Link sat on Epona, facing the walled-off Castle Town, breathing heavily from both the fight and his emotions through it all. His battered body that hadn't fully recovered from all that had happened in the desert ached, and he felt close to exhaustion. Tears stung his eyes, tears he willed away because they would do nothing for him or the people trapped within the town. Screams and cries of horror wafted over the city wall to him, growing more distant and infrequent as the remaining citizens of Castle Town were transformed. He had failed.

His horse trembled beneath him from adrenaline and from being ridden hard, sweating and still breathing heavily. The Master Sword was still gripped in his hand, its silvery-white blade smeared with the blood of Shadow Beasts that were transformed before his eyes, just like Setskie was. There was no choice but for him to kill the very people he had been trying to save. He had failed them, and failed to do his duty.

How could he have failed? He had a plan, but it wasn't good enough. In the end, Ganondorf was faster. Ganondorf had centuries to plan what he would do, yet Link only had less than an hour. Despite his best efforts, the Demon King had turned almost all of the remaining Hylians into Shadow Beasts, and had his revenge.

He had failed, but he couldn't dwell on it right now. He couldn't be human and weep like the refugees standing nearby. It was time to be the Hero of Hyrule, even if the Hero of Hyrule was a failure. Link turned his tired horse and sheathed the Master Sword once it had seared away the blood. The people huddled in groups anxiously, some of them sobbing, others with children that wailed in fright.

A man stood off by himself, still clutching his halberd, and he had lowered his chain coif and lost his pot helm, exposing his ginger hair. The burly guard stood red-faced, his face wet with tears in the golden light of the torches that had been lit outside of castle town before sunset, the blade of his spear red with blood. Link walked Epona over to the man, who raised his eyes up towards him hopelessly.

"I couldn't get 'em out. I tried, hero. I really tried." He wiped at his wet nose with a gloved hand. "I got pushed east when the monsters came, and couldn't even get out of the west gate. People were turning into them left and right, all around me...I had to fight. I had to."

"It's all right, I did too. I know you did what you could." If he could focus on comforting others, he could ignore his own pain. "What's your name?"

"H...Hayes." the man blubbered, almost sobbing at this point. "My daughter was in there. I couldn't get home."

He leaned down to touch the man's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know that you did your best." There was nothing he could say about the man's daughter. She was very likely a Shadow Beast now. "Because of you, many people began to leave before the army attacked. You saved a lot of people, Hayes. You should feel proud of that fact."

"No...I don't want to feel anything." The man huffed a sigh and turned away, starting to follow the crowd as they slowly began to follow the road east. Link sat back up in the saddle and watched him go, envying the man for being able to openly show how he was feeling. Hayes wasn't the only one who didn't want to feel anything.

On the side of the road was a figure armored in white and silver, his head hung low as he sagged on his black horse. The commander wasn't looking at the town, nor was he looking at the crowd that slowly began to move. Link rode up to him. "Commander?"

The man flinched as if startled, and rubbed at his face wearily before sitting up straight. "Hero. We tried. We have to say that we tried." His deep voice was drained and weak.

He brought Epona next to the man to look at his face. The commander had assumed a calm expression, an officer in the Hyrulean army, but his eyes betrayed how he really felt. They were full of pain. Like Hayes, this man had left people behind; his men, and perhaps family. He still did his best to help as many as he could instead of helping those he cared about. There were spatters of blood on his armor, and he still held his bloodied sword on his right hand.

"Call me Link." He related to this poor man, who had tried to defy the odds while trusting his gut, only to fail in the end.

"If that's what you want, Link. I don't know how many we saved yet. What's left of my men told me that they tried to take people from their homes to get them out, but they hid there, too frightened to move." His hands moved and he pulled a rag from one of the pouches on his belt and wiped his blade clean, removing the blood of the people he once served. "You were right. I knew you were right. If only you were here yesterday…"

"I was in the Gerudo desert yesterday." He looked into the man's haunted eyes. "What's your name?"

The soldier slid his sword back in its sheath and put away the rag before speaking. "Petyr. Commander Petyr of the Third Infantry of the Royal Hyrulean Army." The man leaned over in the saddle to reach out his left hand towards Link. It was possible that he had noticed that Link was left handed, but it was more than likely that he was unable to reach with his right.

He twisted in the saddle and took it in his own left hand, never taking his eyes off the man's face. "You did well, Petyr. You did what you could, and people are safe because of it. Thank you."

Petyr released his hand, shaking his head. "No, I should thank you. I would have been like the rest of the army, if you hadn't come."

"How many do you estimate got through the east gate? I was the last one in there, but I still couldn't see anything." He remembered Petyr's horrified, frantic face as he tried to get back into the city only to fail.

"It could be hundreds, it could be thousands." Petyr said. "They're all spread out along the road. There's nothing in Eldin anymore, so where are we going? Kakariko?"

"Eventually, but these people can't be expected to walk all night. As it is, they'll have to walk all day for a few days in order to reach Kakariko on foot." He gestured down the road to the east. "There's a Goron merchant depot a few miles that way. We can get the people there tonight and leave in the morning."

"A sound plan, but there's still one thing to consider. You're quite young...at least ten years younger than I am. Do you know anything about providing for and traveling with a large amount of people?" His tone was polite, but Link could tell the man already knew the answer when he asked.

"No. I'm no soldier. I worked on a farm before the invasion started." If he had never left that farm and continued to watch goats, he wouldn't have had to fail. He wouldn't have had to watch the people he was supposed to save fall to Ganondorf.

"I'm very likely the only high-ranking officer left in the military right now, so if you don't mind I plan on taking charge of certain things. You-" Petyr pointed at him. "—should move to the front of that group of people and be visible. Set an example for them and lead, and let them see you. They're hurting, and they need to see somebody strong. You're doing well at keeping your face straight, even though I can see how upset you are by looking at your eyes."

He chuckled humorlessly. "I could say that about you. All right, I'll go be a hero. You go be Commander Petyr and figure out what we should be doing once we get to the depot. I trust your judgment."

The handsome officer nodded and rode off, moving his horse up the road at a trot towards a group of soldiers that were lumped together near the back of the slowly-moving line of refugees. Link watched him go, his eyes falling on the people who were following the road without lights. The western sky behind them was still lit by pale twilight and the soft glow of Ganondorf's barrier, but there was a new moon, and it shed no light in the direction they were going. Ahead in the distance was some kind of light, and the people were blindly following it. He pulled out his lantern and lit it, figuring one more light for the people wouldn't hurt.

