck up the stairs, staying low, out of sight below the stone railing. He stopped at the second-to-last step, lowered himself to his knees, and glanced around the railing toward the left side of the room. Lydia carefully crawled to his right side and followed his gaze.

Over by where the small hole was carved through the wall, a Gerudo woman was kneeling. She looked like she was deep in thought, trying to think of a way to get through there. Lydia's mouth dropped open when she realized who it was. It was Nabooru.

Lydia and Link looked each other, both a bit bewildered. What was ishe/i doing here?, their eyes asked each other. Link silently motioned with his head that they should go over there. Lydia shook her head, a bit afraid to. Link nodded confidently, then stood straight up and started walking. Lydia dove forward and grabbed his ankle, shaking her head at him again. He stopped and looked at her, then turned around and silently started back down the stairs, pulling her along behind him. As soon as they were out of immediate earshot, Link crouched down on the floor with her.

"What's the problem?" he whispered.

"I can't face her right now!" the girl whispered back rather harshly. "I'm too embarrassed!"

"...Why?"

"She was bait in the trap that Ganondorf got me with, and I feel stupid for falling for it! She must think I'm an idiot! I have my pride, too, you know!" She shook her head. "I'm not going."

Link smiled and shook his head. "Look. First of all, no, she doesn't. I've already spoken with her. Secondly, that's seven years from now. iThis/i Nabooru doesn't even know us yet."

Lydia stared at him, a look of shock crept over her face, then she looked down at her child body. Her face turned bright red. "...Oh yeah. I keep forgetting."

Link stood up and pulled the girl up with him. "C'mon, let's just go," he said, and started walking up the stairs again.

She followed, rather bashfully.

As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, both walking as casually as they could, Nabooru turned around and looked at them, obviously surprised to see other people out here, let alone a couple of kids. She stood up as they walked closer to her.

"What are you kids doing out here?" she asked, planting her hands on her hips.

The two kids looked at each other. "Nothing, really," Link finally said innocently.

"Oh, really?" Nabooru replied. She placed a dark hand on her chin in thought. "...In that case, how about doing me a little favor? But, wait... You're not one of Ganondorf's...followers... are you?"

Link swallowed as he tried to think of something innocent to say. Before he could reply, Lydia suddenly stepped forward with a fist raised.

"We ihate/i Ganondorf!" she shouted passionately.

The Hylian clenched his teeth, in shock mostly, then grabbed the girl and pulled her back. He looked worriedly at Nabooru.

Her reaction was slightly suprising. She was laughing loudly. "I like your attitude!" she said, then continued to laugh.

Link sighed, then gave Lydia a critical look. She flashed him a cute, childish smile. "No harm, no foul," she whispered.

"What's your name?" Nabooru asked.

"Link."

"Link?? What kind of name is ithat/i?"

The Hylian chose to ignore Lydia's badly disguised giggling.

"Anyway..." Nabooru said, "maybe you iwill/i be willing to help me. See, this temple is Ganondorf's hideout, and I don't like what he and his lackies have been planning lately. It's as if he's lost his mind."

"Is that why you're here?" Link asked.

"Yeah! I want to get into this temple and mess up his plans! But... the way is blocked by that huge block over there," she said, pointing past them to the other side of the room.

Link had already seen it - the block that required the "power of silver from the past" to get by - but looked back that way anyway. Lydia did the same.

"...That iis/i pretty huge..." Lydia thought out loud. "I doubt even a Goron could move it."

Nabooru pointed her finger at Lydia excitedly. "Exactly! Exactly! See, the only way to move that thing is to use the Silver Gauntlets. When you wear those things, your strength multiplies many times over!" Then, she pointed down at the hole. "But they're through this little hole. I can't get them."

Link smiled to himself. Everything was starting to make sense.

"Maybe you two could crawl through this hole and go get them for me. No, no, no, don't even ithink/i about keeping them for yourselves. Kids like you couldn't use them, anyway."

Lydia crossed her arms. "What's in it for ius/i, then?"

Nabooru waved her arms carelessly. "Oh, I'll think of something."

"Mmm-hmm." Lydia uncrossed her arms and looked at Link. "Shall we go, then?"

Link nodded. "Sure."

Nabooru clapped her hands together. "Fantastic!" She stepped aside to allow them to pass. "I'll wait right here, okay? Don't be slow, now. The sooner we can get to Ganondorf, the better."

The two walked past her. As Link bent over and started crawling through the hole, Lydia took one last look at Nabooru. The Gerudo was smiling widely at her, flashing her white teeth.

"I don't think I caught iyour/i name," she said.

