A little explanation of succession laws - kingdom goes to the first male child, exception being if a Chosen Hero has been picked and there is an available first born daughter (having the traditional name of Zelda). This is what happened in the story, when the Chosen Hero married Zelda, Rhoam lost his right to the throne. With the death of Link though, Zelda is no longer in line.

Anyway enjoy the chapter just in time for the (US) holidays.

The Ranger

Lurelin is a quiet little hamlet, perhaps thirty or forty people, that was a good ways out of anything of any importance. That, of course, could be said about most things in Faron. The Faron Province was by any standard unremarkable, a vast unsettled region with large swaths of trees and fields as far as the eye could see. Those who lived in Faron were just as unremarkable as the province, simple people who made their living from the earth with little concern of outside politics.

Lurelin was peaceful, a hamlet spared even the brute of the war against the so-called Bulblin King that ravaged much of Ordona and Faron five years ago. Anyone you would happen to meet from Lurelin – if you ever met anyone from it at all – would say the most remarkable thing about the truly unremarkable village was the vast fields of lavender that grew around it and perfumed the village with its sweet scent, which did wonders to hide the smell of the livestock's waste that was left behind from the free roaming creatures.

As unremarkable villages go, not much would happen in Lurelin. That is, except a week or so ago something truly dark and devastating (dare I say remarkable, but in a negative way that no village wants) happened. The children of the village would often play in the lavender fields or the nearby forests, and one day they went out to play hide-and-seek. Only, one of the children was never found. The village eventually became alerted and sent out search parties for days to search for the young child with no avail.

There is a common saying in the Faron Province – 'dark things, dark souls' (which was a simple way of saying that darkness brought more darkness). And sure enough, nearly a week later two hooded men on horses approached the unremarkable (but now remarkable) hamlet. The villagers watched in wonder and fear as the two rode into the main part of the town, where most of the village had started to assemble to speak about their missing child and what to do next.

"There is't a single sight o' the boy," Lurelin, being a place of solitude, had its on way of speaking the common tongue.

The villagers nodded their head along as the farmer spoke, "And it an't no wolves. I know wolves, ma sheep would be spooked. They an't spooked."

The villagers had crowded around the tavern which they had formed into a town hall of sorts. The mayor, a ratty looking man with a patchy head of hair followed the conversation with little to say. "I think we should start considerin' haltin' our search and lookin' to build up our own defense."

"Defense's against what?"shouted a woman in the back.

"Now, I reckon it's Bulblin." The crowd shuttered at the man's words. The mere word brought back horrifying memories of the horror Faron suffered five years ago.

"You don't know shit, Jack!" Cried another villager.

"Well have you ever seen em'?" Jack yelled back.

"...No... but neither have you!"

"Yeah, well, I know it's a Bulblin for sure!" The crowd was getting heated, yelling between them to the point where nobody could hear their own words much less the words of the mayor who feebly tried to calm his townspeople.

It wasn't until the two horse riders came into sight that silence fell over the crowd, who turned to look over the riders with wide eyes. "Oh goddess, dark things, dark souls..." A woman muttered to herself as the first rider slipped off his horse.

Both the riders were cloaked in dark brown sheepskin cloaks. The rider who had dismounted was large by comparison of his companion, with heavy brown boots and a green tunic beneath the hood, he seemed like a wide giant among men. He had no weapon visible on him, but on his horse's saddle were several long steel blade that probably put the already on edge villagers more on edge.

"Fine day this is," The dismounted man finally spoke, his voice carrying an air of pleasantries, to which no villager responded. The dismounted man gave a confused glance back at his companion who merely gave a shrug back. "Hm, apologies it appears we have ridden in at a bad time. Allow us to introduce ourselves, we are-"

"We know who you are, Ranger," A particularly large villager cut off the man rather rudely.

"Oh, I see, excellent." The Ranger continued, "Then perhaps-"

"We don't want no trouble," the mayor quickly added to the increasingly annoyed man.

"We don't bring trouble... we hunt trouble..." He glanced around the worried looking villagers, "But, it seems like maybe trouble has found you. Why don't you invite us int that tavern right there, give my companion here food and drink and we can discuss what is ailing your village so?"

There was a silence among the villagers, who were either too afraid or too angry to want to invite the two in, yet finally the mayor spoke up. "Rangers, follow me. This business is exactly what your people deal with."

The second Ranger dismounted and both of them tied up their horses at the stall before making their way into the tavern, past all the villagers that watched them with silent gazes. Faron Rangers are deeply shrouded in mystery, governed by no lord or King they have roamed Faron for thousands of years. There are many rumors regarding them, some very obscene such as they feast on children or that they are mutants created from some abomination mixture of creature and man. Most can agree that they are not human nor are they Hylian, and even for their mystery they are fairly peaceful, having vowed never to harm those they protected.

The tavern was built too small and seemed a tad imbalanced, but the smell of ale, dried lavender and freshly baked bread was a welcoming to the weary travelers. The mayor took his seat behind a thick table of dark wood that looked as old as the village itself, stained from years of ale and grime. Drinks and food was brought to them as the Rangers took seats across from the mayor.

"What brings you boys to this part of Faron?"

"We're on a hunt," The older Ranger spoke first before taking a deep drink of the ale, to be truthful for a unremarkable village this was a fairly remarkable ale. "There's been a creature leaving a trail of bodies up and down this part of the region. We've been tracking it."

