Shock, or freaking out.
Those seemed to be the only two options for the group after the freezing had worn off. Hugh, Auru and the Great Deku tree fell to the first category while Ashei and Shad fell into the second.
"What in the name of the three goddesses just happened!?" Ashei yelled to no one in particular
Shad just looked panicked and was muttering to himself which only caused Ashei to take her anger out on the poor scholar.
"Will you be quiet!? Your muttering is freaking me out!" Ashei snapped.
"I'll stop muttering if you stop yelling!" Shad yelled back
"Fine I'll stop yelling!" Ashei yelled.
"You're still yelling!" Shad shot back
"So are you!"
"Yeah but I've stopped muttering so I'm allowed to yell!"
"Both of you shut up!" Auru shouted finally snapping out of his stupor.
A beat of silence past over the meadow.
"Ashei go shake your boyfriend out of his shock while Shad and I try to see what's wrong the Deku tree, and after we've all calmed down we'll think of what to do."
As was mentioned Hugh was currently just staring blankly at the place where Link, Zelda and Shylock had been lying. Ashei snapped in front of his face a few times to try to get his attention.
"Hugh! Wake up! We need you back in Norachre so we can figure out what to do!" She said putting her hands on her hips.
Hugh blinked and looked around.
"Oh my goodness that actually happened!" He stammered.
"Yes, that happened I already had my freak out now what are we going to do?" Ashei asked
"Ashei you don't understand! Arnold took them! He's going to kill them! It's going to be Aria all over again!" He said frantically looking around before locking eyes with Ashei again. "We can't let that happen I can't-" his voice broke. "I can't go through that again." He choked his eyes tearing.
Ashei pulled him into a hug. "It won't happen, they'll be alright, we're going to go get them back." She rubbed his back as he returned the hug. "It's going to be alright."
They stayed standing in a hug for a couple seconds longer before Hugh pulled away slightly.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." Hugh sighed
"Hey, you've got more reason to be mad at Arnold then we ever could, a mild freak out it allowed." She reassured. "Besides, you wouldn't be the guy I fell in love with if you didn't have that soft spot you try to hide." She said punching him lightly in the chest.
"I feel like if I wasn't in shock I might be trying to tease you about saying that you love me." He said smiling slightly
"Save it, I'll be expecting it later." Ashei smirked.
"That blasted mage!" The Great Deku tree bellowed suddenly causing them both to jump. "How did he get in here!? I specifically put up a barrier to stop that idiot! Plus he brought a dragon with him!? Dragons aren't supposed to help people like him! They've got to be like the most passive creatures in existence! I mean even the Kokiri are more likely to start a fight than a dragon! All they do is sit around contemplating the meaning of life and sleep for decades at a time!" It ranted as it shook with rage. "And now he's got the Triforce! Not just like one or two pieces either, no it just had to be that they were all here at the same time when he decided to waltz in a grab them! Do you have any idea how much trouble I'm going to be with the sages!? My main job is to protect the Triforce, that's literally why I was created! Well... aside from taking care of the Kokiri and the forest."
"Um." Auru said not sure if the tree was finished its rage fest yet.
The great Deku tree sighed - which looked quite strange coming from a tree- and said. "Alright I'm done."
"Ok so now that that's all out of the way what are we going to do?" Auru asked what was left of the group.
"I think the first thing to do is figure out where Arnold took Link, Zelda and Shylock." Shad pointed out.
"Ugh that's easy." The Deku tree huffed grumpily. "He has a tower a couple miles from here but I can't do a single thing about it since I am literally rooted to the spot."
"Well that's one thing out of the way, so now we just have to figure out how to get them back." Ashei stated
"Yeah we're going to need a lot of help." Hugh pointed out.
"The Gerudo would probably help, Shylock is their king whether he acts like it or not." Shad suggested.
"I might be able to convince Kaori to send some reinforcements if I tell him that the princess was taken." Auru added.
"Ciel and his group were already making attack plans when we were there so if I tell him to wait and join up with us he probably would." Hugh said.
"Do you think that would be enough?" Ashei asked.
"Basically what you just described is around a third of the population of Norachre so if that's not enough you're never getting them back." The great Deku tree remarked.
"Ok but we don't have much time, how are we going to get everyone here in time?" Hugh asked.
"The Kokiri can get your message to everyone within a couple hours." The Deku tree said.
"How can they do that?" Shad asked.
"Trade secret." It replied haughtily, then after a couple seconds answered. "They have really fast carrier hawks."
"Fine so with everyone getting the message today and somehow manage to leave today as well how long will it take for everyone to get here?" Auru asked.
"About 3 days."
"Its longer than I'd like but there's not much I can do about it. We'd better get those messages out as soon as possible." Auru said.
"I'll go get Mido." Hugh offered.
The Kokiri were surprisingly hospitable given their original rough greeting. They were also suitably upset to hear that the Link, who wasn't really Link, but kinda looked like Link, had been taken away and this moved them to send out the messages in record time.
"We almost never send messages so we had to talk to the birds for a while before they understood what they were supposed to do." The girl with blond pigtails, they learned was named Fado, said.
"They will actually get to the people we're hoping for though, right?" Hugh asked worriedly
"Mhmm." Fado hummed happily. "The hawks go outside the forest all the time so they know where everything is." She skipped ahead a couple paces then twirled around to face them again. "Here's my house!" She announced enthusiastically. "You two are going to be my guests until your people get here so please make yourselves comfortable!"
The "house" looked just like a short fat tree that had been hollowed out and had some windows added. Fado happily showed them around the small house and pointed out where they were going to be sleeping. They hadn't been more than put their bags on the ground when there was a knock on the door. Fado skipped over to the window and looked outside.
"It's for you!" She sang before continuing her task of arranging her house for her guests.
Hugh glanced at Ashei and shrugged assuming it was Auru or Shad. Walking over he opened the door only to be tackled to the ground by Krem.
"Hugh! This is so terrible! How could Arnold be so mean and take Link, Shylock and Sheik!?" He cried into Hugh's vest dramatically.
Ciel leaned down and pulled Krem off his brother by the back of his shirt.
"Hey Hugh." Ciel greeted.
"Hey Ciel." Hugh gasped from his place on the ground.
"We came as soon as we got your message, but you kinda delayed us which is irritating." He grumbled as he dropped Krem.
"Delayed you from what?" Hugh grunted as he got to his feet.
"Going and killing Arnold." Krem exclaimed with a huge smile.
"Um you probably shouldn't say such morbid things with a smile like that, you might end up scaring people." Ashei commented as she came to stand next to Hugh in the doorway.