"Midna?" He ventured, unsure if she was with him or not. She must have left him in order to close the drawbridge, but he never saw her leave, and never saw her return.

"I'm here. I went to the west side of the city and raised that bridge too." Her voice had a hint of the despair and guilt that he was feeling. "There were still people inside, trying to hide. I know I probably couldn't do much but...I understand how you felt when you didn't want to leave."

She had no idea. They probably weren't calling out to her for help like they were for him, but he wasn't going to make their pain into a competition. He patted at his chest. "You'll be okay. You always bounce back quickly, Midna...something I've been jealous of for a while."

"I do, but you...are you all right?"

"No. But I'm going to pretend to be all right. I need to for the others, just like Petyr said." Having let Epona rest for a few minutes, he moved her up the rode at a brisk trot. It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. His mind still spun from how quickly everything had happened, and how it had turned out. While he had been able to adjust to danger and crisis when it was just him and Midna, involving thousands of other people was overwhelming.

Be the hero. Fine. He would start with his friends, and support them. Then he would move on to the people. Perhaps later he would find someplace by himself to scream and swear in frustration, but for now he had to ignore how he was feeling. As always, that was difficult.

The Hylians watched him ride by with his lantern, some of them looking up at him with numb expressions, others still in tears. There was nothing he could say to them, not right now. Each person experienced the same thing as they fled the city, yet each person reacted to it differently. Because of that, he had no idea how to comfort a group of people.

About halfway up the loose column of refugees he found Ashei, riding her bay in one of the larger groups at a walk. They clustered around her for comfort, the warrior that had fought to help them escape, even though they had no idea who she was. When he approached, the people moved away to the side of the road, watching the hero with tired expressions. Ashei came closer to him, and there was enough distance between them and the refugees for them to speak frankly.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her.

"To be honest, not well." Her normally impassive voice was showing emotion, the usual mask of calm beginning to crack. She too was teetering on the edge of despair. "Castle Town wasn't my home, but it was still a city with thousands of people. I didn't want to leave you. I saw how many people there still were, but I understand why you told me to leave." She had wanted to stay with him to try to hold the line so others could escape, but he couldn't risk her turning into a Shadow Beast. It was selfish of him, but he didn't want to lose Ashei.

"Keep it together, if you can. You're a warrior that's here to guide these people to safety. You're a symbol of strength to them." He looked at her face, and saw her struggling. "If anything starts chasing us, ride up to the front and let me know. Commander Petyr is in the back with his soldiers and will be able to defend people until I get here."

She nodded, her face going back to its usual unemotional mask, but tears welled up in her eyes. She sniffled and quickly dashed them away with her fingers.

He reached over to put a hand on her leg. "Hey, it's all right. There will be time for tears later. Right now, we have work to do. We're supposed to be knights, right?"

Ashei took a deep breath and straightened in the saddle, steadying herself. "Right. Go on ahead. I'll be fine."

Link nodded and continued up the staggered column of refugees, his horse exhausted. Epona had been awake and running all night, and only had caught a few hours sleep earlier when he did. There was no way he could let the horse rest now, not with all that he needed to do. Comfort your friends, comfort the people, be strong. Be the hero. Even though you failed, be the hero.

He rode past several people with lanterns and even a few with torches that they had taken from somewhere, but most of the Hylians did not have lights. Their eyes were drawn to him as he held his lantern, his face lit from beneath, and he wondered if they could recognize him. If they didn't, it didn't matter. He was a warrior here to protect them, just like he had told Ashei.

Rusl was at the front, riding alongside Telma's wagon. She was in the lead of the line of seven wagons, the rest belonging to the teamsters, being pulled by mules. Each wagon had at least one if not multiple lanterns hung from it, the light that he had seen in the distance when he was at the back of the column, the guiding light in darkness that people followed.

Rusl's face was grim, as was Telma's, but it seemed like she had recovered from her fear. Shad looked the worst out of the three of them as he sat next to Telma, holding a cage that had her long-haired cat inside. The scholar's eyes were frightened, his face was a mix of emotions, and he only glanced over briefly when the hero rode up on his horse before staring ahead nervously. Link didn't know who looked more upset, Shad or the cat.

"Link." Rusl said once the young man had ridden up between them and slowed Epona to match their pace. "How many more are behind us?"

"I think I passed hundreds, although it's hard to tell when it's dark and everybody's spread out like this." he told him.

"Only that many?" Telma asked, sounding disappointed. There wasn't much to say about it, so he nodded at her numbly, letting his tired body keep his emotions suppressed.

"At least these people are safe for now." Rusl was trying to make light of the situation, which was his way. The man was patient and optimistic, and seemed to be handling what happened the best out of all of them. "We can do a head count once we stop for the night, and figure out how many to split off for Ordon."

"How is your injury? Do you think you could fight to defend these people if necessary?" He remembered how the man had been injured to the point where he was bedridden. At the time, Rusl had acted like it wasn't a big deal, but he knew how seriously the man had been wounded.

His mentor gave a laugh. "Link, that was nearly a month ago. I'm healed up and only a little stiff at times. Don't worry, I can fight." Was it a month ago? Had he really been doing this for so long?

"Good." He shifted his lantern from his left hand to his right. "I'm going a little ahead. I think they should see me in the front."

"Good idea." Telma said, smiling supportively. "Go on, honey. Be a hero."

He brought Epona up to the front of the entire line, about fifteen feet ahead of them, and held out his lantern for them to see. The ones attached to the wagons were half-blackened from smoke, but his was clean and shed a more pure light. The people in the back would most likely recognize it. A beacon, for the Hylians that were following their hero through the night.

Lead the people. Be the hero.

He tried to not think of what happened, only what he needed to do. He tried. The beast of anger that he knew was within him was laying low, and even though he tried to rouse it to displace his sadness and despair, the beast hunkered down with its tail between its legs. Even that part of him was hurt by his failure.

It was hard to win against Ganondorf, he realized. He had failed, but so had the Sages. Even though he felt a bitter hatred towards the man that had sent his army into Castle Town to turn its population into mindless monsters, he also felt overwhelmed by fear. How could he face somebody with that amount of power? Everybody expected him to, and he even said he intended to himself, but the idea of it was terrifying.

Have courage, Master. said the sword. You will succeed.

Just like I succeeded in saving the Hylians? His thoughts directed at the sword were bitter and full of self-loathing. Just like I prevented the army from overwhelming Castle Town?