The mayor was made uncomfortable by this, he shifted in his chair and bit his lip. "Do you suspect... Bubilin?"

The two Rangers were silent for a moment, "Why do you expect that?" the younger one finally asked, his voice full of youth that you would expect from someone his age, yet there was also a level of coolness often void.

"A boy of ours went missing the other day, we been searching for him everywhere but we ain't found him yet. This is pretty nasty work, to steal a child... Bubilin would do it."

"Indeed," The Ranger seemed to confirm the mayor's worst fears at first, "However it is not a Bubilin. It's moving far to quickly, and it's targeting is erratic. I don't know if that calms your fears at all, but it's extremely dangerous and prefers the nights as well. I would keep your village on a strict curfew until we deal with this thing."

The mayor probably felt like everything was happening far too quickly and that this was not what he signed up for. However he at least had the intelligence not to argue with the men about what to do.

"Y-You don't want none of our help?"

"Oh no, not at all, not that we doubt your efficiency but we tend to work better alone. It's best you all stay and protect your own from any more harm." The Mayor seemed to have a weight taken off his shoulders, no doubt he had fears of having to try and hunt the monsters in the dead of night.

"So who are you exactly, Rangers?" The Mayor asked as the two sat up from the bench with the intentions of moving onto their hunt.

"This is Colin of Faron," he gestured to the younger Ranger who's light blue eyes shined through the hood, "I am Ezlo of the Picori. We'll find this darkness and rid it from your town, sir. That I promise."

The people of this tired town had found themselves caught in a struggle that they wanted no part of. The Faron Rangers and their undying crusade against a darkness that took no care to what it killed.

There was a reason that saying, 'dark things, dark souls' resonated with the Rangers so well. It was their beliefs that to hunt creatures of darkness, they themselves must have that darkness...

In truth, Faron Rangers were little better than the creatures they hunted. Demons in human skin, some may rightly call them... and the villagers weren't sure which they were more uneasy having around them now.

The Mouse

One thing Mouse couldn't stand was the amount of meetings the Bombers had and how long they would stretch on for. They went on for hours this time, bringing in commander after commander of different part of the cities and then going over the autonomy of a Goron. Mouse wasn't sure what they were saying but she could accurately describe her day dream of stealing a ship, sailing across the great sea and plundering gold from the old kingdoms. It was pretty cool, she had an eye patch, long sword and a giant rat pet that would eat anyone who got in her way.

Overall, Mouse was pretty psyched to fight a Goron and was envisioning it as she, Rat and Red walked through the sewers. "Wah, wah, take that!" Mouse said under her breath as she attempted a poor high kick and a weak jab, "Yeah, take it you big old bolder! Eat my fists of doom!"

Rat was fairly silent while Red laughed aloud at Mouse's attempts at fighting. "Hey, Red what are you laughing at?"

"Um, wait, you weren't joking just now?" The younger boy stifled his laugh, "I mean you don't actually think you can beat a Go-"

Mouse smacked him over the head and tackled the boy, "Oi,, you shut it you little brat, Rat help me hold him down while I shave this disrespectful urchin," She was kidding of course, mostly, she might shave him a little.

Rat didn't respond at first while Red laughed and tried to push Mouse away, him not taking this seriously was annoying her greatly, "Hey Rat, come on! Come on-"

"Enough!" Rat finally yelled back, shocking the two younger orphans. "Just get off him, will ya? Gods you're annoying, Mouse."

Mouse and Red traded glances and she couldn't honestly figure out what could be bothering him. Reluctantly leaving Red unharmed she quickly followed along the dark halls of the sewer, moving fast just to keep pace with her older partner.

"Hey, you're moving awfully fast," She hoped it would slow him but he seemed to only quicken his pace. At some point Red broke off from the group and went down another hall, leaving an uncomfortable silence as Rat continued off to the exit. She didn't try and speak again and wondered what she did to piss him off so badly.

Mouse wasn't one for silence, it made her very uncomfortable and as they reached the exit she sped up and rounded him off. "Okay, okay just stop okay! Why aren't you speaking to me?! What happened? Was it Red? I can gut him for you, okay?"

Rat had that face of annoyance, his bony face twisted and eyes narrowed down at her. "How can you be so careless? Weren't you paying attention back there?"

"Um..." She probably should have, "I mean, I heard the bit about the gold and old kingdoms..." Wait no that was her fantasy.

"What are you talking about?" Rat said before shaking his head, "You know what, it doesn't matter."

"It does!" She was getting annoyed, "Just say it!"

"How are we going to steal from GORONS!?" He shouted in her face. "Do you realize how big those things are? I mean, what if they see us... what if they try and kill us...? We can't fight those things..."

Mouse wasn't sure what to say, in her fantasy it didn't seem so hard to kill one of those things, but she reckoned that Rat probably had a point – they were creatures of rock after all. Mouse had tried to stab a rock before and that only ended up dulling her blade damn rocks, my natural enemy... she cursed to herself.

"I mean I guess I didn't really consider it... but hey don't be worried, I got your back we'll be fine! And if things get crazy we'll just slip out, no problem." Mouse assured him with an overconfident smile that just seemed to annoy Rat further.

"You never understand these things..." He said moving past her. She started after him before he called back, "Just leave me alone, Mouse. Really, just leave me alone."

"But..." That rejection struck Mouse to her core, she couldn't believe it, "But... we are partners!"