"Hmm you're probably right." Krem said thoughtfully. "How's this? We're going to kill Arnold." He repeated but with a dead expression. "Better?" He asked smiling again
"... I can't decide which is scarier." Ashei admitted
"On a different subject." Hugh interrupted. "What were you thinking going to take on Arnold alone!? Do you have any idea how powerful he is?" He fumed putting his hands on his hips
"Literally have an army under my command, plus multiple attack strategies and retreat plans along with hundreds of weapons, half of which I can use perfectly well and the other half I have basic training with, so yes, I definitely haven't thought this through and am going in blindly, thank you for bringing it to my attention." Ciel countered sarcastically while crossing his arms.
Hugh stood there for a second looking like he was going to say something but couldn't figure out what. "Granted that is more prepared than I thought you were going to be." He conceded reluctantly. "But we'll still have a better chance if we wait until the king's army and the Gerudo get here."
"Well obviously." Krem responded. "That's why we're here."
"Alright then, now that that's all out of the way do you want to come in?" Ashei interjected before Hugh could respond.
"Thank you for the offer Ashei but I don't want to leave King alone for too long, he gets restless and might decide to march on his own." Ciel declined politely
"Oh? I thought that's why you left Thane behind." Ashei stated confused.
"No actually he got waylaid by a group of children earlier so we left him with them while we came here." Ciel said looking over his shoulder to where Hugh and Ashei could just make out a very unhappy looking Thane sitting on the ground getting his hair braided by three different Kokiri.
"He looks like he would appreciate some rescuing." Hugh chuckled
"Nah, let him suffer." Ashei disagreed
Ciel chuckled as well. "I guess he'll be in a bad mood if we don't help so we should go. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon." He said in way of farewell before walking off.
"...I don't get it why does he like you so much and still not like me!?" Hugh complained after they were out of earshot.
"Because I'm clearly superior." Asher replied matter a factly. "And besides he does like you, he just gets annoyed when you baby him."
"I'm not babying him!" Hugh said defensively.
"Yes you are." Ashei retorted. "He's an adult not a little kid, so stop treating him like one and maybe he'll stop being so sarcastic."
"I don't think it's possible for Ciel not to be sarcastic." Hugh said following Ashei back into the house.
"True but he might be slightly less sarcastic." Ashei smirked
"I know how he feels though." Hugh admitted, sitting down on one of the bed Fado had laid out for them. "I would leave right now if I thought we could take Arnold down, but unfortunately I know otherwise." Hugh sighed
Ashes sat down beside him and punched him in the shoulder. "Lighten up! You know we all feel the same and we've done as much as we can do. Being depressed won't help any." She said
Hugh smirked and pulled her into a one arm hug. "When did you get all mature?" He joked
"Hey! I'll have you know that I am very mature!" Ashei responded indignantly but failed to keep a straight face.
"Said the girl who dumped water on my head to wake me up." Hugh laughed
"It worked didn't it?" Ashei laughed
Hugh sighed and rested his head on top of Ashei's. "I hope they're ok."
Link blinked blearily. He tried to look around but his vision was blurry and his head was pounding. He shut his eyes tightly in an attempt to clear his vision.
"Oh looks like he's coming around." Shylock's voice broke the silence.
Link opened his eyes and turned towards the king's voice. His vision cleared some and he could make out Shylock's silhouette with a purple type haze overlaying it.
"Shylock?" Link said his voice rougher than he was expecting.
"The one and only." Shylock chimed. "Tell me are you feeling lightheaded at all? Nauseous? Blurry vision?"
"All of the above." Link groaned and shifted to be in a more comfortable position
"Oh good, I like it when I'm not the only one suffering." He remarked
"How long was I out?" Link asked.
"About 6 hours longer than us, and we estimate that we were unconscious a little less than a day." Shylock answered.
"A day!?" Link exclaimed looking up suddenly and regretted it a second after.
"Link be careful not to move too quickly or you'll end up hitting your head." Zelda said warningly
Link blinked some more and looked around. He finally could see enough to realize that he was in a purplish glass crystal suspended about 10 feet in the air. The crystal was large enough for him to sit comfortably but not enough for him to stand up or lie down.
On an angle across from him were Shylock and Zelda both in individual crystals like his. They were set up in a triangle and Link couldn't help but chuckled cynically at the irony.
"Like your room? Seems like we're going to be here for a while so you'd better not start complaining." Shylock ordered
"That coming from you?" Zelda laughed scornfully. "Be glad you weren't awake when he first woke up. 'Ahhh my head hurts! Why is this crystal so small? Get me out of here I don't like it!' Zelda mocked
"She's so mean." Shylock pouted to Link. "It's not my fault you woke up grumpy."
"I'm grumpy because your buddy Arnold set up a spell that makes it so I can't use my magic PLUS I'm stuck in a crystal AGAIN, like seriously can I not catch a break from being the helpless damsel in distress just once?"
"At least the crystal is a different shape this time?" Link offered helpfully
"I appreciate the sentiment but it amounts to the same thing." Zelda sighed but did smile slightly.
The was silence for a couple seconds before Shylock spoke up again.
"Sooo what now?" He asked
"Well normally I'm stuck here until he comes and fixes everything." Zelda said pointing to Link. "At least that's what happens in all the legends and in real life in our case, but I think this is one of the first times he's stuck here with me."
"Sorry I'm not much help this time." Link smiled apologetically
"It's a pity he didn't put us all in the same crystal because then we could have just wished our way out." Zelda sighed.
"I think that's probably why he didn't put us all in the same crystal." Link pointed out.
"What? We can grant wishes? Since when?" Shylock asked surprised
"Do you know anything about the Triforce?" Zelda huffed
"I know that I was supposed to learn about it in my history class but I fell asleep." Shylock informed her proudly.
Link facepalmed. "Probably shouldn't sound so pleased with yourself when you say things like that." He said trying not to laugh.
"See now I'm just jealous." Zelda said. "How did you get away with sleeping during your lessons?! I assume you were tutored like me so it's not like you can escape notice from the teacher."
"Two tricks." Shylock grinned holding up two fingers. "Sleeping with your eyes open, and having teachers with very low expectations."
Link laughed into his hand then pretended to cough when Zelda rolled her eyes.
"Ok, so spill what's the story with the triangles." Shylock asked. "But please try to keep it short I get bored easily."
"We've noticed." Zelda smirked. "Alright so basically the Triforce is an omnipotent sacred relic that represents the essence of the three Golden Goddesses who created Hyrule. It appeared where they departed the realm for the heavens.
The Triforce of Power - the one you have - embodies the essence of Din, the Goddess of Power, who is the shaper of the realm in which Hyrule exists. Her divine essence grants the holder an unlimited amount of mystical power.