You did what you could with the time you were given. The odds were- The sword paused, and he could feel it prod at his thoughts. No, I shall not tell you the numerical statistics, not when you are this emotional. I do not believe that anyone else would have had the success you did, faced against those odds.

Was that true? Because he was the hero, he was able to motivate more people to leave the town? It sure didn't motivate that damn General Scot, who was now a Shadow Beast just like everyone else in Castle Town. Motivating the people didn't necessarily help them escape through the gates before they had to be trapped inside with their fate.

Do not dwell on it, Master. It will only increase your emotional response.

Was the sword concerned for him? Did it, an inhuman and artificial soul, see him and understand what it was to be human, and why he felt this way? The way it had phrased it was odd, but it seemed like it was worried about him...if the sword could even feel worry. There was something he was sensing from it, but he wasn't sure what it was. He let his thoughts on the Master Sword distract him as he continued to ride east.

A few hours later, they reached the Goron merchant depot. It was about an hour before midnight, but even at that time there was activity, Goron merchants and their dodongos were moving around the complex, with a few humans with their carts camped just past the collection of buildings, Hylians that had decided to take their chances heading east when Hayes had been making people leave earlier.

The Gorons had their eyes on him and the group that straggled out behind him on the road, and the rock people turned to one another to mutter in surprise. While there were a few Hylians that had camped nearby, that was nothing compared to the numbers that were suddenly walking up, with the hero in the lead.

Link brought Epona in front of the main building, not bothering to dismount, and called out to its two occupants. "Hagar! Laron! I need your help!" He waited several seconds, and then shouted again. "Hagar!"

"What is it now?" the shaggy Goron grumbled, stepping outside with his pale hair looking wilder than usual. "I was sleeping." He stopped halfway down the steps and his mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw hundreds of Hylians lined up behind the young man in green. "Oh, stones." He stomped down the rest of the stairs and over to Link. "What happened? Was it something to do with that big yellow thing around the castle?"

"Castle Town has fallen. It's overrun with Shadow Beasts, and only a small percent of the population escaped." he said bluntly to the Goron, while trying to keep emotion out of his voice. The past two and a half hours riding up by the front of the column gave him far too much time to think about himself and how he was involved with everything that had happened, even though both Midna and the Master Sword kept talking to him to try to keep his spirits up. He felt miserable.

The Goron's navy blue eyes widened and he could see the whites around them, and he stared at Link in disbelief. "Say again? I thought I heard you say that Castle Town was overrun with monsters."

"I did. Most of the population of Hylians in Hyrule are now transformed into troops for an enemy army, which now has Castle Town as its headquarters." He turned his head to look at the groups of people beginning to cluster together on the road as all the refugees gradually caught up. "These people are a few of those who managed to escape."

When he turned his head back, Laron was standing in the doorway, his yellow paint smeared, likely from sleep. It reminded him of how Hida and woke up with makeup smeared on her face. The Goron had put his thick hands to his mouth in shock, and his eyes were as wide as Hagar's. Laron hurried over to stand next to Hagar. "Link, you gotta tell me: were there any Gorons still in the city?" He blinked and shook his head when he realized what he was asking, in front of these people who had lost their home. "Sorry, I know how that sounds, after what happened...but we Gorons look out for our own."

"No, not that I noticed. Just Hylians and a few round-eared humans here and there." Humans that had been caught up in the invasion, and had been transformed even though they weren't who Ganondorf was after.

"You had to figure, but I get why you asked." Hagar said to his partner, and then turned back to Link. "The Gorons started evacuating two days ago, not liking the look of the army outside the gates. Gamoson is back with his dad, and probably at Death Mountain already. That kid's a great roller." The Goron lowered his eyes, realizing that he was babbling. "Uh, sorry. That ain't important right now."

"No it ain't." Laron said, crossing his arms. "What's important is these people get some rest. We can't offer much, just what space we got in our warehouses and stables, but it's something. At least those little ones and their families will sleep someplace with a roof over their heads tonight." That last sentence was directed at nearby a family with a toddler and a boy about eight years old.

"Thank you for your kindness. These people need it, after what's happened to them." He dismounted and turned to Rusl, who had led his horse up next to him. "We should stable the horses, then figure out where to put people."

"Go ahead and take care of Epona." Hagar said. "She looks like she's had a rough time. We'll start sorting out where to put people. Ain't anybody better at organizing than Laron."

"If you're going to do that, can you do a head count?" he asked the two Gorons.

"Can we? If there's anything we're good at here, it's numbers and tallies!" Hagar grinned, still having a bit of bluster even though the situation was depressing. "You remember where to go, right? Where the supplies are in there?"

"Yeah, I'll show the others where to take their horses. There's one man on a horse in white armor, and he'll have a bunch of soldiers in blue with him. He's Commander Petyr and they're all that's left of the Hyrulean army. He offered to figure out how to take care of people, since he's used to managing large groups. They should be able to help you." He had thought about introducing Petyr himself, but the officer hadn't come to the front of the line. He was probably still at the rear of it. "Thanks again."

Hagar waved a thick hand dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it. We can't turn a blind eye to these poor people." The Goron started walking towards the crowd of displaced Hylians, and raised his voice. "Okay, we Gorons have got you now! You're among friends, and we're gonna find you all places to sleep!"

Link wished he could sleep, but not yet. He couldn't rest until he knew the others were settled. He motioned to Rusl, and the two of them made their way through the depot, which was still lit by torches. The Gorons worked at all hours, so they always kept their lights burning. They were still lit when he had stumbled here after escaping Kasuto.

Ashei followed the two of them and the three brought their tired horses into the stable, the place empty and dark. Link set his lantern down on a barrel so all three of them could see what they were doing, indicated where the water and other supplies were with only a few words, and they went about caring for their horses. No one spoke and they worked in silence, removing the tack, cleaning coats, giving water and feed that was mostly ignored, and wrapping them in their blankets.

He ran his hand over Epona's legs and found that they were trembling, the poor horse pushed to her limit again. He quietly hummed to her, not caring at this point if Rusl and Ashei heard him, but the horse ignored him, turning away. Even Epona was rejecting him. "Yeah, I'm not happy with me either." he muttered.

"Hmm?" Rusl responded from the next stall over.

"Nothing. Talking to myself." When he came back out into the aisle, he saw that Ashei had already left without a word. That was fine, since she probably needed to be alone. He found the same cot he had slept on before and dumped his gear there, leaving even his shield and cloak behind, deciding to only wear the Master Sword. He still had work to do, and even though he was tired and wanted to set aside the extra weight, he needed the sword with him.

