Okay, so sixth months go by without a word or breath from me...now, is that my fault? (awkward silence) Okay, nevermind. REALLY sorry about that...so, here's my treat for you! I split up the chapter I did want to update (eventually) into two chapters. Yeah, this one's a little short, but the next one...hoo, boy. Yeah, this one ends in a cliffie...REALLY SORRY, but then, how do I keep you on the edge of your seat? However, thank macprincess...I believe she got my "ass" in high "gear". She can explain situations better than I can, cuz she's awesome like that. Thanks to you! Wow, chapter 37...I don't own Zelda. Have fun!

LOZ-

Ch. 37: Airaen's Final Vision

LOZ-

"Why?" Roh gasped finally, drawing breath raggedly. He ran his hands through Airaen's hair. "Please, Airaen...don't leave me here...I'm begging you..."

She didn't answer him. How could she? Do the dead speak?

Roh trembled, his sadness so powerful he had to bend double and hold her to his chest just to keep himself from driving his skull into the ground with the force of a thousand steeds. He cried with an agony no mortal should ever bear, his heart seeming to rip to shreds with each ragged sob he gave, with each tear that fell into her blood-soaked hair. Why wouldn't she open her eyes?

"Open your eyes!" he screamed.

He was barely aware of Link behind him, reaching down for his child.

"Leave me alone!" Roh screamed so suddenly Link, in all his sorrow, was taken aback. The young man's eyes were savage. "Don't touch her, you hear me! She's not...she's not dead!"

He looked down at her.

"She's not...she's...she's not..."

Nothing could stop his tears as he screamed her name.

LOZ-

The light that came in was bright, but incredibly warm, inviting. For a moment, she was blinded by the bright sunshine, but the wind felt nice and refreshing on her face. Airaen smiled and walked on, watching the fairy spirits dance around in the air. The wind sang in the grass, blowing lightly over it, moving with careful swiftness to tug lightly at her hair. Her smile never leaving her face, she climbed the last bit of the hill and stared once more at the Gate Between Worlds, its Gated Doors wide open for her. From where she stood, Airaen could already see the long line of new arrivals, spirits of fallen warriors, bewildered, yet all unanimously happy. Airaen suppressed a giggle. I can finally join them…

Airaen let the warmth wrap around her like a blanket, a smile creeping over her lips as she stared down the hill, the Gate glistening in the sunlight below her. To rest for an eternity and more!

"Mommy?"

The word almost startled her, but it was a pleasant title, a title she had longed for. Turning, she gazed down at the little girl who stood next to her, holding her hand tightly, her features slightly transparent, but still the same little girl she had spoken with, now at an unquestionably younger age. The girl looked up at her mother with startlingly fierce purple eyes and smiled.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" the little girl asked.

"To where we're supposed to be," Airaen answered with a smile, "for some games."

"Lots of games?" her daughter-spirit asked, excitement plain in her tone.

"Yes," Airaen replied. "Lots and lots of games."

"Can Daddy come?"

Airaen stared ahead of her, beyond the Gate to the great Tree beyond, the first Great Deku Tree to ever exist in Hyrule. "No," she said after a moment, "Daddy can't come...not yet."

"Poor Daddy," the little girl said. "He'll be so sad."

"Yes," Airaen replied, trying to mask her sadness, "Daddy will be very sad."

Her mind set, she trekked down the hill, her daughter-spirit holding her hand tightly as she giggled and hop-skipped around, watching the fairies that fluttered and danced in the air. Airaen smiled again.

As they reached the Gate, Airaen sighed. To finally pass through those doors...

Even the long line of other spirits ready to enter for eternal rest did not deter her. She recognized a few, but she decided to stay out of sight.

What does one do for an eternity, anyway?

"We were wondering when you would get here."

Airaen tensed, but knew the voice. She giggled and shook her head. "I had some trouble," she said, shaking her head. "A lot of trouble, but, oh, thank you so very much for asking..."

Kaisha smiled knowingly, but Faila was a bit too impatient, choosing to forget her fairy composure on the spot.

"Well?" the fairy hissed, bobbing up and down. Airaen's little girl laughed. Ignoring the daughter-spirit out of spite, the fairy flew close to Airaen's face. "What of Ganondorf of the Gerudo? We all felt the battle, even here...it was a bit chaotic here, thank you very much..."

