Chapter 1

Two weeks later

Zelda chewed her lip as she studied the hard-gotten plans of Castletown laid out before her. By the looks of what Ashei had roughly sketched out, only about a third of buildings in Castletown remained standing. On top of that, monsters still lurked in the ruined town, causing the rebuilding efforts to move at a snail's pace. Thankfully, help from Kakariko Village's refugees had arrived with their battered wagons earlier in the morning.

The refugees arriving meant that Link had made it to Kakariko Village with the news of Castletown being rebuilt. A few of them said they had seen him hiking up Death Mountain, but none of them knew of whether or not the Gorons would be arriving after them. Link had left just three days ago to request the Gorons aid in Zelda's stead. Zelda had been willing to travel with Link herself- she needed the Gorons desperately since her own labor force lacked the proper tools to rebuild. No one could break up rubble as efficiently as the Gorons. But the rest of the Resistance - Link included - had decided it would not be a good idea for her to leave Castletown undefended during this vulnerable time .Lost in her thoughts, Zelda jumped when she heard a sharp voice ring out from behind her.

"This will not do! Please, your Highness!" came Chancellor Cole's voice. "Won't you let us relocate you safely to Kakariko Village where the other women remain? Our top most priority is to have you safely looked after."

Reaching her impromptu table, the Chancellor splayed his hands on top of the plans and leaned towards Zelda. His proximity, partnered with his cloying cologne forced her to back up and wrinkle her nose. The battered table that had just been dug out of the ruins a day before rocked unevenly under his hands, dislodging one of the stones that had been holding down an edge of the paper.

Zelda, annoyed, straightened and tried not show that he surprised her.

Even though it was early in the day, the chancellor's hair was slicked smoothly into place and everything about him looked as if he had come straight out of Chudley's Fine Goods and Fancy Trinkets Emporium. The velvet green of Cole's suit shone dully in the morning light and a ruby pendant as big as a baby's fist pinned his starched white collar into place. Even his mustache looked to be waxed.

Zelda, now under the scrutiny of his beady eyes, realized how dingy she must look.

She was thankful she wasn't wearing her dress at least. After the first couple of days of dragging her royal gown through the grass and the mud, Zelda realized it was not the best outfit to wear when setting up a refugee camp in the middle of Hyrule field. She owned several changes of clothes in varying degrees of practicality, but all those clothes lay in a trunk. A trunk that was buried underneath the rubble of the collapsed part of the castle. Zelda had resigned herself to continue wearing her torn and mud spattered gown until she could find clothes elsewhere, but thankfully Telma had been two steps ahead of her.

A week ago, when Zelda had sopped into her tent after a grueling day in the rain and mud, she found the big boned woman waiting for her with a blanket and a steaming cup of tea. Faster than she could have imagined possible, Zelda was peeled out of her wet dress and bundled into a blanket. The older woman then deftly hung Zelda's gown on a makeshift line she had stretched out in the interior of the tent.

Inside the tent, the severity of the storm lessened to an almost pleasant level now that Zelda was out of her wet clothes and sipping a cup of rain pattered down the sides of the dark green tent and the wind made the fabric flap tautly against the pegs holding it in place. Zelda sighed and felt her eyes drooping. Glancing over at her sleeping pallet she saw with surprise that clothing had been laid out on top of it.

Laid out on her sleeping pallet was a pair of tan pants - looking a little bit worn about the knees, but small enough to fit her - a small pair of gloves that would help prevent her from getting blisters, and a pair of dark brown leather boots that looked as if they might be a little big.

"Ashei had a spare pair of pants and gloves in her rucksack, and don't worry about the boots honey, they weren't doing anybody any good where I found them." Telma said.

Zelda felt a sickening certainty that Telma had pulled the boots off of a body, but she didn't get an opportunity to ask because the older woman continued speaking: "Besides, those doilies you have for slippers are worn clean through."

Telma was right about that. Her slippers had been made for indoor use in the castle, and four days out on the rough, wet terrain of Hyrule field had turned them into mud-covered pieces of fabric with holes worn through the thin soles. Zelda was practical enough to see that anything, even if it had been pulled off of a body, would be better than getting sick wearing threadbare shoes.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to put on her gown to work in tomorrow, she thanked Telma for her generosity and let herself look over the clothes on her pallet again. "Telma? What am I going to do about a shirt?" she asked when she noticed that particular piece of clothing missing.

"I was wondering when you were going to catch that." Telma winked.

