Author(ess'?) note: W00t an update! Ok for real this is an accomplishment. Amelia Hart is a busy girl as a full time teacher (who isn't getting paid -_-) full time student and also working part time on the weekends. It's hard to find time to write but I'm trying really hard I swear! So this chapter... made me cry. I'm a sensitive heart. Also I must apologize for any miss spelled words or bad grammar. My computer crashed a few months ago and I lost microsoft word with it. I'm using Open office now, which does ok, but it doesn't catch miss spellings and it REALLY doesn't catch sentence fragments. Which I'm renowned for. -See? I even noticed in my last few chapters that I not only did this once, but TWICE: I spelled Kakariko Karkariko. Fail. So I appreciate it when people tell me I make myself look like an idiot. Ok ok I'll shut up now so you can read. But before I do that I must add in the necessary:
Disclaimer- I do not own The Legend of Zelda even though I really wish I did because I would be rich and also a really awesome person. Wait, maybe I do and just make tons of typos on things I should know about like how to spell Kakariko Village. Or not. But it'd be cool.
Ok! Enjoy!
Link disliked being fussed over. He'd spent the last year being the hero for the land of Hyrule. He was more than capable of taking care of himself. He'd fought monsters that were more than triple his size. He'd walked away from the fight with Ganondorf with little more than a few scratches. But Ilia would not let him walk across the room, go downstairs, and sit at a regular table and have a bowl of soup. She had taken to waiting on him hand and foot.
Not that he wasn't happy to see her and spend time with her, but this had to stop. As it was, Ilia was sitting in a chair next to him, trying to spoon feed soup into his mouth and Link was having a very difficult time not glaring at her.
"Ilia, I can feed myself. Can I please hold the spoon myself?"
"Are you sure? Do you feel ok enough for that?" Ilia looked at him, concerned.
"Yes, Ilia, for the hundredth time, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me!"
She handed him the bowl of soup and spoon warily. Link took them and immediately set them on the small side table next to the bed. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I'm going to go eat at the table with everyone else."
"Link!" Ilia shouted, her tiny form blocking him from moving. "You need your rest! Get back in bed!" she demanded, pushing his chest and forcing him to sit back on the bed. She picked up the soup bowl and shoved it in back in his hands. "Eat and rest," she said more softly now, giving him a gentle smile.
Link scowled but took the bowl and ate sullenly. There was no middle ground for him. On one hand, he had Ilia who was over-protective of him and on the other, Midna, forcing him to do more than his body could handle. Frankly, he would prefer Midna's attitude over Ilia's at the moment.
Midna...
It felt strange to not have her ever lasting presence at his side. He'd grown so used to having her there. She'd wanted to make things right so badly and he'd wanted to help her get home. It hadn't been part of his plan that she would shatter that mirror. After all they'd been through together, he didn't even have the freedom to visit his best friend? He didn't even have the freedom to switch forms... she'd taken that stone too. It made sense. There was some powerful magic in that stone. But still. Being a wolf had it's advantages. And there was a certain freedom of movement. He was certainly faster. It had become such an interconnected part of his being in the past year. Even that was no longer an option.
"Do you feel alright, Link? You don't look well," Ilia interrupted his thoughts. "I knew it! You pushed yourself too hard!"
"What? No! I mean, I'm fine, just... thinking."
Ilia gave him a look but kept her mouth shut, "Alright. Well, I'm going to go downstairs now, can I trust you to stay in bed?"
"Yeah, yeah."
He watched her as she left and smiled to himself. He was so glad to have her back to herself. He would take a slightly bossy Ilia over a confused Ilia any day. However, what he really wanted right now was some exercise. It was one thing to be bed-ridden for a reason. It was quite another to be bed-ridden for no reason whatsoever. And he was not one to lay around for no reason.
He wanted to get back to Ordon. Back home. He was certain the children would want to get back to their parents. He could tell Colin was quite homesick, even if he tried not to show it. He imagined Talo and Beth were too, but Talo would never show it. Malo, well... Link wasn't sure about Malo. Where the kid had gotten the smarts to run a shop so efficiently was baffling. Of course his mother ran the shop in Ordon but she didn't always run it all that well, letting personal matters come before the shop at times. Link worried Malo was trying too hard to grow up too fast and he suspected the boy would choose to stay in Kakariko village instead of coming home. The kid was ambitious, Link would give him that.
It would be nice to go back to Ordon, relax a little bit, enjoy life going back to normal. Helping out at the ranch. Finally pursuing things with Ilia...
