This story is to celebrate the sixteenth anniversary of the release of Twilight Princess. I still have the strongest nostalgia for that game. I remember so clearly when I played it for the first time... Ah, but I digress.

Twilight Princess and all its characters, locations and events still belong to Nintendo last time I checked.

Someone to Need Me - by Pseudo Twili

Ilia could not sleep. She'd awakened early since coming to Kakariko Village. It hadn't been a problem at first because she simply took the opportunity to check on the Zora prince. But now Ralis was whole and hale again and spent all his time in the graveyard. He too seemed to be lost and did not where to go or what to do and perhaps he would find his answer there. But now that she had no one to nurse or to help, what was she supposed to do? She felt like a loose string, dangling and useless.

She couldn't stand lying in the dark, tossing to and fro and listening to the steady breathing of Luda and the other children who slept nearby, so she arose and felt her way cautiously out of the room. Knowing that the early morning hours were a little chilly, she threw a shawl over her shoulders, but she did not put on a pair of shoes. She unlocked the front doors of the hotel and slipped out, making sure to shut them behind her.

The air was still and tinged with the mystery of dawn. The sun would soon rise over the plains but on the village it would not yet shine for at least an hour. She took several breaths of the cool air and planted her feet in the dust of the road. Both felt good and made her less anxious. She had no real idea of where she would go but she wandered toward the spirit's spring with the thought that perhaps she might see Ralis if he ever left the graveyard. She was a little worried that he would make himself ill again, staying up to all hours, but then she didn't really know much about the Zora physique.

As she gazed upon the pure water as it danced and ran merrily over the spirit stones, she was struck with the sense that it seemed familiar somehow, though she didn't think she'd ever seen it before. Why did it seem familiar and yet strange to her? She clasped her hands earnestly and gazed up into the clefts where the spirit of the spring was said to reside.

Instead of finding consolation, her thoughts turned inevitably to her predicament. It was never far from her consciousness that her mind was comparatively empty. What a strange, bizarre and unnerving thing not to be able to recall the least little memory from over a week ago? What circumstances had left her on that road? It had been fortunate for Ralis that she had, for who knew what would have happened to him if she had not found him. But not even he was around now, and the other children did not seem to know how to behave around her.

"What am I to do now?" she asked, her voice seeming small and echoing against the rock walls around the spring. "I don't even know who I am. Why can I not remember anything? Will I find my memories again? Oh please! …Are you listening to me? Oh! What's the use?"

She finished with bitter tears clinging to her lashes. Who was there to hear her? She might as well be talking to a stone. She turned her head away.

She had been sure no one else was around, but all of a sudden a gray-brown and white wolf stood at the water's edge. It seemed to appear like a wraith and like a shadow coming together from many smaller shadows. She thought at first that it was a trick of the early morning light, but when she blinked, the wolf was quite solid and too large for comfort. Unbidden, thoughts jumped into her mind of a ferocious monster terrorizing a village. Those other brutes, the bulblins, had come here and caused havoc, hadn't they? She'd heard the others talking about it, and how Link had saved Colin from the biggest, ugliest one of them all.

No one was here to save her, however, and she was too petrified to scream or make a sound. The sound might raise the alarm, but it would also attract the wolf's attention. Perhaps it hadn't seen her yet… Then she saw its eyes locked on her and she closed her own while she waited for it to lunge at her.

Nothing happened but that the waters of the spring continued to lap soothingly around her feet and a cool morning breeze played briefly with her sleep-tousled hair. She could not understand why the beast had not jumped for her jugular as soon as it spotted her. She cracked open one eye, and then both flew open. Instead of coming toward her, the wolf had in fact retreated. It was staring at her and trembled. She noticed for the first time that it was favoring its right forepaw and she glimpsed a dark stain at the shoulder. The thought had only just registered with her when beast collapsed, making a soft sound like a whine and a moan.