"Don't you worry about that honey, we'll take care of a shirt in the morning." She knowingly nodded her head at Zelda's gown dripping on the ground of the tent.

The next morning, Telma had come up with the only pair of scissors to be found in the camp, taken the dry dress off the line, and cut it in half at the waist.

Zelda now resisted the temptation to pull at the frayed hem of her gown-made-shirt in case that drew Cole's eyes to it. Thankfully, she still wore her crown and the Hylian royal banner hanging from a chain around her waist, although it was only through force of habit that she put these on every morning. Zelda would've much rather put her crown aside since all it seemed to do was gather sweat. She probably would've been better off leaving the Hylian banner in her tent as well. Dirt and rips decorated the length of it and it fluttered like a tattered flag in the slight breeze. She was beginning to regret meeting up with Cole without her shoulder armor on. though. The past couple of days, Zelda had left them in her tent since it was impractical to clear rubble with them weighing her down. Now however, she wished she had them on to at least make her appear tougher than she looked. Shoulder armour never failed to intimidate.

Cole's eyes landed on a spot few inches above her right eye. "Ah, you have a smudge just there your Highness." He pointed his own perfectly manicured finger at his forehead, eyes glittering in unmistakable glee at her unkempt state. Reaching down he tugged a snow white handkerchief decorated with gold thread from his coat pocket and offered it to Zelda with a false sense of chivalry. Zelda declined it as politely as she could through gritted teeth- she refused to wipe her forehead with him watching. Cole stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket with the long suffering sigh of one dealing with a stubborn child. Zelda surmised that this was a deliberate showing of wealth and power on Cole's part. He knew as well as Zelda did that a good tactic for gaining authority was to look the part. Zelda wished the whole table would collapse out from under him and mess up his perfectly manicured image.

"Really your Highness, this has gone on long enough, "Cole began "Let me arrange for you to be taken to Kakariko Village. If you'd like to play in the dirt at least do it where you can not be hurt." Cole paused, smirking at his own cleverness. "As I mentioned before, it is our top most priority to see you safely out of danger."

Zelda, resisting the urge to scrub at the dirt on her forehead, decided to strive for diplomacy and took a deep breath in to calm herself. She regretted it instantly as Cole's foul cologne made her nose burn once more.

"You are mistaken, Chancellor," Zelda countered in a choked voice "Our top most priority is clearing Castletown of rubble so that my subjects can rebuild their homes and continue with their lives."

Cole raised one hand from the table and tutted. "A woman's place is not out here getting blisters on her hands." He glanced pointedly at Zelda's stained gloves and the fingertip peeking through on her right hand. "It's simply not a safe place for any woman, especially someone as important as you. Surely you know that during your absence-" he faked a cough "-the Castle was taken over by Ganondorf's dark forces. Since then, monsters have multiplied by the hundreds. Even now, Skulltulas are nesting in the ruins of Castletown, and at night Stalhounds stalk the edges of your encampment."

Suddenly, a knife thunked down on a curling edge of paper not far from the chancellor's hand. Cole pulled his gloves from the now smudged Castletown plans with unprecedented speed and leaned away.

Zelda looked up quickly at who had thrown the knife. Ashei stood to the side of the table cleaning the dirt out from under her fingernails with another knife. Her hands were sure of their work even though her dark eyes bored into the chancellor.

"We can handle monsters."

"Ah, Ashei... How nice to see you safely returned to us from the wreckage." Cole gave her an oily smile. "Maybe you can help me talk to Her Highness about perhaps moving to Kakariko Village? For her safety of course. The people need their Princess."

Ashei remained silent and continued to stare at the now shifting Cole as if she were eyeing a skulltula.

Zelda tried not to smile at the Chancellor's discomfort. She put on a serene face. "It seems, Chancellor, that some women don't need to be protected nearly as much as some men do."

Cole's eyes narrowed as he gave the women a patronizing smile. If Zelda hadn't been watching closely, she would've missed the malice quickly hidden just behind his stare. "Right you are, right you are. Well, I see you ladies have some gossiping to catch up on, so I'll just go see if any more men have arrived. Don't worry ladies, soon we'll have enough men to have you safe and out of the way in Kakariko Village."

Ashei waited until he was out of earshot before she re-sheathed her knife. She glanced sideways at the Princess and gave voice to the same thought that had been in Zelda's head: "Why couldn't the castle have fallen on him, yeah?"

Zelda felt her lips quirk of their own will even as she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose to release the tension that had built there. "He arrived two days ago, from wherever he had sequestered himself these past couple of months. He has been sowing deceit against me whenever he hasn't been pestering me to remove myself from 'danger.'"