Lydia stood silent for a moment, then smiled back. "...Maybe it's better that way." With that, she got down on her knees and followed Link into the dark hole.

Light eventually appeared on the other end and she crawled toward it. Link was already up and out and was standing right in front of the opening. Lydia reached out and knocked on one of his ankles. "Move over," she said. "It's cramped in here."

He stepped aside, and she crawled out into the open and stood up. They were standing in a fairly large room. There were a lot of deserty designs on the walls, and only one way out - a door on the opposite wall. The thing that was holding Link's attention was what was standing in front of the door. It was some kind of dog-like statue, about as tall as a normal-sized adult man. The way it was standing there, guarding the door... it looked like Link was debating about whether or not it was just sitting there or if it was actually iwatching/i him.

..."It looks like an Anubis," Lydia observed.

Link looked at her. "...A what?"

"I think I read that name in a book back home... In a country in my world, back in ancient times... I think the name of one of the gods or something was 'Anubis'... and it looked a ilot/i like that." She looked at Link, who was blankly staring back at her. "...I icould/i be wrong... But this place reminds me a lot of that country. ...Not that I've ever been there, of course..."

Link waved his hand, signaling that that was enough. He turned his gaze back on the... Anubuss, or whatever had Lydia called it. "The question isn't really what it iis/i," he said, "but whether or not it's alive."

Lydia looked at the Anubis, and after a short staring contest, she declared, "Doesn't ilook/i alive. I'm sure that's a statue."

"Go touch it."

"iHell/i no!"

"Then you're inot/i sure."

Lydia's mouth dropped open. She angrily puffed her chest out and ran forward. "Just iwatch/i me!" Before Link could even finish shouting after her about the fact that he was kidding, she already had a leg up and kicked the Anubis square in the front, then bounced back a few steps.

Nothing happened. The statue felt a lot like stone.

Link ran up behind her and grabbed her arm. "I wasn't iserious/i about touching it!"

"Too late for ithat/i!" The girl sighed loudly. "Anyway, it's just rock. Let's see if we can move it out of the way."

The Hylian groaned, and glanced behind him. His breath caught in his throat and he stiffened.

Lydia felt his hand sharply tighten its grip on her arm. She complained loudly and turned around, and had a similar reaction.

A good dozen more of those Anubis statues had appeared where they had been standing before, by the hole in the wall. These were different - they looked just like the stone Anubis statue, but were hovering about a foot off the ground.

"...Where did..ithose/i...come from?" the sorceress whimpered. She let out a little yelp as the Anubis statues started to actually approach them.

Link took a step back and drew his Kokiri sword. "...Any bright ideas?" he asked.

The girl held a hand out in front of his face to stop him. "Yeah, let ime/i handle this. Those things are made of rock. I'll have to slow 'em down first before that little sword of yours will do any damage."

Suddenly, before either could react, the speed of the Anubis statues quickened from a slow crawl to a flat-out "sprint". The two yelled out in surprise and dove in seperate directions to avoid getting trampled. Link was quick enough to roll out of the way scratch-free, but Lydia got rammed in the shoulder by one of them as she tried to escape. She rolled several feet and stood again quickly, clutching her shoulder. She stared at the Anubis that hit her, then down at her bruised shoulder. That feeling was...

"You okay?" she heard Link shout from somewhere on the other side of the room.

"Fine!" she yelled back. "Link! They're inot/i stone!"

"They're not?!"

iNo/i, Lydia thought, ibut what hurts them?! It doesn't look like an ordinary sword slash will do it... These things aren't like regular monsters./i

The girl closed her eyes and reached out with her magic, wrapping it around everything in the room. She saw images in her head of the Anubis statues wandering around the desert at night, then retreating back into the temple just before sunrise, then coming out again after dark. Why did they... shy away from the sunlight?

She snapped her eyes open again, in time to watch some of the Anubis statues make their way toward her.

Link gritted his teeth as half of the group of Anubis statues turned and started moving toward him, while the other half headed in the opposite direction. He couldn't see Lydia, but he heard her loud and clear.

"Try fire!" he heard her shout. "They hate heat!"

Not having time to ask just how the hell she knew that, Link took a defensive stance and prepared to give these things a decent helping of Din's Fire.

"Yeah, come on!" Lydia shouted. "Good doggies! Wanna play fetch?"

The statues started to close in on her.

"Well, actually, I don't have a stick, but... font color=9966FFbBamu Rod!/b/font" A whip of fire fell from her hand and coiled itself on the floor by her ankles. She smiled mischiviously. "But what about a whip?"

The Anubis statues suddenly stopped. They stared at her for a moment, then suddenly turned completely around and made a break for the other side of the room.

