"I swear, if you don't wake up I'm going to hold your nose shut…"

The high-pitched muttering came from right in front of his face, and he could feel a light weight on his chest. If he hadn't been so tired, Link's initial reaction would have been to swat at whatever was bothering him, but as it was all he could do is produce a monotone grunt and muzzily open his eyes.

A vision in black and gray slid into focus, one red-on-yellow eye staring at him. "Finally." Midna said. "How am I supposed to wake you up when you always sleep like the dead?"

He sighed and rubbed at his face. "Yeah. I did ask you to wake me up." He flipped a hand dismissively at her. "Shoo. Get off."

The Twili floated up, but not very high, and settled on the stone floor next to his cot. It almost looked like she was hiding. Then he remembered that it wasn't only the two of them sleeping in this stable, and she had taken a risk at being seen by waking him. If he had any sense he would have asked Ashei or Rusl to wake him, but he was so exhausted the previous night from his nervous breakdown, he wasn't thinking straight. It was a wonder he even remembered to take his boots off before falling asleep.

Link sat up and ran a hand through his hair, looking around. "This isn't dawn. Midna, why isn't this dawn?"

"It's an hour after dawn." She said from where she stood on the floor between his cot and Ashei's. There were a few of the foldable canvas cots stored in the stable, so not only did he, Ashei and Rusl get to sleep on them, there were enough for others if they needed them. "I tried to wake you when the sun was coming up, but I couldn't. To be fair, you've only slept about seven hours, which is a bit on the short side for you."

"She woke me while trying to wake you." Ashei said from where she sat on her cot, running a simple ivory comb through her hair. It was quite utilitarian and nothing like a lady's comb. "I wouldn't worry about waking up an hour later than you planned. Nobody's up but us, the Gorons and the soldiers. I can hear them working out there."

He stretched, somewhat stiff. It would be a while before his poor body recovered from his fights in the desert, even if Courage was helping him heal. Down the aisle were huddled bodies on the floor, some wrapped in cloaks or blankets, but most of them were curled up against one another for comfort and warmth. They were all teenage girls and young women, and although he recalled stepping over sleeping bodies in order to get to his cot last night, but he didn't realize that he was surrounded by women. "Why are there only girls sleeping here?"

"You'll have to ask Laron that one, or maybe Petyr. If I'm going to hazard a guess, it's that they're in here with the hero and two other warriors to prevent any young men with foolish ideas from doing anything." She picked up one of her silver barrettes. "Not that I think that's on the mind of any man in this camp right now, but Petyr seems like the kind of guy to think of everything."

He thought about how Sumati had beaten the two women who did try something with him back in Hida's fortress, and knew that if he had caught any man doing anything like that to one of the girls in here, he'd do the same. "I'd rather have a guy who thinks of everything with us. I'm not going to remember everything."

She made a small sound of agreement, and began to braid her twin tails of dark hair. "Are you okay this morning?"

"Yeah." He sat to pull his boots on. "I think I can help these people better now that I've sorted out my complexes." Not that he really had, he only felt a bit more confident about them. His friends were there for him, but at the same time he still had no idea how he was going to deal with Ganondorf, or survive dealing with him. "Ashei, do you know anything about the potatoes?"

"Potatoes?" she asked, glancing at him quizzically while her fingers worked her hair.

"Guess not. Hagar said that there's a lot of potatoes and pumpkin here that came from Lanayru and Central Hyrule, and the Hylian merchants that ordered it never showed. I asked him if he could feed that to the people, and he said yes." He reached for his chain shirt. "It's a stroke of luck that all that food is here, and it's filling stuff no less. People can live on a diet that's almost entirely potatoes if they need to."

"I hope people like potatoes, then." the other warrior said, finished with her hair.

The two of them put on their armor, which Ashei was able to do herself. Her half plate armor only covered her torso, forearms and shins, so it wasn't as difficult to put on as full plate. She did not put on the gauntlets, but stowed them in one of Spirit's saddlebags for the time being. Link watched as she began to feed and water the horse, and once his gear was on, he did the same for Epona.

Rusl came in at that point, carefully making his way through the sleeping young women on the floor, although a few were beginning to rouse. "Good." he said, stepping up to Epona's stall while Link gave the horse water. "I came back to make sure you were up. Midna was having a difficult time earlier."

Link looked up from what he was doing, raising his eyebrows. "You've met Midna?"

"Obviously." Midna's voice came from his torso. Once he had on his chain shirt and green tunic, she had merged with his shadows again. "He was the first one awake, and I was glad to have somebody to talk to."

His mentor smiled. "I was surprised at first, of course. When I woke, there was this little creature poking and prodding you. When she saw me, she looked me right in the eye, picked up your arm and dropped it back onto your chest. You never budged." He chuckled. "I suppose you're still difficult to wake up."

"He told me it was a teenager thing, but I told him I'm still technically in my teens, and so is Ashei. She's your age, you know." The Twili gave a snicker. "I said that I never had problems waking on my own, and Ashei is far more disciplined than you are so she woke up not too long after Rusl."

At least he wouldn't have to introduce Midna to Rusl. "Ashei and Rusl aren't injured." he said, stepping out of the stall. There was no need to sing to the horse this morning; she seemed content in a more familiar stable, and there were more people nearby.

"You're injured?" Rusl asked, looking at him in concern. "You didn't mention that."

Dammit. He was too tired to watch his mouth, yet again. Today was going to be one of those days he operated without a filter. "I didn't feel like there was a point, because I still need to do things whether I'm hurt or not. I'm fine. Just a little black and blue with a few stitches in my left leg."

There was an exasperated sight that came from his torso. "He's downplaying it. He almost died."

Link clutched at the front of his tunic. "Midna…" he growled.

"You were planning on telling me, weren't you?" Rusl showed a rare moment of anger with that concerned comment. It probably seemed like mild anger to Ashei, who likely didn't see Rusl that often. Link knew otherwise, and this small showing of anger meant that the man was truly furious.

He shrunk back as if he had been struck. "I'm sorry, okay? I really wanted to tell you, but then we had to evacuate the citizens of Castle Town...and last night I spent a couple of hours talking to these people to try to make them feel better." And then he had to fall on his face in a field and cry for who knows how long. He certainly wasn't going to tell the man that, and hoped Midna didn't either. "I want to tell you everything I've been doing, but I don't know if we're going to have that opportunity right now."