Airaen shook her head. "He's gone forever...I killed him," she replied.

Faila flew back over to Kaisha and whistled, a strange sound coming from a fairy. "To think I didn't have faith in you," Faila muttered. "You were foolish, you with your honor and keeping to the things you had learned...foolish, but remarkable. That will be remembered forever and more, Daia-Bearer."

"Mommy?" Airaen's daughter-spirit asked, tugging at Airaen's tunic. "Mommy, what's a...what's a Die-ya...Bearer...?"

Kaisha knelt down so she could be within eye-level of the little girl. "A Daia-Bearer is a Bearer of the Goddess' sacred Jewel who gives it up freely. Your mother is especially honored for returning the Triforce to the Sacred Realm."

"Oh," the child replied, barely understanding anything the woman said. Airaen giggled and squeezed her daughter's hand affectionately.

"So?" Airaen said after a time. "Are we allowed to go in, or do I have to stay out here like last time? I solemnly swear that I died this time..."

Kaisha stood. "Yes, apparently, you both can...but the Goddesses wish an audience with you, first...past the Great Tree."

Airaen sighed and bit back her outburst. "I can never get a bit of rest from them, can I?" she said, shaking her head. "Lead the way, then."

LOZ-

"Mommy, when can we go play?"

"In a minute, my love," Airaen replied absent-mindedly. "We have to meet a few...people first."

Whatever the girl replied, Airaen didn't hear it as she watched the other spirits around her playing games or feasting or making music. As she passed them, they would stop and bow to her, whispering amongst themselves. Daia-Bearer reached Airaen's ears more than once. Airaen frowned, thinking, Even in Death I'm still seen with awe...I just want to rest...

The passage through the Gate was, although unceremonious, quite an incredible feeling, as if all the troubles Airaen had faced, all her past hurts, were lifted easily from her shoulders. She had smiled the first true smile of all that day in Life. Now in Death she found something meaningful togrin about.

Now, as she passed by the Great Tree to the Field beyond, Airaen's thoughts wandered back to the ones she had left rather unwillingly behind in Life. She felt guilty, but she knew nothing could have been done.

Would they mourn her, or simply move on?

The thought chilled her despite the warm sunshine.

What would become of Roh? Would he find another lover, or remain single until Death took him in his waning, elderly years?

The thought of him taking the arms of another woman sent such a fury of jealousy through her she almost fell forward. He would never do such a thing! Never...he wouldn't...would he?

Airaen shook her head. No thoughts like that!

She looked up and watched as Faila danced around Kaisha's head, whispering something in the woman's ear. Airaen frowned, but said nothing.

They continued on.

"The road's eternal in its wake," Airaen sang, "but I know the way to Home and back. Upon the stairs and through the door, that's where my home is...yes, that's where my home is! The road's eternal in its wake, but I retire with weary feet to sleep again, rest my feet, and hear the kettle sing, yes hear the kettle sing!"

"You mortals and your songs," Faila muttered as Airaen started the song again, her daughter-spirit joining her after a moment. "Such a nuisance."

Kaisha giggled. "I find it charming. 'The road's eternal in its wake.'"

"Don't you dare start," Faila hissed.

"I wasn't going to," Kaisha answered. "That's a traveling tune my husband used to sing. He taught me, and I taught my son. Link must have sung it so many times his own daughter must have learned it, too...and now the tradition continues on and on."

"On in the next world," Faila said.

"But it continues on," Kiasha answered.

"Tradition is not something I think highly of," the fairy hissed, flying ahead indignantly. "It blinds you from true meaning...almost like duty. Besides, tradition is too closely tied with ridiculous emotions."

"Like a certain fairy we both know," Kaisha answered with a giggle. "A certain important Messenger of the Godesses?"

"Gate has nothing to do with duty!" Faila yelled, turning to bob in front of Kaisha's face.

There was a dull silence. Airaen stopped singing and glanced curiously at the flustered fairy. She smiled inwardly. Even fairies feel love, Airaen thought as Faila turned and continued swiftly on, muttering to herself. Duty binds us all...