She was never sure why in that moment, when she was still so afraid, that she dared to go closer to him. Perhaps it was her feminine propensity to help anyone who was hurt or sad. Maybe it was the same thing that made her determined to help Ralis. Whatever it was, she approached the wolf cautiously and then knelt in the dirt at his side. She looked into his eyes and her breath caught in her throat when she saw how strikingly blue and human-like they were. No evil beast would have such eyes, she decided.

"It's all right," she said gently. "I won't hurt you. I want to help you. You won't bite me if I touch you, will you?"

He made no threatening sound and remained as he was, staring at her with those unnervingly blue eyes. She frowned as she examined the deep gash in his shoulder, noting that dried blood and grime were caked in his fur. The first thing to do was to clean the wound, and the best place of all was the spirit's spring. She coaxed him to rise and he limped toward the pure water with its mildly healing properties. She wetted one edge of her shawl and dabbed at the blood, but it was not enough. She dashed off to fetch some things from one of the buildings.

During her brief absence, the wolf's shadow moved and part of it detached itself. A shadowy imp with two-pronged helmet put her hands on her hips and gave him the benefit of her one visible eye.

"I told you you should have been more careful with that monster. And why did you allow yourself to get so low on potions, anyway? You have to be more careful."

He smiled and made a sound that was supposed to be like a laugh. Then he groaned in a growly way. "Are you worried about me?"

"Someone has to be," she retorted easily. "Seeing that you aren't. I want to find the Mirror of Twilight as much as you do, but you can't be careless. Hyrule needs you. …I need you."

She thought he would smile again but he did not. The next moment, however, his ears twitched. "She's coming back," he whispered, and the shadow-cloaked figure ducked out of sight again.

Ilia returned with her supplies and set to work cleaning the wolf's wound. He grimaced and gritted his teeth but he was quiet until it was all over and she had tied a neat bandage around the wound. She made him drink some potion and then he lay, panting, after the ordeal. She sat beside him.

"You'll need somewhere to stay while you heal," she said, though she seemed to be talking to herself more than him. "The others might be afraid if they saw you. Isn't there somewhere nearby you could hide, so that I can check your bandages?"

She looked down at him and was sure that he nodded his head. Her eyes widened. She had thought before that he might have understood when she told him she would not hurt him, but now she was sure he comprehended all she said.

"You know of a place?"

He nodded again and staggered to his feet again. Limping on three paws, he led her to a cavern just off the spirit's spring. It was dry and well lit somehow through holes in the ceiling and reflections on the water. The entrance was screened with brush and other rocks and was just the height that he could slip through, though Ilia had to crouch on all fours to make it.

"It's a lovely place," she said with a little smile.

She fetched a worn quilt from her bed and made a nice spot for him on the cavern floor. He settled down on it, as if more out of politeness than anything else. She made sure he was comfortable and left soon after. The others were sure to wake soon and would wonder where she was.

She returned several times in the few following days. The wolf healed rapidly thanks to her care and the potions she fed him. At sunset of the third day, she went to check on him and he was gone. Only the blanket was left behind. Ilia's cheerful face turned sad and she suddenly felt as deflated as a balloon with all the air gone. She picked up the blanket and disconsolately retraced her steps back to the village. Her life seemed suddenly empty and useless again.

Luda heard her crying that night, and when she crept over and asked Ilia what was wrong, all she replied was, "I don't have… a friend…!" She wept disconsolately and Luda tried to comfort her unsuccessfully.

Ilia woke early in the morning again, her eyes red and puffy from too much crying and too little sleep. From habit, she arose and tiptoed outside again, but when the chilly morning air hit her, she realized she had no idea where she was going. She wandered to the spirit's spring and sat on a rock while she watched the slight movement of the water. Tears began to fall again until she was spent with crying and despairing loneliness and wishing someone could understand her situation.

She felt something brush against her hand and she had to blink a couple of times before she could focus aright. And what met her tear-clouded eyes but those of those of the blue-eyed wolf she had helped. She gave another sob and then threw her arms around him.