Lydia yelled after them. "H-Hey! Where ya goin? It's just a little fire! It'll be ifun!/i Really!"

Right about then, from Link's side of the room, Din's Fire was released. Not only was his half of the group caught in the blast, but the ones that had fled from Lydia also fell victim. Just as she had guessed, they didn't do well with the fire - it engulfed them immediately and set them ablaze. They let out a load moan all at once, and quickly crumbled into ashes.

Link stood up straight as Lydia bounced over to give him a congratulatory pat on the back. "No problem!" she cheered. "They were just a bunch of fraidy-cats! ...Or... fraidy-dogs. Or...whatever."

"Next time we run into something, it seems that all you'll have to do is glare at it, and we'll be home free."

"...Look, you, they were afraid of the fire whip, not of ime/i. Now, stop being a smart ass, and help me move that--"

Lydia stopped midsentence when she turned around. The Anubis statue that had been blocking the doorway had vanished.

"...statue." The girl nervously looked around the room. "iNot funny!/i" she angrily shouted at the surrounding walls.

Link grabbed her wrist and started pulling her toward the door. "Obviously, it was some kind of test," he said calmly. "No need to panic."

Nonetheless, the girl clung to his arm nervously, glancing backward as they walked through the open, dark doorway.

They slowly walked through a dark hallway for a short distance, until it opened up into a huge, dim room. The sheer size of it reminded them vaguely of the main room back in the Forest Temple. The door they had emerged from was at the bottom of a stairway that seemed to curl upward toward another door close to the ceiling. On the far left side of the room was a similar stairway with two similar doors. The most interesting feature was the huge statue that sat cross-legged against the back wall. It was a large statue of a woman, almost identical to the one etched into the temple itself. She was holding her two hands out, the palms flat and facing the ceiling.

"...Hmm. Interesting," Lydia whispered. She looked at her companion, who was looking around the room for immediate dangers. "Where should we go from here?"

Link said nothing at first, then looked at the stairway immediately to their right. "...Call it a hunch, but something tells me we should take these stairs up first."

Lydia shrugged indifferently. "Whatever," she said carelessly.

They made quick work of the first half of the stairway, walking as quietly as they could, even though neither had seen anything in the room with them. As they turned the bend in the stairway that led up to the door near the ceiling, Link suddenly stopped.

The sorceress knew this behavior all too well, and immediately looked around for signs of danger. It didn't reveal itself to her, since she didn't think to look down at the floor, at the large shadow that was growing by the second.

Link suddenly gave her a hard shove, sending her sprawling to the floor, then dove to one side himself, as something large dropped to the floor right where they had been. As soon as Lydia looked up and saw what it was, she shrieked out loud, and started to crab-walk backward out of fear of this creature that was right out of an episode of iThe Addams Family/i.

It looked like a huge severed hand, easily as large as both of them put together. It was walking around on its fingers, meandering about a bit, as if unsure which direction to travel. It didn't stick around long. Just as Link was reaching for his weapon, the thing hissed loudly, then leapt back toward the ceiling, shrouded in darkness, and disappeared.

Lydia slowly stood up, trying to control her shaking knees. "Okay..." she groaned, "...what the ihell/i?"

Link's attention was glued to the dark ceiling, even though there wasn't a whole lot to see, even to his sharp eyes. "I think that was a Wallmaster. Read about them once in the castle library. They're relatively harmless, save for the fact that they grab you and drag you Din-knows-where in the temples they patrol."

"Gah, I don't care," she replied, waving her hands impatiently. "Let's just get out of here before it comes back."

"Fair enough. Still... they're quite interesting..."

Lydia threw her hands into Link's back and shoved him so hard up the stairs that he almost lost balance. "Be interested ilater/i. I'd rather not see it again."

The girl pushed him all the way up the stairway and didn't stop until they were standing in front of the large doorway. Link was about to open it, when Lydia took hold of the back of his tunic and pulled him back.

"Don't bother," she said. "It's sealed."

"...How can you tell?"

She squinted her eyes a little, trying to make sure she wasn't just imagining the faint blue light surrounding the door frame. "I can see the aura. It's a magical seal."

"Can you break it?"

"...I don't think so, but..." Lydia backed up a few steps, then turned around to look around the room again. Now that they were up higher, they could see the palms of the statue's hands. The girl immediately caught sight of the golden Triforce drawn onto the statue's right palm.

She poked Link and pointed toward it. "Hey, check that out. ...Ocarina time, maybe?"

He saw it right away. "Hmm. Perhaps. Couldn't hurt to try. Can you get me over there?"