"Not today." He simply stated, rounding the corner and vanishing from her sight.

Mouse was frozen where she stood, she couldn't decide if she should scream out in anger, cry or both. She couldn't understand why he was taking this out on her, they had been partners for as long as she could remember and had gotten through so much together.

Finally building up anger she stomped her feet and shouted, "Yeah, well we ain't never gonna be partners again!" Of course he was long gone.

Mouse ventured out into the city alone now, knowing that the planned heist against the Goron wouldn't occur until later in the night, so she had plenty of time to kill and a stomach to feed. Food – for once perhaps in her life – didn't even cross her mind as she stormed about the city in anger, scorned by her only friend and left alone she wasn't entirely sure what she should be doing. She wandered aimlessly about the east district, perhaps pickpocketing a person or two but without Rat to compare her winnings to she felt like it was rather pointless.

"People always abandon you..." Mouse finally said to herself as she sat down on a bench by a shop run by a some very loud Deku who was shouting at passersby to try his wears. Loneliness was part of the role of being an orphan after all.

The district was packed with people, government workers and festival goers enjoying some pre-holiday shopping. Children hand in hand with their parents, smiles on their face as their parents bought them nicknacks and snacks, that type of thing made Mouse want to puke. They knew nothing of loneliness or hunger or hate.

In the midst of her rage there was one person walking through the crowd that seemed to not just catch her eye but everyone around him. It was the cloaked man (at least she thought so) from Stock-Pot Inn, the Faron Ranger and everyone seemed to be going out of their way to avoid the man. That interested her a lot, because like most people all she had heard about Rangers was the dark things that they did.

She was so fixated on the Ranger that she didn't even notice that the Deku was yelling at her and began (very rudely) shoving her from the bench with his long wooden arms.

"Away with you, orphan! Away, you're scaring customers away with your STENCH!" She did probably stink pretty bad, she did just come from the sewers after all. Not wanting to deal with the Deku she quickly moved away from the bench, yelling back some obscenities to the Deku before pushing her way back into the crowd.

Where did he go? She wondered, scanning across the crowd before spotting him walking up the steps towards the government portion of the district. That was a place she generally avoided because the town guards did not enjoy orphans mucking up their polished streets and statues.

Yet her curiosity was getting the best of her and she found herself following the Ranger deeper into the district. The district was lavish, a show of the economic might of the city in every way possible – the streets were lined in white brick the gleamed in the light, marble monuments sculpted by some of the finest artists in the land commemorated historic moments of the city while the entire part of the district was centered by a green oval space with flowers and trees that Mouse had never seen before. The buildings were particularly fantastic, built primarily with brick and rising many stories into the air it was the main operating place of the city's government. The government, which consisted of the mayor and a city council, were elected by Human and Hylian land owners (which were almost all male).

So naturally, a government elected by the ruling class of the city lavished itself with the finer things, like a self congratulation from the elite to the elite for building such a fantastic city of capitalism that was the envy of Hyrule's Domain. Even this part of the city smelled different.

"Well then..." Mouse said to herself as she continued her quest to follow the Ranger. He seemed to be moving right towards the Town Hall. Mouse quickened her pace after him, but not before jumping into the nearest fountain (when there were no guards around) to quickly clean the stench off her, much to the horror of those walking by.

Sure enough, the Ranger entered into the Town Hall, a great building with marble pillars and with at least two different marble statues of, what Mouse assumed, to be old mayors or something.

Now a normal person would give up their pursuit and turn around... but I'm far too bored for that. Mouse tried her best to fix her hair and gave herself a good shake to try and dry herself like she was some dog before continuing forward. Attempting to follow the Ranger into the Town Hall was immediately met with a stern look from the guards who quickly barred her entrance.

"No, not a step further." The guard ordered, "Move along child, this is no place for you."

"I am a citizen of this city!" Mouse reminded pointlessly.

"Not the ones that matter, move along."

That stung the orphan and less resolved person might have just turned around and called it quits. Mouse, however, was a Bomber and a determined one at that. She rounded the side of the Town Hall and quickly caught sight of an ajar window that a sturdy branch seemed to get close enough to. Climbing up the tree like a squirrel she carefully crossed across the branch, licked her lips and then with little thought of the consequences leaped right through the window.

The room she jumped into was fairly well sized, centered with a deep red carpet that matched nicely with the dark brown wooden walls and fireplace that crackled lightly with a small fire.

"Oh my..." Mouse muttered to herself as she looked around the room. She had never seen a room so fancy in her life and very quickly was she going through the desk in search of anything worth pocketing, seemly forgetting about the Ranger she was following moments before. "What do we have here, oh my is this real gold?" She pocketed the gold letter opener and picture frame with silver and some type of jewels on it. She was about to continue going through it all when she could hear the faint voices of words coming from the other side of the door.

"Ohhhh shit!" Mouse yelped, turning back to the window and ready to leap out... when she realized there was no way she could make that jump BACK to the branch, "I did not think this through." See, Rat would have convinced her from doing something this dumb. If they caught her here she had no doubt they would run her through with a spear.