The Triforce of Wisdom - the one I have - holds the essence of Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, who is recognized for creating the physical laws of the realm of Hyrule. It enhances my mystical powers and allows me to think clearer and more logically than most people.
The Triforce of Courage - the one Link has - contains the divine essence of Farore, the Goddess of Courage, who is renowned for creating all life that inhabits the Hyrulean realm. Though, to be honest, no one really seems to know what it does." Zelda finished looking mildly confused.
"Basically it makes me more resilient and less afraid than most people." Link shrugged.
"... Okay..." Shylock said slowly. "My brain feels like it might explode but I think I got it."
"Well you mull on it for a bit I'm going to go back to sleep because even with the Triforce of Wisdom I can't come up with a decent escape solution with a pounding headache." Zelda said holding her head in her hand.
"We'll try to be quiet so you can sleep, right Shylock?" Link asked
"Why are you acting like I'm the one that's going to make a bunch of noise!?" Shylock exclaimed
"Because Link can go days at a time without speaking." Zelda answered her eyes already closed.
"Valid point, ok if you insist I'll be quiet." Shylock relented.
The Gerudo were the next to arrive, thought their arrival was much more conspicuous then Ciel's was.
"WHAT. HAPPENED." Zera demanded as she burst through the door of the triplets' house and by extension, Auru and Shad's. Shad was still asleep when this happened, being as it was around dawn, and nearly ended up falling off his bed from the sudden intrusion. Auru, on the other hand, had just woken up so was less affected.
"Zera." He greeted as he got to his feet. "Perhaps we could discuss this outside? I don't want to wake our hosts if it can be avoided." He said while walking over to the door.
Zera huffed and followed him outside. Waiting outside was 3 other Gerudo guards but otherwise the meadow was empty.
"Do I need to repeat my question?" Zera asked levelly.
"There isn't much I can add apart from what was in the letter." Auru responded calmly.
"There's been no new news?" Zera pressed. "No messages from them?"
"None, we're simply preparing right now." Auru sighed. "With your arrival all we have left is to wait for the king's army."
Zera laughed sardonically. "They're all idiots, we would do better marching now."
"We both know that's not true." Auru disagreed. "Attacking without enough numbers would do your king more harm than good."
Zera glared at the ground but didn't respond.
"You've probably been traveling all night, you should get some sleep." Auru suggested.
Zera whipped up to look at him. "I'm fine." She said tightly.
"I'm sure you are but some of your lower ranks might not be." He pointed out.
"I don't need you to tell me how to care for my girls." Zera said turning on her heel and stomping away.
The three guards watched her go, then one turned back to Auru.
"She's worried, ... we all are." She said by way of explanation
"I know." Auru said simply. "Make sure she gets some sleep, she'll run herself into the ground if she's left alone."
"We will." The guard responded before following Zera.
After Zelda had woken up again Link had taken to trying each one of his wide variety of items in an attempt to escape. Sword, diggers, bow, hookshot, and boomerang all lay discarded at his side while he pulled out his regular and water bombs.
"No Link, it's not worth the injury you'll end up with." Zelda said firmly as he went to light the fuse.
"It wouldn't be the first time I've been blown up." He said with a grin.
"Still."
"How does it feel to be blown up?" Shylock asked curiously. "Because Zera's threatened to blow me up more times then I can count but I wonder what it would actually feel like."
"Well it's definitely not pleasant." Link began. "I would rank it less painful than being frozen then immediately set on fire but more painful than getting stabbed.
"Hmm so to be avoided then?" Shylock smirked.
"For the most part yes." Link agreed.
"Hello all~." Arnold greeted as he appeared suddenly in front of them.
Shylock visibly jumped. "Arnold you have got to stop with the showing off! My nerves can't take having people just randomly appearing in front of me!" Shylock ranted as soon as he had recovered from his shock.
"Apologies," Arnold said his voice dripping sincerity. "I'll request my dragon to join me by foot if it bothers you that much."
As he spoke said dragon made its appearance climbing the stairs to the room they were being held in. Its glassed over eyes stared at them silently for a few agonizing seconds before it came and lay down under Zelda's crystal.
"There much better." Arnold said happily. "Now I figured I should check in and make sure you were all conscious, my spell wouldn't work if you weren't so I'm glad to see you all up and about." He noticed them glaring at him. "Relatively speaking anyway." He added noting their small living quarters
"Are you going to leave now or do you have more monologuing to do?" Zelda asked impatiently
"More monologuing." Arnold answered cheerfully
"If you're going to do that can you at least give me something to eat first, I'm starving over here!" Shylock complained
"No I don't think so," Arnold replied. "It's far too much effort to open those crystals and besides you won't be feeling hungry soon enough so there's no point wasting food."
"Why won't we be hungry?" Shylock stage-whispered to Link.
"He's planning to kill us." Link sighed tired of the conversation already. "Can't be hungry if you're dead."
"Well that's just rude!" Shylock exclaimed. "You officially not on my friend list anymore." He said before turning his back to the Mage.
"If it makes you feel any better I did look into ways to get the Triforce without killing you." Arnold mentioned.
"There are ways to do it." Zelda pointed out.
"Yes but this is easier." Arnold shrugged
"Psychopath." Shylock muttered
"Inaccurate but I won't bother correcting you." Arnold replied. "Anyway, I could spout the normal things, like don't bother trying to escape, there's no way to stop me, but why bother? Neither of us can know one way or another who's going to win." He smirked. "I wouldn't hold onto too much hope though, it makes things so much more unpleasant at the end don't you agree?"
"I agree completely." Zelda snarled.
Arnold simply smiled at her reaction. "I've only a few more things to collect before we can get this unfortunate procedure out of the way so I'll leave you four alone for a bit but then I'll be back." He waved cheerfully and waltzed back down the stairs, only to pop back up a couple of seconds after and say. "I used the stairs I hope that makes you feel slightly better Shylock." He smiled widely and descended the stairs again.
"Auggghh! He is so infuriating! He was so much more fun when he was just helping me prank people!" Shylock burst out angrily
Zelda was staring at the stairs with her hands balling into fists. She was looking more and more like she was going to burst in a similar, but more violent, way to Shylock.
"Breathe." Link advised.
Zelda closed her eyes and breathed deeply once.
"He's not worth it, we just have to focus on getting out." Link continued quietly.
"And not get eaten by the dragon." Shylock added.
"Thank you Shylock." Link said sarcastically
"Hey I'm just saying, it's something to keep in mind." Shylock defended.