"Only if you ask nicely."

"iPlease/i."

Lydia smiled widely. "Okay!" She stepped around Link and took a firm hold on him from behind. "font color=9966FFbLevitation!/b/font" she shouted, and lifted a few inches off the ground. She flew over the railing and out into the open, quickly zipping over to the hand. She dropped Link right on the Triforce mark, then backed off, hovering just behind the wrist.

Link reached into his tunic and produced the Ocarina of Time. The sound of music filled the large room, gently echoing off the surrounding walls. Lydia recognized the music as the calming melody of Zelda's Lullaby - the song of the royal family. As the final notes were being played, she felt a rush of magic go through the room, and looked up at the door in time to see the blue aura waver and fade.

"That's got it!" she said happily as Link was putting the Ocarina away. "It should be open now."

He turned and smiled at her. "Back to the stairs, then."

"Aye aye, sir!" she replied as she grabbed his arm and lifted him up off the stone.

A moment later, they were back on the stairway, again facing the large door. Link turned the rusty doorknob and pushed inward, but the door didn't give. He threw his weight into it, declining Lydia's offer to blast it open, and it took several tries before the rusted old door finally gave, slowly swinging into the hallway behind. He started in immediately, but Lydia hung back. Her eyes were glued to the face of the large statue. Something about it looked strange, but she shouldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Link turned around when he noticed she wasn't following. "What's up?" he called to her.

"...I dunno," she said so quietly that if not for his Hylian ears, Link wouldn't have been able to hear her. "...Something about that statue's face. It looks weird."

"Really? I wonder what--" He stopped immediately when the sound hit his ears. A shadow appeared around Lydia, still standing out in that room.

"iLyd, watch it!/i" he screamed at her.

She didn't even have time to turn her head before the Wallmaster struck. It landed right on her, knocking her to the floor. Immediately, it started back up toward the ceiling, taking the girl along with it. She kicked and screamed furiously, trying to squirm out its grip.

Link broke out into the room again at a sprint, but both Lydia and the Wallmaster had disappeared into the darkness above. Just as he was about to panic, he heard Lydia's shrieking voice somewhere up there.

"iLet GO of me!! font color=9966FFbBlast Wave!/b/font/i"

A bright burst of red light from somewhere within the darkness lit the entire room so brightly that Link had to cover his eyes and turn away from it. It burned brightly for several moments before finally fading. When Link opened his eyes again, he realized that Lydia had reappeared. She was on her knees, clinging to Link's waist, shaking like a leaf.

He smiled slightly and soothingly rubbed her back. "...You get it?"

She nodded several times. "The effect of that spell on physical objects is absolute. I'm sure it's been reduced to itty bitty little pieces." She turned her slightly-panicked face up to look at him. "That was...really disturbing. And you think they're iinteresting/i?"

Link laughed, deciding to pull her out of her fright by defying her sense of logic. "Aren't they, though? I mean, it wasn't going to ihurt/i you, but you could have ended up ianywhere/i in this place. The way it fights is fascinating, really."

Lydia stood up and glared right in to his eyes. "I will never fully understand the way your mind works." She sighed. "...Can we just go? I don't want to be here when another one shows up. You iknow/i there's gotta be more than one." Without waiting for him, she started into the hallway.

"Probably," Link replied as he followed her. After a moment of silence, a sly smile crawled across his face. "...Probably idozens/i of them."

The sorceress whirled around. "You take that iback/i, Long Ears. I mean it."

Link laughed again. "Sorry."

"Tch. Sure you are."

The hallway soon turned into another stairway that whirled up to another upstairs room. It was a medium-sized room, with pillars partway in, forming two rows on either side of the center. Between the rows of pillars, a red carpet was laid, leading to the rock throne at the far wall. Link saw something large sitting in the throne, and immediately pulled Lydia with him as he ducked behind the closest pillar, farthest from the throne. It looked like a large, full-plate silver suit of armor. It was calmly sitting in the throne, a large battle ax resting on its lap.

Behind the throne was an open doorway.

Lydia stretched her neck to look around Link's shoulder. "...What, that suit of armor?"

He said nothing, but nodded.

"Go touch it," she pressed.

"...That probably wouldn't be a good idea."

"Okay, throw something."

"That would istill/i involve disturbing it, Lyd. I'd rather not."

"We can't ihelp/i but disturb it. We'll inever/i get to that door behind it unless we get close to it." She bent over, picking up a loose stone that was sitting by her right foot, then stepped out into the open. "It's ijust/i an old suit of armor."

"Yeah, and that statue back there was ijust/i an old Anubis statue." Link warned nervously, "Lyd, seriously. Don't bother it. We can get around it without touching it."

