The remainder of the Skyloftains were arriving throughout the day, in groups of threes and fours. Karane was dealing with most of the arrivals, showing people her map and pointing out where their tents were. Pretty much everyone was disappointed that they would have to stay in tents for a prolonged period of time, but they were all at least understanding of the situation. Most people, once they had put their belongings in their tents, flocked over to the Sealed Grounds, where the Triforce still stood above the plaza. Link and Zelda remained inside the Sealed Temple, which is where most people had gathered, as if this was the new town hall or something. Zelda stood in front of the Gate of Time, guarding the passage, although she composed herself in a much friendlier way than he had seen her over the last few days. The area around the Tree of Life had turned into the temporary market, as there were now a few stands set up around it, but for the moment it was mostly just food and water. Groose was off with Eagus, Owlan, and Horwell, as he was showing them Skyview Temple, which was to become a much larger Knight Academy, with training areas, and spaces for studying and teaching, as well as plenty of room for their library. Gaepora was out in the Sealed Plaza, as Bucha and the other Kikwi had come to greet the humans. Bucha and Gaepora seemed to get along nicely, and the Kikwi were loving the positive attention from the humans. Everything was going well, and Link was beginning to see a good thing in the making. That was until a knot formed in his stomach, and a shiver went down his spine.
He reached out his mind to Fi, who seemed to agree that something was odd. He stood over by the large doors at the back of the temple, and his eyes darted across the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just as he was beginning to think it was a false alarm, the temple doors swung open, and a woman resembling Impa marched in, followed by a group of cloaked people. The Skyloftians gasped and huddled towards the edges of the room. Link quickly made his way to the front of the room, but he knew that Zelda was already there, standing before the Gate of Time.
"Move out of the way, girl." The first woman spoke with a strong voice, and Link noted a red teardrop tattoo. "We did not come to harm anyone, we merely came to use the Gate of Time."
"Well you can't, and I'd like to see you try." Zelda stepped down a few steps, as some sort of display of dominance, which seemed to have a small effect on the woman. Link made his way by Zelda's side, with the Master Sword already drawn at his side.
"Naïve girl, I would try and succeed, but I would harm you in the process. That is not my intention, so move."
"If you can harm me, you should be very impressed with yourself." Zelda kept her dominant posture, but Link was questioning her abilities. He leaned in and whispered in her ear,
"I've got your back, but are you sure we can overpower them?"
"I am confident." She whispered back at him.
"I am often impressed with myself, so that shouldn't be a problem. This is your final warning: get out of our way."
Zelda held her right hand out in front of her, and a sphere of blue magic began to form in her palm. It seemed to pulsate with the same speed of Link's heartbeat, and he wondered if her heart was beating the same speed as his. "No." Link pointed the sword above his head, and he was satisfied with the surge of energy that came rushing down the metal of his blade. "Now kindly turn away, and never threaten me again."
"A mortal with magic, how interesting. However," the woman also held out her hand, and a similar sphere of magic formed in her palm, but her sphere seemed to be brighter and larger, "I will not turn away." The entire room fell into silence. Link made eye contact with Gondo, who was over in the corner to his right. Gondo seemed to understand the look, and he began to usher people towards the room in the back of the temple. It didn't take very long for the room to empty, leaving just Zelda, Link, and a small group of Sheikah. Link waited for the inevitable, and finally both women released their magic and a bright, hot explosion of energy erupted where the two spheres collided. Link immediately released a Skyward Strike towards the woman, and he heard a notable grunt and a slam against the ground. When the dust settled, he saw the woman getting up from the ground and the other Sheikah leaning against the wall behind them: the skyward strike must've been more powerful than he was used to. He didn't have long to bask in his new strength, because the woman cast a barrier in front of her, but instead of using it as a shield, she thrust her hands out and the barrier flew out towards Link and Zelda. He was thrown back by the force, and Link had to take a moment before getting up to recover his breath. He got up to realise that Zelda was standing where she was before, having somehow countered the attack. Link made his way to her side, and he could feel an aura emanating from her; it seemed to pulsate like the magic was before, however the rhythm was much slower and steady than before.
"You have disappointed me, High Chieftain of the Sheikah," Zelda's voice was different, and the woman seemed taken aback at being recognised. "I expected more from you, but you were naïve to think that you could enter my temple and cast me aside." Zelda burst into a flurry of white flames, the tongues of fire leaping out wildly. "You will leave this place, or you will be forced out."