"Poor fairy," Airaen's daughter-spirit said quietly.

LOZ-

Airaen was beginning to wonder how much longer they would have to walk for. The Great Tree was now far behind them, but Airaen could still see it, just barely. How much longer would they have to travel? How much more time must be spent until she could finally rest?

Airaen shook her head. Time. It truly had no place here in the next world. Time did not touch this place. Airaen narrowed her eyes, watching her feet take step after step, but never feeling the usual fatigue of prolonged travel.

What was Time, anyway? What was this enigma that all mortals feared, that governed the living world, but never this world? What power did it hold within itself that could catch her so forcefully?

Again, she shook her head.

Time could never truly be explained or understood, never in all its eternity. It was, is, and will be an enigma that could never be calculated, that prescience could never fully predict and anticipate; it would always be governed solely by its three dominions: Past, Present, and Future. Time was a never-ending flow of data, but no data could truly comprehend all of it. No analysis could fathom it, no human could ever predict it. Time was itself. It governed all.

Airaen sighed. What would become of her body in the living world? What would they do with it? Bury it, or burn it? The very thought chilled her

"Here we are!"

Drawn out of reality, Airaen looked over at Kaisha. The woman smiled. Airaen wondered at the woman's age. How old was she when she gave birth to my father...and when she died?

Airaen sighed. She must have been lonely to be without her son...to be here with her own duty and watch her child grow up from afar...never to hold him ever again...

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Airaen asked, an eyebrow raised. Nothing seemed to ever change in this place...the sun was always warm here.

Kaisha smiled, then pointed in front of her towards the ground. "This is the Calling Stone, as I think the fairies call it," she said. "I think there's a replica of it in the Hyrule Graveyard...the Royal Tomb..."

As the woman turned to speak with Faila, Airaen's thoughts were suddenly drawn inward. Will...I be buried there? In the Royal Tomb in Hyrule? Is that where they'll bury my body?

She shivered. Would her body lie there among the other lifeless bodies, corpses doomed to rot as Time saw fit? Would her very bones turn to simple dust, until that too was simply blown away by Time while the world around her rotting corpse moved on and on and on? But then, what would her spirit do here, with only Eternity as a companion?

It seemed lonely to her.

When will Roh come? I need him.

She sighed.

Time is cruel to us all. I just wish I had known this would happen...I wish I could have truly made use of prescience...I know I could've...or maybe I couldn't have. What was the point to having prescience anyway? Why...why did they choose me? Why was I chosen? Why did I have to fight Ganon alone...to walk forward as a child and come out as...something else? An abomination...why? I should've died twice before...three times...yet I faced Ganon four times...once in the Market...then on the bridge before I fell...then again in Gerudo Valley before he struck me down...and then now...and we both died. It's funny...we truly were, are, and will always be connected. We grew because of each other...I...matured...because of him. Without Ganon, I would never have known Zelda at all...I would never have found Roh...nor Gate. Yet, without Ganon, none of this would have ever happened...I would never have been born...Link would probably have left the forest eventually...oh my...Kaisha would still be living! Link would probably have had a normal childhood...would have grown up into a normal man...would have probably married some ranch girl...if not for Ganon...if not for the Triforce itself. The irony of our time! All of this, all that has happened...it all led up to this moment! To me! To Ganon! All of it! But why? Why was I chosen to do it?

"Faila, are you going to do it or not?" Kaisha asked the fairy again.

The fairy growled. "That's my duty, isn't it?" she hissed, then turned round and moved to hover above the stone. "Great Goddesses, blessed ones! I ask you, please descend on us!"

Silence.

"Um...Faila," Kaisha whispered. "You...kind of need to say it in the ancient language..."

"Oh...shut it," Faila snarled. "Giya flensanamah, besia kiyen! Ji aishia cha, raifiya rasuehn sana lusa!"

There was a flash of light. As Airaen shielded her daughter-spirit's eyes and looked away, the Goddesses themselves appeared. Airaen gazed at them, marveling at how...human they looked. Each was a different color: one was yellow, the other blue, and the other green. They looked like young women, no older than twenty at the most, yet they glowed with that light, giving off that color so unique to them. It was hard for Airaen to fathom how human they looked. Their eyes, though, were distinctly purple. Though they looked young, Airaen saw eternity in their eyes that spoke of an unfathomable age.