Ignoring him, she reared her arm back and heaved the stone as hard as she could. It hit the armor square in the chest. Before the stone even hit the ground after bouncing off, the suit of armor grunted and stood up. With a yelp, Lydia was back behind the pillar with her back pressed against the stone. Link was giving her a really sarcastic I-Told-You-So face.

"Not a iword/i," she hissed at him.

Link shook his head. "Augh, nevermind. Let's just...deal with this," he said over the loud stomping of the suit's feet as it worked its way toward where they were hiding. "Okay, my sword will never get through that outer armor shell... the Master Sword might, but not this one. There has to be another way. It seems to be rather slow, so--"

Before he could even finish his sentence, there was a rush of air, the loud clang of metal, and the pillar they were hiding behind crumbled, sending rocks and debris in all directions. Link and Lydia dove in seperate directions as the suit of armor recoiled its ax, then paused as it thought about which one of them to go after.

"iWhat/i was that about it being slow?!" Lydia shouted as the suit turned and started stomping toward Link. As soon as its back was to her, she saw something out of place. It looked like a pair of criss-crossing red suspenders that seemed to be holding that outer armor in place. "Hello..." she hummed to herself, and started to sneak up closer.

The armor swung its ax in a wide arc, missing Link as he quickly backflipped out of its path. He glared at it as it gathered its strength for another swing. How was he supposed to get through that protective coating of metal? He ducked as another horizontal swing was sent his way. The momentum carried the ax into another nearby pillar, which folded like paper and crashed to the floor, sending up a huge cloud of dust.

Link regained his balance and glanced quickly around the room, realizing that he had lost sight of Lydia in all the dust. He was about to call out to her when a magical fire whip suddenly sailed out of the dust and struck the armor suit square in the back. It grunted loudly as something snapped. Suddenly, the outermost layer of armor fell free, hitting the floor with a loud iclang/i. There was more armor underneath, but it was obviously thinner than the outer shell.

Now the suit was iangry/i. Instead of a leisurely stomping, it started ijogging/i after Link, who immediately took off running, jumping over debris and leftover pillar like a jackrabbit.

He heard Lydia's voice then. "Your sword needs to be stronger to hurt him!" she shouted from somewhere in the dust cloud. "Use that spell we taught you!"

Link scoffed out loud. "You expect me to iremember/i how to cast that?! I'm not a sorcerer! This stuff doesn't come naturally to me, even if it iis/i Hyrulean magic!"

"All right, all right! Just hang tight for a minute!"

The Hylian glanced around at the huge, threatening suit of armor that was in hot pursuit. "Easy for iyou/i to say!" he shouted.

Almost immediately, Lydia appeared out of the mist right at his side. Running backward, she threw her hand out at the armor. "font color=9966FFbInferno Array!/b/font" she shouted. Several black balls appeared around the suit, which then exploded, completely enclouding it in black smoke. It grunted angrily, and blindly swung its ax around, completely confused.

Lydia reached behind Link and yanked the Kokiri Sword out of its little sheath, then held it up toward the ceiling. "font color=9966FFbAstral Vine!/b/font" A bolt of red lighting came out of nowhere and loudly struck the blade. Lydia flinched from the sound. When she brought the sword down again, it was coated in bright red light.

Smiling at her work, she handed the sword to Link. "Next time we're home, you have some homework to do." She gave him a hearty pat on the back. "Now do your stuff!"

Link wasted no time - the black cloud was starting to fade. The outline of the suit was becoming visable again. He ran forward, the glowing sword at the ready, and disappeared into the blackness.

Lydia couldn't see through the cloud, but she heard a loud, distinctive, single sound of metal connecting with metal. The black cloud quickly dissapated as the spell ended. The suit of armor was standing erect, not moving at all. Link was standing behind it, skillfully sliding the sword back into its sheath.

The sorceress was about to say something when the head of the suit suddenly detached from the body and fell to the floor, bouncing away. The rest of the suit quickly followed, hitting the floor with a loud iclang/i and falling into several pieces.

Link turned around and smiled at Lydia. "How's ithat/i for skill?" he asked cockily.

Lydia smiled and nodded. "One carefully-placed strike. Very nice." She chuckled in the suit's direction and kicked one of the metal shoulder pieces clear across the room. Before it even stopped bouncing, she had grabbed Link's wrist and was pulling him through the doorway behind the throne.

"I sure hope there aren't more than one of ithose/i," she thought out loud.

"There are probably dozens," Link teased. "And they might team up with the dozens of Wallmasters and come after us all at once."