"This will not be last time we meet, and with or without your gate, we will uncover the secrets of time travel." The woman and her apparently useless troop of Sheikah turned to the door and stalked away across the plaza, and through the open doors, Link saw them disappear in a flash of light. What tore his attention away from the view of the now empty plaza, was the sight of Zelda collapsing in his peripheral vision.
Link had brought Zelda all the way to Skyview Spring, accompanied by Groose, Gaepora, and Ilysa, who had just arrived as they entered the temple. He had a hard time allowing Ilysa to come, but she had helped them get this far, and she didn't seem to be a part of whatever group the chieftain was a part of. Ilysa put her hand on Zelda's forehead, as she closed her eyes and seemed to meditate over her. The men stood by her side, awaiting some sort of diagnosis:
"Zelda's consciousness seemed to have been overpowered by the presence of the immortal mind of Hylia. The surge of energy required to allow two minds to exist in one mind at the same time would have been a great deal of energy for Zelda's physical body, and her mind is now simply seeking equilibrium; having used too much energy before, she must now use too little energy. If the goddess' magic is reliable, this can be considered a normal healing process after the event."
"Can you estimate how long she will be unconscious?" Gaepora sounded worried, but he kept a cool demeanor; Link figured that demeanor came from years of hiding his thoughts at the academy from the students.
"Based on the exertion of energy that you described on the way, a couple of hours would be normal. The healing powers of these waters will quicken the process, as it would have normally been around a day or so. She tapped into quite the well of magic today: I could feel it all the way at Eldin Volcano."
"What were you doing there?" Link quirked an eyebrow.
"I was retrieving your Beetle," Ilysa pointed over at a bag by the door, which shifted around before the Beetle flew out of it and onto her wrist where the gauntlet had gone unnoticed by Link. "It was partially buried in one of the many slopes."
"Thank you, you didn't have to do that."
"Please, don't mention it: I'm just glad that we no longer have to worry about it. Perhaps I'll go inform your acquaintance, Pipit; I'm sure he'd like to know that it was found."
Link had left Gaepora to watch over Zelda until she woke up. Groose had followed him out and they went back to the Sealed Grounds where most of the townsfolk were still confused over what had happened. Link explained to them that the gate was a very powerful magical object, and that other people are interested in its powers. He explained to them that, like the Triforce, it was their duty to protect it and keep it as a part of their growing civilisation. He also told them that Zelda had to rest after fending off the intruders and that she would be perfectly okay, despite his growing anxiety over the accessibility she had to such powerful magic. After trying to convince and reassure the people, he eventually succeeded and he went into the Statue of the Goddess to find some peace and quiet for a little while. Inside, to his surprise, he found Pipit standing in front of the stone tablets.
"Ilysa told me you found the tablets," he pointed at a spot around Eldin Volcano, "Around here is what she said." Pipit turned to face Link, "I guess we were lucky it didn't land in some lava pit, right?"
"Yeah, I guess we were." Link walked over to Pipit and wrapped his arms around his waist. "I guess you don't have to make it up to me, which is a shame because I was kind of looking forward to that."
"Well we still have to celebrate finding it, right? We can looking forward to that."
"Why do we have to look forward to it? We could just celebrate right now."
"We could celebrate right now, right here, or we can go down to the lake and celebrate on the shore. Maybe go for a celebratory swim, followed by a celebratory picnic, and a celebratory massage, and then, if we really want to celebrate," Link felt Pipit's hand grab onto his crotch, "we can just go nuts."
"I like the sound of that." Link leaned in to press their lips together, but before Link got the chance to close the gap, a large metallic ringing buzzed in their ears, followed by the sound of a large explosion. Link looked towards the outdoors, and back to Pipit, who locked eyes with him for a second. For that one second, it was silent and calm, but they both knew that something had happened and they ran out into the plaza. There seemed to be an explosion in the temple, and Link feared that the Sheikah had returned, but as he neared the front entrance, Groose came running out towards him, covered with ash and debris:
"I tried to stop her but I_"
"Groose, what happened?" Pipit had to shout of the sound of chaos and confusion that was running through the plaza, "Is everyone alright?" Groose looked at Link, then to the ground,
"She came in, she was on fire, and then…"
"And then what?!" Pipit shouted, but Link already knew the answer.
"She exploded. When I looked back up, half the room was gone, and all that I could find was this," Groose held out his hand. Link looked at it and the sting hit his eyes; in Groose's hand was one of Zelda's blue gauntlets.