"At least tell me how you nearly died." The man crossed his arms.

"Please don't be angry. It wasn't anything I did on purpose." He felt like a little boy apologizing to his father. That was more or less what was happening here. "I did a lot when I went to a ruin with Auru, his daughter and Midna. Zant turned this dead dragon there into undead and we had to fight it. It knocked me around some, and at one point fell flat on my back from about twenty, thirty feet up. I had all this gear on so I was covered in bruises."

"Is that what nearly killed you?" Ashei was curious now, listening in. He wished she'd go away. He wished that there weren't the sounds of the others waking in the stable reminding him that he was not alone.

"No, the Lanmola did. It tried to eat me." He tapped just above his knee. "The big fang went in here-" Then he tapped his hip. "-and some smaller teeth here. I was lucky I had on chain, otherwise I'd have a lot more holes in me. I was also lucky to be surrounded by Gerudo so they could save me. Auren was the real champion there, fighting that thing and shooting it in the eye so it would drop me. Auru too for having the right medicine on him, since the thing was venomous."

"What's a Lanmola?" He could understand why Ashei was asking, but he wanted to keep his explanation to Rusl succinct.

"It's one of the more deadly monsters that lives in the Gerudo desert." Rusl told her, relaxing now that he had heard what had happened. How the man knew what the desert monster was, Link couldn't say. "That was indeed nothing you could have prepared for, but luckily for you the Gerudo were. Do you know that Auru lost a child to a Lanmola?" Rusl knew about that? Then again Auren said it wasn't exactly a secret, and Rusl seemed to know everyone that worked at the castle or Castle Town well.

"Auren told me, yeah. I think she felt a little vindicated by helping kill it. Auru got to shoot it a few times too." He stepped out of Epona's stall, hoping that his mentor was fine with the explanation for now. "I've been doing some dangerous things, but that's probably the worse one, only because there wasn't much I could do." A lie. He could have jumped out of the way easily enough if he hadn't been exhausted, but mentioning that would lead into a lengthy explanation about the Master Sword and the undead. "Let me put on the rest of my stuff and I'll be good to go. It's time to see if everything is going as smoothly as I hope."

After he had done so, he started to walk down the aisle, picking his way among the sleepy young women. He looked in the empty stalls. Just because they were lacking horses didn't mean that they were empty; the remaining cots were set up in there, with a few women sleeping on straw on the floor. There were older women on the cots, and a few had woke and sat up. He even saw a tired-looking girl not much older than Agitha, who must have been by herself. He knew what it felt like to be a child while running from danger only to lose everything, but there was no way for him to convey it as he briefly made eye contact with her as he walked past. If she was one of the ones going to Kakariko, he would have to try to find her later.

Some of them stared at him dully when he walked past, but others looked at him normally, as if he was just another person walking by. A few even offered "good morning" to him and the other two warriors, to which he responded in kind. These girls and women did not seem like they slept well, but then again sleeping on a stone floor with no blanket was probably not very comfortable. He hated to make them walk all day, especially the older women. At least he hadn't seen anyone who as pregnant or with a cane, which was something he feared once he had picked his way through the sleeping people last night. Then again anybody who had problems walking due to things like that wouldn't have made it out of Castle Town.

Outside there was a lot of activity, even though the sun wasn't too high over the horizon yet. There was a line of fires set up on the opposite side of the road from the depot, in an area that was cleared of tall grass. A few people had woke already, and were clustering in groups to sit on the ground. Many others were still asleep, huddled near the sides of the buildings and beneath trees. He took it all in, and decided to go over to the fires, knowing their purpose.

Gorons and Hylian soldiers worked side by side to cook the rather mundane rations that had been chosen for the hundreds of people. A few Hylians that weren't soldiers stood nearby to offer help as well, which was good to see. Even through everything that had happened, they still wanted to help the others. The Gorons were pushing raw potatoes into the coals along the edges of the fires, and pulling out the cooked ones with their bare hands. Link recalled how Gorons were unfazed by heat, and their ability to touch hot things made the cooking process go faster.

There were also pumpkins cut in half that had the seeds scooped out and replaced with water, laying on the edges of the coals. Once those were cooked, a few Gorons were cutting them into slices. After all the food was cooked, the Hylians were taking poplar leaves from the grove of trees at the rear of the depot and wrapping the food in a pair of them, tying it off with a piece of woven dry grass twine. It was all very efficient, and he expected no less from Gorons working together with an army. Laron stood nearby with a clipboard, his yellow paint re-applied in a different pattern today. It reminded Link of how the Gerudo would fix themselves up and paint their faces. Perhaps it was the same thing for Gorons.

Laron watched everything with a thick pencil in one of his meaty hands, counting the bundles of food and writing down tallies. He smiled a wide, flat-toothed grin at Link as he approached, and gave him a wave. "Mornin' boss."

"Boss?" He wasn't in charge...was he? Technically he was supposed to be helping these people, but he didn't feel like a leader.

"Yeah, you heard me. You're the guy leading this operation." Laron's grin turned into a gentle smile when he saw Links expression. "Hey, it's okay. You're doing fine. You told us what to do, and we're getting it done." He scratched at his short hair with the end of the pencil, looking down at his clipboard. "Getting done quick, too. We're gonna get everybody fed and watered within an hour. Hanson told me that by the time most people wake up, the food will be cool enough to them to eat. I knew humans cooked their food, but I didn't realize they had to wait until it was the right temperature. I guess you can get burned inside your mouths too, huh?"

"Yes, and it's unpleasant. Burning your tongue means everything tastes wrong for a couple of days until it heals." He frowned, looking at the industrious soldiers. "Who's Hanson?"

"Sergeant Hanson, one of the three other officers that got out with Petyr. He's uh…" The Goron pointed at a very tall man with light brown hair and a matching beard, who looked about as strong as Goron himself. The man was at least six and a half feet tall, if not taller. "There he is. That big guy there. One of the three sergeants that made it. No other officers did...I guess the south gate needed to be shut before the rest of Petyr's men could get there."

Link felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he had doomed those men in a split-second decision to protect the town and buy some time. It was unavoidable, but that didn't make him feel any less awful about it. He focused on what was happening right now. "Do you already have a system in place to do this a few more times? These people will need energy, and need food." Too bad there was no meat.