She scanned the room and without hesitation darted into the coat closet at the corner of the room, diving behind the very nice and comfy fur coats that hung there. Leaving the wooden doors slightly ajar she watched as the door to the office swung open and two people stepped in. The first was a particularly small man, perhaps 5'6, with long dark hair and a perfectly groomed mustache, he was dressed in decidedly Hylian fashion with a purple jerkin, dark blue doublet and white stockings that traced down to his leather shoes. A thick perfume followed the shorter man as he stepped lightly into the office and Mouse was not even a little worried that anyone would smell her over the intensely sweet smell. Following the smaller man was none other than the Ranger, his cloaked pulled down to reveal a scarred looking face with a short gray beard and graying brown hair, his eyes were the most unusual thing about him, which had the faint light blue glow to them that made him almost inhuman looking.

The first man said little until he rounded his desk and sat down on his chair, motioning for the Ranger to sit also, "You... you said you wanted to speak to me about my son?" The man's face was weary and screamed of sleep deprivation.

"Mayor Dotour," The Ranger spoke, surprising Mouse even further that she was in fact seeing the most powerful man in the city. "I have been hired to search for your son and I was hoping you could answer some questions I had."

"That's not what you Rangers typically do..."

"Excuse me?" The Ranger asked, perhaps a bit taken back from the Mayor's simple attitude.

"You hunt monsters right? Moblins and ReDeads? Searching for people doesn't exactly seem like your line of work..."

"I'm no longer with the order. I freelance," The Ranger (or, not Ranger?) explained, "Your son's fiancee hired me. Now I am very good at finding things, would you perhaps answer some of my questions?"

This seemed to perk the Mayor's interest yet his words didn't echo his expression as he waved him along halfheartedly, "Go ahead."

"Anju hasn't seen your son for over a week, when is the last time you've seen him?" Mouse couldn't believe it, Anju was engaged to the mayor's son? How did she not know this? Dotour was an extremely wealthy family and essentially royalty in Termina terms. Although she would suppose Anju wasn't exactly poor, her family own that inn in the middle of clock town so certainly she wasn't among the poor. Although judging by the way the Mayor's face twisted at her name she might as well have been an orphan like Mouse.

"I haven't seen my son in nearly a month... he does that, drop off the face of this city then comes crawling back when he needs more money." The Mayor said with more than a little disdain in his voice, "Do you have children, Ranger?"

The Ranger's face changed little as he spoke and didn't bother to answer the Mayor's question, instead pressing with his own, "So do you believe he's truly missing...?"

"Well..." The Mayor's voice stuttered off and he said something not even the Ranger could entirely hear, let alone Mouse.

"Mr. Mayor...?"

"Hm, no I was just saying that this is not unusual at all. Ranger I apologize for you being called in like this I'm afraid there is absolutely nothing to be found here. My son has a mind of his own and often find solace with some of the lowest parts of society, he is no doubt there, amongst his friends in that Curiosity Shop, so you can assure Anju that he will return when he decides it's time."

"Mr. Mayor perhaps-"

"I am actually extremely busy, Ranger. The festival will be here soon and there is much work to be done. I gave you a couple minutes and that's more than I would have given anyone else..." The Mayor quickly silenced the conversation, earning a rather stern look from the Ranger who stood up from his chair after a moment.

"I understand, thank you for your time." The Ranger turned quickly and began to walk towards the door, approaching the door before stopping in his track. He looked up from the door handle and began sniffing the room like some sort of dog, his gaze then slowly turned to the coat closet where Mouse was hiding.

"What is it, Ranger?" The Mayor asked the halted Ranger.

He didn't speak at first, instead his gaze fell directly on the coat closet and Mouse was sure he had somehow spotted her. She felt her breathing slow and she prepared herself for what would come next...

"Nothing at all, I will be leaving now." The Ranger finally spoke, turning towards the door and walking out much to Mouse's shock.

The Mayor's face changed little as the Ranger left, he seemed to be staring off in the distance, seemly lost in his own thought before a rattling knock on the door broke him from his thoughts. "Yes, coming!" he said, adjusting his collar before leaving the office entirely.

Mouse slipped out from the coat closet and wasted no time figuring a way out, she grabbed hold of the curtains and gently used them to crawl down the window until she was a good enough length to drop off and hit the ground with little pain. Thank the gods she was such a tiny child that the weight she put on it made little difference.

"Well that's enough adventure for today..." Mouse licked her lips, remembering happily all the nice things she had pocketed in there and knowing that she would be eating very well tonight. She took not a couple of steps from the window of the Mayor's window when the Ranger rounded the corner on her. She paused, eyes wide as she stared at the larger man with gaping mouth. "H-hi-"

He grabbed her by the scruff of her hair, "Who are you?" The Ranger demanded, his breath reeked of liquor.

"N-nobody!" Mouse cried, he tightened his grip that sent a painful wave through her head, "Ouch, stop! I'm just an orphan that's all!"

"What do you know about Kafei?"

"Who?!"

"Don't play dumb, the Mayor's missing son. Tell me."

"Nothing, literally nothing okay you've got this all wrong!"

"I saw you this morning at the Stock-Pot-Inn, and earlier you were doing a horrible job following me," he had seen her? Mouse was getting really afraid now, "And then you ease dropped in on my conversation. So cut it out and tell me the truth."

"Bite me!" Mouse hissed, grabbing the golden letter opener from her pocket and stabbing down on the Ranger's hand. It didn't go in deep, stopped after cutting through the thick leather glove he had on but going deep enough to break enough skin that Mouse was let free of his grip. She scrambled as he cursed the pain away, taking a quick step forward and using his unharmed hand to bash Mouse over the head. She fell to the floor and he placed his boot on his chest.

