A/N: Greetings, most esteemed readers! (I got tired of the word hi and hello XP) first off I would like to apologize for the fair amount of typos and grammar issues in my previous chapters. I am in the process of slowly going through to edit them and then will be fixed. I shall be sure to proofread my work more thoroughly from now on. (Scout's honor) I have been busy lately but that really is no excuse for the lax quality of my work, so again, I apologize and promise to take the necessary extra time for you guys. This chapter will answer a lot of the annoying niggling little questions I brought up in the prologue and the riddle and it includes a bit of a flashback. I hope this tale gives you a bit of pleasure and amusement! Thank you all for you time :)

Generala- For now anyways… (:{ Yes she does! Thank you!

Storm Dragon Wolf Princess- well you are a lot more clever than Malver :) thank you so much!

Gojira Geek- Quite so! Thanks!

Yami no Nokutan- I hereby give you permission to throw him about all you like XP

All That is Forgotten

There was a resounding crash that echoed through the sandstone hollow as the blocked ravine path was finally cleared. It had taken the two Gorons nearly an hour to break it down and now they embraced each other, cheering heartily at their success. They turned happily towards Zelda, their rocky faces lit with a pleased smile, their blue eyes twinkling.

"Go and save our brother brave warrior woman," the taller Goron told her solemnly with a friendly pat on the shoulder that felt much more like a blow.

She staggered under its weight, and then nodded, smiling, as she tried to regain her balance. It was at times like this that she really became aware of how unused she was to causal or friendly contact. As a princess she was used to respectful distances and deference. However, she was all too aware that to demand such now would totally destroy and attempts at secrecy. Also she knew they meant no harm, they were merely being friendly, and they had helped her a great deal already. She really had no reason to complain.

Bending low, she stooped to pick up the half of her colors Link left behind, from the dust of the ground. Gorons were not much for questing and exploring so it came as no shock to see that they had left without an offer to assist in her mission any further.

Turning, she regarded her captain as he looked after the retreating Gorons.

"I am sure they meant to esteem you well also, Chefra." She said impishly, as took note of his slightly disturbed expression.

"A knight needs no praise to fulfill his duties, milady," he said, sounding almost abashed.

Zelda regarded him seriously for a moment and tried hard to hide the small smile that threatened to burst forth at his too hasty reply. Does he not? she thought idly to herself as she signaled for them to move ahead. Her countenance fell a little as she turned away from her loyal captain and a thought struck her. Link had not been the only one to be hurt by a decision she had made. It still surprised her that Chefra was still so loyal to her.

Night would be falling in a few hours and she wanted to make as much progress as she could. She was painfully aware that Ganondorf had two nights and two days of a head start and she would be hard-pressed to catch up if he were traveling fast.

However, something, or some impulse of a curious idea, made her pause. She glanced back at the war-torn hollow in which they stood. She caught a glimpse of Link's battered shield in the battle remains and she felt oddly drawn to it.

"Milady?" Chrefra asked questioningly as she turned again, fully this time, to walk towards the shield and stopped beside it.

The crest of Hyrule that had once been so beautifully etched into its metal plated surface was cracked right down the middle. It was rent so badly that it was amazing that it still held together. She gently lifted it off the ground, memories of the one who had once borne it flashing through her mind.

Unthinkingly, she turned it over to reveal the wood behind the metal plating of the front. A slat of the wood was loose and it was barely clinging to the surface. She looked closer. There appeared to be something wedged under the wood piece, almost like a hidden compartment. Puzzled, she tore off the hanging wood to reveal and odd black crystal with reddish orange markings running down its dull surface. It was small and slender, the perfect size to fit in one's palm, jagged, and slightly oblong in shape. She knew at once that it was some form of magic-Twilight Magic by the look of it.

'Why ever would Link be carrying around such a thing as this?' she wondered. She ran a hand just a hairsbreadth over its surface, for she was loathed to touch it, and instantly recognized the feel of it. It reminded her of when Link had been transformed into a wolf by the dark magic of Zant, the last time Ganondorf had invaded, and had come to her for help. This must be the embodiment of that enchantment, she realized. But why would he keep such a thing in his possession? Unless…. Realization dawned on her. He was clever. The Master Sword could break the spell and she could tell that touching the stone could cast it. By keeping the stone, he allowed himself to switch form whenever he wanted. So that was how he always managed to elude her soldiers during the chaos seven months ago. He had always been soft footed and swift, but his uncanny ability to disappear without a trace had always puzzled her. Why, the tricky check, she should have guessed. She couldn't just leave it here for some dark creature to find, but she didn't exactly want to hold it either.

She rummaged around in her pack. Near the bottom there was a small bottle of perfume that she had no idea she had packed. It must have fallen into her bag, which was rather fortunate; it was a perfect size. She emptied the perfume and used the cork and a stick to ease the shard into the bottle. She then reset the cork and tied the bottle around her neck like a pendant with a piece of chord and readied herself to set off.

"What is that?" Chefra asked from where he stood behind her.