"Don't you worry none, boss. We got this all planned out. Petyr said that you'll stop twice per day, so that's two more meals we gotta do today, and then we do it all over again tomorrow. We can keep it up for well over a week if we've gotta." The Goron glanced at the pile of hot baked potatoes that steamed in a pile on a wooden table before looking back at Link. "You gonna eat taters? Hagar don't want to count you for things, but heroes got stomachs too."

He thought it was adorable how the Goron referred to them as "taters" despite not eating them himself. "No, I have rations that the Gerudo gave me. They should last a few days." They had better. Like hell he was eating pumpkin. "You figure out how water's going to work?"

"Yeah, we got every dodongo, every mule, every cart set to be loaded down with bags of raw food and casks of water. Telma's gonna leave most of her alcohol behind so the teamsters can carry more supplies. And if it ain't enough, there will be rollers that can come back here to get more. We'll carry supplies on our backs all night in order to take care of these people if we need to." Laron tapped at the clipboard with the end of his pencil idly. "Anyway, it means that we gotta send some of our own rain barrels along, but still we got lots of other casks and barrels, and a lot of tar to seal 'em up too."

He couldn't help but smile at how everything had been planned out. "Reliable, prepared Gorons. I think that if the moon fell to the earth, you'd find a way to deal with it."

Laron laughed. "Yeah, we'd probably get about three hundred of us to punch it at the same time, and send it back into the sky."

"You've got a system for cooking and handing out food, you have plans for extra food or water if we need it, and you have the means to carry it all. I can't think of anything else to ask." He watched as Gorons placed more potatoes on the table. "There is one thing: make sure people have their water after they eat, not before. Potatoes are pretty dry when you don't put butter or gravy on them."

"Huh, is that how you eat these things?" asked Laron. "See, if you just ate a nice calcite with a side of ferrous shale, you wouldn't have to worry."

He smirked at the Goron's joke. The humor was something he needed right now. "I enjoy keeping all my teeth, thanks." He nodded to Laron, and then to Hanson as he walked on to the depot side of the road.

Hagar was next to the main building, holding a stack of papers while discussing things with a group of Goron merchants. Like the others he had seen, they carried heavy metal maces and cudgels, and each had a whistle around their necks. "Hey, there you are. These guys here are volunteering to protect the group going south." he said without any proper greeting, unless he thought "hey, there you are" was one. "Got some good fighters and fast rollers among them, so they'll be able to support Rusl and Commander Petyr pretty well."

Link turned to the Gorons and passed his eyes over them as he spoke. "Thank you, gentlemen. Central Hyrule will be the most dangerous place, but since I have business in the north I can't come to Faron to protect these people. I'm glad that there will be somebody capable doing so instead of me."

After the gathered merchants murmured in response to his thanks, Hagar spoke up again. "Petyr has it planned out. Most of the soldiers and Gorons are going south because Central Hyrule can be dangerous, just like you said. Not only that, but once these guys have emptied out their dodongos' packs, they're gonna bring up produce from Ordon to Kakariko, and some to Lakeside too. They're probably running low on supplies there, with all the people that went that way. Oh…" He scratched at his wild hair. "Did Laron tell you? He's gonna go to Kakariko with you. Actually, he's gonna roll on ahead with two other guys so they can prepare for all the people coming."

"No, he didn't say anything about it. That's really kind of him." Not to mention resourceful. It made sense that the Gorons would send somebody in advance to prepare the empty town of Kakariko for a sudden influx of people.

"Eh, kindness is only part of it. He misses our boys." Boys? "Neither one of us have been back to Goron City to see them in months, and you know how fast little ones grow."

He did not expect that. "You two have kids together?" That meant that when they referred to each other as "partners", it did not necessarily mean in the business sense.

"No, they're his. I'm not the father, but I was friends with the guy who was. He died in a cave-in. I know I ain't their real dad, but I love those boys like they're my own." Hagar sighed. "I wish I could go too, but gotta stay here and hold down the fort. I'll get my turn eventually."

Once again, the mysteries of Goron courtship and reproduction eluded him, and while he did want to ask, he didn't want to be rude in front of the group of merchants. It could be a personal subject, for all he knew. "That reminds me...did you see any elderly people with canes, or pregnant women?"

"Saw a few old people and they're gonna sit where they can in the wagons along with some of the real little kids, but I don't know about pregnant women. Do they look different than regular women?"

"Do pregnant Gorons look the same as regular Gorons?" He couldn't help but ask. It would at least answer one of this questions, which was if Gorons gave birth. He assumed so since they had navels.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't they?" Hagar didn't seem to get that what was general knowledge to him would not be to a non-Goron.

"Boss, women get big bellies when they're expectin'." one of the Goron merchants piped up. "It does things to their legs, back, hips...and it's really uncomfortable. It's like they ain't made for havin' babies."

Hagar seemed fascinated by this information. "Huh. How weird. Is that true, Link?"

"It's true." Except for the part about not being made for having babies. If that was the case, humans wouldn't have been the dominant race in Hyrule. "As a matter of fact, Rusl's wife is pretty far along in her pregnancy, and due within a month. She has problems standing up when sitting in a chair." Uli was due, yet Rusl answered Telma's call to come to Castle Town. At least the man was heading right back down to Ordon, and would be there for the birth of his next child.

"Ain't that something. Well, I ain't seen anything like that. I got a pretty good look at all the people, too. Don't worry, I think we just need to worry about the old people and little kids." The Goron thumbed through the paperwork in his hand and pulled out one of the pages to read it. "We've taken down everyone's names, took notes to say who they came with if there's anybody, and assigned everybody that ain't a horse a number. Gave every single person a scrap of paper with their number on it, so they won't forget it. Even the soldiers and teamsters so we could split 'em up fairly. It took a bit of juggling to keep families together but…" He held up the paper for Link to read, which he could barely do at a glance. Goron runes were still hard to decipher, but at least the numbers were clear. "Numbers one through three hundred eighty-two will go to Kakariko. Numbers three eighty-three through seven hundred and forty-one are going south to Ordon."

"One through three hundred eighty-two, Kakariko. Three hundred and eighty-three through seven hundred and forty-one, Ordon." He repeated it a few times so he could memorize it. While he didn't doubt that there would be Gorons keeping track of the people, he still wanted to know the numbers.