Leaving the lantern to Rusl, he left the stable and began to wander around, watching as activity unfolded throughout the depot. Soldiers were talking to Laron and Petyr, who were still up near the road, and the commander stabled his horse yet. Telma had pulled up her cart near the stable and was beginning to unhitch Sam and Stephen, with Hagar helping her. The teamsters were setting up nearby on either side of the stable, preparing to bring their mules inside.

"Is there enough food in those carts to feed these people?" he asked the tall bartender as she worked. "We can assume that most of them ate tonight, but tomorrow morning we'll need to give them something."

She looked doubtful, lowering her brown eyes to stare at the ground. "I don't know, since a lot of it is ale and cider. It's enough food for the few people in Kakariko for at least a month, but I don't think there will be enough to go around for hundreds of people. Maybe one of the merchants here has something they'd be willing to sell us."

"Oh yeah, we've got plenty of stuff, but I need to double-check some paperwork first. Logistics. Don't wanna give away things that some merchants are on their way to pick up." Hagar gently took Sam by his bridle and began to lead the large horse towards the stable. "I'll talk to Laron about it." he said as he walked away.

Telma watched him go and gave a heavy sigh, running a hand through her braids, which hung loose instead of being tied back. She looked stressed in a way that he hadn't seen in her before, even when they were attacked by Bulbins.

"Are you going to be okay?" Link asked, genuinely concerned.

She shook her head and smirked. "Oh, don't worry about me, honey. I'm a tough cookie." Her expression softened, and she stepped closer and lowered her voice. "I'm worried about you, though. I can tell you're putting on a brave face. It's your eyes, honey. I can always tell how you feel by looking at your eyes."

He was doing his best, but he couldn't fool everyone. Some people were going to pick up on how upset and frustrated he was. "I'm trying, I really am. I can't help it. I feel like-"

She stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, just like he had done for her back in her pub before everything went wrong. It almost made him weep, but he controlled himself. He was managing to do that well tonight, in spite of everything. "You'll be okay, because you need to be okay. You always do what you set out to do. Keep acting brave, Link. For them." She pulled back from him with a sad smile, and went back to her horse to bring him to the stable.

Link watched her go, and thought that it was easy for her to tell him to be brave. She was far tougher than he was.

"That was her way of saying 'sad eyes'." Midna said into his ears. "She has faith in you, and she's right. I know you don't think you can handle things well, but you really do. You're so much stronger than you think."

"I guess." he said under his breath, not really able to speak to her at the moment with so many people around. Maybe later, if there was a place for him to go where he wasn't near anyone. He decided to go and see how his other friends were doing.

He didn't find anyone he knew until he circled back to the wagon to look on the other side of it, where he found Shad and Ashei standing next to the stable beneath the light of a hissing torch. He began to approach them and then stopped when Ashei reached out and put her hands on Shad's shoulders. The young man had removed his glasses and had a hand over his mouth, his face contorted into one of grief, a tear running down his cheek. Ashei was speaking to him softly, but Link couldn't hear her.

Shad shook his head and lowered his hand, and his tearful voice carried over to Link's ears. "But I did, don't you know? There was no way and I had no time, but I thought maybe Trevor's kids…" He hung his head and mumbled something else, but Link couldn't understand him anymore. He felt that he could do nothing to help the situation, and figured that Ashei would handle it far better than him, knowing Shad well. He quietly slipped away and began to wander again.

The coach that had managed to get out of town was sitting near some of the teamster's wagons on the other side of the stable. The shades in the windows of the ugly coach had been pulled down, giving the people inside privacy. Erol was there carefully winding up the reins, taking care of a few things after stabling the horses. They must have gotten here first, although he hadn't noticed the two grays in the stable. It was dark and he was tired, so it was a wonder he noticed anything.

"Hello." he said quietly after he approached, so the girl in the coach was not disturbed.

Erol jumped, not noticing him walk up at all. "Gods, you're quiet on your feet. Hello, Master Link. I saw you helping the people as we rode out of town." He carefully set down the reins beneath the driver's set, not currently wearing his white gloves. The last time Link had seen him, the manservant had been immaculate. Now his hair was uncombed and he had undone the first few buttons of his white shirt. It was probably as close to sloppy as Erol got. "Imagine my surprise when I found out that the hired sword that escorted us from Lake Hylia turned out to be the Hero Chosen by the Gods."

"Nobody was more surprised than me." Link said in an attempt at his usual sense of humor, but his heart was not in it. "How is Agitha?"

"Frightened, but I believe she's finally asleep." Erol said. "She's very upset that she had to leave her bug collection behind. I keep assuring her that she has far more bugs at our estate in Central Hyrule, but her mind is fixated on what she lost."

"Is that where you're going? Central Hyrule? I went through there about a week ago, and there were still a few Bulbin patrols." Which he had avoided, but he doubted a purple and green coach would be able to avoid them as easily.

"If the enemy army is busy inside Castle Town, then Central Hyrule should be safe. It's worth the risk, since anywhere else we go will be crowded. Sometimes Lady Agitha gets overwhelmed by crowds, and she'll be far happier at home." The half-Hylian turned his face towards the quiet coach. "I told her to remain with the servants in the coach for now, and to try to get some rest. We plan on leaving first thing in the morning."

"It's good to know that you're safe." Link told him with a faint smile. It wasn't a sincere smile, but he doubted Erol realized.

"And you as well." said Erol, and the servant went around to the trunk of the coach to go through whatever he managed to pack. Link let him be, and continued to walk.

The camp was beginning to come together, with people beginning to move around in groups as they were being sorted. Families and couples were in one group, men in another one, women in the last. Many of them were seated wherever the Gorons told them to go, exhausted from the escape and their long walk here. The soldiers that came with Petyr were already working, carrying buckets of water with dipping ladles from the multiple pumps that were around the depot. The men went up to the groups of people and offered them water, knowing that most would be thirsty after walking for miles.

Petyr stood near the large building that doubled as an office and a home for Hagar and Laron, watching his men give the refugees water. He raised his eyebrows when Link approached, and then nodded at him. "My men are making sure that they can at least have some water, even if they can't have food. Most people have had their evening meals, so we won't need to worry about feeding them until tomorrow morning."

He nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought, too. I still need to talk to the Gorons about food, though. He mentioned that we might be able to work something out, although I hope he's willing to take IOU's. I'm not exactly drowning in rupees at the moment."