"If it isn't the goddesses themselves," Airaen said.

Faila turned in utter shock. "Don't use that tone with them, you fool!" the fairy growled.

But the green-enshrouded goddess stepped forward, chuckling. "The girl...young woman has courage still to spare," Farore laughed.

"Courage," Airaen said, shaking her head. "Courage is a tricky thing."

"Very wise a statement of you, Airaen of Hyrule," Nayru said calmly. "As was expected of you."

"Expected...?" Airaen answered, an eyebrow raised.

"You are an incredible individual," Din said as she crossed her arms. "Every single second with you is a surprise for even us. You surprise even us with your incredible amount of power, wisdom, and courage."

Airaen narrowed her eyes. "What...am I?" she asked.

"You are a mortal an eternity in the making," Farore said. "Not only in your bloodline, but in cause-and-effect, of events in Time."

"'Events in Time'! What, was this some kind of analytical equation for you! Am I just some experiment for you?" Airaen yelled. "You...you manipulated life for this!"

Faila made to say something at the outburst, but decided to remain silent at a glance from Kaisha.

"True, we manipulated life at one point..but the only life we manipulated," Nayru said, "was actually your mother. We were...surprised by her. All events that occurred in the realm we had created for life we allowed to happen on its own. And, technically, 'manipulated' isn't the word...more like enhanced."

"My...mother?" Airaen asked.

"Yes," Din replied. "We never anticipated the sudden bond that formed between the King of Hyrule and Zelda's mother. She was nearly half Sheikah, not full like her dear friend, Impa. Ha, I don't understand love...only Nayru really does. But the mixture of such blood...it was astounding."

"Sheikah with Hylian?" Airaen asked.

"Yes," Farore answered. "Not just Hylian, but Royal Blood. There is a hidden power in that blood. Mingle that with the power in Sheikah blood, plus common Hylian blood...it was phenomenal. Such an enigma had never been attempted before. And the end result was an enigma in itself."

"You didn't anticipate Zelda would be prescient," Airaen concluded.

"Again your analysis is astounding," Nayru said. "Yes, we never anticipated that little Zelda would be prescient, let alone have such wisdom at such a young age! She was a young child with a wit, an incredible mind...and a Sage."

"You made her the Seventh Sage, then?" Airaen asked.

"Yes, that was where we...enhanced her gifts," Din said. "When Ganon's dark desire became known to us, we decided to act on it. But because we could never fully meddle with the living world, we could not stop Ganon. So we fully awakened Zelda's prescience and set things in motion. By doing that, we had to give her the power of the Seventh Sage. That power, mingled with the Hero of Time, could stop Ganon...or, so we thought. Until Ganon took hold of the Triforce of Power."

Airaen noted how the goddess seemed to be withdrawn for a minute.

"All those years, listening to that madman's thoughts," the goddess muttered.

Airaen shook her head. "So you locked my father's spirit away until he was old enough to withstand the power of the Master Sword."

"Yes, but we also knew that the Hero of Time would never defeat Ganon of the Gerudo, not at the rate he was adapting to the Triforce of Power," Farore said. "Even when we gave the remaining pieces to your mother and father, even that wasn't enough. We needed something more...so we had the Sages be awakened by the Hero of Time. We thought that would be enough..."

"It wasn't," Nayru said, her tone with a hint of misery in it. "All the power from the Sages, the Seventh Sage, and the Hero of Time...all they could do was banish Ganon to the Sacred Realm, to buy what they thought would be two thousand years worth of time. But we knew better. Even with that knowledge, we still didn't know what we would do when Ganon did return ten months later. However, love stepped in again. The bond between the Hero of Time and the Seventh Sage...was even more surprising than the last bond we had seen. Mingling that blood...we never could even fathom what that would create..."

"You had such potential when you were finally born. We could sense it. So when Ganon escaped, we acted through you," Din said.

"And my awareness?"

