Inspiration: Gufu (wind in Japanese), Tuuli, (wind in Finnish), demanded, (another way of saying 'demanded' in Finnish is... you'll find out once you read on), putting more pieces together.

This chapter is dedicated to Trey . mcd for his/her wonderful support of this story (and yes, I do cook when I have free time lol).

Author Note: Thanks to Vivi3030. ~ZR~.

Word Count: 4,190

Chapter 13

Ordon Village, the Day of Departure: Link's POV

It was hard to divulge what emotion I was feeling in the here and now. After Ilia's news yesterday, my entire outlook on my life had changed. I was no longer in a position to make decisions just for me. The days of my recklessness were over. I had to think about how everything I did was going to affect Ilia now. She was carrying my child, and there was no way I could abandon her to live the life I once wanted. The most meddlesome thing about this whole situation was, Ilia being pregnant was the last thing I needed to hear before leaving for Dragon Roost. I already had a great deal on my plate with looking after the kingdom, and figuring out what the Rue Morgues were up to. I was so focused on trying to stop Vincent and Morgana, that I didn't see this news from Ilia coming from a mile away. Now, my attention was temporarily diverted. I suddenly had to think about impromptu wedding plans. Ilia was probably going to want a dress and a small ceremony in the village. I had to think about where we were going to live now. I wasn't sure if Ilia was going to want to stay in Ordon or if she was going to want to move to the city. I wasn't too worried about finding an occupation, I had that with working at the castle. However, I did have to think about how I was going to break this news to her majesty.

I took in a deep sigh at the contemplation of that.

For all Zelda knew, she was expecting me to express my love and devotion to her after the gala. I couldn't believe how over the course of a few weeks how much my life changed so drastically. I felt like I was living another man's life. Zelda trusted me with the keys to the kingdom. She had unwavering faith in the promises I made to her. She told me things that she's never told anyone, not even Elbourne. She opened up about her family. She shared the burial grounds of her parents with me. She let me in that vulnerable place in her heart, knowing she was putting herself at considerable risk. She worked hard to keep up appearances for the sake of her people. Zelda was a magnificent, incredible person, and she deserved the greatest man in the world. Unfortunately, that man was not going to be me.

I didn't deserve her anyway. I betrayed her so many times it was tough for me to keep count, and then of course, there was my ever fickle heart when it came to Midna. Midna... Midna... Midna... I had every intention of taking the hero's advice and going to look for her once this threat to the kingdom was subsided. However, what would be the point now? What would I tell her when I saw her? "Hello Midna, I know it's been a long time, but I just wanted you to know I'm head over heels in love with you, but I can't do anything about it now, because my soon to be wife is pregnant." The premise was ridiculous. She would call me a fool or say something snide and eclectic in Twili and laugh at me. I couldn't face that from her, not after feeling what I've been feeling for so long.

I really put myself in a bind and there was very little I could do to get myself out of this. I was going to have to face my new reality with a different attitude. Ilia was now my future and I was going to have to be content with that. Besides, it was only fair that I thought about her feelings in this matter. After all, she didn't plan any of this. She was an innocent product of a complicated circumstance. I did need to acknowledge that I did play with her heart, and that all she ever felt for me was love and concern. She was a good woman, and I knew she would be an excellent mother. However, even still, there was something bothering me about how all this came up. I sometimes thought everything was too convenient. The change in my circumstances were too coincidental for me, but then... what was I trying to say? I shook my head, not wanting to entertain anymore conspiracy theories. All they did was drive me crazy, besides, I needed realign my focus on what was important in the here and now, and that was protecting the country. There was still a sleeping menace waiting to be awakened out there somewhere, and I had to find it.

I was currently tying all of my supplies to Epona in preparation for my departure. I made sure I had everything I needed before leaving for Hyrule en route to Dragon Roost. Once I was there, there was no turning back. I looked at my beautiful mare and patted her ivory mane. She and I had been through a great deal together. In some ways, I think she knew what I was feeling more than some of my human friends, and that was saying a lot. I smiled at her as she stared back at me with her pretty brown eyes. She looked like she wanted to lecture me.

"What are you looking at?" I joked. "You already know your master is an idiot."

Epona neighed after hearing that, almost as in recognition of my words. That made me laugh. Epona was so wonderfully honest. It was nice to have a brief moment of clarity with someone who knew me so well.

"I must get on your bad side a lot, don't I?" I asked rhetorically. "Well, I better change that."