"Still need to work on timing." Link stated pointedly
"I'm ok Link, thank you though." Zelda said
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, my anger just overtook me for a second but I'm better now." She assured him. "And as for the dragon, I wonder if we could use it to our advantage." Zelda added looking thoughtfully at the dragon beneath her.
"How?" Link asked.
"Well normally dragons aren't so vacant, and they certainly don't take orders like this one is so I figure Arnold's put it under some type of spell." Zelda explained.
"And if we break the spell the dragon will, what? Eat Arnold?" Shylock asked.
"Hard to say but I doubt it will attack us." Zelda responded.
"Soooo, how do we break it?"
"Well I think that's going to be up to you, Link and I can't do much within these crystals but since you have the Triforce of power there a good chance you'd be able to break out of here or at least affect something outside your crystal." Zelda said to the king.
"I'm going to what now?"
"Use your Triforce of power, and sooner rather than later unless you want to try it while Arnold's here." Zelda reiterated.
Shylock sighed deeply "That sounds like a lot of work but fine what do I do?"
Hugh wandered through the small city of tents that had literally sprung up overnight. Ciel and Zera's groups had managed to mesh seamlessly and had already begun sharing weapons and supplies. Ciel had credited this to the fact that the Gerudo were already their trade partners so they were already somewhat familiar with each other but Hugh could help but be proud of his little brother's accomplishments.
"Hugh a moment if you wouldn't mind." Zera called him over from a table next to one of the Gerudo tents.
"What's up?" Hugh asked as he got nearer.
"We just received word from Kaori, they should be arriving mid-morning tomorrow." She informed him
"That's great!" Hugh said breathlessly. "Will they be ready to march right away?"
"I believe so, if we can get camp packed up before they arrive we should be able to." Zera confirmed.
"Thank you for telling me! I'll go let everyone else know." Hugh called over his shoulder as he rushed back to the Kokiri entrance.
"Anything?" Shylock asked through clenched teeth. He sat in his crystal his hands making a circle near his chest, his eyes shut tight.
"No nothing," Zelda sighed. "Maybe you need to curling your hands more."
Shylock sighed loudly and dropped his hands. "We've been at this for hours! And nothing's happening!"
"Actually, we've only been at this for 15 minutes." Zelda rolled her eyes.
"And you did get a spark one of the times." Link pointed out trying to sound upbeat.
Shylock groaned and slouched against the back of the crystal. "I have no idea what I'm doing, why did I get stuck with the power Triforce?!" He complained
"Go ahead and take a break." Zelda instructed. "We'll try again in a few minutes."
Shylock muttered to himself for a few more seconds before going quiet.
Zelda sighed and glanced downward at the dragon beneath her assessing their options again.
"Frowning doesn't suit you much princess, I much prefer it when you're happy." Link grinned in the hopes of making Zelda smile as well.
Zelda looked up startled, she hadn't realized she had been frowning. She smiled and responded "How many times to do I have to tell you to call me Zelda?"
Link shrugged. "Guess we'll have to wait and see." He responded
She chuckled then sighed again. "You're right I should be more positive I'm sorry." Zelda smiled sadly
"I only meant to make you smile it makes me feel worthless when I can't help you feel better." Link admitted.
"Well though I appreciate it I definitely don't want to make you feel worthless." Zelda replied
Shylock snorted. "I think I'm going I start to drown if this conversation gets any mushier."
Link and Zelda both immediately turned a light shade of red and looked away.
"Take these food packs and load them behind the tents, Ciel wants us ready to move in less than an hour." Thane ordered a few of the remaining men left without jobs.
"Thane go check the bulblins, our men know how to pack up." Ciel instructed.
Thane nodded and jogged off.
"The Gerudo say they'll be ready to leave on time, they've already got most of their tents packed and the horses loaded." Krem said as he ran up to Ciel's side.
"Good, go check on my brother and his people and make sure they're ready." He told Krem.
"Right away cap-i-tan." Krem responded with a phoney salute before rushing off again.
Ducking under the men carrying crates and weaving around bulblins tying up packs Krem quickly found himself in front of the forest entrance. Wasting no time he ran through the hollow tree trunk and into the Kokiri meadow.
"State your name and business!" Mido demanded stepping in front of Krem.
Krem skidded to a halt to avoid barrelling into the boy. He pinwheeled his arms to avoid losing his balance and ending up on his face.
"Seriously? How many times are we going to do this?!" Krem asked irritatedly putting his hands on his hips. "Every time I come in here you do this! I'm sure by now you know what my name is."
"Hmph, it's not my fault I can't see who it is that's coming through the entrance, besides you still have to tell me why you're coming into the Kokiri forest!" Mido countered sticking his nose in the air.
Krem rolled his eyes. "And I need to tell you that why again?"
"Because I'm the great Mido! And no one goes through the entrance without my say so!" He declared
Krem groaned. "You are so annoying." He said scraping his hand down his face. "Fine, I'm going to check and see if Ashei, Hugh, Auru, and Shad are ready to leave, now will you let me through? Ciel will be mad if I'm gone too long."
Mido made a show of thinking it over. "I guess I could let you through this time, but only because it means you'll be leaving soon!"
"Whatever you want to tell yourself buddy." Krem grumbled before pushing past the red-haired boy and jogged towards the triplet's house. He knocked a bunch of times before bouncing on his heels impatiently. The door finally opened revealing one of the know it all brothers. Krem had managed to determine what their individual names were but they all preferred to be known just by the triplets or as the know it all brothers so he didn't bother using their names.
"Hi Krem! Do you need something?" One of the brothers asked.
"Yeah is Auru or Shad here?" Krem asked glancing into the house.
"Yep they're both here." He responded inviting Krem in.
"Thanks." Krem said then he spotted Shad. "Shad! How close are you to being ready?!" He asked jumping on top of the unfortunate scholar.
"Krem, what would Ciel say if he saw you tackling people." Auru asked warningly.
"Right now he wouldn't care as long as I get you moving faster." Krem responded.
Auru sighed. "We'll be ready don't worry the Gerudo were already here 'helping'."
"Oh yeah! That reminds me!" Krem said suddenly. "Shad, I've overheard quite a few Gerudo ladies talking about you, they seems to be quite 'enamoured by your adorableness', I'm pretty sure that's how they put it." He grinned
Shad blushed bright red. "I don't think that they would want me knowing that." He said quietly.
"Yeah I know, but we might die so I figured, what could it hurt." Krem shrugged. "K got to go check on Ashei and Hugh, bye!" He said before running out of the house.
He spotted them standing outside the house they were staying in. They were clearly deep in conversation and Krems curious nature got the better of him. Sneaking up the ramp to the roof of Fido's house he sat himself down over where the two were standing.
"Just please be careful." Hugh was saying as he held Ashei close to him.