That was what he wanted, right? He'd spent all this time fighting for peace in Hyrule so life could return to normal, right?
Link shook his head, settled back under the covers and rolled toward the wall. Of course that was what he wanted. Why should he even question that? He'd always been happy and thankful for what he had. Of course he had to be. The townspeople of Ordon were so accepting, so willing to help raise him to be a responsible young man. Link reminded himself to thank Rusl when they next met.
You have so much to be thankful for, don't be stupid. He told himself. With that, he slammed his eyes shut and willed sleep to come. This is what too much idle time did to him- made him think too much. Enough of that!
Ilia woke with the sunrise. Stretching, she smiled softly. She'd had a nice dream that had her in a good mood already today. In the dream, she and Link had been at the Ordon spring, holding hands and laying in the grass gazing at the clouds. She'd been pointing out how a cloud looked like Epona when Link's face blocked her view and he'd leaned in and given her a kiss. Ilia flushed at the thought and rolled over to see if Link was still sleeping. His bed was empty. She gasped and scrambled out of bed.
He'd been there last night when she'd come upstairs. He had already been asleep so she'd fixed his blankets and had given him a quick peck on the cheek before going to bed herself. She was worried about him. He wasn't quite himself. Renado said he didn't have a head injury, but Ilia wondered if that wasn't true. And now he was up wandering around! Men and their stubborn ways!
Ilia threw on a long sweater over her nightgown and slipped her on her shoes after making sure he wasn't in the inn. She slipped quietly outside and looked up and down the street trying to spot him. After a few minutes of wandering around, she found Link sitting up at the hot spring, gazing at the sunrise, looking pensive but healthy.
Ilia approached him cautiously, not wanting to startle him. She kicked a stone by accident and he jumped, instinctively reaching over his shoulder for the sword that wasn't there. He recognized her and relaxed, giving her a soft smile which she returned.
"I guess you're alright then," she said, sitting next to him and gazing at him out of the corner of her eye. He simply nodded. So he was in another one of those moods, Ilia noted.
"So what...what happened?" she asked cautiously. She'd been afraid to ask before, she didn't know why, something about his eyes. But she couldn't hold back any more. He'd clearly walked up here on his own, and she couldn't use his health as an excuse anymore.
"Where should I start?" he asked, solemnly.
She really wanted to know what happened most recently first. But she sensed that was where things got touchy. She wasn't sure. "I suppose from the beginning," she settled.
Link sighed. "It's a long story."
"I've got time."
Link finally looked at her, really looked at her. She'd seen that look before but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Somehow, it felt like her first memories of him, only she knew that her first memories of him were from their childhood. He looked downhearted.
With another sigh and a slow blink, Link lay back on the ground with his arms behind his head and he started from the beginning. He told her how he had been turned into a wolf, how Twilight took over Faron Province, how Midna had found him. He told how he'd met Princess Zelda and the numerous adventures he and Midna had had before they'd met Zant and had put him through a strange dream, how he'd been frightened of her in that dream and even more frightened of himself. He told how Zant had almost killed Midna and had nearly permanently turned Link into a wolf. He told how Zelda had saved Midna's life, and how they'd then gone in search of the Twilight Mirror and found it broken. He talked about how upset Midna had been and then he grew quiet.
"Link?" Ilia asked, nervously. She'd been listening intently, not once interrupting him. She'd been so absorbed by his story that she'd completely lost track of time.
He'd rolled over so his back was to her now. He lay on the ground like this for a few moments and then, with a huff he stood up, "We should head back to Ordon today," he said gruffly.
"What about the rest of the story?"
"There isn't one," he said and walked away.
Ilia followed quietly behind him but said nothing more. She knew she shouldn't push it. But her heart cried out for him. There was so much more to this story than he was telling.
Oh Link, please open up to me again like you used to. I want to help. Please let me help.
When Midna met with the counsel the next day, she felt refreshed and energetic. She wasn't sure what she should expect when she met with them again but she was curious, nonetheless. She did dearly hope they would allow her to be princess once again.
The counsel was silent when she entered the room again. They each had a solemn look on their face that made Midna nervous. She didn't allow them to see that though. She wanted to portray the confident princess that she was supposed to be, so she kept her transparency at bay.
"Good morning," she greeted, taking a seat at the long table. "What business-"
"Princess," the elderly counsel member interrupted her. Midna couldn't remember his name and she felt terribly guilty for this. She made a mental note to make an effort to figure it out. "You shattered the Mirror of Twilight."
