Link broke his fast on his bread and meat before setting out to Eldin once more. He set out to Eldin once more. He could only hope he hadn't strayed too far off-course when he'd been chased. At some point the trees started to get thinner and thinner, the grass longer and drier, and before long he was on a vast plain with very few trees spaced far apart. He spotted more monster camps far off in the distance; just great. He could only hope he wasn't too out of practise with his sword.

The hero drew a deep breath. The weather was so hot and it was only mid-to-late spring; the sun-bleached grass whipping his garments. Despite the volcano residing many miles away, it was still strong and intimidating, dominating the landscape. The land was smooth where Link was, but the closer one got to the volcano the more hilly and rocky the terrain became.

Standing around here and looking at the scenery wasn't going to save Zelda.

Link began his trek once more, picking up pace. Around this time it was high noon and the heat was becoming increasingly unbearable. Link dropped his pack midway through walking and fell to the ground, panting heavily. He tore off his hat and tunic, leaving him in his heavy chainmail armour and under that some padding, and under that his light undershirt. He tore off the chainmail, the padding and undershirt, leaving his sweaty chest bare.

At least it wasn't Lanayru.

He dug through his pack, searching for one of the skins. He pulled one out and downed about half of its contents. He was tempted to pour some onto his forehead, but he had to save it for the rest of the journey, Eldin in particular. There he lay, on the dry scratchy grass, sweating all over. He so greatly wanted to take a nap, but he had to save Zelda.

"Alright then... up I get!" Link slowly, and hesitantly, lifted himself off the ground. Just then a nice, cool breeze swept through his dirty-blonde hair and over his skin, giving Link enough motivation to continue, at least for a while longer.

He grabbed his things, stuffing them away in his pack. It didn't matter if they provided extra protection against the monsters; with all this heat about he'd faint before he got the chance to defend himself.

The hero continued to endure the heat, and as he did, he thought about what life was like before.

Groose was practically dragging Link along, eager to show him his latest contraption.

"Hey–you're going to rip my arm off!"

"Can't help it. This might just be the best thing since pumpkin soup!"

Groose' workshop was on a high hill that had a cliff hanging over a large valley, and it was a good way from the town. Considering all the...stuff that could happen, it was for the best that he resided this far away. But being dragged by the arm at six-thirty in the morning without having any breakfast wasn't great at all, especially for good ol' sleepyhead. At last they had reached the top, and Link slumped his shoulders, trying to regain his breath. He noticed a track running to the cliff.

"Alright, so what'd you wanna show me so bad you nearly ripped my arm off?"

The redhead took his hand and lead him to the garage.

Link's heart missed a beat.

"This."

Groose was proudly grinning from ear-to-ear as he showed Link around.

The machine had wide wings like a bird, a torpedo-shaped body and little wheels to help it land. It had numerous propellers including a large one on the front. The machine was huge, and it looked like it was made for...

"Can it fly?" Link asked, his eyes glued to the vehicle.

"You bet!" Groose hurried Link into the passenger seat. Link gave him a skeptical look.

"Are you sure we won't crash?"

"Yeah, man, been flying her around a bit–she works like a dream!"

Now that he thought about it, he had seen something flying around the workshop.

They put on their googles and secured the straps. Groose surveyed Link one more time, just to make sure he was ready. Link gave thumbs up. It was time. The vehicle began to power up, and it slowly began to move along the track. It began to build up more and more speed as they approached the cliff. Link was starting to get tense. What would happen if Groose misjudged the timing? They got closer and closer to the edge, faster and faster, until–

The ground was no longer beneath them, but they weren't falling.

Link had definitely flown before, he flew a lot, actually, but using a machine–how?

The blue expanse was around them in all directions, the chilly morning air whipped their faces, and the world below continued to shrink. Groose gave a hearty laugh, and Link was absolutely speechless at the man's feat.

"H-how?" Link had no idea how many times he had thought or said the word "how," but it was the only thing he could begin to ask.

"I dunno how to explain it. Ever since that time you first beat that ugly mug, I had a feeling that I wasn't meant to be the big hero, but I knew I wanted to do whatever I could. I just had this calling." The redhead had drifted off into a trance. He was still careful with piloting the aircraft, but Link could tell his mind was occupied with something else. "Granny... if she hadn't been there, I'd probably still be the same person I was when I first came down." Groose's eyes were starting get glassy.

"I just...wish she was here to see this," he choked. "...I wonder what she would think of me; would she be proud?"

"She would, Groose. She would." Link gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

They flew around for a while more before returning to the workshop. They had their breakfast: pumpkin soup, as usual.

"Is it okay if I ask you...?" Link was in the middle of dipping his spoon into his soup.

"Yeah sure, go ahead."

"We have Loftwings; why would we need a machine to help us fly? Don't get me wrong, that back there was fantastic!"–Link gave a small chuckle–"but why?"