I petted Epona for a second longer, then mounted her and headed out the alcove where the spring resided. However, before I left for the bridge, I was surprised to find Rusl outside the entrance waiting for me. He looked serious, and anytime he looked like that, I knew something was up. I pulled back on the reigns and stopped Epona for a second, then nodded towards my old friend.

Rusl nodded back.

"Good morning," he greeted.

I took in a deep sigh after hearing that.

Was it a good morning?

I could ponder that later.

"Good morning," I greeted back.

Rusl looked over my horse and supplies.

"Do you have everything you need?" he asked.

I nodded again.

"I have everything I can carry with me here," I replied, "however before heading to Dragon Roost, I'm going to the castle to meet my small entourage there."

Rusl nodded again, then sighed.

"Good," he said, then paused and asked, "do you feel ready for this?"

I raised a brow and thought about that for a moment.

Do I ever really feel ready for any of these challenges? I thought.

I smirked.

"As I can get," I said, "the rest I leave to Farore."

Rusl chuckled at hearing that.

"Amen," he agreed, "well, don't let me keep you, just know the whole Ordonian section will be cheering you on when you race tomorrow."

I was comforted with that thought. What better way to feel confident than to carry the confidence of your friends? I was serious about that premise.

"I appreciate that," I replied.

Rusl nodded.

"I'll see you in Dragon Roost tomorrow," he said, then turned and headed back into the village.

"Likewise, I'll see you then," I replied.

I watched after him, and was a little surprised at the fact that all he wanted to do was wish me well. I thought that was very considerate of him. So many times when I saw the members of the CIT, I immediately thought they were going to relay bad news. However, I needed to remember that each person had a family and a life outside of working at the castle too. Rusl didn't mention a word about Auru's letter, and for that I was quietly grateful. It didn't mean it wasn't on either one of our minds. It just meant for one moment we could talk as friends and as men.

I waited for him to disappear past the impasse before turning around and heading in the opposite direction. I passed through the short walkway leading up to the main bridge, and was ready to giddy and go, but was surprised and halted when I saw I had another unexpected visitor to send me off. I had to admit, I wasn't as eager to see this person as I had been to see Rusl. The person was Ilia and she was waiting for me on the other side of the bridge. At the sight of her I had mixed feelings, but I kept those at bay, because now wasn't the time for any nonsense. Now was the time to reassure her I would be okay, and that she wouldn't need to worry about anything. When I got over to the other side to meet her, I stopped Epona and dismounted this time. Ilia's back was facing me when I approached her. At first I thought she was crying, but I heard no soft whimpering to indicate such, and when she turned around I was puzzled even more. I raised a brow ever so slightly when I saw she had a smile on her face. I found that a bit odd, considering her behavior yesterday. However, I digressed and kept my inquiries to myself.

I'll never understand women, I thought.

She came up to me and grabbed my hand.

"Good morning," she said in a cheery voice I hadn't heard in months.

I guess that was better than nothing. I nodded and took in a deep sigh.

"Good morning," I greeted back.

She looked me over briefly and started fixing my cloak.

"I just wanted to see you before you left," she said, "the gala is going to be quite a challenge for you."

She had no idea how true her words were.

I tried to smile.

"I'll do my best," I said.

She looked up at me lovingly just then.

"I know you will," she whispered, "that's just the kind of man you are."

I nodded and thanked her for her concern, but I didn't have very much to say after that. I think all that needed to be said had been said between us. I knew she loved me. I knew she would always care for me. I knew she worried about me. I knew all those things, and I was grateful for it. However, even though I wasn't trying to let it show, I was a little ill hearted towards my childhood friend. There were a great many things I was going to have to give up for her, and the last thing I needed was a cheery disposition in me doing so. It almost felt like a taunt. I knew I was a being a little silly, but I saw no traces of that scared woman from yesterday who told me she was pregnant. The standoffish attitude she had towards Ashei and Bastion was all but gone, and here she was now, greeting me as if everything were perfect. Well, that was where she was wrong, everything was far from perfect. However, I wasn't going to address that in the moment.

"Thank you," I said finally, "I appreciate that."

There was a brief silence between us after that. The situation we created for ourselves was going to have to wait until after the gala. The last thing I needed were more distractions, and I hoped she wasn't here to give that. Ilia probably read into my tone and body language, because she was studying the look on my face now. Afterwards, she reached up to caress my cheek.

"What's the matter?" she whispered.

Was she serious?

I just looked at her.

What isn't the matter Ilia? I wondered.

"I have a lot on my mind," I said simply.

Ilia nodded, then cut her eyes from mine and looked to the ground. She started fiddling with her hands.

"About... about yesterday-" she started.

I wasn't having that this morning.

Not this morning.