"You can't expect to do everything yourself, hero or not. A man in charge doesn't break his back working, he delegates. There are plenty of people here that can step up to do any number of things, me included. Use that to your advantage. The Third Infantry is only partly represented here, but we still want to help the people, and you." The man still had a sad, haunted look in his pale blue eyes, but his face remained calm. He could control his outward emotions, but his eyes betrayed how he was really feeling.

Just like me. "Are you all right?" he asked him.

Petyr didn't stop watching his soldiers as they worked. "A commanding officer does not show his emotions, not in front of his men." His facial expression didn't change, but his deep voice dropped so only Link could hear him. "My wife was in the city."

That would explain the man's expression as he attempted to make his way back into the city as the Shadow Beasts attacked. He had decided to ignore what Link had told him to do and tried to go back to save the woman he loved. Link would have done the same for Ilia, so he understood. "I'm sorry."

The soldier turned his head to look at him, still standing tall and calm despite his admission. "It isn't just me. Almost all of the people here have lost someone in the escape. Listen to them, Link. They're telling each other their stories, swapping grief for grief."

He looked around at the gathered people that stood or sat on the grass of the depot. Some were staring off into space, others were pacing nervously, many were talking to one another or the Gorons and soldiers helping them, and a few were covering their faces and weeping. A small child sitting on his father's lap cried for his mother, but the father could do nothing except hold the boy. Link's heart went out to the child, who was too young to understand what was happening, and for his poor father too.

He walked over to them and knelt down, forgetting about his wound and making his knee sore in the process. The father slowly turned his head and looked at him with dead eyes, completely disconnected from what was happening around him. It was as if the poor man's mind had shut down. The child did not do anything other than continue to bawl. "Will the boy be all right?" Link asked the father.

The man shrugged ever so faintly. "He'll get tired from crying and fall asleep eventually." he said, his voice as dead as his eyes.

Link looked at the boy, who appeared to be two or three, and gave a child a smile. The boy didn't seem to notice him there and continued crying with tired-sounding sobs, occasionally saying the word "Mama". The sound hurt to hear, and he felt a pang of sympathy for this boy. He smiled and put a hand on the father's arm. "Hang in there. We'll be sure to get the two of you to safety."

The father nodded faintly, then returned to staring off into space, holding his crying child. Link stood and took a few steps away while looking for others to speak to, but then he saw Hagar approaching, clipboard in hand. "Hey, ho! Got that tally!" the wild-haired Goron called.

"How many are we looking at?" he asked him.

"We still need to triple-count, but we've got seven hundred and forty-one people, not counting those rich people in the coach, or Telma's group. And not you, of course. Heroes can fend for themselves, right?" Hagar grinned at him, but what the Goron said was the opposite of what Link was feeling right now.

The number floored him, and he breathed out the number. "Seven hundred and forty-one…" Out of a city of ninety thousand people, only a little over seven hundred made it through the evacuation, making it only about eight thousand people total that had escaped Ganondorf's army. He shut his eyes and swallowed hard, fighting against the guilt and pain that rose up again. No, keep control. Be the hero. Show these people that someone is protecting them. He took a few deep breaths. "What else?" he asked, his voice slightly strained.

Hagar paused, probably wondering about him, but then continued. "Nobody's injured, which is a good thing, but they'll still need supplies. Only some of the people brought cloaks or blankets, and we've got nothing like that. Just tarps. You can fit a few people under a tarp, but even then not everybody's gonna be covered to sleep, and I know you humans sleep better if you do that."

"Generally, yes." He kept his eyes closed, continuing to focus only on what Hagar was saying. Keep control. Keep calm.

"We can fit about sixty in the stables and a few hundred in the warehouses if we move some goods outside. I was about to ask those soldiers to help with that. A lot of people are gonna have to sleep outside, though. No way around it." There was the flutter of paper as the Goron paged through what was on his clipboard.

Link opened his eyes now that he felt in control again, and focused on what needed to be done. "We'll have to make do with what we have."

"What we have...is a lot of potatoes." Hagar said as he looked at an invoice written in Goron runes, running a thick digit down the lines of writing. "In fact it's turned out to be too many potatoes, taking up space in our warehouses. It was hard enough to get them out of north Lanayru and down here, and now none of the Hylian merchants that wanted 'em are coming. Or for the squash that came from the Faron border. Both things keep forever, but we're gonna have to haul them outside so people can sleep in the warehouses and pray to the gods that it don't rain tonight."

"Potatoes…" He had found a solution to one of their problems, at least. "Do you think there's enough potatoes to feed a little over seven hundred people for a few meals?"

The Goron laughed. "A few? We've got enough for thousands of people! Lots of pumpkins too."

"Pumpkin is not the same as squash."

The Goron scratched at his bushy mutton chops. "Yeah it is. I don't eat plants, and even I know that. Pumpkins are a kind of squash."

"I like squash, and hate pumpkin. They're not the same." He sighed and rubbed at his brow wearily. "I guess that solves one problem. It's not glamorous, but if there are thousands of potatoes… Hagar, are you sure there's enough for days? It will take at least three to get half of this group to Kakariko, and five or so to get the other half to Faron."

"When I say a lot of potatoes, I mean a lot of potatoes." Hagar shrugged his wide shoulders. "And slightly fewer pumpkins, but still a lot. Don't worry, these people will be fed. Since you're fine with it, we're gonna start cooking in the morning. Those soldiers already have figured out how long it's gonna take."

He felt a small amount of relief at that, the first positive emotion he had felt in hours. The problem of obtaining a food supply was taken care of, and while dry baked potatoes and roasted pumpkin wasn't all that appealing, it was better than going hungry. He had a selfish thought and felt glad that he still had Gerudo rations and didn't have to eat potatoes and pumpkin, and then shoved the thought aside with a flash of guilt. That was not a very kind thing to think after what these people went through.

"All those potatoes have to be worth something, and I doubt I have the rupees to pay for thousands of potatoes. How do you plan on working that out? I don't think anyone here will be able to pay you." Except for Agitha Artho, but he doubted that an eleven-year-old girl would be willing to buy tons of potatoes and squash.

"Don't worry about it." Hagar said, reaching over and patting him on the shoulder with a large hand. The Goron was gentle, far more than Laron had been when he cuffed Link on the shoulder the one time. "We'll work out the details with the Hylian government once things get back to normal. It's a time of war, Link. We gotta help each other. I don't expect any of these people to pay, and I don't plan on charging them either." He nodded politely to the young Hylian. "Excuse me. More to do." Hagar stepped away, walking over to another Goron while saying something about getting empty carts.