"Yep, you got it. A few of these guys will go to Kakariko, as will a few soldiers and half the wagons, but most of Petyr's men will go to Ordon. You'll only have twelve soldiers, which is about a third of them. We'll tell the people where they're headed later, when it's time to get them sorted." Hagar carefully put away his paper back into the stack. "And that's it. Any questions?"

"Not right now. Thanks, Hagar." He glanced around the camp, not seeing where Rusl and Ashei had gone. He supposed he would run into them sooner or later. "I want to leave within two hours, if possible. That should give people plenty of time to wake up and eat. If there are any big problems, even if it's something Petyr can handle, I want to know about it."

"Don't worry, I was gonna tell you if anything went belly-up. So far we're good." The shaggy Goron gave him a thumbs up and a huge flat-toothed grin.

Walking around the camp, he saw that people were already beginning to eat their little parcels of pumpkin and potato. They looked at him with less reverence than last night, and a few waved at him as he went past. He probably looked different to them in the daytime, and they realized that it was a young man that was leading them to their new homes. General Scot certainly didn't want to take him seriously due to him being a young, a "boy". Or perhaps now that they had a chance to get a good look at him, they saw him as a person, not a mythical figure.

He made a few rounds, speaking to people, asking them if they managed to sleep, telling them that a plan was in place to get them to Kakariko or Ordon, answering that yes, all there is is pumpkin and potatoes. There were so many people and the number was growing by the minute as they woke, and he felt as if he was unable to speak to them all. Yet they understood that he was making sure that they got help.

As he wandered, he didn't spot Agitha's coach. Erol had mentioned he wanted to leave at dawn, and so he had. The man probably thought that speed was better than an escort, and took a chance. There was a loud clanging sound that made him turn around quickly in surprise, and he saw that Telma held an iron skillet and a metal ladle in hand. The bartender was banging them together while shouting loudly into one of the warehouses, telling people to wake up.

"Oh, hey honey. Good morning." she said once he came next to her, briefly stopping her clanging to speak to him before resuming it. "Come on! Get up and moving! Come and eat!" she called.

Link winced and put a hand up to cover one of his ears. He understood that she needed to get people up, but was she ever loud. Of course he had come to stand right next to her, at least figuring he'd get a word in, but she was all business and no chat. Tired and tousled men started to come out of the warehouse, obeying Telma but not looking happy about it. He decided to let her take care of things and wandered off. Her voice called out loudly to the next warehouse that had children and their families in it, and for that she did not bang the pan.

It really felt as if everyone was a part of a complete plan. Soldiers were informing the waking people where the latrines were, handing out bundles of food, making the rounds with water buckets, and generally directing people wherever they ought to go. The teamsters were re-arranging their goods after taking out casks of beer and wine, making space for water and potatoes. He watched all the work being done, and felt useless.

"I feel like I'm getting in their way. I hate it." he muttered to Midna.

"It isn't your job to move wine or cook potatoes." the Twili said. "You're supposed to be in charge, remember?"

"I'm usually the guy working hard and doing what other people tell him to do, not the one giving orders. It feels weird." He was strong; shouldn't he at least be helping the teamsters move some of their heavy loads?

"You've done plenty so far, trust me." Midna gave a little giggle. "Just stand around and look pretty. Flex those muscles. Whatever it is heroes do."

"Thanks for the advice." he said dryly, his eyes falling on Shad and Ashei. The two of them waved at him once he noticed them, and so he walked over to where they were seated next to Telma's wagon. At least there was somebody else sitting around not doing much.

"Did you get your potatoes?" asked Shad as Link came and sat down next to him, adjusting the scabbard of the Master Sword as he did so.

Oh, food. Of course. He had forgotten to feed his own dumb self, being distracted by so many other things. "No, I'm in charge of my own meals. I have some Gerudo rations that a very nice old lady gave me." He pulled out one of the paper-wrapped parcels that Zenna had given him from his satchel. There were more in Epona's saddle bags, and the sweet old Gerudo likely would have given him even more food if he had been able to carry it.

Shad watched him as he unwrapped the heavy soda bread, a slice of jerky and a few flattened dried figs. "Oh, figs. I loved figs when Auru took me to the desert."

Link raised his eyes from his breakfast. "You want one? I don't mind sharing. I could probably give both of you one of these ration packs." After all, poor Shad only had potato and a slice of pumpkin. While Telma did have food supplies, she wasn't cooking them, not wanting to prepare better fare in front of the poor Hylian refugees. As it was, she wasn't eating with them anyway.

"I didn't earn those, you did. Even though they certainly are better than dry potato. What I would do for a cup of tea right now…" The scholar sighed, and distastefully took a bite of his potato.

Rusl came to sit near them with his own food, which was dried fish, flatbread and banana chips. Knowing him, he would have packed extra. Or perhaps Uli did, knowing that anything could happen...and it did. "All right, I want to hear the Lanmola story now that we have a minute."

"If I'm going to do that, I'm going to have to tell you about the battle, and all that we did in the Arbiter's Grounds." Link said. "I was there for a week so I did a lot."

"And boy, was he popular with the Gerudo." Midna's voice said, sounding amused. "The chief had to declare him off-limits, and even then I guess some ladies were causing trouble, so Auren pretended she had lay claim to him."

"She did?" Shad sighed, picking at the skin of his potato. "I wish she had done that for me. The Gerudo were rather aggressive. It made some moments there frustrating."

"Really? I had heard they need to breed with humans, since there are no male Gerudo. I guess they really go after men when they see them, yeah?" Ashei was eating her potato with solid, patient determination. Enjoyment had nothing to do with it; food was fuel.

"They do, which is why both Shad and I had a lot of invitations for um...things." He took a drink of water from his waterskin, and considered what he would tell them, at least for now. "We don't have time for me to describe it all, so I can at least tell you about the Lanmola."

Link began recalling that particular part of his time in the desert, mentioning that there had been a big battle to retake Gerudo City from the Bulbins, and also mentioning he did a lot of fighting in the Arbiter's Grounds without too many details. He described the Poes since he knew Shad would remember them, and he recapped his fights with the lich and the skeletal dragon. He summarized the issue with the Mirror of Twilight and Ganondorf escaping, and said how he had met the Sages. Then came the business with leaving the Arbiter's Grounds while exhausted and nearly getting eaten by a Lanmola, the Gerudo saving him, giving him medicine that made him hallucinate, and his recovery.

