When Rowark emerged from the bath house, he was almost unrecognizable. The long, mucky, and oily hair was replaced with a short, voluminous, and bright blonde hair; his dark yellow beard was replaced with boyish skin; his smile was even more enchanting when he recognized Miro Miro. Wearing his sleepwear, a long sleeved, red tunic and tight, matching, cloth pants, and an cloth wrapping around his left hand, Rowark waved at her. "Do you mind following me? I promised my sister I would catch up with her before I go to sleep."

Miro Miro nodded. She was excited to see his family! If she were anywhere as nice as the Rowark, then Miro Miro could have two friends in the city! Surely his sister would help him on Miro Miro's mission. Next to the bath room was the stony stairwell leading up to the dorms, and the climb up the three flights was quiet.

"How many flights of steps total are there?" asked Miro Miro's curiosity as Rowark opened a door.

"Six, but that's only because these flight of steps will lead to wall ramparts, the top of the wall." They entered a long and cramped corridor that seemed to stretch on forever; hung in between the small spaces between dorm rooms was either a torch or a painting. Rowark continued his lecture, "On the other side of the barracks, those flight of steps lead up to the sixteenth floor so far."

"Wh-what do you mean so far?" She would have easily seen a sixteen story tower from anywhere on her way here.

"Most of the barracks is actually built into the western cliff, right underneath the Castle."

"Huh," was her dumbfounded response. Hylians amazed her all the more. They continued walking down the hall until Rowark stopped in front of a rectangular door with a small, metal plaque with the engraving "367" before knocking.

"It's unlocked!" they heard from the other side of the wooden door.

Rowark took the cue to open the door and enter. The heartbeat Rowark's foot crossed the threshold a woman, the same one from before who carried the two unconscious soldiers on her shoulders, instantly rose from her seat and wrapped her arm around Rowark, who returned the embrace immediately. There was not a creature in the room that did not feel the happiness between the reunited siblings. Except for Miro Miro, who remembered exactly how rude she was…

The bedroom was cramped. The two bunk beds resting against the corners opposite the entrance took up most of what little space there was. Two small desks occupied the adjacent corners, designed as a workspace for two as there were two chairs to each desk.

"Rowark," she longingly whispered into his breast and tightened her grip, "Thank the Goddesses. I knew they wouldn't take my only family away from me."

"Alexa," Rowark responded to the warm welcome, "you always have a family to return to."

She broke away from the embrace with tears streaming down her face and delivered her ultimatum, "I would rather die avenging you than go back home!" Then she buried her face into his tunic as more tears moistened Rowark's sleepwear.

The uncomfortable feeling of tears and snot draining onto his tunic was the last thing on his mind. Rowark slowly rubbed her back, tenderly reminding her that her brother was safe at home, and all was good. Then, he broke the embrace and extended a hand towards Miro Miro, who was caught off guard.

"Alexa, this is Miro Miro," Rowark introductorily extended his wrapped hand, "I would not be here without her help."

Miro Miro instantly remembered the woman's rudeness from their prior engagement, giving her a tinge of anxiety. An awkward feeling washed over her, and she could sense that the poor young woman was feeling that exact same sensation. "You were, the same one as before," her shocked expression spread guilt all over her face, "Please forgive me!" Alexa touched both knees to the ground and bowed her head onto the fur rug, "I should not have been so foul to you. I beg forgiveness, Fairy. I prayed to the Goddesses everyday that Rowark would come home safely, and had I known that the Goddesses sent you to guide him home…" the rest was lost in her sobbing.

Her brother lifted her by her arm and comforted her, "There, there…"

Well, now Miro Miro felt bad. "I forgive you. You are Rowark's family, after all."

Alexa looked at the fairy dead center with runny eyes and nose and pledged, "My life is to Rowark, as is to yours too!"