"So he can step in and oh so graciously help out with ruling in your stead?" asked Ashei. "He arrived just as Link departed to the Gorons, yeah? Sounds convenient." Ashei paused to gaze down the field at the retreating back of the Chancellor. "He needs to be watched."

Ashei raised her eyebrows as Zelda slapped her stained gloves on top of the table and began to rub at her forehead with her hand. "I know that. But who can we spare, who can we trust to do that? All of our efforts are allocated toward the clearing out and rebuilding of Castletown. Chancellor Cole knows this. Even if we did have him watched, he's too shrewd." Zelda allowed herself a small sigh. "Just as one war has ended, another begins."

"And it's only been two weeks." Ashei, blunt as ever, did not pull any punches. "We won the last one, and we'll win this one too. He can't be as bad as Ganondorf, though they both have the same lovely shade of hair." She flicked her own dark braid behind her shoulder with a grin, but her words felt flat.

Zelda's smile froze on her face as she thought back on the decisive battle. Had it only been two weeks ago when Link had driven his sword through Ganondorf's chest? It was the first time she had seen what a man's face had looked like after a killing blow. It was glorious, it was grotesque. And the sound-

Mistaking her expression, Ashei apologized. "Sorry, put my foot in it again, yeah? Too soon?" Ashei's question pulled Zelda back from her thoughts.

"No," Zelda smiled sadly at her, "it was far too late."

Comprehension flashed across the older girl's face and she gave a grim smile in return. "You know what my dad always said? It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as it gets done."

Or who gets it done. Zelda added in her head. She shook off the twinge of jealousy she felt and nodded at her friend. Turning to look back down at the layout of the town laid out on the map before her, she allowed herself to think about the possibilities. It was a daunting task, but an exciting one as well. She had her chance to make Castletown better. To make her contribution to Hyrule just as Link had done. Zelda swallowed past the lump of bitterness in her throat and tried to refocus on the task at hand.

At that exact moment though, a yell came from the direction of the town. Zelda and Ashei, startled, looked up at the same time to see a burly man running flamboyantly towards them. From the two tufts of spiky brown hair, Zelda placed him as Bremor, one of Mutoh's carpentry apprentices. She had trouble telling all of them apart, and relied on their hair in order to figure out who was who.

"Princess Zeldaaa!" Bremor yelled as he charged towards them. Zelda and Ashei briefly exchanged a concerned look and hurried out to meet him.

Ashei was the first to reach him, and crouched beside him as he bent over and caught his breath. "What's wrong Bremor?"

"Boss… Found something... Under ruins… Might be… Dangerous…" Bremor wheezed between lungfuls of air.

"Is it a monster?" Zelda asked as she placed her hand on Bremor's sweaty back and sent a pulse of traceless magic out to check for injuries. He appeared to be fine, save for his current state of breathlessness.

Bremor, having regained enough breath to continue, stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Not a monster, Your highness. At least, I don't think it's one. It's a stone. It has strange markings on it. Almost like," Bremor paused before continuing further, looking as if he didn't want to say something foolish.

"Yes?" Zelda touched his elbow softly to encourage him.

He scratched his ear sheepishly, and looked down at the ground. "Boss laughed and said it was ridiculous, but I thought the markings looked a lot like like the marks on the shadow beasts."

Ashei and Zelda shared identical looks of alarm. Yelling a quick "Thank you!" over her shoulder, the princess and Ashei took off in the direction of Castletown.

Upon entering the town, they heard the group of workers before they saw them. They dashed towards the commotion, heated and panicked replies of "We told him not to touch it!" and "Old fool!" flying through the air; drawing closer, the quieter mutterings of "We shouldn't have come back" and "We should have stayed in Kakariko..." simmered just beneath the louder proclamations.

Turning the corner, Zelda and Ashei came face to face with what could be called controlled chaos. Men gesticulated wildly with their arms, faces flushed with rage that was intended to hide how fearful they felt. Those who weren't debating madly were slumped against the dirty stone walls, faces ashen and tools hanging limp from their hands. Zelda could see Telma and Rusl doing their best to calm the others, but one could tell at a glance that it wasn't going very far.

Auru, who had been arguing with Chancellor Cole, caught sight of Zelda the moment she appeared. Failing to get her attention over the crowd, Auru cupped his hands to his mouth and let out a bellow that that quieted them all, making the loudest amongst the group slowly go silent with astonishment.