"There's more to it, things he doesn't remember because he wasn't awake for it, but that's more or less what happened." Midna said, once the story and their meal had finished. "It really was scary, especially after a lot of other little details he didn't cover." As if rebuilding the mirror was a "little" issue. "I think the two of us will give you all a better idea of what happened once we get to Kakariko."

"That means you need to come back to Ordon to tell me what actually happened, when you get the chance." Rusl fixed his eyes on Link's chest where Midna's voice was emanating from, and then looked up at his adoptive son's face. "Both of you. I'd like to know what you've been doing. Now isn't the time for place, but before long we'll get a chance."

Link stood, brushing his hands off. "Of course. I'll need to tell Bo how Ilia's doing soon. Maybe with any luck, she'll have remembered everything by now." Maybe with any luck, she'll have remembered him. "The important things we need to do next involve some of you, perhaps all three of you. There's so much to tell, but right now I need to focus on getting these people moving." He frowned, his eyes scanning the clusters of people that were eating and drinking. "We have less than an hour before I want to leave, and there's a specific place I have in mind I want to stop for the night. We need to make good time." Except getting a large group of people to do anything together was a challenge. "Excuse me."

He wandered away from his group and through the crowd, wondering how he was going to be able to speak to over seven hundred people. Even if he ran through the depot shouting, he wouldn't be able to tell everybody in time for them to go. While he could wait for the Gorons to inform people, he knew that they were looking to him as the leader, and he wanted to speak to them all somehow. His eyes fell on the flat roof of the Goron dwelling near the road, and an idea formed in his head.

"What do you think you're doing?" Midna asked as he began to climb the side of the building, which was more like climbing a cliff than a house. "You're going to do something reckless again, aren't you? If you fall off this building in front of all of these people, you'll never hear the end of it."

"I'm not going to fall." he said, hauling himself up onto the flat slate roof of the building. Unlike a human building, the Goron one did not have individual shingles and quite literally had one giant slab of slate rock for a roof. He turned to face the people that were scattered across the makeshift camp, and saw some looking up at him, the crazy man who had just climbed on top of a building. Well, at least he knew that he was high enough that they could see him.

"I'm going to get loud, Midna. You might want to plug your ears." He had no idea if she could do that while a shadow, but he figured he should give her a fair warning. People had told him that his voice was quite loud if he shouted. Link waved an arm at the crowd to get their attention, and then raised his voice, cupping his other hand next to his mouth. "Attention! Attention! Ladies and Gentlemen, please pay attention!"

Hundreds of eyes were suddenly upon him, and the chatter in the depot grew quiet. Yes, they could most certainly see and hear him, and he slowly lowered his arms, suddenly getting hit by stage fright. "Oh, crap." The thought of so many people looking at him at once made his nerves jump and his stomach twist, but he steeled himself and continued. "We will be leaving in an hour! If you have not eaten yet, tell one of the soldiers and you will be given food! You may only have one helping! If you have not drank yet, be sure to do so because it will be a long walk! And if you have not used the latrines yet, do so! We will not be stopping until afternoon!"

The crowd of Hylians still had their eyes on him, mostly quiet except for a few small children. They were listening to him. "You all have been assigned numbers! This is what we're going to do: numbers one through three hundred and eighty-two will be going to Kakariko! Numbers three hundred and eighty-three through seven hundred and forty-one are going south to Faron and Ordon! Again, one through three hundred and eight-two are Kakariko, and three hundred and eighty three through seven hundred and forty-one are Ordon! Check your numbers!" He paused while a buzz passed through the crowd, people discussing where they would be going. It gave him a moment to clear his throat. He wasn't used to shouting so much.

"Friends, I know that this is difficult for you! It may seem far, and most of us are on foot, but you will be safe! We have Goron and human warriors that will protect you!" All eyes were back on him again, and as he looked among the crowd he could spot familiar faces. Ashei and Shad were still by the wagon, Petyr was standing next to Hanson with his arms crossed, Laron and Hagar were together, and the yellow-painted Goron was grinning in response to Link stepping up to take charge. Hayes was near the front of the crowd, still with his halberd, watching him patiently. "I am from Ordon, and I know the people will help you! I know the people of Kakariko, and they are welcoming!"

He found that he felt more nervous if he focused on individual people, so he let the crowd blur into one lump of humanity and focused on what he needed to say. "When you are prepared to leave, please go to the road and wait there! If you are ever confused, speak to the soldiers or the Gorons and they will help you!" That last announcement got a few nods among the crowd, so it seemed like most of them already knew what they were doing and wouldn't need to ask for help. "That is all!" Link turned from the crowd and walked over to the front side of the house before jumping down. He was glad that he did, because he failed to stick the landing and stumbled a bit before recovering.

"Smooth." Midna commented as he regained his balance. "But you did pretty well, considering how nervous you were. I could hear your heart pounding."

He pulled out his waterskin and took a drink. While he knew how to project his voice, shouting that much still hurt after a while. "It was the first time I've had so many people looking at me like that, and I had to talk to them all." He looked down at his near-empty waterskin, and realized that he needed to refill it. He needed to prepare too.

It wasn't long before he was mounted on Epona next to Rusl and his horse, waiting in the road as the Gorons did a final head count of the people that extended back behind the two riders and the line of wagons. The Goron merchants were placed intermittently among the line of refugees, with their whistles and cudgels and heavily-laden dodongos. Laron came to the front of the group with two of the merchants, the three of them with maces not strapped to their waists, but across them. It seemed strange until Link remembered that the Gorons were going to roll ahead to Kakariko, and having a weapon flop around at their sides would probably be awkward.

"We're good to go, boss. You give the word, and this caravan starts." Laron said with a grin and a thumbs up. "Hagar said he told you that I'm going ahead to Kakariko. Gotta let that shaman know about all these people, and I think Darbus needs to know what happened too."

"And you need to see your sons, right?" he gave the Goron a smile. "Family's important, especially at times like these."

The Goron nodded, patting Epona on the neck. The horse turned her head towards the Goron in response; she clearly liked him. "You get it. I'm glad it's you helping these people. I ain't met a human with a heart as big as a Goron's until I met you."