Ashei pulled away enough to give him an exasperated look. "You know I can take care of myself."
"I know but still, I don't think I could live without you." He murmured
"Well if you manage to somehow keep yourself alive you won't have to." Ashei smiled fondly.
Hugh kissed her deeply. "I'll try my best not to die." He said smiling.
"Glad to hear it." Ashei smirked
"You guys are so adorable it's gross." Krem said breaking into the conversation
Both their heads snapped up to look at him with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.
"You little brat!" Ashei fumed before sprinting up the ramp towards him.
"Uh oh." Krem gulped before scrambling to his feet and jumping down to the ground. Rolling to break his fall Krem ended up popping up right next to Hugh.
"Hi," He said quickly waving. "Ceil wants us to leave now. Bye!" He said then started running back towards the entrance.
He could hear Ashei yelling at him as he ran but he was sure she wouldn't follow. Grinning he swerved to avoid Mido and his inevitable monologue and dashed through the forest entrance to tell Ceil the update.
Shylock had managed to create a small and rather pathetic looking ball of energy after some instruction from Zelda.
"Ok now try aiming it towards the shield." Zelda said
Shylock shifted slightly and concentrated really hard on willing the energy ball to do his bidding. Unfortunately for him, the ball was having none of it and bounced off the crystal's wall and back at him, electrocuting him quite thoroughly. After a long string of curses Shylock threw his hands in the air.
"THIS IS NOT WORKING!" He yelled grabbing at his hair in frustration.
"Shylock come on, you're making progress don't give up." Zelda appealed trying to calm the king.
"Not all of us have your patience princess!" He snapped, pointing a finger at Zelda. "And frankly I'm getting pretty irritated, so back off!"
Link frowned, surprised by the king's uncharacteristic outburst but even more surprised by the raw power that had begun to radiate off him while he was having it.
"I guess we shouldn't have gotten our hopes up Zelda, he's clearly too weak to do much of anything." Link said with freight nonchalance.
Both Zelda hand Shylock looked at him shocked as it was unheard of for Link to talk like that.
"Well sorry mister high and mighty warrior that I happen to prefer brains over brawn." Shylock shot back.
Link bit back a smile when he saw that tiny sparks of electricity had started to appear around the king.
"I'm starting to wonder if you have either." Link taunted. "It seems like Zera has to do all the thinking for you."
"WHAT!?" Shylock roared.
"He's right." Zelda joined in catching on to Link's plan. "I'm surprised they haven't tried to get rid of you yet, since you're obviously little more than a pretty face."
"YOU TWO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Shylock fumed his face as red as his hair.
Link watched eagerly as a full blow lighting storm surrounded Shylock. He grabbed hold of his sword as subtly as he could.
"I'm sure that Zera would do a much better job of ruling if she did manage to get rid of you. The deadweight holding her back." Zelda said adding fuel to the fire.
"I'm sure no one would even miss you." Link said dropping the straw that broke the camel's back.
"SHUT UP!" Shylock yelled the power exploding out of him in one giant burst. The magic tore through all the crystals shattering them to millions of pieces and suddenly they were all falling.
Now a factor that had gone completely unnoticed during their first fight with the dragon was that on the back of its neck was a single scale that was a slightly different color from the rest. If they were to look directly for it, it would have been almost impossible to spot. But since Zelda had been hovering directly above it while in her crystal, the result of Shylock's power burst was that the princess had landed on that the exact scale; and that scale was the thing keeping the dragon under Arnold's spell.
Zelda hadn't known this and had quickly jumped off the dragon's back hoping to put some distance between them. Link had been the next to recover from the fall and had immediately grabbed his sword dashing over to stand between the dragon and Zelda. The dragon looked at him curiously but didn't appear to have any interest in attacking.
"Zelda are you alright?" Link asked glancing over his shoulder.
Zelda was getting to her feet and watching the dragon warily.
"Yeah I'm fine." She responded. "How's Shylock?"
Link glanced to where he had fallen. "Still knocked out." He replied.
"I think the spell is gone." Zelda said
"What, how?" Link asked
"I don't know but look at its eyes, they're not glassed over anymore." And this was true the dragon's eyes were a sharp green and were staring at the two intently.
Zelda took a deep breath and spoke with a powerful voice. "ɣ- ʣʤ ʦ jyʧ"
She had spoken what she hoped was greeting in the dragon speech that she had learned from her studies.
The dragon stared at her with interest.
"ɣ- ʣʤ ʦ jyʧ" she repeated.
"ʣʦʨ ʤs ʂ ɕ ʧ" The dragon replied surprising all of them to at least some degree.
"Do you speak Hylilian?" She asked tentatively.
"I am aware of this speech." The dragon answered, its voice jarringly loud yet not angry sounding. "Are ye the one of which caused the spell to break?"
Zelda walked in front of Link placing a hand on his sword hand. He lowered it carefully but didn't put it away.
"Yes, I broke the spell put upon you." She responded
"I am in thy debt." It said bowing its head. "Where be the one who cast the spell?"
"Unfortunately he's right there." Link sighed pointing to the stairway where the Arnold had just appeared.
"Excuse me! I demand to know what is going on! Honestly, I can't leave you guys on your own for more than two seconds without everything going to chaos!" Arnold fumed, stomping towards them.
"Link go take care of Shylock." Zelda told him.
Link began to protest but a look from the princess silenced him.
"I'll be fine, go!" She urged before turning her attention back to the Mage.
Link hesitated a second longer before jogging to the king's side. A second after he knelt down to check on Shylock's condition a white-blue dome-shaped shield appeared above the two.
Link spun around just in time to see Arnold grab Zelda by the throat holding her a couple inches above the ground.
"Zelda!" Link cried. He tried to run back to help but the shield blocked him. He pounded the dome trying to escape.
"Your plan is a bit flawed don't you think princess?" Arnold taunted. "By shielding them you also got rid of your only support."
"Oh really?" Zelda choked out, a small triumphant grin settling on her face.
"Put the maiden down!" The dragon growled coming up next to them.
Arnold cleared his throat. "Well," he said lowering Zelda slightly. "I see you have been busy."
"I will not repeat myself again Mage, release her!" It snarled.
"Easy easy! Sheesh! I don't know why everyone is in such a bad mood around here." Arnold rolled his eyes and put Zelda down.
"It might have something to do with the whole attempted murder part." Zelda said, rubbing her neck. "It tends to ruin people's day."
"Ugh! Fine! If it's going to be this much of a hassle to kill you three I'll just use the other method of taking the triforce!" Arnold said throwing his hands in the air. "Are you happy now?!"
"No." Zelda deadpanned
"Why not?!"