The older man cleared his throat and nodded towards Zelda. "Show some respect for her Highness."

As one, the group of workers turned their faces towards the Princess and quickly formed a clear path leading towards Auru and Cole.

"I'm going to go check in with Rusl and Telma." Ashei whispered in parting.

Zelda gave the dark haired girl a quick nod before she slipped through the crowd. Embarrassed apologies and bowed heads trailed in her wake. Thankful for the second time today that she was wearing her crown, she made her way forward towards the two men but stopped short upon catching sight of a slight luminescent shape just behind Chancellor Cole's shoulder. A spirit?

Cole, catching her line of sight threw an agitated glance over his shoulder. Seeing nothing, he eyed her in a strange manner before addressing her: "Your Highness, perfect timing as always. Do watch your step on this rubble dear. Terribly upsetting what has just occurred here, terribly upsetting. This is just the kind of thing you shouldn't hav-"

"What happened here?" Zelda interrupted Cole briskly and directed her attention to Auru.

Auru gestured towards the ground. "This object your Highness. Mutoh was convinced we had called you out here because of a silly fear. To prove to us all that we were a bunch of cowards that should go back to work he reached down to touch it- and disappeared."

Startled, Zelda glanced once more at the glowing shape floating behind the Chancellor- Mutoh had been turned into a spirit! Due to the Triforce of Wisdom, she was able to see him, while to everyone else it had looked like he vanished. She bent forward to get a closer look at the stone on the ground.

"No! Your Highness!" Auru exclaimed as she held her hand out towards the jagged black crystal on the ground.

"It's alright, Auru; my Triforce protects me." Zelda replied gently. As if to emphasize her point, the triangle on her right hand began to emanate a golden glow as she picked up the black crystal. Auru let out a relieved whoosh of breath when her form did not disappear. A murmur went up from the crowd as they saw her handling the dark object.

It felt familiar. If she wasn't mistaken, it was the same presence she had sensed in Link that fateful day he had brought Midna to her. Holding the stone in her hand a memory came to her. She had held it before, but no, that wasn't right, it had been Midna who held it. In her minds eye she saw Midna's impish hand as if it were her own levitating the crystal on the tip of her turquoise finger.

"This thing is too dangerous... It's probably for the best if we just leave it here, huh? But on the other hand...if we kept it, you'd be able to transform into a beast anytime you wanted…"

So this was the crystal that had forced Link to change into his wolf form permanently. Midna was right, it was dangerous. But useful too. Definitely not something that should fall into the hands of Cole. Decided, Zelda closed her hand around the crystal and put it into the pocket of her borrowed pants.

"Does this evil stone belong to you, Your Highness?" Chancellor Cole's beady eyes were speculative when she met his gaze.

"In a manner of speaking, Chancellor, yes. It does." She replied calmly. Zelda raised her hand to cut off his forthcoming reply. "But before I answer anymore questions, I must attend to Mutoh. If you could just stand to the side, please."

The Chancellor looked momentarily confused but moved out of the way as she requested.

Seeing as the crystal wasn't embedded into Mutoh, Zelda was hopeful that she could restore him with the power of light. Bowing her head, she murmured a prayer to the spirits of Light then reached out her hands to touch Mutoh's formless spirit.

All at once, a blinding flash of light blazed up, and the crowd yelled out in surprise. When it had receded, a shaken Mutoh was once again in the physical realm. His normally swarthy complexion was now an unflattering shade of white, and his arm shook profusely under Zelda's hand.

Taking a shuffling step forward he raised his arm, finger shaking, as it pointed in a gesture of defiance.

"I- I- told you fools it was ok." He said gruffly.

Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he promptly collapsed.

A/N and Disclaimer:

Story tidbits-

Mutoh and Bremor are some of the carpenters in OoT, and Majora's Mask. Mutoh also appears in Minish Cap. You can even actually see the guy that always carries the big beam of wood over his shoulder running through CastleTown when you play Twilight Princess. Chancellor Cole, of course, appears in Spirit Tracks. He's a little taller in my fic for ~drama~.

I thought it would be funny to have Mutoh scoff at the stone as not working, like he scoffed at the moon in MM. XD

Look forward to more LoZ cameos in up coming chapters too.

Sorry, to the people that wanted to see me describe the fight scene, I had planned to do it but my brain went "NOPE."

If you're interested, check in my profile for a link to my tumblr page, where I post story tidbits and teasers for the next chapters.

Thank you for reading! Next chapter will hopefully be up in a week and half or so.

I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.