"Enough, I'm not going to kill you so stop it." He hissed, "Now you're going to tell me everything you know or I'm going to hand you over to the guards and from what I've heard about Clock Town guards, they'll kill you once they find the Mayor's property on you."

Mouse was left with little options at this point, after all he was beneath his boot and she was sure if he put enough weight down she would break quickly. "Alright, alright. Listen I didn't know Anju was getting married to the little guy's son, okay? I didn't, and I just wanted to follow you to see if it's true!"

"If what's true?"

"I mean... if... you... eat... kids..." Mouse said, seeing the Ranger's weird stare at her she hoped that was a 'no' although it would have been really entertaining to watch him chow down on some rich kid. "I mean I really hope that's not true, especially right now..."

There was a long moment where he just stared at her, perhaps shocked by her reasoning for following and Mouse was sure he didn't believe her. Mouse thought this would be the end of her, he would break her easily or do gods know what and there was nothing she could do now. Yet the confused face of the Ranger seemed to grow into a full laugh.

"You're in no danger as I've said," he laughed, letting the pressure off her chest before adding, "Besides I had a full breakfast."

He let the pressure off her chest allowing her to carefully to get back on her feet. "You know clock town well?" He asked, which she simply nodded back at him, "Do you know where this curiosity shop is?"

Mouse knew of it and the words sent a chill down her spine. There were so many rumors about that place that orphans like her would stay far away from it. She never really knew why but it was something they were constantly told and Rat was always very adamant about staying as far from it as possible. So needless to say she wasn't exactly excited to show this aggressive Ranger the shop's location.

"No, I mean Clock Town is huge. I guess I really don't know where it is, west clock town maybe? You should go check it out."

"Lies." He simply stated, "I can smell a lie. Don't you know Rangers can do that?"

Mouse didn't say anything but her eyes widened and she bit her lip, of course a demonic person like them would be able to tell when she was lying. He knew for sure now she was lying and patted her softly on her back to move her forward.

"Show me to it and then we'll go our separate ways, does that sound fair?"

"...That... that does sound fair." Mouse agreed. Actually the west district was the perfect place to lose this Ranger, because she knew this part of the city very little but the west was her streets. She knew exactly how to lose him if she had to.

The two of them started the long walk towards the west side of the city. People went out of their way to avoid them and she wasn't sure if they were avoiding her or the Ranger. There was a feeling about him that she couldn't exactly describe, but if she were to try to describe it, Mouse would begin by saying how you always knew when you were walking with someone even if they weren't directly in your view. You could feel their presence, well when she walked with the Ranger she could not feel that presence, even his large boots seemed to make little noise as they walked against the stones that lined the sidewalk.

"Why do you seek curiosity shop? You heard what the mayor said, he probably doesn't even want to be found." Mouse reasoned, she figured that Anju just wasn't getting the message that he wanted nothing to do with her.

The Ranger was silent for a moment, perhaps weighing the risks of explaining his thoughts to a orphan, before finally responding to her, "Dotour is one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Clock Town. These people are obsessed with appearances, so the head of the family would never let me know that his heir spends time in the west of Clock Town with the lowest of society. Perhaps somewhere in him he fears for his son's life and in his own way he asked me to continue the search."

Mouse hadn't thought of it like that, but the man clearly didn't care at all for his son, a loving parent would have protected their child and a parent that doesn't care would have simply left them – like her parents did, like the Mayor was doing to his son. "Sure buddy, sure." Mouse said with a shake of her head, "He didn't care, I'm an orphan and even I could see that. No love there."

"There was love," The Ranger stated, "Some people show it in different ways. Sometimes they have no choice."

Silence fell over them as they continued to the west district, it was a good couple of minutes before the Ranger spoke once more, "Do you have a name?"

"...Mouse..." She answered.

"That's not a name." He responded, "Do you have a name?"

Mouse would have punched him if she didn't fear that he would break her arm afterwords. She crossed her arms and felt her eyes tear up a bit, "M-maybe. Orphans don't know what they were called, okay?"

"Fair enough," The Ranger grumbled, "I am Rusl of the Faron Province."

Mouse didn't care, why would she care? He was just another cruel asshole who used his size and strength to make people do what they wanted. She would day dream often about jamming her knife deep into people like him. The world would be better for it too.

They reached the west district and Mouse immediately began planning her escape. There was no way she would bring this Ranger to where he wanted, in fact she was planning to lead him deep into the district and ditch him. She knew it wouldn't be long then until one of the local gangs found him, beat him up and took all that he had. Maybe she would find his stripped body later after they had dealt with him and finish him off. That would be a proper justice for the abuse he had shown her.

The Ranger was looking around more now, his eyes catching every poor person who glanced his ways from the alleyway and he seemed to know as much as they did how much he did not belong. Mouse had lead him far from the main road that was patrolled well by the city guards, this party of the city had a different authority on every street and they did not like outsiders.

"Is this the right way?" He asked as his doubts seemed to rise. Mouse didn't speak at all, she quickened her pace and before he knew any different she had burst into a run. "Stop!" He shouted but she was already running down the alleyway as fast as her legs could take her. She was quick and well used to running down these streets and she got over every little piece of trash that was left in the way. Soon she darted right under a make shift gate with a hole too small for the Ranger to follow and then made her way down a couple of other alleyways.