"Because you have killed people! You've killed people and you don't even care! You would do it again if you felt the urge and I will not stand by and watch people get hurt by you any longer!" Zelda declared her hands tingling with unused magic build up.
Arnold blinked twice. "Are you challenging me?" He asked tilting his head slightly.
"She is not alone be that her intention." The dragon answered in Zelda's place. "But even if she is not, I have a score to settle."
Arnold giggled, covering his mouth he continued to grin.
"My my I haven't been challenged like this in ages." He gushed. "This shall be fun!"
His hands lit on fire and he began to levitate.
"Whenever you're ready." He called cheerfully
Zelda teleported to on top of the dragon's back and the fight had begun.
No more than a couple of words had passed with Kaori and Renjiro before they had set off towards Arnold's tower.
Hugh breathed deeply to calm his nerves as the tower came into view.
The three armies followed behind him, Ashei, Ceil, Auru, Kaori, and Zera. He glanced at Ashei and Ceil.
"I feel like I should say something before we go in." He admitted. "Like saying thank you for responding to the summons or something- anything really, what do you think?" Hugh asked unsurely.
Ashei looked like she was going to respond but Ceil answered before she could.
"You do and I'll disown you." He deadpanned, then after a second added. "Again."
He looked over at Hugh and saw him with an exaggerated hurt expression.
Ceil rolled his eyes. "You have to remember, these people are soldiers, they're not like your townspeople who need encouragement to get things done. If you act like they need to be babied to get them motivated they'll just be insulted." He explained.
Hugh considered that for a second before nodding. "Yeah ok I guess you have a point." He conceded
"Of course I do, now let's go break down this door." Ceil responded with a smirk.
Link sat cross-legged inside Zelda's protective shield and watched as a very impressive and surprisingly intense magic battle took place in front of him. Arnold and Zelda with the dragon's help were pretty equal. One moment the dragon was breathing fire at the Mage while Zelda threw blades of condensed magic at his back, only to have it change to Arnold dropping a combination of ice and rock chunks on their heads while Zelda deflected them with miniature explosions. They teleported almost constantly making Link's neck hurt while he tried to follow them. The only constant was the dragon, or so he thought until it started to fly, changing the dynamics of the fight completely again. Even with all this neither seemed to be gaining the advantage, which made Link more than a little tense, but he was still happy that a stalemate meant that Arnold wasn't winning.
Sitting still through all this was driving him a bit insane, but then he reminded himself that there was no way for him to help, being as he was trapped in a bubble with an unconscious Gerudo.
Link glanced over at the king with a sigh, he hadn't responded to any of Link's earlier attempts to wake him but he didn't appear to be hurt so that was a plus. Link leaned over and nudged Shylock's shoulder again.
He groaned quietly and screwed his eyes shut tighter. Surprised to get any response Link nudged him again harder. Shylock groaned again but did open his eyes slightly, looking up at Link with a very annoyed expression.
"I hurt." He whined.
"I'm not surprised." Link answered turning his attention back to the fight.
Shylock put a hand to his head and groaned a third time before finally sitting up. He squinted around for a couple seconds before turning to look at Link.
"I missed something didn't I." He said
"Just a bit." Link responded with a chuckle. "Sorry about all the stuff I said earlier, I didn't mean any of it." He said apologetically.
"Meh, don't worry about it, it riled me up which I guess was the point." Shylock shrugged.
"Got us out of the crystals, so thanks." Link grinned
"No problem." Shylock responded.
They watched as Arnold flew past their dome and hit into the wall, Zelda running after him shooting sparks from her hands only to have to change to a shield when Arnold got back to his feet and started pelting her with hailstones.
"Jeez your girlfriend can be scary if she wants to be." Shylock commented.
Link smiled. "She's pretty amazing alright." He agreed.
"...so who's winning?" The king asked after a couple seconds.
The dragon whipped past them leaving trails of fire in its wake which Link blinked at for a second before shrugging.
"Currently a stalemate." Link admitted his expression slightly grim
"Hmm." Shylock hummed.
Zelda hissed slightly as a glass shard sliced her arm. Glancing up she saw Arnold smirking condescendingly at her while shielding himself from the dragon's claws. There was no sugar coating it, Arnold was far stronger than she had imagined. So far she was holding her own but that wouldn't be enough. She needed a new plan and fast. Flipping to the side she dodged a magic blast and quickly cast a spell that set up miniature explosions around the Mage. She knew it wouldn't hurt him but it acted as a makeshift smokescreen.
Dashing over to the dome she had created she threw a projection of multiple clones behind her to try to buy her time after the smokescreen died down.
"Link!" She called skidding to a stop next to the dome.
"Princess!" Shylock greeted her instead, waving happily at her.
"Shylock you're awake! Even better! I need your guys help." She said breathlessly
"You're going to let us out?" Link asked with a mixture of both excitement and surprise.
"No." Zelda shook her head." I'm going to open a section so you can use your bow and arrow to shoot Arnold while he's distracted." She explained
Link's expression darkened slightly. "Zelda please let me help you!" He insisted. "Just take down the shield."
Zelda looked like she was going to respond but suddenly a chunk of the tower wall appeared over her head and was dropping towards her causing her to have to jump out of the way.
"Having a nice chat?" Arnold asked innocently. "Am I not making things interesting enough?"
Zelda grit her teeth and twisted her hands making the floor from under him crumble and pull him down. While he teleported out of the way she concentrated long enough to open just a 2" by 1" rectangle in her shield.
"Shoot him with everything you've got!" She yelled before teleporting to the dragon's back again.
"Zelda! Wait! Let me help!" Link called after her even though he was sure she wouldn't hear him.
He sighed heavily. "I'm starting to understand why she hated being stuck in a crystal so much last time." He grumbled.
"Hey let me see your pocket." Shylock said ignoring him and grabbing for the pocket.
Link rolled his eyes and handed it to the king.
"She's being so stubborn! Does she not realize that she could die?" Link grumbled.
"I personally and quite happy she left the shield up, I enjoy keeping all my limbs intact." Shylock responded and he rummaged around in Link's pocket.
"Why am I not surprised?" He responded dryly. "Here give me that." Link took the pocket back and grabbed out his diggers. "Try to shoot Arnold, I'm going to go help." He said pulling the diggers onto his hands and kneeling next to the edge of the dome.
"Link listen to me. I may be a wimp but I also know that the second she takes down that shield Arnold is going to attack us; same applies if you dig out. I also know that neither of us have a way to protect ourselves from magic like she can so why don't we do things her way and get shooting." He said holding up Link's bow and arrow.
"... I guess you have a point." Link admitted reluctantly putting away the diggers.