I had too many other responsibilities to think about.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," I interrupted firmly.

She was slightly taken aback and looked up at me surprised.

"But Link-" she tried again.

"I'm serious Ilia," I warned, "I already have enough on my mind. I don't need anything else from you at this moment."

She didn't say anything right away, and she seemed slightly offended with the way I worded that, however, instead of saying so she got quiet. She stared at my cloaked chest and sighed. There was another brief silence between us, and I was sure she knew I was mildly cross with her.

"I guess I can understand that," she said with a slight shrug, "after all, you still have to get used to the idea." She looked me straight in the eyes just then. "But I think you will." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "You know I'm good for you."

I looked at her surprised at her tone and drew back a little. There was something in her words that was almost like a threat. I looked over her face several times without saying anything. Ilia stared right back, then reached up to try and kiss me. My reaction was involuntary, but I turned away so her lips hit my cheek instead. She was disappointed and mildly upset at my actions, but that didn't divert her kiss, and when she pulled away, all she did was stare at me. I didn't look her back in the eyes. I wasn't in the mood for any of this, and I knew my bitterness was displaced. I could blame no one for my situation but myself.

Just go Ilia... I wanted to tell her, but didn't, please just leave.

"Hmph," she grunted thoughtfully, and crossed her arms over her chest, "like I said before, you'll get used to the idea. We'll talk more when you get back."

I still didn't say anything. With that, Ilia raised a brow, stepped back, and then headed back over the bridge. I watched after her until she got to the other side, to which she then turned to look at me. She waved, and I mechanically waved back. Afterwards, she headed down the road back to Ordon. When she was out of sight, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. How in the world was I going to deal with that until my old age? I didn't have time to contemplate it now. I then mounted Epona again. That little encounter was a fore gleam of what the rest of my life was going to be like, and I wasn't going to lie, I was not looking forward to it.

I sighed.

Hylia help me for having such thoughts, I pondered.

Afterwards, I headed to Hyrule Castle.

All the well wishing had been done.

~SSS~

Hyrule Castle, the Situation Room

I arrived at the castle an hour later to a nearly empty Situation Room. Auru was still in Dragon Roost, Shad was still working as regent, Telma was planning her wedding, Ashei was organizing the entourage for the trip, and the only person present was Bastion. He was surrounded by scrolls and books, and from looks of his slightly haggard appearance he must have been engaged in study all night. When he saw me come in he grinned and stood up.

"You won't believe what I found out," he said excited.

I didn't share his enthusiasm at the moment and merely nodded.

"What's that?" I asked.

Bastion's grin faded and he gave me an odd look.

"What's wrong with you?" he redirected.

I shook my head, not wanting to get into that now.

"Nothing," I replied.

Bastion fanned off my reply.

"Don't give me that," he said, "it's obvious something is bothering you."

I shook my head again.

"Seriously," I said, "it can wait."

Bastion stared at me for a moment, then tapped his finger over the surface of the table. I was aware that my behavior wasn't all that convincing, but I couldn't talk about my situation with Ilia right now. I had to put that at the back of mind until after this threat was eradicated. I couldn't allow my better judgment to be clouded because I decided to make some wrong decisions. Hyrule's safety was way more important than that. There was a brief silence that engulfed us, but it was soon dispelled when Bastion decided to defer to my reasoning.

"Well, if you're certain it can wait, I'll trust you on that," he said, then changed the subject. "In the mean time, I think I found out who Vincent and Morgana are trying to awaken."

My ears perked when I heard that, and my other worries suddenly became a secondary concern.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Bastion pointed to the head of the table.

"Sit down," he directed, "I think you're going to need to after hearing this."

I raised a brow, but promptly followed the order. This must have been quite the revelation.

Bastion turned the book he was looking at towards me, then pointed to a specific paragraph in the middle of the page.

"Read this," he said.

I wasn't sure why he wanted to start off in such a fashion, but decided to go along with what he suggested anyway.

The passage read:

Codes and codex are often a medium used

to convey messages meant only for certain

individuals. The language is obscure with little to no

common conjecture for the layman. The text

is muddled with arcane words and symbols,

with specific emphasis on a particular code set.

That code set is the mediator between what is

written and the true meaning of the encryption

~Falbi~

When I was finished I shrugged with indifference. Nothing was divulged there that we didn't both already know.

"That's common sense," I replied.

Bastion smirked at my reply.

"That is true," he said, "but think about how this relates to what you told me to look up from Auru."

He had my undivided attention with that.

"Go on," I cued.

Bastion then directed my attention to a scroll he was writing on. There seemed to be a bunch of notes and ideas written all over it.