Mouse laughed, smiling widely as she continued to put as much distance between the two as possible. She slowed down a bit now, dusting the dirt off the dirt stained leggings, "Oh what a fool." She said to herself, "I mean my name is Mouse did you honestly think you could catch me, really? Hah!" She rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a group of ragged looking men who appeared to have been eating their lunch when the orphan stumbled onto them.

"Oh, sorry guys, wrong pathway." Mouse waved off, getting a bad feeling from the way the three were staring at her.

"Hang on!" One of the guys shouted, "Don't I know you?"

"Nope! Not at all," She didn't stop.

"No, no I do! What did you hear her say her name was, 'Mouse'? Wasn't that the kid who stole my rupees?" Suddenly Mouse recognized that voice, not a couple of nights back she and Rat had grabbed some poor loser's money when he wasn't looking and being the overconfident idiot she was she had shouted back at them. 'You'll never catch the Mouse!'

Mouse only looked back to see the three men begin to approach her and that was all the motivation she needed to start running again. This time she wasn't as lucky, one of the guys thought fast and threw something at her that was strong enough to make her tumble in her tracks and hit the ground. Before she knew it she felt the weight of one of her press upon her, shoving her head down onto the stone and smothering her. She struggled, fought but they were much stronger than she was.

"Where's my money, where is it!?" The man demanded feeling around her.

"Enough!" A voice shouted, the men stopped in their act and Mouse managed to peer up to see none other than the Ranger she had ditched standing before them.

"H-Hey!" Mouse said as she looked up towards him, "Y-you fell behind huh about time-" The man shoved her face back down to shut her up, cutting up her cheek on the stone flooring pretty good.

"What the hell...?" The man on top of her muttered, "Get out of here, this doesn't concern you."

"That child..." he began, perhaps a little out of breath from running, "She owes me."

"Well get in line," he snarled back at the Ranger.

"I don't think you understand. Get. Off. Her." His demand was made more clear when he reached behind his cloak and pulled out a long dagger.

"Oh you have no idea who you dealing with, huh...?" The man waved for his two friends to move forward as they drew out weapons of their own. "Come on boys, let's show him!"

The next following moments was the most refined act of violence Mouse had ever seen. The first man that charged the Ranger was face first on the ground so fast that she wasn't exactly sure what he did, the next tried to swing at him with his dagger but the Ranger moved so quickly and instead managed to stab his own weapon deep into the man's shoulder. At that point the man on top of Mouse had let her go and charged the Ranger, managing to catch him by surprise and plant his own knife into the Ranger's back. Yet it hardly went in!

"Ugh!" Rusl hissed as he turned fast on the man, grabbing by his neck and hoisting him into the air. "Do you know who I am...?" He said in a surprisingly cool voice.

"R-Ranger...?" The man croaked out, "Y-You don't kill people, you don't! You kill monsters! That's it!"

"Yeah, monsters." Rusl twisted the man's neck and the sharp snap sound, followed by his limp body indicated his death. The last surviving men were running quickly now in fear of their lives. Rusl didn't pursue them, instead he turned his attention towards Mouse, walking towards her slowly, "Are you okay?" He asked as he reached to help her up.

"I-I'm fine!" She quickly stood up, backing away from him out of fear for her own life. She glanced down towards the dead man before looking away, the sight of the dead person sickened her, she had seen dead people before but never had she seen someone killed. This was different somehow and it bothered her immensely, "Thanks..." She finally spoke out softly, "Are you going to hurt me now?"

"No... are you going to run?"

"No..." Mouse responded as he reached into his pocketed and pulling out a white handkerchief. He offered it to her and she took it, wiping her eyes of tears before pressing it to her bloody cheek. "So you want to go to the curiosity shop, right...?"

"I would like that."

"Okay, well, I'll take you there. For real this time."

The Princess

Zelda stared silently from across the table at her younger brother, Daphnes, whose face was etched in unbelievable horror as he watched helplessly as his mother explained their father's decision. It was clear how the different years of experience showed between her mother and her young brother; their mother, with her long brown hair and tall shapely body, stood with poise and elegance even as she explained something that deep down Zelda knew she was unhappy with. Daphnes did little to guard the horror that was overtaking him – his eyes were wide and soft youthful face seemed to grow five years older with the stress that was overtaking him.

Zelda felt sorry for him, Daphnes was a soft child whose youth kept him soft to the world. His mother had forbade any strenuous activity on account of his weak lungs and Daphnes was far more interested in old poetry and tales of heroism to much care for swordplay. So, the hard decision their father had come to was one that clearly threw him through a loop – he would travel to the Termina Province to mentor under his uncle for a year in diplomacy. It was unlikely they could make it in time for the Festival of Time, but they would travel to clock town (dining with lords along the way) before venturing to Ordona. They then would come back to Hyrule before venturing out to other parts of the realm. This was horrifying for the Prince and equally dreadful for his mother who knew it would be awhile until she saw her child again.

"But mother," he squeaked softly, running his hand through his bright blonde hair in a nervous fit. "I-I can't, I just CAN'T."

"It's your father's orders. The King's orders. You cannot question it." She assured softly. His eyes traveled the room before falling onto Zelda as he stared like some helpless child in hopes that she would intervene to prevent this awful idea.