"Thank ya." Shylock drawled. "Now let me see here." He said looking over Link's choices of arrows. He picked up the ice arrows. "Yuck definitely not." He toss them away. He gingerly picked up the bomb arrows. "These look like they would hurt, and they're more likely to hurt me than Arnold so no." He said putting them to the side. He picked up the fire arrows. "Now these I like." He grinned and notched the arrow.
"Anytime would be nice gentlemen!" Zelda yelled as she dodged a group of enchanted ropes that tried to grab at her.
"Working on it!" Shylock called back.
"Are you sure your-" Link started to ask.
"I got this." Shylock said confidently pulling the string back. "TAKE THIS ARNOLD YOU JERK!" He yelled as he loosed the arrow.
The arrow flew through the air and... completely missed. It flew around 5 feet to the left of Arnold and hit the back wall with a small clank sound.
Everyone stopped and stared at it for a couple seconds before looking back at Shylock with identical expressions of 'Seriously?'
"Hmm, it always looked easy when other people did it." He commented idly. "K I want something different what else do you have?" He asked Link.
Zelda, Arnold and the dragon resumed fighting while Link dug through his pocket again. He pulled out the cannon shield he had bought from Malo's and handed it to the king.
"Ooh! It's shiny I like it!" Shylock said excitedly. He pressed it against the opening and started firing randomly, giggling like a little kid while doing so. Link doubted Shylock was even trying to aim but it was working as a good distraction, he just hoped his wouldn't end up hitting Zelda or the dragon by accident.
Picking up the discarded bow and arrow he notched a bomb arrow and pulled the string taut.
Zelda and Arnold were currently teleporting so he couldn't get a lock but he was willing to wait. Arnold switched tactics and froze one of the dragon's feet to the ground before summoning a black ball of energy between his fingers. Seconds before he could shoot it at Zelda Link loose the arrow. He hit him dead on and exploded. Zelda ran over and tackled him while he was dazed punching him solidly in the jaw. The mage's eyes rolled back unconscious.
"Not so great against physical attacks now are you." Zelda said smugly getting back to her feet.
The dragon came over and placed a clawed foot on Arnold's stomach holding him down. Zelda ran over to the shield and dissipated it.
"Nice shooting." She said pulling Link to his feet.
"Nice punch." He returned grinning.
Shylock cleared his throat. "And me?" He asked expectantly
"Nice distraction?" Zelda offered.
"Think nothing of it I'm happy to help." He said with over exaggerated false modesty.
They all laughed before they heard the dragon shift behind them.
"Maiden I fear the Mage will not stay down long, what is your plan?" It asked looking down at Arnold with teeth bared.
"We're going to take away his magic." She said resolutely. "That way he can't hurt people anymore."
"You can do that?" Shylock asked in surprise
"No, but we can." She said. "Come on we don't have much time." She said dashing back over to Arnold, Link and Shylock close behind.
"How exactly are we going to do this?" Shylock asked as they came up next to the Mage's prone body.
"Remember that wish thing I told you about before?" Zelda asked.
Shylock gasped. "We're going to do that!?" He asked excitedly
"Hopefully." Zelda responded. "It's not like it's ever been done before so I'm not sure how well it will work but we'll try."
"What do we do?" Link asked
"Stick out your triforce hand." Zelda instructed as she held out her right hand.
Link brought up his left hand, and Shylock brought up both his hands. They glanced at him confused.
"I don't know which one it is." He said in explanation.
"The one that's glowing." Link told him.
Shylock look at his hands. "Oh! That makes sense." He smiled as he dropped his other hand back to his side.
The triforce pieces came off their hands and met in the middle of them reforming the complete triforce.
Zelda reached forward and touched it, the triforce pulsed in responded and shone a bright gold.
"Three goddesses, please hear our wish, remove from this man the powers he uses to harm, make it impossible for him to hurt and kill anyone ever again so that peace may again come to Hyrule and Norachre." Zelda wished
The triforce glowed and began to spin. Tendrils of light came out and went into Arnold ridding him of all the magic he had built up in his body. It finished in seconds and the triforce was once again split into three on their hands.
"Well that was kinda anticlimactic." Shylock said after a second. "I was expecting a little more pizazz."
"Not everything has to be flashy." Zelda said.
"No but it's more fun when it is." Shylock grinned
Zelda looked like she was going to say something but they all stopped when they heard a loud crashing noise below them followed by a rush of feet coming up the stairs.
Hugh, Ashei, and Ciel followed by their army all flooded into the room. Hugh caught sight of the dragon first and started charging towards it. Link without even thinking grabbed his hookshot and fired it at Hugh's legs, using the upgrade to pull his feet out from under him.
"The dragon isn't going to attack!" He called. "We're fine!"
Hugh glared at him. "You couldn't have said that before you trip me with a hookshot?"
"Sorry." Link rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just reacting and it didn't look like you were going to stop."
"Whatever just say something next ti- wait hold on a second, back up! What do you mean you're fine!? Where's Arnold?" Hugh protested.
"Here." Shylock supplied helpfully pointing at the Mage who was still under the dragon's foot and whom Zelda was currently putting under a sleeping spell.
"So you mean to tell me we got an entire army together and you guys took him down by yourself!?" Ciel asked in disbelief.
"Actually it was mostly Zelda." Link corrected
"With the dragon's help." Zelda added.
"And my distracting!" Shylock added proudly.
"What's going on? Why did everyone stop?" Krem asked as he, Zera, Kaori, Renjiro, Auru, Shad and Thane came up to the front of the group.
"Because apparently these show-offs decided they could take on the insane super Mage by themselves!" Hugh fumed gesturing frustratedly at the three.
"Wait, so they're fine?" Kaori asked.
"Apparently!" Hugh exclaimed.
"Which makes all of us look like complete idiots." Ceil added.
"Plus now the dragon is good too so we can't even fight it!" Ashei said annoyed.
"Sorry?" Link and Zelda both said at the same time.
Hugh sighed and marched over to them. "Whatever I can't even be mad, I'm just so relieved you guys are ok." He said surprising them by pulling the three into a hug.
"Group hug!" Krem exclaimed and ran over to join.
Everyone else shook their heads but came over around them. Ceil started asking them about the fight, Zera bonked Shylock on the head for worrying her but then pulled him into a one arm hug, Kaori and Renjiro started checking over Arnold to see if he was going to wake up, Ashei punched Link in the shoulder and told him to leave some fighting for them next time, Krem started climbing on the dragon's back while Thane yelled at him to get down, Auru and Shad started offering potions and bandages, mostly to Zelda who had taken the brunt of the attacks.