Groose took a spoonful of the soup before responding. "Ya see, Link, the Loftwings were made to protect us, to be our guardians. And since we lived in the sky, they took the form of birds. Since we now live down here in Grooseland"–he still jokingly called it that, despite knowing that he was no king of the Surface–"either they'll become something else, seeing as flight isn't really needed or..."

His face fell, and Link's did too. That second possibility was what kept them awake some nights, whether their companions would leave them. It was common knowledge that when the owner died or approached death, the bird was nowhere to be found. They hoped this was the way things would stay.

Hoped. Hope wasn't going to change whatever plans the goddess had for them. Were they just like Fi, tossed aside or put to rest when their purpose had been fulfilled? Everybody knew Link and his Loftwing shared an unbreakable bond, and he had already dealt with the "passing" of Fi.

There was the sound of somebody knocking on the door, which Groose got up to answer.

"Hey, sleepyhead's awake before nine–what a sight!"

"Morning, Zelda."

The goddess reborn had a rolled-up map, plan or something under her arm. They cleared the table and she set it down. It was one of the plans for a possible town square or plaza, and, while this was still a work-in-progress, it was already looking good.

"Think Gondo's gonna go here–"

"Nope, he said he wanted to be more down one of the streets, seeing as this is more of a market area."

"Ah, okay. So do we know who will be here?"

"Probably Piper, and maybe Luv and Bertie. Dunno, no one's really settled on who's going where yet."

The rest of the morning was spent considering what went where, at some point Karane and Pippit popped in and joined in the discussion. At around two they concluded their meeting.

The hour had grown late. Link took refuge for the night in one of the sparse trees. It had a good amount of branches and was of a decent size; tall enough so that he wouldn't get attacked by any beast or monster, but short enough so that if he fell it wouldn't be fatal. He had bound himself to the trunk with a rope so he wouldn't fall in his sleep.

Yet for some reason, he just couldn't sleep. Well, it wasn't just some reason.

He closed his eyes again. There they were: the visions, the screams of his people. Zelda's guilt-ridden face. Groose'sscreams as his soul was torn from his body and tempered into that blade. The touch of that cruel hand searing his face.

He opened his eyes again.

For some reason his eye was throbbing hard but he couldn't feel Zelda's presence. The throbbing was beckoning him toward a camp out wide in the open. There was no way in the blue sky he was going there, and yet the throbbing didn't seem evil or malevolent; he knew what that felt like. It wasn't tempting, but it seemed urgent. He waited to see if it would go away, but over time it only got stronger.

Link's hands reached for the rope around his waist.

Was he really going to do this?

He had become so cautious ever since that day, avoiding every source of conflict he could. When he was younger he would jump into anything with no thought of the consequences; that's why the goddess chose him.

It was high time he became a little more audacious.

He grabbed his stuff, clambered down the tree and headed toward the camp. He began to feel uneasy, but he carried on. He began to count the number of monsters he saw as he got closer, a habit he had picked up on his journey.

Seven bokoblins. Three lizalfos. Two moblins.

He repeated this in his head; partially because it was good to remember how many he might have to deal with in case this wasn't such a good idea, partially because it gave him something to think about other than the impending dread.

Two spears. Two bows. Five clubs.

Only three metres to go. So close.

Link crouched down in the tall grass, slowly creeping.

What had he gotten himself into? The throbbing was still strong.

Only two metres to go. He decided to get up, as creeping along the ground wasn't exactly the best way to introduce yourself.

All twenty-four eyes were on him.

He stopped for a second. None of them were getting up to do anything about him. He walked into the clearing that was covered by a small ledge, and gingerly sat down amongst them. None of them were wearing the traditional kind of clothes he would normally see them in, which seemed customary, so aside from them having lizalfos hanging around and camping in the middle of nowhere- yet another sign that they weren't with Ghirahim.

There was just silence.

Link wondered how many of them had relatives killed by him.

"...You are...hero?"

Link turned his head to one of the moblins. It was obvious that he was struggling with the language.

Link nodded.

There was silence once more.

Link felt awkward; he never had any social interaction with any kind of monster before. He had always assumed they simply weren't capable of intelligible speech. He always saw them as being a bit brutish, but the fact that one of them took the effort to speak to Link in his own tongue proved otherwise.

"Going to Eldin?" the same moblin asked.

Link nodded again.

The group started to talk among themselves, most likely about him. There were clearly many objecting opinions and solutions to the matter, although it all kinda just sounded like a bunch of yelling. After a good row, the clamour died down as they came to a conclusion. The moblin turned once again to Link, as did the whole group.

"With us?"

"If it's alright with you."

The moblin smiled, and let out his hand.

"Grendel."

Link took it.

"Link."

The next day they set off for Eldin. There was a good amount of chattering among the group. Unfortunately, Link wasn't sure if anyone other than Grendel could speak his language. Why they let him come, he didn't know, especially since at least some of them seemed to have recognized him, but it was nice not being alone.