War. He had said so himself before, but it felt more real now. It was now a very one-sided war, and even though he had the odds stacked against him before, he finally felt as if he was losing. The odds were more in his favor when he had more people on his side, when the military was available, even if it was beneath Scot. When Zelda was available, before she fell into her soulless sleep. Now Ganondorf had almost the entire Hylian population on his side, and corrupted them for his own purposes.

Not that he needed them. The Gerudo was incredibly powerful, and was so even without Power enhancing his abilities. The fragment of the Triforce only magnified Ganondorf's magic, to the point where he was far stronger than Zant, the man that had very nearly killed Link and Midna. This was a man that eluded capture, and once he finally had been caught, eluded death. And who was Link? A farmhand. A damned farmhand with a magic sword, that everybody had poured their hopes into. Did he even stand a chance?

Master Link, please cease this line of thought. You are not emotionally stable due to your exhaustion, and I can sense the pain your wounds from the Lanmola are causing you. We shall discuss the subject when you have a clear head, and we have taken care of our business in the Twilight Realm.

As the Master Sword spoke and tried to be reasonable, his eyes wandered around the crowd again. So many people were hurt and frightened, even his friends. Shad was in tears, Telma was scared, even Ashei looked like she was ready to break down. They were like the others here; not heroes, just people.

The child nearby had stopped sobbing, and now was laying against his father's chest, whimpering. The man hadn't moved, hadn't changed, and continued to numbly stare at nothing. This is how normal people react to trauma, he thought. This is shock. What his friends were enduring was shock. Why didn't he react like this? He had been able to control his emotions so far, something he had problems with in the past. Why wasn't he responding normally?

You are hardly normal, Master.

Link sighed, agreeing with the sword. If he wasn't able to handle situations like these, the gods wouldn't have chosen him.

Yet, you are still human. the sword added.

That was one of his strengths, wasn't it? That's what Gor Coron told him, that he was able to push aside his own pain to help ease that of others. Midna had said something similar, in her own way. He was able to handle all of this not because he needed to, but because he was Link. Not Link the hero reborn, Link the man that had lived in Ordon for the past five years.

He squared his shoulders and began to walk through the people, going to them. He was exhausted and his body hurt; the bruises on his back ached and the wounds on his leg were sore. Yet he did what he had to, reaching out to them with words of kindness. Are you all right? We'll take you somewhere. I'll take care of things. I'll protect you. I'll do what I can. You're safe here. You survived.

He knelt down, ignoring the tugging on his stitches as he tried to be on their level to speak to them as they sat on the grass. He reached out to put a hand on shoulders or arms, or to even hold someone's hand. He smiled, knowing that the smile was fake, knowing that his friends could see through it, but the people probably wouldn't.

And they spoke to him. Not all; some were just as numb and distant as the man with his small child, but others needed to talk to someone. They had escaped with nothing but the clothing on their backs. They had escaped even though the shadow monsters touched them, and they thought they would be transformed. Hero, my mother fell behind and was turned into a black beast. Hero, I was separated from my husband, have you seen him? Hero, my baby was pulled from my arms by a monster. Hero, I had to leave my grandmother in my house, she can't walk anymore.

Too many were in tears as they spoke to him. Too many asked him if he had seen loved ones. Too many reached out to touch him as he walked past, as if he was a god himself, thanking him for saving them as they clutched the hem of his green tunic. Hero. You saved us, hero. He knew that they were wrong, that they were seeing him as something he was not. He wasn't a savior, not when so many were left behind. Thank you, hero. Hero. Hero.

Except he knew that he was a failure.

Then suddenly he wasn't all right anymore. He wasn't in control as the terror and grief on the faces of the Hylians weighed heavily on him, sundering his heart. Feeling overwhelmed, he began to walk away from the crowd, no destination in mind other than simply away. His thoughts went back to how Ganondorf had taken the city so easily without lifting a finger, without leaving the castle and the barrier around it. How could he protect the people against someone like that? The Gerudo was nearly immortal. That was what Rauru the Sage had said, after showing him how easily Ganondorf had cheated death and killed the Zora Sage. And Link, this stupid farmhand with a magic sword and a broken brain, was supposed to kill him.

His feet moved faster, and soon he was no longer walking but running. Midna said something and appeared behind him, but he wasn't paying any attention to her as he ran past trees in the darkness, running blind. His heart thudded in his chest not from the run but from terror as he thought of fighting Ganondorf, of attempting to kill the man that had ruined Hyrule over two hundred years ago and now was doing it again.

And yet, you are still human. The words of the Master Sword echoed in his head. He was human. He couldn't handle all of this, the responsibility, the burden. He couldn't carry this damned sword that was currently talking within his mind and telling him he was being unreasonable, and his fingers fumbled frantically and unbuckled his baldric as he ran into a dark field lit only by the stars and hundreds of fireflies.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill Ganondorf.

The scabbard was in his hand then, and Link drew his arm back to throw it as he began to slow to a jog, his vision blurring and his chest heaving breaths in panic. Then his foot twisted as it landed in a hole or animal den and he fell forward to sprawl on the grass, the Master Sword clattering to the ground in front of him, his hat falling off somewhere from his rough contact with the dirt and grass.

He thought he would lay there, simply lay there, and be one with the ground. Not be the hero, not be the one who carried the sword, not be the one expected to do the impossible and simply be a frightened, emotional fool laying on his face in a field. He didn't want to be something he wasn't anymore. He wanted to be human.

"Are you all right?" Midna came up to Link and hovered just above him, having flew after him as he ran. She had been shouting after him in concern, and he had been ignoring her.

He raised himself up on his forearms, but didn't turn to look at her as he felt tears well up in his eyes. "It's too big Midna. It's all too big…"

"What?" She didn't seem to understand. She couldn't understand.

"Everything. I wanted to save as many as I could." he mumbled tearfully. "But I failed. I failed!" He choked out a sob, unable to stop the flood of words and emotion that he had bottled up for hours. "I barely saved anyone, and they're all suffering right now. I got them out, but their loved ones and so many others were still inside. How is that saving them? How am I a hero to them? It's a lie."

"Link—"

He clenched his fists, clutching at the grass while gritting his teeth, feeling angry at himself for not being good enough. "Now I'm supposed to kill Ganondorf, but how? The previous hero wasn't able to fight him, even the Sages couldn't kill him!" He breathed heavily, barely able to speak as terror took him over. "How...how can I save these people from him, in the end? Ganondorf is going to slaughter me, and then come for these few Hylians that got away. I-I'm scared." He felt her small hand on his arm, and he fully broke down into sobs. "I'm so...scared…" he said brokenly, sinking back down to the ground and burying his face in his folded arms.