"That's quite the compliment. Thanks." It really was. The Gorons were known for being open, friendly and kind. "Take care, Laron. Maybe I'll see you again soon."

"You too, Link." The Goron took his hand from Epona's neck and gently lay it on Link's calf. "When this is all done, I want you to meet my boys. Not as the hero, but as a friend."

That made his smile broaden, and he was glad that he had met and befriended this Goron on the empty plains of Eldin. Laron had always treated him as a person, even after learning who he was, and he was glad he had friends like that. "I'd like that."

Laron patted the Hylian's leg, and then stepped back, curling into a ball. The two other Gorons did the same, and the three took off heading southeast, kicking up dust as they rolled. Link watched them go, and then turned to Telma, who led the line of wagons. "Keep my pace, all right? Let's go."


They were attacked shortly before they reached the road south to Lower Eldin, not too far away from where he had encountered King Bulbin when escorting Telma down this particular road weeks ago. The Bulbins did not come from the road ahead of them like he expected, but from behind. Link was riding quietly at the front, alone with his thoughts while Rusl and Telma chatted, when suddenly there were piercing whistles from behind, layers of high-pitched sound that grew closer as the Gorons communicated up the line.

"Keep moving." he told Telma, before turning Epona and galloping down the line. Gorons were taking their weapons in hand and rolling into balls, heading to the rear, but a fast horse like Epona overtook them easily. As he rushed past the line of refugees, he could see a mass of riders not coming down the road from Castle Town, but over the fields of South Eldin instead. They had come up from Central Hyrule like he had thought they might, but not from the direction he expected.

It was a large raiding party, much like the one that had baited him to the Eldin Bridge, at least thirty riders, perhaps closer to forty. This one was not led by King Bulbin, but by another heavily-armored male Bulbin with long curving horns. He drew his sword and passed Ashei, who had slowed her horse to fire her bow with more accuracy. One raider dropped and fell from its boar after she fired, but he wasn't able to watch what she was doing as he passed Petyr on his black horse, the commander ready with sword in hand.

While Ashei had made the first attack with her bow, Link was the first one to meet the mass of raiders, and he cleaved a Bulbin's head from its shoulders, leaning forward in the stirrups as he did so. The motion brought him forward to slice into the chest of the archer behind it, and it slumped over in the saddle with a cry. He could hear Petyr to his left fight another pair on a boar, but Link's eyes were on the archer near his right raising its bow to fire at the man. While the commander was still wearing his white breastplate and pauldrons, there was no way that he was going to allow the archer to loose its arrow. He knocked it and the rider in front of it from their saddles when he and Epona rammed into their boar, swinging his shield in a backhand to smash into the two Bulbins with the crushing of bones. From that sound, he knew that the two Bulbins were not getting back up again.

There were far more archers in this group, he noted. About half of the boars had both riders holding bows instead of their standard melee-and-ranged combination of warriors. They couldn't be allowed to get in range of the refugees, even if taking out their leader would cause them to flee. He needed them dead, not running away. "Archers first!" he called out, and as soon as the words had left his mouth, he saw another Bulbin fall from the saddle, one of Ashei's arrows in its chest.

Epona rushed forward and pushed her shoulder into a boar while narrowly avoiding its tusks, and she knocked the squealing animal over, riders and all. A Goron rolled up and smashed his club down on the two helpless Bulbins before they could get back up again. He heard Ashei's bow again, and the scream of the green monster she shot.

There were the sounds of horses and boars, of bows, of rolling Gorons, the clang of weapons and the screams of dying Bulbins. Link himself took out another two archers on his way towards the leader, who in typical Bulbin fashion hid behind his raiders. The Bulbin commander held a crossbow, which seemed to be the standard kind of weapon for the males in charge. They would remain at the back of the group, shout orders and shoot things, all from the safest place on the battlefield.

"Cover his left!" Rusl called somewhere to the right of him, accompanied by the sound of two weapons clanging together. Link couldn't turn to look, busy parrying a clumsy swing by a Bulbin with a sword, but he could see Ashei on Spirit come up on his left as he ran the Bulbin through. They were trying to help him, but this close to the leader with the crossbow, one of its bolts could easily pierce Ashei's armor, plate or not; Rusl's leather armor would provide even less protection. He could launch himself from the saddle as he had done before, but he didn't want to do that while he was still injured. He killed the second Bulbin in the saddle of the boar next to him, then slapped the flat of his sword on the animal's rump, sending it charging away with an angry grunt. That was one boar taken care of, but others were in the way.

The female warrior cut him a path, urging Spirit forward to ram into a boar just as Epona had done before, and she calmly parried the cudgel of one Bulbin before running it through. The archer that had attempted to draw its bow at point-blank range never got the chance before Ashei's sword sliced its neck. Now without riders, the giant pig turned the other way, jostling the leader as he attempted to fire a bolt at the young woman, and he missed.

He moved Epona up to fill the gap the boar had left in the Bulbin line, and he made eye contact with the yellow eyes of their commander. The large Bulbin's eyes widened in fear when he saw Link. No, not just fear; terror. While King Bulbin himself wasn't afraid of him, the rest of the Bulbins were terrified of the single Hylian warrior in green that had killed so many of their raiders. The Bulbin tried to quickly reload his crossbow, but Link disarmed him in a wide backhand, unintentionally cleaving through half of the Bulbin's fingers in the process. He paused only briefly to react as the Bulbin screamed and clutched at his ruined hand.

"Please…" he begged, panting in pain as blood ran down his green arm from his severed fingers. "Please don't." It was the first time one of the Bulbins other than their king had spoken to him in Hylian, but the fear and the begging were not going to slow him. This Bulbin had just tried to kill Ashei, had ridden up with raiders to no doubt look for the Hylians that had escaped, and most likely had rounded up hundreds more for Ganondorf's army.

"You leave me no choice." Link said in response, before decapitating the Bulbin commander with a sweep of the Master Sword. There were cries of horror from the Bulbins around him, and predictably they wheeled their boars around to flee. If he had time, he would have warned Ashei and the others about that, but they would have to learn first-hand how Bulbins fought.