Lydia shuddered visibily at the very thought of it. "If ithat/i were to happen, this temple would meet the same unfortunate fate of the Temple of Time. There would be major Dragon Slaveage. ...Oh, hello, is this fresh air?"

Sure enough, the hallway they were in abruptly ended up ahead, breaking out into open air. The sky was visible, and it was almost dusk. They were surprised at how much time had passed since they had come here. It looked like this path led to a small platform on the side of the temple, way up high, near the face of the huge statue carved into the outer wall.

Most interestingly, there was a large chest resting upon this small stone platform.

"Ooh, score!" Lydia shouted happily. She eagerly pushed Link toward it. "C'mon, c'mon!"

"Easy, easy," he said, smiling. "No rush. I know this is your ifavorite/i part, but the thing's not going to get up and walk away." Link opened the top of the chest just a bit, then gave the lid a shove, sending it swinging all the way open. The chest was bigger than he currenty was, so he had to lift himself up off the ground and lean halfway into the chest itself to be able to reach inside.

"Ah, here we go," Lydia heard him say. He swung himself back out of the chest and was clutching a pair of large gauntlets. The tops of them were coated in real silver.

The girl pointed excitedly. "Oh, ithat's/i what she meant, huh? Cool! ...Although... look how big those are. They'll never fit you."

Link smiled. "Not as I am inow/i, no. ....But, we promised to give them to Nabooru."

"Ah... crap. But we ineed/i 'em!"

Just then, a loud shriek pierced the night air from somewhere down below.

"Kyaa!! What.. What are you doing?!" Right after, the voice yelled again. "Augh! Let me GO!"

Link and Lydia both ran to the edge of the platform and looked at the ground far below. The scene was immediately apparent. Just below the huge stone trilithon, two old, stereotypical witches were circling on flying broomsticks, around a ring of purple magic in the sand. In the middle of that magic, sticking up halfway out of the ground, was Nabooru, trying futily to struggle free. The magic dragged her down into the sand until she completely disappeared.

Lydia gritted her teeth and started to run forward to dive off the platform, but Link grabbed her and held her back. She turned around and looked at him with shock, then back at the ground. The ring of magic faded and disappeared, and then the two witches swung their broomsticks around and sailed back through the front door of the temple, leaving the desert quiet again.

The sorceress angrily struggled out of Link's grip and stood back. "What the hell?" she asked harshly. "Why'd you stop me? I could have saved her!"

Link's face was unusually solemn. "...And risk severely altering our future?"

Lydia opened her mouth to shout again, but suddenly stopped, realizing that he was right. What they just witnessed must have been how Ganondorf originally got control of Nabooru's mind. That, as they knew, would eventually lead to a lot of the things they experienced in the future. Interfering with that event would drastically change the future, not necessarily for the better.

"...I'm sorry, you're right," she said quietly.

The Hylian tucked the Silver Gauntlets safely behind his shield. "Don't worry about it." He looked up and smiled at her. "Besides, you already know it turns out well. Last I saw Nabooru, she was safe and sound at Lon-Lon Ranch with your brother."

The girl smiled back at him. "...That idoes/i make me feel a little better. ...Still..."

"I know."

Lydia sighed and looked around them. The sun was dipping below the horizon now, darkening the surrounding desert quite a bit. She felt a sudden wave of depression sweep over her as she watched it set. Now that they had the Silver Gauntlets, there was no real reason for them to stay in this time. They would have to go back...and Ganondorf would have control of her mind again. What then? She wanted nothing more than to stay in this time, far away from the Evil King, but the more logical part kept telling her that it just wasn't possible. Things in the future were just too important right now to run away from.

Still, she dreaded the thought of going back to the Temple of Time. ...Since it was getting dark, maybe they could wait until morning.

"Hey," she said quietly. "...Do you think we could wait until tomorrow to--"

"Yeah," Link replied before she even finished. "Let's get a night's rest first."

Obviously, judging from the tone of his voice, he had the very same thing on his mind.

Without saying anything, Lydia walked up behind him, took a firm hold on his waist, and cast her flight spell. She flew high over the desert in the general direction of Kakariko Village, where that traveler's house was waiting for them, even in this time. For the entire long flight to the other side of Hyrule, neither of the two said a single word.

*~*~*~*

Lydia opened her eyes, greeting the darkness again, as she had so many times already this night. She sat up in bed and fumbled for her glasses for several moments until she remembered that she didn't need to wear them when she was this young. She glanced over at Link, asleep in the bed against the wall. His green tunic was all tangled up, wrapped tightly around his small body. Lydia reached down and untwisted her own clothes, wishing for a moment that she had normal pajamas to sleep in.