Zelda wasn't sure how she felt about it, on one hand she dreaded her brother to have to leave for such a long period of time, but their uncle was right – Daphnes was the heir to the throne, how could he be expected to rule the realm if he knew nothing of it? His subjects – and the lords that ruled the country – needed to see him, he needed to learn how to be a diplomat and rule Hyrule's fourteen unique provinces.

"Zelda, surely you can speak to father?" Did Zelda have anymore influence than her mother did? That was perhaps debatable, many spoke of their father's fondness for her and often let her sit in on meetings with the council. To be truthful, Zelda was far more fit to rule the realm than any of her siblings, but it was not a responsibility she wished for. It WAS going to be her responsibility, but that path had long been closed with the death of her husband.

"How could I question the King's wishes?" Zelda replied as she took the seat beside her brother. He wasn't as much of a child as they treated him – fourteen years old but looked far younger. She remembered well how Rhoam was at fourteen – a boisterous young man that enjoyed sword play far more than he should have. At that age the two siblings were good friends, they would play countless hours in the gardens, he was her knight that would protect her against the demonic insects. It always perplexed her how fast things had changed between them.

"But Termina is so far..." Daphnes dreaded, "How will I survive."

"You will not be alone," Zelda assured, "No member of the royal family would travel without a proper retinue. It will be fun, like in the stories – knights and shows and games. You will enjoy it surely."

He pushed away from the table, stubborn to admit that she might be right, "This is silly. Absolute nonsense, I will not go. I won't."

"Daphnes!" Their mother spoke sharply, catching the boy's attention from his worries. "That will be enough. You are to be KING someday. How do you expect to rule a people who has never seen you? Does the survival of your realm mean nothing to you?"

Daphnes eyes glistened with tears as he fought the urge to yell further, knowing that there was no good response to that question but to accept it, but his own stubbornness would allow him no such reprieve. He turned quickly from the two women and marched towards the door without saying another word, his mother's calls meant little to him and soon he was out of sight from them.

"It won't be so bad..." Zelda said, breaking the silence Daphnes had left in the room. "He will be better off for it."

"I know..." Her mother agreed, "He still acts like a child. He must become a man, otherwise, our family will be in peril."

Her ominous words shook Zelda a bit more than they should have. As far as she had been alive, Hyrule and its royal family had no real threat towards it and the mere thought of anything being capable of destroying them was almost laughable. But her mother was right; the family was only as strong as its members and none more so than the head of the family, if Daphnes was to truly rule someday he needed to learn to put aside his own needs and learn to lead. She knew he would, however, out of unfortunate timing the heir of the throne was young while the current King was getting more unhealthy by the day which meant Daphnes did not have the luxury of time that Rhoam had or that even Zelda had when she was in line for the throne.

After pleasant words had been exchanged and things died down Zelda retreated to her chambers and slept away the cool night. She had gotten used to sleeping alone once again, yet every now and then the changing of the guards outside her bedroom would rustle her awake and for a brief, sleep induced moment she thought that maybe Link had returned. It filled her with anguish and anger, with every passing day Hyrule seemed to care less and less about retrieving his body or sword.

But she had not given up hope and would wield whatever influence she had to motivate people to continue to search. Her influence only extended so far; the Faron and Ordona Grand-Lords would claim they were still looking but little evidence suggested they put any effort into it. She had spent countless gold to hire people to search but that turned up very little and her father had forbade sending any more knights to the region to search. She had even reached out to the Faron Rangers, an old order that had once devoted themselves to the Chosen Hero, yet their reply was simply 'they do not take orders from any members of the Royal Family'. She had not given up, the Princess of Hyrule had a great many tools at her disposal...

The next morning did not come fast enough, she did not break her fast with her family but instead had her food brought to her chambers. The tray of food had barely been touched when her first visitor knocked on her door.

"You may enter," Zelda, who was sitting elegantly in a morning gown and freshly brushed hair, lightly sipped her tea as the doors to her chamber opened up to allow two individuals to enter. One was an older woman, her age perhaps in the eighties, she stood hunched over and very slowly entered the chamber. Following behind her was man following closely behind, his tall stature and unmoving figure said that he was a personal guard of the woman who did not move past the doorway. Each one of them were dressed in traditional Sheikah clothing.

"Princess," The lady bowed her head before taking a seat at Zelda's urging. Lady Lon-Lon poured the Sheikah tea before leaving the two of them alone.

The Sheikah was Zelda's last true hope, the ancient order had served the Royal Family for ages, guarding each successive first daughter and ensuring their safety. There weren't many of them left and were mostly considered elusive people living in small hamlets across the countryside.

"Impa," Zelda began addressing her guest, "I am most thankful for you to come out today to speak, I know the travel must not have been easy."

"But for the Princess, the travels were worth it." Impa assured, "Now tell me what you could not say in writing."

Zelda knew what she was going to ask was difficult, and even illegal by Hyrule law. Yet they were her true last hope and she was willing to break the laws of her kingdom to do so. "You see, what I ask you to do is truly... difficult, it's not an easy thing to ask."

"I find," Impa started in a painfully slow pace, "That simply speaking it makes it much easier to explain, rather than try and explain why it is hard to say."

Zelda would laugh if it didn't stress her out so, Impa was a no-nonsense woman that ruled over her people with decisiveness Hyrule royal family might envy. "Very well... the Sheikah are some of the most renowned individuals in our realm. I have pleaded with my father's armies and lords and sell swords to retrieve the master sword and my husbands body yet time and time again they have turned up nothing. It is my belief that the Sheikah are the only hope to finding him..."