"Okay, um…" Miro Miro was just beginning to grasp the gravity of guiding Rowark to safety. She may have been immortal, but she had never felt so insignificant before. Had Rowark never come across Miro Miro, a hungry Skulltula would have eaten her, and no one would have ever known the world had one less fairy. Rowark, on the other hand, had friends and family who were feeling pain from their loss. "Well actually," she corrected, "Rowark saved my life first, so accompanying him home was more of returning the favor."

"Miro Miro," Rowark said with playful annoyance, "you're too modest!"

The comment had made her blush, even delighted her, "It's true though!"

He could only smile back, exciting Miro Miro with giddiness. Alexa and Rowark both sat down before he began his questions, "So sister, what news I have missed in the past season?"

Alexa opened her mouth to speak, but a sigh came out instead, "Um, where to even begin?"

"We can begin with news about the realm."

"People talk about Moblins pushing further from the southern woods." Miro Miro did not know what "pushing" meant in this context, but she knew Moblins, the burly, leather skinned, boar headed beasts best known for kidnapping princesses and children, or so the myth said.

"That's not new," said Rowark dryly.

"What is new is how far they've come and how much they've grown. High Lord Springbock's diplomats constantly pester the Queen for Royal reinforcements and clearing parties."

"But doesn't Castle Springbock have mighty walls?"

"They do, but with their armies hidden behind their mighty walls, there is no one left to defend the surrounding villages. Most of the southern settlements are occupied by the Bokoblins now."

This news was certainly shocking, "Bokoblins!? How?" The little tribal cretins were not myths, they were very real threats that lived outside of the Kokiri Village. Many children who had wandered too far from the village have met a terrible fate at the hands of these vermin.

"I was just as surprised as you were when I first heard the report," Alexa had to take a heartbeat and a breath, "There is no mistake about it, the Bokoblins and the Bulblins have allied with Moblins within the past season."

Yikes! Miro Miro reactively thought to herself. Bulblins were rarer, but they were far scarier. They looked like Bokoblins, but they were much taller, some even as tall as Rowark, and were said to be armed with Hylian weapons within their societies. But they were also more or less on the side of myth. Many fairies had claimed they had seen one, but no one ever dared to venture too far outside the Kokiri village to prove it.

This was the first time Miro Miro had ever heard about Bulbins and Moblins being a tangible threat.

Rowark spoke in a solemn voice, "The Queen will have to appoint Din's Champion soon to combat the invaders. Until then, High Lord Springbock and his people will be in my prayers." Miro Miro had the chills thinking about what an army of the Lost Wood's nastiest creatures looked like.

"Not mine!" Alexa's response shocked both Miro Miro and Rowark, "His incredibly absurd requests to send troops and rations that far south are unnecessary and are doing us more harm!"

"What is absurd about defending the realm?"

"He has his own armies to protect him, and High Lord June sends his own clearing parties out already!" he had hit a nerve, and her news about the realm quickly became an venting of emotions, "Outlying Goron tribes still fight the Alliance, so they ask US for more troops! Castle Ingo protects its vast holdings of land but not a single soldier is spared to aid the surrounding villages from bandits, so they ask US for more troops! Zola bandits disrupt trade between the Zoras and the Deku -"

Rowark sighed, "So they ask us for more troops. But we have a vested interest in protecting our own trade too."

"You get the idea, though," and that was enough to calm her down, "Our forces are already spread thinly enough. We have no more heavy infantry and cavalry divisions garrisoned here anymore, they're all out there, fighting wars started by the other Lords! And because of that, we don't have enough watch to effectively protect the city!"

"How bad is it?"

"Hoy, it's bad," she said as she was about to drop the bad news, "We've gotten at least thirty new gang profiles in the last tendo alone."

"Thirty!?" Rowark couldn't believe it. Hmm, Miro Miro thought to herself, this gang profile monster sounds scarier than a moblin.