Not feeling sleepy at all, she quietly got out of bed and walked over to the window, and started staring at the full moon. It was so beautiful. She wished it would never go away. She wanted nothing more than for this night to last forever. She wished morning would never come.

She thought of that awful recurring dream she had been having. Ever since Ganondorf took hold of her adult mind, it had become all the more realistic and frightening. What if it really came to pass? What would she ido/i?! What if she couldn't resist and ended up...hurting Link? She'd never be able to live with herself.

She felt tears welling up and fought them off quickly. Crying would only wake Link up. She wanted to let him sleep... it might be the last time he'd get a restful night's sleep like this. At least, for a while.

"Are you okay?" she heard Link ask.

Lydia quickly turned around, a little startled, to find Link sitting up in bed, smiling at her. She forced herself to smile back. "...Did I wake you?"

He shook his head. "Just having a little trouble sleeping."

"...Me, too."

They silently looked at each other for several moments, until Link lay back down. "You should try to get some sleep."

Lydia scoffed. "Yeah, right. As if I could."

Link watched her for a moment, then pulled his sheets back and smiled in an inviting way. "Come here."

The girl didn't move at first, feeling herself blushing in the darkness. Then, a smile almost as warm as his appeared on her face, and she silently walked across the room. She crawled under the covers and rested her head on his pillow. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, sighing contently. Within a matter of minutes, he had fallen asleep again.

Lydia felt like crying again, but more out of happiness this time than worry or despair. As she started to feel sleepy for the first time all night, she decided that she iwould/i beat Ganondorf's hold on her, no matter what. Just before she finally fell asleep, for the first time in a long time, she was genuinely happy and worry-free. All was right with the world, and everything would ibe/i all right. She was sure of it now. With a slight smile on her face, Lydia drifted off into the world of dreams, and for once, they weren't nightmares.

*~*~*~*

The door to the little house creaked open, and a sleepy Lydia stepped out, squinting into the morning sunlight. Link followed close behind, tightly closing the door behind him.

"Aahh," Lydia moaned. "Morning came way too fast."

"It really did," Link agreed.

"......Can we walk?"

"Yeah."

They started out of the village and into the Field, walking toward Hyrule Market, and just beyond, the Temple of Time. They walked slowly, taking their time. Lydia held Link's hand the whole way. Neither said anything. They were just thinking their individual thoughts of things that were to come.

Even at their slow pace, the Temple of Time appeared iway/i too soon for comfort. Time itself was moving too quickly. They weaved their way through the Market's usual crowds, not exactly getting upset if a big crowd blocked their path. Eventually, they were standing on the stone steps, facing the inevitable.

"I'll...cast a sleep spell on myself first," Lydia said at almost a whisper as they entered the temple. "That way... you'll have time to get away before I'm out for blood again."

Link nodded solemnly, saying nothing.

As the Master Sword came into view, Lydia felt a lump gather in her throat, and forced it down again. Now wasn't the time to wuss out. She knew what she had to do.

Link stopped at the edge of the platform and turned around, obviously less than eager to wake the Master Sword from its rest.

Lydia worked up her courage and smiled at him. "I guess this is it, for now."

The Hylian forced himself to smile back. "I guess so. ...For now."

"Real quick, though..." Lydia started to walk forward, closer to him. "Last time I saw Zelda, I promised her something, and I have to deliver now while I stll can. ....Y'know, I was ireally/i hoping to get to do this with my adult body, but since there's a possibility I might not get another chance, I'd better not waste this opportunity. Bear with me, okay?"

"Hmm?"

Without saying anything more, Lydia reached forward and put both of her hands on Link's face, then leaned forward and kissed him.

Link's heart skipped a beat and his mind stopped functioning right on the spot. His hands shook slightly in shock.

Lydia pulled away after a moment, then leaned up to his ear and whispered into it.

"I love you."

She pulled away again, smiling, then stepped back a few paces. Using every shred of willpower she had, she put her hands on her own chest and hit herself with the white light of a sleep spell. When the glow faded, she slumped down to the stone floor, sound asleep.

Link stood rooted on the spot like an idiot for several awkward moments until his brain started to come online again. He slowly sat down on the platform and rested his face in his hands, concentrating on forcing himself to stop shaking. Had that just happened? ...It had. As a single tear worked its way down his face, he realized that this was both the happiest moment of his life and the angriest moment of his life, and his body and mind were struggling with the effort of accomodating both at the same time. He was happy for the obvious reasons, but as a result, was also unbelievably angry at what Ganondorf was doing to her. More so than he had been even at first.