"Yes, I did. We spoke of this yesterday." This wasn't off to a great start. Under the table, Midna began to fidget with her robes.
"Only the true leader of the Twilight can shatter the Mirror. You are our Princess and you always will be. You would not have been able to shatter the Mirror if you were not destined to be our true leader. We would be foolish to allow anyone else to rule our kingdom. Please sit at the head of the table."
Midna, who hadn't realized she'd been looking down, shot her gaze up to the head of the table. Indeed, the chair was empty. It was now that she noticed Ardane was not present. She opened her mouth to speak of this.
"Your highness," a young court man said, pulling the chair out for her.
"Please. Do not protest, you deserve this position with our highest respect," another added.
Midna stood. Her hesitation had been misinterpreted, but she made her way to the head seat and sat gracefully. "Thank you, sir," she said quietly. "What is your name again?"
The young court-man blushed, "M-m-my name is Gill, Princess."
"Thank you, Gill. I apologize for not remembering your name, please, take a seat."
"A-a-are you being serious?" Gill stuttered, his mouth hanging open.
"Of course I am!" she didn't understand why this court man was being so hesitant. Young men these days lacked confidence in themselves- to be sure! In the face of royalty, they always acted nervous. It was partially why she had never told Link...
Link...
Midna shook her head quickly and pulled her shoulders back, sniffing.
"What business do we have to attend to today?"
She'd missed the shocked looks on everyone's faces in her distracted thoughts of Link. Everyone cleared their throats, glanced nervously at one another and sat up straighter.
"I have to ask," she added, "but where is our chancellor? Ardane? Why is he not present?"
"Princess, Ardane has been dismissed," said a counsel member. "Fahmeb has been named temporary Chancellor until we find a new one," he said, gesturing toward the eldest counsel member.
Ahh Fahmeb, well at least she'd learned his name now.
"But why? I do not understand. Ardane is a strong member of our counsel!" she said, clenching her hand into a tiny fist and pounded it on the table.
Everyone cleared their throats and glanced nervously at one another. Finally another young counsel member spoke up. "Princess, we all agreed you should return as our princess, but Ardane..." he paused and glanced around the table again. "He fought vehemently against your return."
Midna stood up so fast she nearly knocked her chair over. "As he should! I do not appoint you as leaders for you to agree with everything I do and say! I must say, it is his ability to question things that I appointed him as chancellor in the first place!"
"Princess, Princess, please sit," Fahmeb said wearily. "Ardane has many great qualities, his questioning skills being one of them. I assume you have not heard this, Princess, but Ardane was appointed to take your place if you did not return."
Minda sat back in her seat slowly. "I'd suspected."
"You were not present during much of Zant's ruling, and Ardane appears to you to have been fighting against Zant. But some of us saw the two together late at night more than once. We worry that they were working together in secret. We admit, it is only suspicion and rumor we base this off of, but we worry his motives may be more personal than you think. We worry he might be have become a bit more power hungry. He said some things yesterday that made many of us nervous."
Midna closed her eyes and sat back in her seat, bringing a hand to her forehead. With Zant being as power hungry as he was, she wouldn't be surprised if he had taken on an apprentice. She would imagine it would have been exciting to him to have an admirer, a follower.
"I respect your concern," she finally said slowly, opening her eyes and looking around at everyone at the table. "But I do not wish for my return to rule to start based solely on a rumor. I will summon for Ardane to return tomorrow, to speak with him personally," she said. "Please understand that I want to be fair."
Another counsel member spoke up, "Princess, I'm not sure he will agree to return. When he left yesterday, he was quite livid. He said he had no desire to return as long as you were leader."
Midna sat back thoughtfully again, "I shouldn't have retired so early yesterday, it seems."
"In all fairness, Princess, I do not foresee this having come out if you had been present."
"Ardane has never held back on me in the past," Midna argued.
"We have firm reason to believe he has changed, Princess. He made some lofty threats yesterday."
"HE MADE THREATS?" Midna screeched, standing up again and planting her hands firmly on the table, this time actually knocking her chair over. Gill stood up abruptly to right the chair.
"Sit down, Gill!' Midna ordered, "I'm perfectly capable of picking it up. Have more self respect! You are a counsel member and as such a respected member of this community."
Gill gaped at her and sat hesitantly back in his chair.