The planes were once again blazing hot, but none of his companions seemed bothered in the slightest. They were creatures of Din, after all. Unfortunately, far out here they ran in to a special kind of trouble. Flies. They were everywhere, buzzing and biting at any chance they could get, and they certainly bothered the monsters. The buzzing became extremely irritating for even the lizalfos, despite their tough scales protecting tried to pick up pace so that at least their suffering would be shorter.

Link was swatting flies left and right while getting bitten all the while. The bites were extremely itchy and caused little bumps on the skin. Oh the joys of mosquitoes; how he hated the little blights. He had to deal with them all the time in Lanayru and even on warmer days in Faron Woods. The terrain became rockier as they got closer to the volcano, proof that they were making some progress on this vast plane.

Once again he returned to the internal dilemma of whether or not to reach out to the rest of his companions, and, if so, how? Some of them were clearly objecting the idea of him tagging along the night prior, so maybe it was a sign they were only keeping him around for a bit and then were going to dump him off at the first opportunity they could... Which was...fine...

Honestly, Link wasn't even too sure how much Grendel could speak his tongue, or how easy miscommunication could be–

"You alright?"

Grendel had placed a large hand on his shoulder–it seemed like demons didn't have much in the form of personal space–looking a bit concerned.

"I just..." Link paused. "... Don't know how well I'll get along with everyone."

"Ya fine, don't worry."

*pagebreak*

That night there weren't as many mosquitoes as there had been during the day, but still some buzzed around the fire or around them, causing Link's ear to twitch from irritation.

They were eating whatever food they had packed. Link sat down right next to one of the lizalfos, who was chewing some dried fish. Everyone else was chatting except for Link whom, to be honest, was feeling a bit like an outcast. Not that he expected a bunch of monsters who let an enemy tag along to treat him like family, but still; he felt a bit strange. But then again it also felt a bit strange that he was tagging along with the very creatures he was originally meant to kill... It wasn't a pleasant thought.

He wondered if they would turn on him.

Even though he knew the idea was ridiculous, it still nagged him consistently.

He took a bite of his fruit and tried to brush the thought away. Eldin wasn't too far away now, so they wouldn't be together for much longer.

He wondered how Zelda would feel about the whole thing, especially considering she had Hylia's memories–and Hylia was a goddess efficient in monster killing.

Many times he considered straying off, but every time he made a resolve to do it, the throbbing would come and only go once he decided not to. After all, there were strength in numbers.

He also wondered when the last time was that he had a good wash. Well over a week by that point.

Eventually, everyone else either fell asleep or was falling asleep, except for him and Grendel, who was putting out the last of the fire. Link scooted a bit closer to the moblin.

"If it's alright with you–" Link paused, not knowing whether Grendel would take it all too well.

Grendel grunted, urging him to continue.

"What was it like...having Ghirahim as king? I know it can't be anything good, but I want to know."

The fire was out by then, leaving the two alone in the dark. Link could tell the question stirred many feelings inside his companion.

"...You want know?"

Link nodded eagerly. Grendel took a deep breath, and opened his mouth to speak.

From what Link could tell, apparently Ghirahim was very controlling–not too much of a surprise considering the encounter with him at the Earth Temple. He was very cruel, and and did what he wanted when he wanted, with no consideration for his people. Link had expected that from the demon. Although one thing seemed to stick out, even though, when he thought about it, it made perfect sense: Ghirahim had been starting wars with other clans.

For some reason Link had this idea that the demons were one unified, homogeneous group of brutes all fighting for a single cause, but considering they were a relatively advanced (if that's what we'll call it) race, of course there would have to be other tribes. After all, Ghirahim had only said he was demon lord of the Surface–he was probably only the king of it too, and, being the cocky self-important idiot he was, of course he would have started a war or two.

Grendel also mentioned that he lost some of his best friends during the war. It was all this loss that had finally convinced him to leave.

"Over, there's no future, it pointless. All they do is reach for a thing they can't have." his eyes met Link's. "Your friend, you have a future with her."

Link nodded and smiled.

"She's more than just my friend," Link smiled

The moblin smiled in return, and put his hand on Link's shoulder.

"I hope you find her."

The next day they finally reached Eldin. It was time for him to leave the group and be alone. Even though it had been a bit stressful at first, Link enjoyed being with them.

He shook Grendel's large hand for the last time and looked him in the eye.

"I hope you find your future," Link said.

"And you yours."

He never saw the group again after that. Even though little had happened, he had managed to take something away from that experience. But still, he wondered why his eye would lead him to the monster band. Was Fi or Hylia trying to show him what he had just learned?

But Fi herself was made for killing demons, and Hylia had created her–

Then again, it was only done because the race had been a threat to the world's very existence, and Hylia was doing what she had to. If this was the reasoning behind it, it made more sense to him now.