He spent several quiet minutes sitting there, contemplating, trying to calm himself down. As his heart finally started to slow down, he silently swore on the spot that Ganondorf would pay for this. He swore it with every fiber of his being.

Finally, he looked up and smiled at Lydia's sleeping form. "Unpredictable as always, I see," he said to her. "...Don't you worry about Ganondorf. I'll take care of ihim/i. ...I'll take care of everything."

Link stood up quickly, walked over to Lydia, and lifted her up onto his back. "...Don't you worry," he said again as he walked over to where the Master Sword rested. He wrapped his left hand around the handle of the sword, and with all his strength, heaved it up out of the Pedestal.

*~*~*~*

"He wasn't at the Spirit Temple...," Gordon said to himself as he sailed around Hyrule Field, "so where iis/i he?!"

It was right about then that he saw a familiar blue light shoot up from the North, where the Temple of Time used to stand. Suddenly, it all made sense, and the sorcerer changed direction immediately.

He was sailing over where the Pedestal of Time stood within moments, and dove toward the ground, leveling off before hitting. As he touched down, he looked around. The Master Sword was gone and the platform was deserted, but Link was nowhere in sight. It hadn't been long - he couldn't have gotten too far.

Suddenly, Gordon spotted him at the south end of the courtyard. He had somebody on his back that he was lowering to the ground now, underneath one of the dead trees. Gordon ran toward him, making sure to be loud enough that Link would hear him. When he got closer, he realized that it was his sister resting under that tree. She looked unconscious - was she hurt? ...No... He could feel the aura of a sleep spell. Had she cast it on herself?

Link turned around and smiled as Gordon approached.

"What happened?!" Gordon asked excitedly.

The Hylian was silent for a moment, then he looked down at Lydia's sleeping form. "...A lot," he said quietly. He silently knelt down, brushed the girl's bangs aside, and kissed her forehead.

Gordon raised an eyebrow. "...'A lot', indeed."

Link stood up again and turned to face him. "She... cast a spell on herself so I would be able to get away. But... I.. I can't just leave her here."

The sorcerer smiled as everything started to make sense. He had taken her back in time. Ganondorf must not have had control over her younger self. He patted Link on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he said assuringly. "She'll be okay. ...But if you want to have the peace of mind, I can set up a barrier."

The Hylian nodded thankfully, then stepped out of the way.

Gordon stepped forward, closed his eyes, and twisted his hands into a few different shapes. The soft glow of a wind barrier appeared around Lydia. She rolled over in her sleep, facing away from them.

The sorcerer turned around and started to walk away. "It's weak, so she should be able to easily break free once she wakes up." He walked past Link, but the Hylian didn't follow right away. He stood right where he was, watching the girl. Gordon knew something had happened between them - something that was making Link overly hesitant to leave her. He reached up and put his hand on his companion's shoulder.

"She'll be ifine/i," he said again. "...We really should get out of here before she wakes up. If she comes to, and we're still here, we'll have a big problem."

Link said nothing, but eventually nodded and let Gordon lead him out of the courtyard. It wasn't until Lydia was completely out of sight that he started walking at a normal speed.

"So," Gordon said, in an effort to get Link to think about something else. "Um... Nabooru is going to meet us at the Gerudo Fortress. She suddenly decided that she wants to go to the temple with us."

"Oh, really?" Link asked dully, obviously only half-paying attention.

"... So... You gonna tell me what happened yesterday?"

The Hylian smiled, forcing himself to come out of his trance. "Yeah, yeah, sorry," he said. "...Uh, you sure recovered quickly."

The sorcerer smiled proudly. "As soon as I was strong enough to cast spells, I went to work on repairing the damage. I'm more resiliant than you guys give me credit for."

Link smiled. "You should have seen how upset Lydia was. She was really worried about you."

"I'll bet. But you told her I was okay, right?"

"Of course."

"Then she's fine."

"...And, I just noticed your glasses were fixed. I thought the glass had broken. How did you do that?"

Gordon took that opportunity to take his glasses off and clean the lenses with his shirt. "Lydia taught me that spell, actually. It can't repair major damage, but works great with small objects." He replaced the glasses and pushed them up the bridge of his nose, then gave Link an inquiring look. "Seems I've missed a lot. Care to fill me in?"

Link started telling Gordon the story of the previous day, only really telling what needed to be said. He left out a few things - specifically, things that happened between him and Lydia that Gordon didn't need to know every detail about. As they walked, the bright pink ribbon tied around the Master Sword flapped hopefully and confidently in the crisp morning wind.

iJust a matter of time, Ganondorf,/i Link thought to himself between sentences. iI'm going to make you regret ever being born./i