"That, actually, we both anticipated and didn't anticipate," Farore answered. "We knew you had a phenomenal grasp on Time, but we never knew you would be able to grasp all of Time until your final fight with Ganondorf. It was stunning. We felt it. Your awareness was a simple after-effect of your first experience with the two Triforce pieces you received, and your first experience with Time-flow. Your fight with Ganon just now...we were surprised by how easy it was for you to adapt...even with raw-Time taking hold of you."

"What happened to Ganon? Isn't his spirit here now?" Airaen asked.

"His spirit was destroyed," Nayru said.

"We could not have him here, where he could wreak havoc here and gain more power," Din said.

"But how is that possible?" Airaen asked incredulously.

"Ganon held on to his Triforce piece for too long...integrating it with his very life force," Farore answered. "Unlike you, he didn't have an anchor in Time-flow, nor was he able to balance his power with the other two key elements to the true Triforce. With such a bond that he had created, he tore his own spirit away after a time. We were able to destroy what was left of it. It was either that, or part of him would have wandered Hyrule for eternity as a Poe. Your power, wisdom, and courage was the key to his annihilation."

"So I truly am an abomination," Airaen muttered.

"It depends on what you mean by that," Nayru said. "If you mean that you are different from other mortals, then you are correct. You are different...and it's about time the mortals had someone who could fathom Time's complexities and not lose sanity over it. But you are also not a demon. You're a Daia-Bearer. That is something no mortal can ever repay you for. The people of Hyrule owe their lives to you. You will be revered." Nayru chuckled at Airaen's troubled look. "But you desire the simple life...I am afraid we can't give you a simple life, young princess. You are heir to the throne. That can never be changed, lest we distort Time itself and destroy reality."

"You speak in the present tense with me," Airaen said. "I'm dead, remember?"

"Yes, you are," Din said. "But we can't have you dead for much longer."

Airaen started. "What...what are you talking about?"

"Politics," Farore said. "If you remain in the next world, Rohkensa of Sidar will die of a broken heart...he is trying to bring you back with his power even as we speak. It will kill him. Ah, Love truly is the ultimate Enigma."

Airaen cried out. "But...he can't do that!"

"If he dies, Airaen of Hyrule," Nayru said, "Sidar will be left without its leader, causing it to collapse on itself. Sidar's subjects will fight for that title, leading to civil war and its demise. That demise..."

"Will create a domino effect," Airaen finished. "Too many regions of Hyrule depend on Sidar for economic reasons. Those regions will go into a depression if trade with Sidar is ruined, leading to their demise." She narrowed her eyes.

"Always a surprise with you, Airaen of Hyrule," Din said with a laugh.

"It's my fault," Airaen muttered.

"Mommy? What's going on? What's wrong with Daddy?"

Airaen squeezed her daughter-spirit's hand affectionately. "I can't go back." Airaen looked at the goddesses standing before her. "Don't you understand? You can't send me back...you might disrupt Time's design!"

"Unless this is what Time anticipated," Farore pointed out. "Sometimes even we are controlled by Time's influence."

"Then it's settled!" Kaisha cried, speaking for the first time and startling Faila. "I knew Airaen was going to return to the living!"

"So...I'm really...going back?" Airaen whispered incredulously. "Just for politics?"

"And because we owe it to you, I'm afraid," Nayru replied with a chuckle.

"What about my daughter?" Airaen said suddenly. "Will she be coming with me?"

There was a moment's silence.

"Well?" Airaen hissed.

"That requires bending a few rules," Din said quietly. "If Time wants it so...then she will return with you. If not, she will remain here."

"You're going to gamble my daughter's life!" Airaen yelled. "Where I go, she goes!"

"We cannot guarantee that kind of success," Farore said.

"Then I won't go back," Airaen said indignantly. "If I go back, but she does not...if it fails, I return here."

"You would cause Hyrule's economic downfall just for this girl!" Faila cried.

"Am I not a mother?" Airaen replied calmly.

"Surprises upon surprises," Nayru mused. "So be it. You shall return. If Time rejects your daughter, you will come back to the next world."

"Let us hope Time is forgiving," Din said.

"For once," Airaen muttered. She clutched her daughter-spirit's hand tightly.

LOZ-

I TOLD you, I'd be back...eventually. Again, thanks macprincess for putting my butt in gear. And look how diligent I am! Hazaa! The next chapter is coming...sometime in our future