"Aye. Slug the Quick, the Craver, and Polleck the Drunkard have come out of hiding because of the new competition." Such peculiar names for monsters that could scare Rowark. "Fighting is fiercest near the Eastern border, so lots of watchmen are posted in that area. And the higher ups have been chaotic as of late due to the Princess."

"Why? What's been going on?"

Alexa's face instantly dropped, "Oh my, you haven't heard…"

"What?"

"The Princess fell deathly ill about two tendos after you disappeared. I took it as an omen that the Goddesses had finally abandoned us."

This news hit Rowark with shock, "Can they save her?"

"Doesn't look like it. Three days ago I was at the Castle, and several of the maids told me about the Princess's worsening situation. The entire place was just chaotic because of it. Everyone was running around like it was a madhouse."

"I suspect it is because the Queen is trying to assemble an emergency Parliament to vote in a new heir."

Parluhment? Vote? Air? These words made absolutely no sense in Miro Miro's mind, but maybe she would find out soon.

"They've been at it for tendos now, and at this rate, I'm gonna die at a ripe old age before they even put the first of hundreds of votes together."

"Such is our system. You and I are powerless to change it."

"And that's why I never paid attention to politics!" Everyone lightheartedly laughed finally.

"Fair enough. Did you perchance hear talk about which Princess will be representing the houses?"

"What's the difference between them? They're all blonde haired, blue eyed," Rowark began stifling an uncontrollable laugh, "pompous, Hyborns with fake breasts looking down on the rest of us. Oh, and they're all named Zelda!"

Rowark and Alexa burst into laughter before they fell on the floor. The joke was completely lost on Miro Miro, and as the laughter went on, she continued to wonder why. But it looked like both needed that.

"Hoh, that was funny!" Rowark said as he stood up.

Alexa, still laughing, followed him up. "Heh heh, well you know how I've always felt about them higher ups."

"You never change."

"Neither do you."

Rowark sighed and smiled, "How about I end the night on that good feeling?"

"Aye, 'tis getting late," she smiled, stood up from her seat, waited for him to do so, and then wrapped her arms around her brother. The heartbeat Rowark's arms embraced her too, tears fell from her face once again.

"It's okay, Alexa. No matter what, I am now here for you," Rowark placed his hand on her hand, "So if you need anything, anything at all, you come let me know, okay?"

Alexa sniffed and nodded her head in response, dampening the cloth underneath her chin. "Okay," she hoarsely said.

"We'll talk more," said Rowark as he broke the embrace and gently kissed her forehead.

Once Miro Miro exited the room and immediately felt turned around. Good thing Rowark knew where to go, so she followed her companion down the hallway. His short hair gleamed beautifully with every flicker of the torchlight and bounced with every slightest draft of air.

"May I inquire about your lost companion?" asked Rowark suddenly.

"What would you like to know?"

"For starters, you've never shared his name with me."

"Topah. That one is easy. What else?"

"Tell me about your relationship with Topah," he asked her.

"Hmm, that is tougher. I don't know how to describe it," Miro Miro had a more difficult time remembering the life that she had taken for granted for the majority of her existence, "We're like mothers, but not really. The Great Deku Tree assigns us fairies to each Kokiri."

"Just like the Hero was paired with fairy Navi!" Rowark's face beheld the wonderment of a child once again, "Sorry. It was my favorite story growing up. I loved hearing about the Hero of Time's adventures. Things are so different from the stories that I just find it hard to believe that heroes once existed." In the one day Miro Miro spent in Hyrule Castle City, she understood his sentiment all too well. "Sorry for getting off topic. So back to you and Topah."

"Topah was born after the war ended. The new Deku Tree used his youthful energy to create more Kokiri and populate the village, and then he invited fairies from all over the forest to live in the village and become a child's companion. I'm like his eternal parent."

As they rounded the corner and exited the dorm halls, Rowark hesitantly asked, "Do you feel responsible for losing him?"