All in all it was a very happy reunion, but the question still remained, what would happen to Arnold.
"The triforce took away his magic so he won't be a threat to anyone anymore." Zelda explained.
"Like that's enough of a punishment." Hugh huffed.
"I have a few ideas I could try if you release him to me." Ceil offered with a hard glint in his eye.
"Somehow I feel like allowing that would be overdoing it, even for him." Zelda shook her head.
"If I may, Arnold is, in all technicalities, my problem." Kaori cut in. "Though I am very grateful to you all for your help, I feel I should take it from here."
"And what exactly do you plan to do with him?" Ceil asked crossing his arms.
"I will bring him back to the capital with me, and he will be put in the castle's dungeon where he can be closely monitored. Should he ever display proper remorse for his actions he may end up being released, but still held on a short leash so as to ensure nothing like this ever happens again." Kaori said
"That's it?" Ashei asked incredulously
"Ashei." Zelda said warningly. "That will be acceptable, thank you Kaori."
"Actually I'm with Ashei on this one, this hardly seems like a punishment compared with what he did." Ceil said.
"This is a difficult concept to explain, but losing your magic to a magic user is paramount to losing a limb, or multiple limbs depending on how heavily you depend on it. For a mage of Arnold's caliber losing the magic he's spent his entire life collecting will be more than enough of a punishment." Zelda explained gently. "You can be rest assured he will be paying for what he did for the rest of his life."
Ciel and Hugh looked at each other for a couple seconds before nodding slightly.
"In that case, I will wish you all well and we will be on our way." Kaori said with a bow. "I would prefer to get Arnold locked up before he wakes if at all possible."
"I'll alert the soldiers." Renjiro said. "Safe journeys." He said with a nod to the group.
"I think I'll join you if your majesty would allow it." Ceil said. "I would more at ease if I personally see that this man is put behind bars. Besides, should he wake up an extra pair of hands may not be unnecessary."
"Of course, I would be happy to have your crew along." Kaori nodded with a smile. "I overheard on the way here that you're looking for new trade partners, perhaps we can discuss that on the way."
"Thank you, your majesty, I'll get my crew ready." Ciel said bowing. "Krem! Get down from that dragon, we're leaving. Thane go inform King about our change in plans." He ordered.
"Aww already!?" Krem whined from behind one of the dragon's spines.
"Yes. Now hurry up." Ciel said unsympathetically. "And Thane while you're going, send in some men to carry the Mage." He said the last few words with obvious disgust and a sideward glance at Arnold. "I don't trust myself not to kill him if I go near him."
"And on that happy note," Krem said sarcastically. "I guess we have to say goodbye, again! Sheesh you guys are going to have to come visit and this time for more than a day, cuz we barely get any time to talk!" He huffed with his hands on his hips.
"Don't worry we definitely will." Link chuckled as he ruffled his hair.
"Good!" Krem said happily before tackle hugging everyone and running out the door.
"The invitation goes for me as well, I hope to see you all soon." Kaori said waving as he accompanied the men carrying Arnold out of the building.
Everyone waved and promised they would.
"The village is a bit in ruins at the moment, but I'd love to have you visit if you find the time." Hugh offered rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
Ciel looked at the ground. "Yeah I'll think about it." He said after a while. "I've got to get going, but I'll see you guys around." He nodded to everyone then followed Kaori.
"I will take my leave now in the same manner as the rest, I will forever be in your debit maiden for your aid." The dragon said. "I wish you good health and a happy future." It slid past them and down the stairs.
"I guess that just leaves us eh?" Shylock spoke up. "You guys need a place to crash before you head back to Hyrule?"
"I think we'll be ok, the kokiri offered before we left so we'll probably stay there then see how we're feeling." Hugh said
"Shall I go get the girls ready?" Zera asked.
"That might be a bit difficult with your arm around my shoulder but your welcome to try." Shylock teased.
Zera yanked her arm back like she had burned. She had apparently forgotten she had her arm slung over Shylock's shoulder.
"Hey I didn't tell you to take it off." Shylock winked. "I meant I'll come with you silly." He shook his head with a grin. "Now don't forget, I offered for you guys to visit before they all did so if I hear you went to see them first I will shun you all." He threatened with mock seriousness.
"Don't worry, we wouldn't dream of missing out on an opportunity to visit the desert again right Hugh?" Ashes said nudging him teasingly. Hugh rolled his eyes.
"Of course we'll come to visit." Auru said
"Um actually." Shad broke in speaking up for the first time in a while.
They all looked at him confused.
"Is something wrong?" Zelda asked.
"No, no! Not at all, I just have a bit of a request to ask." Shad said nervously.
Shylock quirked an eyebrow. "Something to ask me?"
"Yes," Shad fidgeted with the edges of his coat. "I was hoping to perhaps accompany you back to your fortress, you see I was really enjoying learning about your culture and history while we were visiting last, and well the girls promised to show me your archives but we had to leave before they could and I don't really have anything that requires my attention urgently back home so... if it's too much trouble, just forget I asked! It's really fine! I just thought I could maybe take advantage of this opportunity and-" he rambled nervously
Shylock started to laugh. "Yeah of course you can come with us!" He said slapping Shad on the back. "We always love visitors, and we definitely have the room, as long as your group is ok with losing you?" He said casting a glance around the group.
"It's fine with me, if that's what you want to do." Auru said.
"Man, ditching us for a bunch of girls I never thought I'd see the day." Ashei teased. Then cut off Shad's denials with - "Chill man I'm just joking. Just make sure not to forget about us back in Hyrule." Then punched him lightly on the shoulder.
Shad promised he would come back soon then waved as he followed Zera outside.
Shylock came up behind Link and Zelda and pulled them into a hug.
"Take care of yourselves triforce buddies!" He said with a wide smile. "And keep me updated as to your guys' wedding plans ok? I want to be first on the invite list! I'll even be your flower girl if you want me to!" He dashed past them towards the exit before they could respond, then spun around before he left and yelled back. "Toodles! Love ya! Oh and make sure to put the princess to bed before she passes out!"
Link turned to look at Zelda instantly concerned.
"I'm fine Link." She said in response to his unasked question. She teetered a bit. "Just tired."
"Well if that's the case." He said then picked her up carrying her bridal style. "We'd better follow Shylock's instructions."
Zelda blushed deeply. "I don't need to be carried!" She insisted embarrassedly
"I know," he shrugged. "But that's not going to stop me." He said and started walking towards the exit, everyone else following.
Hugh glanced at Ashei.
"Don't even think about it." She said in response.
"Nah, I figure it's more likely you would end up carrying me then me carrying you." Hugh laughed.
"You got that right." Ashei grinned.