Chapter Two
Link, instead of following the way through Telma's Bar, just went to Jovani's house and snuck through the expansive treasure chest. Luckily, now that Jovani was flesh and blood once again, Link did not have to worry about running into the greedy man: Jovani was out, reveling in his ability to move.
He landed in mucky water and slid down, feeling substantially more grossed out than when he was a wolf and doing this. His chest tightened…when he was a wolf, and when Midna was with him…
'Don't think about her,' he told himself forlornly. 'Midna was never with you; she was just helping you along.'
Link was at the bottom of the strange waterslide by now. He swam over to a ledge and pulled himself up. The sewers would take a lot of navigating, and would be much more aggravating now that he only carried around the Ordon Sword and Wooden Shield. It was solely for defensive purposes: he had returned the Master Sword to its rightful place in the Sacred Grove, and he sincerely hoped that he would never have to retrieve it again.
As he made his way through the waterways, his thoughts overtook him, and he allowed himself to dwell in them. His memory pulled upon the last time he had seen Midna – the first time in her real form as Princess of the Twili – and the words she had spoken.
"Link…I…See you later."
'What was she going to say?' he thought, feeling terrible sadness and curiosity trouble his brain. 'You what, Midna? You what?' It was an impossible hope, what Link thought about…and it was not as if he would ever know the answer. If he were to ever see her again, it could cause catastrophic results. As Zelda had once said, light and dark were the same side of a coin; 'always together but never meeting'.
Link pulled on a chain, took a gasp of oxygen, and plunged underwater. This would be significantly easier if he still had the Zora Armor…no time to bemoan that now, though. He had returned it to the Kakariko Graveyard as a hopeful signal that he would no longer have to battle underwater monsters.
He broke the surface and climbed out onto a ledge. Confidently, he walked through an entryway and over several broken stone structures. He came out into a large circular room with a winding spiral staircase edging along the wall. Sighing, Link clambered over to the staircase and began slowly walking up it. He was coming up to the most tedious part, the climbing across the rooftops. He had not done this part in human form, ever: he had always been a wolf.
Link, through a series of terrifying leaps and panic-inducing climbs over ropes, managed to make his way up to the top of the broken staircase and open the door. He heaved himself over some rubble and climbed up on top, breathing deeply so that the dizzying way down would not frighten him. He was not afraid of heights: however, it would not be pleasant to fall all the way from Hyrule Castle to the ground. He was pretty certain that there was no chance of survival.
The trek was definitely more difficult in human form; he almost wondered why he had not simply walked into Hyrule Castle and asked for an appointment. Princess Zelda would have received him warmly, even gladly…but their meeting would probably be monitored by guards, and Link would be unable to speak freely. Nevertheless, this journey was not fun. He only hoped that it would be rewarding.
Finally, after many fear-provoking jumps and tumbles, he was able to make his way to another spiral staircase. He looked back at the rooftops: it was free of any strange creatures. Link had known that the enemy population would die down after Ganondorf's death, but it was still pleasing to see that he had helped rid the world of truest evil.
Link trudged up the steps, his joints tired from all of that scrambling. When he reached the top, he knocked on the door, hoping that his adventure had not been fruitless. Luckily, it was not, and Princess Zelda answered the door. She smiled at the Ordonian, her fine features lighting up when she saw her friend.
"Link, this is a pleasant surprise. Come in, come in." She gestured inside, and Link entered. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Link shrugged, but Zelda's back was to him, so he articulated his response. "I haven't seen you in a while…I thought it would be good to drop by."
She turned to face Link, and her smile widened. "That's very thoughtful of you, Link. I was just thinking about how I haven't seen you in months…have you been keeping busy?"
He nodded. "Oh, I've been able to do a few things…exploring, mainly. I didn't exactly have a lot of time to do that when I was saving Hyrule from the Twilight."
"To which I am ever grateful," Zelda replied, giving a small bow with her head.
"So, I hear you've been keeping busy." Link raised an eyebrow. "Making negotiations with other Kingdoms. Peace treaties?"
She nodded. "Indeed. I figured that if we're going to neighbor them, we may as well be friendly."
"Very friendly, so I've heard." Link grinned. "It's rumored that you were seen with a handsome young Prince. True?"
"Whether or not Prince Junei is courting me is nobody's business but my own," replied Zelda coolly. She smiled, though. "But, for your ears only, yes. I suppose that's how we'll get the peace treaty with his kingdom."
The two talked aimlessly for a few minutes, and it felt good to just be able to relax around someone who knew the true story. As Link stood up to leave, Zelda stayed with him a hand.
"Wait, Link. There's something I need to give to you." She crossed to a small table and picked up a wooden box. "M-Midna gave it to me before she left, telling me to give it to you when everything had died down. I think the time is right to let you have it. She told me that you'd know how to use it…quite frankly, I don't." She passed over the box to Link, who looked at it eagerly. He opened the lid cautiously, and was both surprised and pleased with what he saw.
It was the Twilight Gemstone.
4