"Tell me about these threats!" Midna demanded.
Fahmeb stood now and held his hand up, "Princess calm down. We are sure that he was speaking in anger. He probably didn't mean half of what he said. He was upset, understandably."
Midna righted her chair and sat again. "All the same, I think I would like to speak to him myself. Especially after this news." She reached for a sheet of parchment and a pen and ink. She began scribbling a letter to Ardane right then and there as the counsel watched, asking for a meeting as soon as possible and explaining that she was upset to hear of his departure and wanted to hear his side of the story. She rolled the parchment up and looked around. "Has anyone got a ribbon I could tie this with?"
Gill stood and bowed to her, "I haven't but I could locate one for you, your highness."
"Never mind," Midna said, "This is too urgent." She removed her hood and stroked her long luxurious orange hair. With a firm yank, she pulled out a few strands and used them to tie the parchment. The counsel gasped.
"Princess what are you doing?" someone asked.
"I'm sending a letter to Ardane, what does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped. "Gill," she said handing him the parchment tied with her hair, "Could you find a messenger for me? Make sure to tell them this is urgent and to deliver this as quickly as they can. Tell them to use the fastest horse in the kingdom."
Gill took the parchment in his hands gingerly. He stared at it gaping.
"Oh for Farore's sake! Hurry!" she said, using a phrase she'd picked up from Link without realizing it. Gill jumped and scuttled out of the room.
A counsel member cleared his throat. "Er... Princess..."
"What?"
"He's...ah...not.." the counsel member cowered under her glare.
"He shouldn't be delivering a message?" Midna stamped her foot impatiently. "Nayru, I hope you all learn how to be a little more responsible! You're not paid to sit around idly and talk of how things should be without taking any actual action toward that goal!"
She stood up, sat briefly and jumped up again, "Din, I've got a headache. I'll be right back," she said and exited the room.
Fahmeb chuckled. "It's nice to have her fire back. I don't think she realizes she's just promoted a servant to counsel. Somehow, I don't think she'll care when she finds out."
The walk back to Ordon was peaceful. It was an adventure for the children and Link was making an effort to keep things lighthearted for their sake. Ilia was quiet as she walked Epona and Link could feel her gaze on him as they walked. Link had let Colin carry his sword on his back and had let Talo carry the shield. Talo was disappointed with this arrangement, but Link wasn't sure he could trust Talo to wield a sword without doing heavy damage to the other children. So he'd given Talo his cap to even things out and Talo, holding his head high, found a stick to use as a sword instead.
Beth rode on Epona's back and had agreed to wear Link's belt. She giggled at Talo who struggled with holding the heavy shield that hid almost his entire body, running around trying to pick fights with Colin with his stick-sword. Colin ignored him and tried to strike up conversation with Link.
Malo had chosen to stay behind in Kakariko village as Link had suspected he would. He hoped that he would visit Ordon sometimes, if anything to visit his siblings and mother and father. Link suspected that his father would be proud of Malo, but feign anger all the same. He also expected he wouldn't be able to buy anything from the store until Malo visited Ordon at least once to cure his mother's despondence.
"Is it true? Did you really travel up to Snow Peak and meet the snow creature? Was he really mean and scary? Did he try to eat you?" Talo was asking Link.
Link laughed. "You mean Yeto? He's nice, though his wife can be a bit scary at times."
"Wasn't it cold?" Beth asked, "I bet it was freezing! It has to be freezing for snow to form, that's what Luda said."
"It was pretty cold, yes."
"How did you stay warm?" Colin asked.
"I have my secrets," Link said with a wink at Ilia. Ilia suspected he had turned to a wolf when he was at snowpeak. She was the only one who knew his secret, as far as she knew.
"Tell us! Tell us!" Talo demanded.
"You have to be grown up. Then you can grow hair on demand to keep you warm!"
Ilia laughed at this because she knew Link couldn't grow facial hair even if he'd wanted to. She was secretly glad of this. She liked his young face.
But the kids didn't know this and they looked at Link with awe.
"You're brave," Colin said wistfully.
"You're brave too, Colin." Beth said softly.
"Not as brave as Link," Colin said, but blushed nonetheless.
"I'm really not that brave," Link said slowly. Ilia glanced at him with surprise. There was that look again. Where had she seen that look? It bothered her.
"Why do you say that, Link?" she asked quietly.
"Most of the time I don't even know what I'm doing. I just fought because I was trying not to die. I had a lot of help. Sometimes I didn't think I could keep going. Once I did almost die..."