"YES!" Miro Miro stopped to let out that cry, "He loved playing hide and seek so much, and one day, we were too deep in the Lost Woods, and then I just couldn't find him. I haven't stopped searching for him since. During the many years I've been searching for him, I kept thinking what I could've done differently to prevent all of this!" letting that out after years of solitude felt surprisingly good. However, in letting out her feelings, she also began sobbing.

"Hey," Rowark consoled, "that doesn't matter! We're going to find Topah, all right?"

She hiccuped, "Mmhmm."

"Do you know if he's in Hyrule Castle City?"

"I don't even know if he's still in the Lost Woods! Goddesses, so much has happened in twenty eight years, he could be anywhere! Do you come across a lot of Kokiri?"

"Not really, I don't know."

Miro Miro perked up and stopped crying, "I don't know?"

Rowark sighed, "Well, the way you describe him, a boy that looks like he's ten, that could be any street urchin on the street. Any kid that I've encountered on patrol could have been a Kokiri!"

"I'm sorry," Miro Miro quickly retreated her question.

"No, don't be sorry! Gah!" Rowark remorsed in frustration, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that."

"No, you are right," she sighed. Rowark apologetically sighed with her and led the way again, and they walked in awkward silence. They entered a stairwell and climbed upward to the top floor, then Rowark opened a door leading into a lonesomely creepy hallway. Lighting was spaced more sparsely, and there was no shortage of cold air. Each breeze chilled Miro Miro down to her core, but Rowark did not waver once.

"Hmm…" escaped from Rowark's lips.

"What are you thinking about?" She did not care what was on Rowark's mind, as long as he said something to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Hmm," Rowark seemed deep in thought as stared forward, "I was thinking about a rumor," his words brought interest back into Miro Miro's heart, "Many years ago, around the time when I first enlisted, back when slavery was still legal, there was a high lord who owned a manor near the eastern side of the field."

"What is slavery?"

"Oh Goddesses..." Rowark hesitated for a long heartbeat, "I am about to explain something that will lower your opinion of us Hylians. Do you wish for me to continue?"

Such an odd preface. "As long as I know you're not one of the bad Hylians, go on."

"It is when someone is forced to work for someone else and treated as property for the rest of their life."

Miro Miro gasped, "That's terrible!"

"That's why the Crown outlawed it," Rowark responded with nonsensical jargon again.

"I don't understand…"

"It means it's against the rules to own slaves."

"Oh, okay. So, what happened to the 'manner'?"

"A fire happened. It is still talked about today because High Lord Lanayrin lost his eldest son, his future heir. But no one knows how the fire started. There are many conspiracies afloat, but the most common story was that the son enslaved children who were born from witches, and that it was their magic that burned the manor down. I'm wondering if those 'witch' children were the Kokiri you speak of."

Another awkward silence dominated the air between them. Could Topah have been one of those poor children? She pictured a malnourished, blonde haired boy with skinny arms toiling under the hot, summer sun, tilling the field and picking crops against his will. And then she pictured a great big fire engulfing the field, and poor Topah running away scared. Maybe he got away. Maybe his body was one of the burnt carcasses.

She started crying loudly again. Rowark attempted to calm her down, "Hey, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's not that," she tried to stop crying, but all it did was made her talk in between hiccups, "I-I-I need to prepare for the worst."

"Oy! Queerdo!" A padded glove extended and firmly gripped Rowark's shoulder, interrupting the mood immediately. So engrossed in Miro Miro's crying were both that they did not see the watchman coming towards them, "There's an emergency deployment. Sir Triss needs every available volunteer to suit up and report to the campground."

"All right, I'll be there," Rowark nodded, "Sorry, I have to get going, but you're more than welcome to stay here."

"No! I'm coming with you!" she exclaimed amidst tears. After another town guard tried to kidnap her, Rowark was still the only person in Hyrule Castle City that she could trust.

Rowark smiled and said, "I was hoping you'd say that! Let's go, my faithful companion!" before taking off for the stairs.