Her hand went to his forehead and brushed back his hair in the comforting way she always did, but this time it didn't do anything for him. She may as well have not been touching him at all. "Hush, you're not a failure. What happened wasn't your fault."

Link didn't respond, the culmination of weeks of fear and stress finally catching up to him at the worst moment, when he was supposed to be strong. He was terrified. He wasn't as capable as he needed to be, and he was alone because nobody else could be what he was. Midna's words were no comfort to him, nor was her gentle touch, and he lay there on the cool grass and emptied out his grief, despair and fear with his tears, his sobs muffled by his arms. He cried until his chest hurt and his throat felt raw, and his body began to tremble with exhaustion. Someone else came and put a hand on his back at some point, and he could sense them sitting next to him, but he didn't lift his head. It didn't matter. All he could do was lay there until his emotions had spent themselves and there was nothing left behind.

Eventually he raised his face, sniffling and feeling drained. Renado had been right, damn him. The shaman had known best and he didn't listen, and now here he was laying on his belly in this field with his bracers soaked with his own tears. He had expected to cry about what happened because that seemed to be what he did these days, but not like this. Not like a hurt child.

The hand on his back patted him gently. "I came out here to have a cry away from all the people, only to have you run out here and do the same thing." Ashei said quietly, her voice subdued. Her voice did sound a bit more tired, as if she had been crying, but she no longer was. "I never thought I'd see you like this."

"Me either." he croaked, his voice hoarse. "I'm not normally like this." Even his reaction to Kasuto wasn't like this. At least after Kasuto, he wasn't afraid of his own death. "I thought I could keep it together."

"This must be so hard for you." Ashei still had a hand to his back, and he could see her sitting to the right of him at the edge of his vision, her legs folded next to her. She had heard his confessions of fear and despair, and regardless of her own feelings had come here to comfort him. It's what he would have done if it was the reverse. Perhaps he and Ashei were more alike than he thought.

"Through it all, I'm only human." Link sniffled again, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "No matter what people see when they look at me, I'm still just a guy. I'm still a nobody from the small village of Ordon. I don't want to be here, with these people that think I'm something I'm not." He lowered his face down onto his arms and gave a weak sigh. "I want to go home." he said, his voice muffled.

"But you're still here." the warrior said pointedly.

He nodded, and moved his face to rest his cheek on his arms, face turned towards her. She was right. He was still here, in spite of everything. "I can't look away from what's happening, even if it frightens me. People expect something from me...but I expect even more from myself."

"You expect too much." Ashei said, her voice gentle. She was a completely different woman now, and he suspected that this was the real Ashei, not the knightly warrior that she normally presented herself as. "No man is an island, yeah? You may have been chosen by a higher power to save Hyrule and everyone in it, but you're not doing it alone."

He sighed again, and flipped over onto his back to face her. "I know. I have Midna." And Ilia, sometimes. For all that she could help him.

The dark-haired woman smiled and shook her head, her face dimly lit by the stars and the gathering fireflies that had began to settle on and around her. She would have been sitting there for some time if the bugs were doing that, so he must have been crying for a lot longer than he thought. "Not just Midna. Look at how many people have been drawn to you. I met you only one other time before today, but there was something about you that made me want to trust you. Like completely, yeah?" She carefully reached a finger out to one of the fireflies nearby on the grass and the green-glowing insect crawled onto it. Ashei smiled at the bug. "I don't know if it's your voice, or your smile, or the way you laugh easily...or even the way you care about others, but there's certainly something about you."

She reached out her hand towards Midna, who extended her hair and took the firefly. It immediately took off, but landed on the glowing runes of her right arm, drawn to the light. The two women laughed about it, but he was still feeling too drained to react.

Ashei looked back down at him, still smiling. "It isn't only me, either. It's Telma, Shad, Auru, probably the Gerudo you met in the desert, the people from Kakariko, these Gorons here, even the soldiers that came with us. You reach out and touch the people around you and influence them, and they're willing to follow you. They want to help you."

"Midna said it was charisma. I think it's because I know the right things to say to people." He rubbed at his eyes a bit, feeling tired, but also feeling comforted by the two women with him. "If you remember, you weren't exactly nice to me when we first met."

"Guilty as charged. I admit I judged you based on appearances, but it's a habit I got into growing up surrounded by men that looked like what they were." She had grown up in the Snow Peaks, in a place called Mido, she had said. What kind of place was it, to be full of men? "That changed pretty quickly. I made a friend that night, even though I didn't know much about him yet. And tonight, I came out here to vent, but when I saw you and heard what you said, I forgot about crying. I was worried about you, this guy I barely knew." She lowered her eyes to look at the fireflies surrounding them, gathering around the three people that sat still in the grass. "And the fact that he was so upset really bothered me."

She shifted, unfolding her legs and stretching out on the grass next to him, facing the brilliant stars above. The fireflies nearby were disturbed and took flight, their own private cluster of stars here on earth. "I want to help you, Link. I don't know what I can do, but I don't want you to face this all alone. It's not fair." Ashei turned her head to look at him, and he tilted his own head to face her. "When I look at you, I don't see the hero that carries the Master Sword. Yeah, that's technically what you are, but you're also a person that's so much like me and Shad, and Telma too. I see Link from Ordon, the guy who only wants to help others and make them happy. You care." She gave a short sigh and rested her gauntlet-clad left hand on her breastplate, moving her head to look back at the stars. "You say you expect more from yourself. Why not expect who you are, instead?"

He continued to look at her, surprised at the kind and wise words coming from a woman who normally was impassive. She was somebody who rarely spoke, and when she did, it was in a short and blunt manner. She was different now, and he knew that he was correct; this was the real Ashei, the woman behind the warrior, the human being inside and not the knightly exterior.

Link found solace in her words, not disagreeing with what she said. If he had tried to convince himself of any of those things, he would have doubted himself. It was nothing but pure honesty from Ashei, and how she truly saw him. He finally smiled and reached out his hand and slid it into hers, giving it a squeeze. It made her look back at him. "Thank you." he said, still sounding hoarse, but no longer sounding drained and emotionless. "You're right, and Midna is too. I'm being too hard on myself."

There was a faint rattle on the other side of him, and he turned his head the other way. Midna had picked up the Master Sword from where it had fell, and held it in her small spiky arms instead of her hair, clutching it to her chest. He let go of Ashei's hand and reached out and took the sword, holding it against his own chest. "I'm sorry, Sword."