Ilia fell quiet. He was opening up again and she didn't want to interrupt him.
"You almost died!" Talo exclaimed. "How!"
But Link was quiet now. That look in his eyes was so clear to Ilia. She could feel tears building up in her own eyes. She wanted to hold him, kiss him, tell him that she was there for him. And she wanted him to do the same for her.
Link noticed that Colin was dragging behind, his back slouching under the weight of the heavy sword. He offered to take it from him and Colin refused. Then, giving Colin a hand, Link swung the boy up on his shoulders, giving him a rest but still allowing him to carry the sword.
"I bet it was that snow beast lady, then," Talo exclaimed, oblivious to the mood change. "I'd fight her!" He said, wielding the shield in front of him and jabbing with his stick-sword. "Hi-yah!" he shouted, stepping forward and tripping himself up on the shield. He fell face first with a loud clang on the metal shield.
Everyone laughed and Beth clapped her hands. "Bravo, Talo, bravo! You show her!"
Talo stood up and pouted and Linked clapped him on the back. "You just need to grow into that shield. I've got another one at home you can use when we get back until then, how does that sound?"
"Yaaay!" Talo cheered and stuck his tongue out at Beth, but he wore the shield on his back the rest of the way home, just to be careful.
It was twilight by the time they reached Ordon and Ilia noticed that Link had grown quiet again. Everyone seemed tired, but she didn't think that was what had Link so quiet, though she was sure that he would use it as an excuse if she asked. He walked the children home, dropping off Beth, then Talo, then Colin.
Rusl greeted Link warmly and thanked him for returning Colin home safely. Link said they could keep the sword at their house for now since he'd taken the other one. They shook hands and then Rusl really looked at Link. A flash of concern crossed his face and he leaned close so only Link could hear him.
"We need to talk."
Link nodded slowly, "Alright."
Rusl gave Link a big hug, then stepped back, smiled warmly and led Colin into the house.
Link felt tears welling up in his eyes and quickly brushed them away. Taking a deep breath he turned toward Ilia.
"I'll walk you home," he said shyly.
Ilia blushed when he reached for her hand but did not protest.
When they reached her house, he looked at her and she felt relieved that the stomach wrenching look in his eyes wasn't there. She smiled shyly at him and he smiled back. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and she nuzzled her face in his neck.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked softly.
She nodded, blushing, squeezed his hand and went inside. As Link walked away, he could hear Mayor Bo exclaiming loudly from inside the house how much he'd missed her and how he was so happy she was back.
Link remembered with a jolt that the last time he'd seen his daughter she'd shouted at him. At both of them, actually. He smiled at the memory. He wondered if Bo blamed himself at all for what had happened.
As Link approached his house, he felt a warmness spread through him. It was nice to be home. But once he lay down in bed, he began to feel incredibly lonely. This would be the first night he truly spent alone, without Midna by his side, or anyone else, in an entire year. He wanted to just go to sleep, to not let his mind wander back to her- to remind him that she was gone. He couldn't stop the wretched feeling and he bit down on his pillow to muffle the sobs that were rising in his chest.
Ok I have to add another note at the end here. First of all, thank you to Mer3Girl for the reviews. I never realized how giddy I get when I get a review. I literally wanted to run down the street in the rain screaming that I got a review on my story but then I thought that might be kind of weird... Oh wait, I write fanfiction. And you guys read fanfiction. We're all weird here I guess.
Anyway, to address your reviews, Mer3Girl, I'm an empathetic person, so the things I like to read tend to address that side of me, and that also comes out in my writing. If it makes me emotional, it's gotta be good! I'm not sure yet how Link and Midna are going to get together. But they don't entirely realize their feelings for each other yet. And poor Link is a really confused soul.
Anyway to all others, please review! That way, if I do run out into the street screaming that I got a review, well, I'll let you know if that happens. But as you can read, it makes me a very happy girl. Though they're not necessary, nothing quite makes my day like a review on my writing! Even if it is constructive, or you point out that I spelled Kakariko wrong. :D
Also, I need a name for the castle town in the Twilight realm. Any suggestions? I played around with "Twirule" but that just sounds silly and like I'm some sort of Twilight fangirl "Twilight rules! Yeah! Team Edward Team Jacob Team Bella!" Uhh... no. If you're a Twilight fan, don't hurt me!
Ok I'll really shut up now. Boy I am in a quirky mood today.