He sent the Master Sword a quick thought telling it to sear away the blood as he put up his shield. Once he felt it do so through his hand, he sheathed the weapon and pulled out his bow while sending Epona into a gallop. Even though the Bulbins had a head start, he closed the distance enough to begin to pick them off one by one. There were the sounds of hooves pounding into the dirt road behind him as the others gave chase, but none of them came close enough to do anything. Link dispatched the eight fleeing Bulbins, only missing once.

He reined Epona in while still clutching his bow in his right hand, and scanned the horizon to see if any other raiders were coming. There was no signs of life on the Eldin plains, not this far north, and so he gave a heavy sigh and put the bow back up on his shoulder and across his chest.

Ashei and Petyr were waiting for him on their mounts as he rode past the dead Bulbins, the two of them having given up pursuit. There were no signs of Rusl or the Gorons, who had probably gone back to make sure the caravan of refugees were all right. "Did you get them?" Petyr asked once he got close enough.

Link nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't able to tell you that they'd run like that once their commander was killed, and since he could speak Hylian I'm glad I didn't mention it in the middle of the fight." He turned to Ashei. "Thanks for clearing a path so I could get to him."

"Do they usually beg for their lives like that?" She asked, turning her stallion to fall into a walk next to Epona.

"No. That was a first. He was terrified of me, and it's no wonder. I've killed a lot of Bulbins in the past few weeks." He winced as he shifted in the saddle, the wound above his knee sore. "It didn't help him in the end. I can't show mercy, because the first thing they'll do is go back and tell the others."

"That was eight…" Petyr said, riding on the other side of him. "How many total did you kill?"

"Uh…" He quickly did a count in his head. "Seventeen. One less than the last time I fought here in Eldin."

"Seventeen?!" The commander seemed surprised by that number. "I had assumed the stories about you were exaggerated, but I suppose not. I only managed six, and in that time you did nine." He shook his head. "Your face was calm, as was Ashei's. Both of you would make excellent soldiers."

"I'm not interested in being a soldier. I want to be a knight like my father." Ashei said. "And I doubt Link has any interest either."

"You would be an amazing asset to the army, though." Petyr was not mentioning either General Scot or the transformed state of the Hyrulean army, but even then he pressed the issue. "Why not become a soldier? You'd fly up through the ranks quickly."

"I'm from Kasuto, that's why." That was all the reason he needed to give. No doubt Petyr would know about what happened, although he hoped that the commander hadn't been among those who attacked the town.

Commander Petyr was quiet for a moment as the three of them continued to ride, his pale blue eyes looking ahead. "I was promoted due to Kasuto." Alarm bells went off in Link's head, and he prepared himself for what the soldier said next. "I wasn't there, of course. The men for that particular mission were hand-picked by...certain individuals in charge. I wasn't the right kind of man for that. Most of us weren't. I wasn't surprised when thousands of soldiers deserted after we found out about the mission. There was a cover-up, but word still got out. That's why I was promoted to commander, because of the vacancies left behind."

"I was prepared to hear you say that you were there, and then leap off this horse and squeeze your throat." He was surprised at his own vehemence, but the statement was genuine and he said it without thinking. It was not a joke, nor an idle threat. If he found any of the men who were at Kasuto, he would kill them.

Petyr paused, digesting what Link had just admitted, his expression unreadable. "It surprises me to hear you say that, but I also have no doubt that you would kill me if you desired to." The commander shook his head sadly, although it wasn't clear if it was disappointment at what Link had said, or if it was due to what he said next. "After I found out what had happened, I was ashamed to be a soldier, but I felt that I had to stay so there would be at least one good man left in the army. I also had a new wife to provide for." His face looked bleak for a moment, and there was pain in his eyes, no longer masked since they were still quite a ways back from the column and the soldiers. Then it was gone. "I take it you can use magic?"

"Yes, some. I inherited shadow magic from my Sheikah mother, and I believe that my father's family line also has some kind of magic I don't quite understand yet. He was a knight, and some of the older and stranger magics come from the old knight bloodlines." He may as well tell Petyr who his parents were. "My father was Gwyn of Lon, and my mother was Sami, Queen Constance's guardian."

"I can honestly say that I didn't know that they were living in Kasuto, and I never knew what happened to them. They were both well-respected, especially your mother. I'm sorry. I know that can't change what happened, but…" Petyr took a deep breath, and gave a soft sigh. "But the magic law, the purge, all of it was evil and unjust. And as the only remaining officer in the Hyrulean army, I say that we should completely ignore that law. I have no intention in following the rules of a mad, dead king. If the Hero of Hyrule has magic, and is willing to use it to help our kingdom, then I welcome it."

"Petyr, do you know the men who went to Kasuto?" He had to know. It would do little good now, but he still craved that information.

The handsome commander turned his icy blue eyes on him, his gaze piercing. "Revenge is a petty, pointless thing, Link. It will only leave you feeling empty. I know the officers, I know who covered it up, I even know who some of the men are...but it's not the time nor the place for you to pursue it. If those men are ever turned back into humans, and if Hyrule manages to recover, then I will tell you. Until then, I believe you aren't ready to handle that information. You're still quite young, and even though you appear to be in control of your emotions, the fact that you admitted you would kill me if I had been there is all the proof I need to see that you are not. You need to mature more, hero or not." Petyr didn't say anything else and kicked his horse into a canter to catch up with the long train of refugees, leaving the two warriors behind.


They stopped at the crossroads only about an hour later, and since it was midday it was determined that it would be best to stop for a quick meal of potatoes and water. Link discussed it with Petyr, and within minutes operations began to feed the refugees while they rested. He had been angry with Petyr over the man withholding information about the soldiers involved with Kasuto, but at the same time he knew that the commander was right; he wasn't ready to handle that information. Since both Renado and Petyr had told him that he was too young and immature to handle certain things, he had to believe what they were saying, even though he felt he was dealing with most of what was thrown at him fairly well.

There was a shell of a village visible to the north, following a now-overgrown road heading in that direction, and Link considered it while he stood on the side of the road next to Epona while the horse drank. It had only been abandoned a few years, much like the other small towns that left completely during the magic purge. "Hey, Darran?" he asked the nearby Goron, who was in charge of the merchants, and would be in charge of the operations in Central Hyrule to retrieve food.

"Yeah, boss?" Like Laron had done, Darran referred to Link as "boss". The Goron looked like he was nearing middle age, and even though he had wrinkles around his round eyes, he was still large and muscular. It was almost like Darran was the Goron equivalent of Hayes.