The Master Sword's gem flashed ever so slightly, and it played its chime of five notes. All is forgiven, Master. I am happy that you are doing better. It was. He had sensed happiness from it before, the one emotion that it was able to experience, and now he could feel it again. If it was happy, then what he had sensed from it earlier was concern. It was supposed to be inhuman and said that it didn't experience emotions, yet it had just now.

Midna come and lay against his side, resting in the crook of his other arm as she stared up at the sky. He remembered when he had protested whenever she got too close to him. Now he was used to her, fond of the the Twili and her behavior, and he found comfort in her presence.

The great Star River stretched across the sky from one horizon to the other, its multi-colored stars brilliant in the darkness. There was a new moon, and although he could see its dark disc blotting out some of the stars, it was not hiding them with its light. The western sky was marred by the glowing golden barrier that separated Ganondorf from the rest of the world, but the stars above were beautiful.

"I guess I feel obligated to do the things I've been doing, since I've had gods and Princess Zelda telling me that I need to." Link said. "But I think it's in my nature to want to do something. I see people and think, 'they're just like me, they must be scared by all that's happening', and I do what I can for them."

"I did say you're the reason why I started to care about the light world. I assumed everyone here was a jerk, because of our history...but you were the opposite." Midna's long magical hair was draped over his arm and spilled out onto the grass, and since all that was separating him from the Fused Shadows on her head was his clothing and armor, he could sense the evil relic. The evil relic that Midna was able to control because of him. "I know I was resistant at first, but I wanted to help you, just like Ashei. I saw a guy who wanted to do right by everyone, not eager to please, but not willing to let people down. I think that's why you make friends so easily."

"Yeah, maybe." There could have been any number of reasons he was making friends easily, but he didn't care at this point. He suddenly had more friends than he had throughout his entire childhood, and his time in Ordon was lonely with only Ilia and Fado to rely on. Now that he had these friends, he stopped worrying about frightening them with the details of what he was doing, and instead wanted them with him. He knew that he needed Ilia, but he needed everyone else as well.

"Maybe it's your voice." Ashei said. "That was what I noticed. When you talk, people want to listen. There's this quality to it, I don't know…" She turned her head towards him again. "Do you know how to sing? From hearing your speaking voice, it kind of sounds like you'd be able to. I heard you humming a little while you were taking care of your horse earlier, but I could barely hear it."

Link laughed softly. "I'm embarrassed to sing in front of others. I don't know why. Midna's heard me a bunch of times now, but I still feel awkward about it."

"Oh, stop. I've heard you sing your horsey song plenty of times by now and you have no reason to be ashamed." The Twili gave a little dismissive snort. "Honestly, there's being humble, and then there's being shy. You are not a shy guy."

"Aren't I?" He smiled up at the stars. "I learned songs from my family...mostly my father, but a few from my mother and grandmother. Father in particular had a really nice voice. Even though he taught me songs, I only sing them when I'm alone. The only thing people have heard me sing is Epona's song, which was what she calls my 'horsey song', and what you heard me humming a little bit of."

"Is that the name of your horse? Epona? The same as the Child Hero's horse?" Ashei asked.

"Yeah." He considered telling her of how he was descended from the previous Link, and how the song came about and was passed down through his family, but she spoke again.

"That's a nice name for a horse." the dark-haired warrior said, still staring at the stars. "My horse is named Spirit."

"Also a good name for a horse." he said.

The three of them were silent for a while, gazing up at the stars and recovering from the terrors of the evening with one another. He needed friends, and realized that he had been stubborn about trying to do everything himself. They still needed him as the hero but they also needed him for who he was, and he simply needed them to be there. He felt grateful once again for Midna's presence, and now for Ashei's as well. The two of them had lifted him out of a horrible despair, and now he felt he could lead these poor Hylians to Kakariko.

"So hey, those songs Gwyn taught you? Sing one." Ashei insisted after a while.

He laughed again, shaking his head. "Nah. I don't think I'd sound all that great right now. I sound like a frog from crying."

The female warrior laughed in response. "Like I sound any better."

Link stared at the stars, thinking of the songs his father taught him. There were many, since the Knights of Hyrule tended to preserve the history of the kingdom through its songs and stories just as much as bards did. Some of the songs that Gwyn knew weren't anything that the knights learned, but one of the earliest songs he had learned was. He was still a little boy living on the ranch, and Gwyn had shared with him an older song that the knights passed along. Ashei would most likely know it, if Brent taught her anything.

Was he shy? Maybe. But Midna was right, there was no reason for him to be ashamed, not in front of his friends. Link cleared his throat and began to sing, his voice rough at first from his tears, but it became clear after the first lines:

O'er lake, o'er plain, o'er fields

The western wind does blow

It sweeps 'cross our green lands

With a soft breath

Ashei gave a soft, delighted laugh when he began to sing, and she joined in for the next verse with a sweet-sounding soprano voice, singing along with him, an octave above:

Through wood, through hills, through sky

The western wind does blow

It brings us a promise

Of peaceful times

Then she dropped down to sing on the same octave as his tenor voice:

Children of the goddess

Can you hear her call?

Golden, gentle, sweet and kind

Her voice, the wind

He was right; she did know that song. Her voice was pleasant to listen to, and he had no idea that she was able to sing that well from hearing her normally quiet and unemotional voice. It was practiced, as if she had continued with musical training like a squire would have, and he felt that it blended well with his own. There was no shame, only a song that the two of them shared together, an old Hylian hymn that most did not remember, but the knights knew. They were connected through the song taught to them by their knight fathers.

Ashei chuckled once they finished the song. "See? I knew it. You most certainly can sing, and have a nice singing voice."

"You both do. That was lovely." Midna sounded like she was smiling from where she lay against him.

"I'll have to take your word for it, ladies. I honestly don't know what I sound like." Which was true. He didn't even listen to his own self to try to hit the right notes; that happened naturally, and so singing was a rather idle and calm thing for him to do. That was one of the reasons he did it while working by himself. "I'm sorry you had to see me have a nervous breakdown."

"I'm sorry that you had a nervous breakdown in the first place." Ashei said. "But I'm glad you're okay now."

Link smiled at the Star River that shone far above with countless pinpoints of colorful light. "Thanks." he said simply, a warmth in his voice that said far more than a single word could alone. Then the three of them lay in silence, gazing up at the sea of stars above them.


Author's note: The song that Link and Ashei are singing is to the tune of Kakariko Village from A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. Sing along if you want!