"Let's go back to the beginning," he said, "back to when we found out what Vincent and Morgana were searching for."

I nodded.

"Very well," I replied.

Bastion's excitement returned and he got a little closer to me and lowered his voice.

"Remember what the fairy told us at the fountain?" he started.

I nodded again.

"Yes," I said, "she said the Rue Morgues obtained the Gufu Key."

Bastion's eyes widened.

"Exactly!" he replied. "Now, I was looking up some information on what that word gufu meant, do you know what it means?"

I looked at him intrigued and raised a brow.

"No," I said quietly, "what?"

His eyes widened even more.

"It means 'wind' in an eastern Hylian language," he revealed.

I narrowed my eyes slightly.

"What?" I whispered.

He nodded.

"There's more," he said, "but keep that in mind. Now, you know the letter you gave me from Auru? Well, after some careful study it was actually telling us the name of the person they are trying to awaken."

I looked at him shocked.

"What?" I replied.

He nodded and then brought forth the letter I handed him yesterday.

"Look at this," he said, then asked, "what in the world is 'five alphas times infinity'?"

I shook my head.

That was a good question.

"I don't know," I replied.

He smirked at me.

"You aren't supposed to," he said, "it's nothing but jargon to make us think it's something else. It's actually a code that has the deciphering agents right underneath it."

I was mildly perplexed by that.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What deciphering agents?"

Bastion pointed to the bottom of the canvas.

"'If two keys are put in place, then three digits, one and five digits, and one, four, or six digits is the appellate in question'," he read aloud. "This area right here is the deciphering agent, it's actually pretty simple when you go over it."

I grunted, not seeing what he was seeing.

"You show that to me," I challenged.

Bastion had no qualms about it.

"If you insist," he half-joked. "The first part of the decoder directly relates to the first part of the code. 'Five' is the only word we're looking at when we consider 'three digits', does that make sense?"

I nodded, starting to understand what he was saying now.

"Yes it does," I said.

Bastion then grinned.

"Now do me a favor," he said, "count three digits into the word 'five' and afterwards write the letter down."

I did as I was told.

"Okay," I said, after I was done.

Bastion prompted me to go on.

"Now, count one and five digits on the second word and write that down as well," he directed.

I raised a brow and was starting to see a pattern.

"Alright," I replied.

I continued on on my own, but was a little stumped when I got to the last part of the riddle.

"I have three letters for this one," I stated.

Bastion shook his head.

"You should only have one," he corrected, "the last decoder says 'one, four, or six', not 'and six'."

I looked at him mildly confused.

"But they're all the same letter," I said.

Bastion grinned at me again.

"That's the point," he said, "all you need is one."

I raised a brow and nodded.

"One last thing," Bastion said, "you know the Demanded Flower, well, 'demanded' is another play on words. That's why when the Hero of Time said there was an inscription on the back of the key, he specifically said what was written there was 'it is finnished' not finished. Finnish is a western dialect of Hylian." Bastion raised a brow and tapped his fingers across the surface of the table. "Do you know what it means?"

I looked at him completely stunned just then.

Wait a minute... I thought.

"Are you serious?" I asked, without saying it.

Bastion nodded.

"Look at the name you just spelled out on that paper," he said, "it has the same meaning as the word 'demanded' in Finnish." He looked at me with a sly grin. "Who is it?"

I looked down and felt my stomach churn.

"Vaati," I whispered.

Bastion nodded again.

"That's Vincent and Morgana's true master," he divulged, "they're trying to awaken the wind god."

It suddenly all made sense.

Everything.

It made sense why Vincent was involved in the interlopers. It made sense why he wore the insignia that he did. It made sense that he was part of the Brotherhood of Hyrule to establish all of its secrets. It all made sense, because he was involved with this psychotic sleeping menace. I suddenly stood up from the table.

"We have to hurry to Dragon Roost and warn her majesty," I said, "the Dragon Gala cannot take place."

Bastion followed suit and stood up with me, however, he was more cautious.

"That might take some serious convincing," he stated, "you're talking about an event that's been trumpeted from the roof tops. Everyone, I mean everyone, in Hyrule will be there. It's the biggest event of the season."

That was a chance we were going to have to take. I understood everyone wanted to see the inevitable match up of me versus the dragon prince, but that was secondary to the safety kingdom.

"It won't matter if he comes back and everyone ends up dead," I countered.

Bastion had no rebuttal for that.

"That is true," he replied.

There wasn't a moment for us to lose.

"I'll ready our entourage," I said, "we're leaving within the hour."