"I thought you'd gone for good!" she wept into his fur.

She cried briefly and then pulled back. The wolf fixed her with those eyes of his and shook his head solemnly.

"I don't even know why I feel like this," she admitted. "I do not remember who I have been until just a little while ago. I didn't know my name until the others told me. And now I cannot forget for a moment that I have no memories. Sometimes I think it will drive me mad. Sometimes I think something seems familiar and it's like my mind is reaching out for it, but I can't remember. I thought this spring should remind me of something…"

The wolf gazed earnestly at her as if he couldn't wait for her to go on.

She stared down at the water and dipped one toe into it. She shook her head. "But I don't know what it is." She did not notice the wolf's disappointed look. "The children say they know me—only the ones from a place called Ordon, not Luda. None of them look the slightest bit familiar to me. They all act strangely around me. They seem to act normal when they don't see me, but as soon as they know I'm there, they behave as if I would break if they said the wrong thing, or they hardly speak at all, or they stare at me as if I had two heads. That sweet blonde boy, Colin, he tries hardest of all, but he doesn't understand what it's like.

"And then there's Link. He's the one who risked his life in bringing Telma, Ralis and me to Kakariko when Ralis was so ill. I… I never even thanked him." She buried her face in her hands as if she was anguished just thinking about it. "I heard Renado saying afterward that that brave young man had been injured by the bulblins that swarmed around us in the fields. And I never knew at the time. It's as though I just ignored him!"

The wolf pressed at her hand again with his nose. She lowered one hand and tentatively placed it on his head. He did not resist or move away, allowing her to fondle his fur.

"I've seen him in the village a couple of times since then, but I couldn't bear to meet his gaze anymore. His eyes, his lips, his whole expression was so full of meaning, a combination of familiarity, longing and anguish. He seemed to have a hard time knowing what to say too. He looks at me as if he'd known me all his life, but I don't know him at all. He's a complete stranger to me."

She did not notice the wolf's reaction. His expression was more sorrowful than one could imagine for a beast. A tear trickled down his jaw and was lost in his fur.

"I don't want to hurt him and I don't want to hurt anyone else but I can't help it if I don't remember. I suppose that's why it's hard to be around them and why they don't know how to act around me. I feel incomplete and I don't know when I will find myself again."

She pressed her hand deep into the wolf's fur and felt his heart beating rhythmically. Somehow it was reassuring to her, as if someone was telling her that life would go on, and it was only in the moment that things looked so dismal. She looked into his eyes again and she was sure they were filled with sympathy.

"Keeping busy helps me to forget about my lost memories. I hardly thought about them at all when I was trying to find help for Ralis, and while I am so glad he's well, I do wish he still needed me to nurse him or something. I was glad to find you and nurse you back to health. I'm glad you're better and I wouldn't want you to be hurt again, but now I'm useless again. I wish I knew what to do!"

She cried a little more and the wolf put his chin on her arm. Soon after, they both heard the shouts of children and knew the others were awake. Ilia stood up and glanced in the direction of the village.

"I suppose I should go," she said. She only had to look down a little to meet his eyes. "Will you come back?"

He gave her an emphatic nod. She smiled thinly and started toward the village, rubbing the tears from her eyes. She came to the edge of the spring and looked back. The wolf was gone as if he had vanished into the shadows themselves.

~O~

Ilia had many talks with the wolf after that. She didn't mind when she awoke early because she would steal outside and wait for her new friend to show up. He came more mornings than not, though there were some days when he did not show up, and though she reasoned that he must have been doing something important, she was lonely still.

She discovered that no matter where she went to wait, the wolf found her easily, almost as soon as she arrived, whether it was atop the hotel roof or Talo's lookout post, in the graveyard or the cave by the spirit's spring, or one of the abandoned buildings. And each time she greeted him with, "You came back! Oh, I am so glad." He would grin wolfishly at her and she was never afraid of all those teeth.