"We need to use some of our water supply, right? Since we're stopping for a while, do you think we should check out that town up there? If it's only been abandoned a few years, and it ought to have at least one well, if not more." Even if the place had ghosts in it like Kasuto, it was daytime and they would give the Gorons no trouble.

"Oh, yeah. I remember that town. Zelo. They used to grow a lot of oats that we'd ship to Kakariko and Castle Town." The Goron put a hand to his chin. "The place has two wells, and some pumps behind the inn. With nobody taking water from there for years, it's gotta have a supply. If I send some fast rollers up there to check, and then we can send one of the teamster wagons up to refill casks."

"How long do you figure that'll take?"

"Ehh..." Darran rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "Probably only about ten, fifteen minutes to roll there, maybe a little longer to get a wagon up there...I guess an hour? Longer then we're gonna sit here after all the people have their portion of water, but it ain't trouble for a few of my guys to guard the wagon as it catches up to the Faron group. The refugees don't exactly move fast."

Link nodded. "Good. Then do that. If there's one thing you don't want to run out of, it's water."

"Yeah, and your horses are drinking extra since they had to ride into a fight earlier. I'll get right on it, boss." The large Goron wandered off and began shouting to a few merchants that had stopped to have a drink themselves.

"You're getting good at being in charge. Maybe since Adelbert is dead and buried, you can become the next King of Hyrule." Midna's tone was teasing, but the comment still made him roll his eyes.

"I'm sure Zelda wouldn't approve. She's the one in charge, not me." Not to mention that he'd have to marry Zelda in order to legally become king, a very weird and uncomfortable idea. As if the idea of being a king wasn't weird and uncomfortable enough.

All told, it took nearly two hours to get the people fed and ready to go. There were fewer clusters of trees in the area for them to answer the call of nature, but it was still managed efficiently enough by the soldiers. Once the refugees were all set, they were divided up into their two groups: Link's group to the north side of the road, Rusl's group to the south. The wagons were distributed evenly, but Rusl's group had more of the Gorons and soldiers to guard it, including Petyr and Hanson. One of the other sergeants was the only officer going along with Link's group, a quiet man by the name of Kip.

Once the groups had been split, he sat on Epona at the front of the two lines with Rusl and Petyr. A frustration had been growing in him as they had stopped and taken care of the needs of the refugees, but it had nothing to do with their slow pace or how long it took for them to stop. It had everything to do with Rusl, and how he was unable to speak to him.

Link sorely wanted to talk to his mentor alone, without all these people, without worrying about Bulbin attacks or fetching mirror shards or anything else. After all he had been through, he wanted to not only tell Rusl of what he had done so far, but he also wanted to make it clear that he was able to do it all because of how his step-father had brought him up. He wanted to tell him that he had heard about his mother telling Rusl and Uli about the mark of the Triforce on his hand, and how they knew who he was going to be, and how they had still treated him like any other boy.

He realized he needed to tell the two of them that he loved them, and now it was not the time nor the place.

Unable to say the things he needed to, Link turned to Petyr. "Thanks for believing me. We wouldn't have made it this far without you."

The handsome commander smiled, something that he had not done so far. It made him appear more human and less like the tough soldier he had been so far. "Thanks for being somebody to believe in. None of these people would have been here if it wasn't for you and your quick thinking." He leaned over in the saddle to extend his hand, and shook Link's when the young man took it. "You're doing just fine. I know I told you that you were still young, but even then you're exactly what Hyrule needs right now."

"Thanks, Petyr." He smiled in response, and after shaking the man's hand, watched him turn his black stallion to go to the rear of the line. He doubted he knew how lucky this group was to have Petyr with them. With any luck, he'd figure out a way to restore the Hylians back to their human forms, and give the commander his wife back.

"He's a good man." Rusl said, watching Petyr as he went. "I had heard of Lieutenant Petyr years ago, a bright young man that rose through the ranks quickly. Everything people have said about him turned out to be true."

Link considered telling him that Petyr knew some of the people involved with Kasuto, but decided against it. He needed to sort out his own feelings on what had happened before he could approach the subject with Rusl.

"You're a good man, too." the older man continued, turning back to his stepson. "You've grown so much these past few weeks, and even though we only were able to speak a little bit, I can still see it. Petyr is right; you are the person that Hyrule needs. Even if you weren't born for that specific reason, you still would be the right person for the role of hero, because you're you. I had been afraid that the things that happened to you when you were younger would change who you were as you grew up, but you've grown to be so much like your parents."

He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. The words touched him, but it wouldn't do for him to react to them in front of so many people. "Rusl, please. I don't want to get emotional in front of everyone."

Rusl laughed. "All right, although that's one of your strengths, you know. Hyrule has a hero that can really feel." He reached out to shake just like Petyr had done, but his grip lingered and he stared into Link's eyes with a warm expression. "I'm proud of you. When you can, come back to Ordon. I'll be there, since Uli is due soon."

There was nothing for him to do but nod in response. "Of course. I'll want to see your new baby when I get the chance. Please be careful on your way home, okay?"

"Of course. Goodbye, Link." Rusl let his hand go and motioned to the line of waiting refugees, turning his horse south to lead his half of the remaining Hylians to the safety of Ordon, a completely different country. Link watched him go, trying to appear calm on the surface while his heart ached as one of his few family members rode away.

"He's really like your father, isn't he?" Midna asked softly.

"Yeah." he responded under his breath, so only she could hear. Rusl was his father just as much as Gwyn had been, even though he had only spent five years with the man. Sometime soon he would tell him that, and everything else he had kept to himself. For now he had to rely on the people around him, the friends that were there for him that didn't quite understand what he was going through. The only one who did was Midna, even though Ashei had been kind to him in the field last night.

Midna knew who he was, but she didn't understand why he was the person he grew into, and she never would. Only one person could know that, and she still had her own issues to handle. Ilia had been slowly recovering, but she was still prone to bouts of panic and tears, which was not the woman he remembered from Ordon. Perhaps she would remember him now. Perhaps he would be able to tell her how he needed her the most, and the very many ways he was broken, of the primary reason he was broken.

He sighed, and then the Hero of Hyrule waved to Telma to start the line moving, and he continued forward on Epona to lead the people to Kakariko.