Impa sipped her tea as she listened intently, "Ah, you see the problem lies on the location. The Chosen Hero fell in the Ordona Province. By the treaties of the faith war state that the Faron and Ordona Province are off limits to the Sheikah people..."

That was the difficult part indeed – an age old treaty that was created to preserve the peace in one of the most violent civil wars in Hyrule. A brief explanation of the war was this – the religion of Hyrule was fractured, several followings had risen over Hyrule's long history about how the Goddess Hylia should be honored. The Royal Family professed faith that their first daughter was a conduit for the Goddess, Hylia, and that the man who could wield the legendary Master Sword was to marry the Princess and together they would protect the realm in the name of the Goddess. Yet, there was one particular order that held a different way of faith, that the Royal Family was blasphemous for claiming their Princes was a conduit and that the Chosen Hero should have nothing to do with the family. It was believed that there was no such thing of the Goddess Hylia and that they only honored the original three Goddesses that created the world.

That order was guarded by holy soldiers known as Rangers, a group of warriors founded by none other than the Chosen Hero himself many centuries ago and they would carry out his mission of protecting the realm from monsters. Many Chosen Heroes were in fact from the Rangers over the years...

Yet this division of faith brought war, and the Rangers were a fearsome foe, the royal family eventually won over by unleashing the Shiekah on them in what could only be called a massacre of faith. There were holdouts however, no matter how long they tried the Rangers who operated out of Faron could not be defeated, which eventually led to a treaty that brought peace back to them – the Rangers in Faron would be left alone and the Shiekah, who had killed so many of their people, would remain out of Faron and Ordona. The Royal Family happily accepted this, as they confirmed their control over the religion and mostly eliminated a pesky religious alternative to their word... yet now that treaty would keep Zelda from sending out the one people who could find what remained of her husband.

"I'm aware of the limits placed by the treaties," Zelda nodded to Impa's words, none of them needed a history lesson on this, "Which is why what I ask of you cannot be found out by anyone else. Your people pledged protection of me, not my family, me and my husband is still out there somewhere. He needs to be brought back and his sword returned to the Temple. I am asking you to send your people to find him..."

A Princess should never beg, yet she wasn't below doing so at this point. She was growing more desperate with every passing day and if Impa rejected her request she would not know what else she should do.

"I understand your grievance Princess, the loss of the Chosen Hero has pained all of us but none more so than you. I would like to ease that pain, but I cannot put my people at risk without proper motivation."

"Motivation?" Zelda repeated, "You wish to negotiate with me?"

Impa smiled a wide, devious smile. Zelda would have screamed for her to remove herself from her chamber had she had an alternative. How dare this woman act so presumptuous towards her?

"...Very well..." Zelda agreed reluctantly, "What is it you wish for?"

"After the faith wars my people were not just forbidden entrance into the Faron and Ordona Province, but our research and technology had to be halted and turned over to the Royal Family." Zelda was aware of that aspect, the reason why the Sheikah preformed so well against the Rangers were the technologies that they had created. The Royal Family rightly feared this and part of the treaties that followed the bloody war saw the end of such creations. "We know your influence with the King is great. See to it that the Shiekah may resume our efforts into studying new technologies and we'll find and return your husband and the sword."

Zelda wasn't sure how she felt abut that... but the Sheikah were loyal to the Royal Family and their numbers had dwindled overtime. They weren't a threat but an asset, a more powerful Sheikah translated into a more powerful Hyrule – and so perhaps it was time to end that age old rule and allow the return of Sheikah innovation. After all, the Humans, Gorons and Zoras were allowed to create and innovate then why not the Sheikah?

"I vow to you that I will do all in my power to remove those aspects of the treaty, madam." Zelda gave her decision to the delight of the older woman.

"Wonderful!" She said with such excitement that Zelda didn't think she was capable of, "Then Princess Zelda, I vow on behalf of the Sheikah people that I will bring back the Chosen Hero so that he may have the burial he deserves."

Those words drove such a rush through Zelda's heart that it forced a smile onto her face. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy. She felt like Link was already on his way back to being returned to her...

Later that day Zelda watched as her Uncle departed Hyrule with an impressive retinue by his side; fifty sworn knights, one hundred foot soldiers and forty trained archers, a dozen or so servants for every member of the royal family and the Prince and Princess of Hyrule – Dahpnes and Tetra.

Tetra was older than Dahpnes by a year and a half but in that moment she seemed twice his age – she bore a beautiful smile, her tanned skin and medium length blonde, messy hair contradicted the white and pink elegant dress she wore (she was insisting on riding a horse and not in a carriage). Tetra was over joyed to leave the castle and explore the domain, she had a streak of wild blood that seemed to drive her forward, like a stubborn horse, and it wouldn't surprise Zelda one bit if she simply ran off one night while gone on their trip. Dahpnes on the other hand, with a purple cloak and white doublet made of the finest silk, looked absolutely miserable and even at a distance Zelda could see the tears in his eyes as the horse carried him away from the castle.

Even now Zelda had the nostalgic feeling of five years ago watching her husband lead away his knights. Yet there was a different feeling this time, then she felt the dread of him leaving yet now... it was a feeling of return. When her handmaiden asked why she was smiling so much Zelda simply replied;

"The sun," she said beaming, "I've never seen such a beautiful thing."

Perhaps light was finally returning to this dreaded kingdom.