She learned early on that the wolf was more than just a wolf. He was far too intelligent to be the beast he appeared. She sometimes felt he could talk and expected him to open his mouth and do so, but all he did was to grin or yawn or pant a bit. He didn't have trouble communicating something to her when he needed too, either, such as the time she again complained of feeling useless. He led her to one of the abandoned buildings and imitated sweeping by swishing his tail on the floor and cleaning by grabbing an old rag in his teeth and rubbing it on the furniture.

"You mean I should offer to help clean up?"

The wolf nodded. He found a mallet and held it out for her to take. He led her out again and gestured with his head toward the sanctuary where the village shaman kept vigil.

"I should ask Renado what else I can do too," she said.

The blue-eyed beast nodded again. She took his advice and after that, she had so many things to do that she couldn't possibly feel at loose ends.

Another time she was talking to him and fell to wondering about him. After several moments of silence and contemplation, she said, "Who are you? I mean, you're not a wild animal or you would have eaten me up long ago. Are you under a curse?"

He nodded but then gave a half shake of the head. By this she understood that he meant, "Yes, but not really anymore."

"So you were under a sort of curse?"

He gave a nod of the head.

"But is it useful to you now and it doesn't seem like a curse?"

The wolf smiled in his toothy way and inclined his head again. He wondered if she would take the subject further and ask if he was really human.

Instead she turned thoughtful. "Do you suppose I could apply that to myself? Instead of looking back at what I've lost, I should try to make new memories so I don't miss the old ones so much?"

He just looked at her, but his eyes said yes.

Ilia kept that thought in mind and she found opportunities to make those new memories, such as when Colin helped her paint one of the houses and when they were finished they were so splattered that they looked like they had a new variety of measles. Another time she and the other children went swimming and had a tremendous water fight, and even Ralis had joined them and unconsciously impressed them with his aquatic ability.

Beth and Colin found a pitiable little fox with a broken leg. Ilia had assisted Renado in treating the poor creature by soothing it and talking sweetly to it while the shaman set the small leg. While she shared its care with the other two who had found it, she took more of the responsibility than the others. Beth named it Ruffet and it thought it was cute, but she was almost afraid of it because it tended to bite anyone who tried to touch it, except Ilia. One morning Ilia took the fox with her and watched as it quaked before the much larger wolf. But the blue-eyed beast made a few sounds, and licked the fox, who promptly licked the wolf and from then on was calmer and more relaxed around the humans. Ruffet fell asleep in Ilia's lap.

There were many new memories with the blue-eyed wolf too. He led her up a bluff outside Kakariko for a view of the sun rising in such splendor that she held her breath from the beauty of it. She showed him the dozen kittens she had found in an attic, and she always laughed when she thought back on it because the kittens had instantly taken a shine to the huge wolf and followed him everywhere around the village. The sight of a dozen or so kittens flocking around him like a satellite, licking his legs, pouncing on him, mewing at him and begging him to play was very entertaining and amusing.

When she wanted to pick flowers for Luda's birthday, the wolf accompanied her like a faithful bodyguard to the fields where the flowers grew and monsters were wont to prowl. She returned safely with armfuls of many-hued blooms that the goddesses grew. Another time, Ilia had the urge to see Telma again and the wolf traveled all the way to Castle Town at the side of the horse she rode. He made himself scarce in town, but she had the feeling he was never far away. Telma was concerned that she'd come alone and scolded Renado for allowing it, to which Ilia replied. "I wasn't alone. I had a guide."

Life in Kakariko settled down to a comfortable sort of routine. Ilia kept busy cleaning and restoring, recruiting the willing and sometimes not so willing help from the other children, with Renado or the Gorons helping out with all the heavy work. She assisted Malo with his inventory and was amazed that such a little fellow could do so much. In the evenings she played with the children, or they went stargazing, or they gathered together and shared stories.

Only sometimes did the old longing return and she would feel the loss of her memories more keenly. This usually happened as a result of something else, such as thinking she knew a good story but was suddenly unable to grasp it firmly enough in her mind to put it into words. Or when she inadvertently overheard Beth telling Luda that Ilia and Link had been so close and it must have broken his heart when she didn't remember him. And she'd had a bad time after a group of monsters converged on the village and would have caused much damage if the wolf had not torn into them. She could not have explained why she felt weak and trembly and threw up her breakfast behind the sanctuary.

Then one day, Link showed up with a shy, hopeful look on his face. He had been around sometimes, but he seemed to know that she needed her distance and had not pressed her. Now he approached her and held out something in his hand. She leaned her broom against the wall and took it slowly. It was a little statue, carved from wood, finely detailed and with a prominent, wide-open eye at the top.

Her head hurt suddenly and she dropped the figurine to clap both hands to her temples. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to sort out her thoughts. She knew that statue, she knew it was important, why couldn't she remember why? Someone was in danger. They'd both been in danger and the monsters kept watch every moment, waiting to pounce on them. Her eyes flew open. She wasn't in danger now, but the woman whose kind voice she still seemed to hear had helped her to escape. She pummeled her mind, willing herself to remember where she'd escaped from.

Feeling a light touch on her shoulder, she looked up and saw that Link was still standing there, an anguished look on his face. "Are you all right?" he asked hoarsely. "I didn't mean to give you a shock. Telma told me you had this when you were there." He had picked up the statue and held it in his gauntleted hand. "…We'd hoped it might jog your memory."

In a rush, she told him all that she'd just realized. "But I don't remember where it was!" she cried in an agony of effort. "What is the matter with me?! Why can't I remember that much?"

But Link was more concerned about her. She had gone very pale and was shaking as if with a fever. He took her gently by the arm and led her to Renado. The shaman listened to Link's explanation, felt her pulse, looked at her eyes, and instructed Luda to put her to bed. As the other girl led her away, Ilia heard the men talking but did not then put any meaning to the words. Luda helped her into bed, pulled the blankets over her, and Ilia fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

She awoke a couple of hours later, much refreshed, but the worry returned as soon as sleep no longer fogged her brain. She arose and found Luda downstairs.

"Father and Gor Coron helped Link piece out where that statue came from," the girl informed her. "The eye symbol belongs to a tribe who served the royal family for many years. Gor Coron says they died out, but that their village still exists. Link rode there to find out."

Ilia knew then that the tribe had not faded away completely but there was at least one remnant, because she had been there and the old lady had aided in her escape from that beast-ridden place. Ilia could not remember the lady's face and only had a dim recollection of her, a sense of knowing her. She felt another pang at not being able to remember another friend. She knew, at least, that she couldn't leave such selfless friend in danger.

One horse had survived the destruction of Kakariko. Ilia hurried outside to the little lean-to that served as a stable, put on a bridle and swung up onto the back of the black mare. She dug in her heels and shouted at the horse, urging it out of the enclosure and onto the road. She knew the way through the valley in which Kakariko lay because she and the wolf had been through there before. Once she had reached the open fields, it was just a long ride to the Bridge of Eldin, and north of that to where the hidden village was located. She figured she would be able to find it since she had been there before, at least that was her hope.

She did not think of any obstacles, did not count the danger, did not think of anything beyond her intense desire to help a friend she could not fully remember. All did not go well, however, for she was spotted by one of the roving bands of bulblins who caused such damage and wrought havoc on many an outlying settlement, and who had been thrashed numerous times by a certain young man in green.

These bandits spotted the lone young lady on a horse and made for her atop their clumsy boars. She tried to urge her mount on to greater speed but the black mare was not Epona and the bulblins caught up to her. They struck at her with their clubs and she ducked but received a glancing blow on the side of her head, and another more direct one on her leg. The other blows fell on the horse, which screamed, reared, dislodged its rider and bolted. Half of the bulblins took off after it and the other half closed in on the hapless girl on the ground.

Ilia had the brief image of boar hooves much too close for comfort, and she rolled out of the way, ending face-downward when something hit her in the back. Then all was confusion. She heard grunting, squealing, and growling, flesh ripping and bulblin groans of pain. She felt thuds through the ground on which she lay. It happened so quickly that she didn't have time to register what was going on, but when the noise ceased, she thought maybe she should see what had happened. Opening her eyes, she rolled over and sat up, her back still smarting a bit.

What was left of the bulblins was not a pretty sight, but at least they would not harm her again. And the wolf was there too, spitting out blood and nasty stuff he'd bitten into when he tore into the green-skinned bandits. He had saved her. She blinked at him and then suddenly burst into tears. He bounded to her side and whined as though asking where she was hurt. She couldn't tell him yet, but she held him close.

When she was calm again, she rose shakily, finding that her leg and head hurt where the bulblin's club had hit her. There was a little blood and her trousers were torn, though she could have come off much worse, at least that is what she imagined the wolf was telling her with his eyes. The next moment he was glaring at her, and she knew he was scolding her for being so reckless. She suddenly remembered telling someone else not to do anything reckless. Who was it?

"I wanted to help my friend," she said and gave a wobbly smile.

The wolf carried her on his back all the way to the village, where he left her. She wished he didn't have to disappear like that, but she understood that he didn't want to frighten the people. She stumbled into town and was clucked over by Luda, gently scolded and tended to by Renado, and held in high regard by the other children. They wanted to know all about her daring venture, even though it had ended ignominiously. The hardest part was trying to tell them who it was who had rescued her.

A little while later Link rode into town on Epona, leading the black mare Ilia had borrowed. A few minutes after the children announced his coming, he entered the hotel where she was resting and asked her how she was doing.

"It hurts a bit, but I'll be all right. Thank you for bringing the horse back. I felt so guilty for taking it without permission, and then losing it. I'm so relieved!"

He pressed his knuckles together, causing them to crack. "I went to the hidden village, did you know?"

She nodded.

"I met the old lady who lives there."

Ilia leaned forward. "Is she all right?"

"She's fine. I…um…cleared out the bulblins around the place. And she told me she had helped you to escape, and you gave this to her."

He pulled out a little ivory-colored object shaped like a horseshoe and a flute, and placed it in her hand. She stared at it. She had made it, she knew that for certain. For whom had she made it? It was someone special, someone who meant so much to her, someone who had been there since she could remember. She closed her eyes even as a tear fell and then another. Could she smell hay? Why would someone bring hay into the hotel? No, it was the scent of hay clinging to someone. Horses and hay, and…

She opened her eyes. "Link, you'll promise me? Don't do anything reckless. Just come home safely."

"Home is where you are, Ilie," he said, and he was crying too. The tears made his eyes seem all the bluer.

She threw her arms around him and wept. Her faithful childhood friend was there and she remembered him and everything else. She was complete again. She had found her heart.

~O~

Link was in and out of Kakariko more often now. Every time he came by he was sure to visit Ilia and exchange a few words, or help her move a few boxes, or share whatever she was doing at the moment. She loved seeing him each time, but at the same time she felt that something was missing. It wasn't like the huge gap her missing memories had caused, but it was all the same a small spot in her mind that wouldn't let her forget. She realized that she missed the wolf. She had so much she wanted to tell him!

On one of his visits she told Link about her canine friend. "I haven't seen him in a while," she said, a little wistfully. "Do you think he'll be back?"

"Oh, I think he'll be around," the young man replied, a smile on his lips and in his blue eyes.

And Ilia knew he would.

~ Fin ~

In thinking of what I wanted to write for this anniversary, the idea of Ilia meeting a certain wolf and having to care for his injury came to mind. And it just grew from there. If you liked it or even if you didn't, please do drop me a few lines to let me know. Thank you for reading!

11-19-2022 ~ Published