"Something that must never fall into enemy hands," she said in a hushed voice as she rose.

They retraced their steps to once again stand before the recently cleared opening. She took a deep breath and stepped through. Chefra glanced warily around with his hand on his sword hilt before he followed her. They followed the track of the gorge. Her spirits rose at the sight of all the boot marks and disturbed ground. It was a clear indication that a veritable army had indeed passed that way. Her eyes remained focused upon the ground as she walked persistently forward, confident that Chefra would watch her back while she scoured for tracks.

After about half a mile, she abruptly stopped as a shadow loomed over her. Startled, she glanced upward. Her body automatically stepped into a ready stance. Her hands rose to protect her center as she reached for her magic.

She relaxed as she began to register what was in front of her. A solid wall of sandstone rose ahead, standing as a silent looming testimony to the fact that the path she had been following was a dead end-another dead end. Only years of practice keeping a ladylike demeanor and holding her temper kept her from screaming obscenities at the red rock in an apostrophe of anger. In short, it appeared as if her quarry had vanished. There was no side path for the army she was pursuing to have turned off on and the footprints disappeared before they reached the end of this track, right in between two crumbling pillars.

She took a closer look at them. They appeared almost as if they once were part of a circular arch that had collapsed countless years ago. The pillars were old, cracked and worn, and pieces of them were crumbling into dust. Unlike the red sandstone around them, they appeared to have been carved from some white rock like marble. The outside edges of these gave the impression that they had once been carved rather oddly, like the teeth of a comb but wider, shorter, and spaced further apart.

"What do you make of this, milady?" Chefra asked his voice airy with puzzlement as he surveyed the pillars and the disappearing footprints.

"I am not sure," she answered flatly.

"You don't suppose they could have scaled the cliffs, do you?"

She considered this thought for a moment and then discarded it. "The sandstone is far too high and weak to accomplish it; some of the soldiers were wearing heavy armor, based on how deep some of the footprints were. They could not climb such loose scree with it on-and I see none of it discarded."

He nodded in agreement. Before asking the question she was loathed to hear for she herself had no answer to it. "What do you propose we do now?"

~x~X~x~

Zelda stared blankly at the night around her. After a few minutes of deliberation, she and Chefra had decided to set up camp near where they lost the trail, and she had insisted upon sharing the watch. Her guard lay sleeping about ten feet away from her current position. She dimly surveyed her surroundings as her eyes grew heavy with fatigue and a bit of anguish. Link's life could be hanging by a thread, and she had failed him, again, before she had even really started. Failure; there was that word again—and oh how she hated it. She felt an unwelcome stinging heat grow in her eyes and her vision swam for a moment before her despondent mood vanished instantly at the appearance of a strange sight. She felt her heartbeat begin to race.

There, almost directly in front of her, stood the glowing wolf from her vision. It appeared neither ghostly nor substantial as it surveyed her almost calmly with one glowing red eye. For a fleeting moment it reminded her of Link when she had first met him as a wolf, but then that fleeting familiarity was gone. Before she could even react or shout an alarm to wake Chefra, the wolf gathered itself and leaped upon her. Its mouth was agape, its teeth snapping before her face and everything faded to blackness in an instant.

Her eyes snapped open and she picked herself up off a ground shrouded in mist and darkness. She gazed about herself. The world seemed to be swathed in a dull writhing fog, and the colors of the night that had before appeared so vivid, were mere dull reflections of what they used to be. All around her in the distance, like the points of a compass, stood shrouded echoes of the important landmarks of Hyrule. It was almost as if she were standing in Hyrule field on the clearest of days, except for the fact that the places she knew where shadowed, cold, and almost looming. The sounds of the night around her had lessened into nothing but faded murky echoes.

Sensing a presence behind her, she whirled to face the glowing wolf that had attacked her. The fingers of her left hand crackled with magic while her right reached for her rapier. She watched in horrified awe as the wolf howled and morphed before her. She was no longer looking at the form of a canine but instead the shape of a man, or rather, the wavering skeletal echo of a man dressed in heavy armor and helm. He wielded a silver double edged broadsword in one hand and held a round battered shield in the other.

Terrified, she took several steps backward. Never before had she seen such a creature and she vainly wished it could have stayed that way. As she inched backwards, he stepped forwards. The gentle chink of his armor accompanied his every step. It was then he spoke in the same airy voice from her vision. That did not surprise her, but the fact that his words carried with them no hidden tone of menace, did. His voice was almost gentle.

"A mind which balances not its knowledge with its wisdom can never rise with true strength. You are all that stands before a shadow of growing evil and if you rise not to meet it, the world could be lost. As we speak, the young hero of legend lies in great peril and the choices you both make may tilt the balance. Destiny and fate are not set in stone. Our choices change the outcome of the future just as the actions of those before you have set the stage on which you stand."

Zelda stared into his one glowing eye and tried to look past his nearly gruesome appearance and focus only on his words. She found herself sensing that this strange warrior was a friend and not a foe.

"What do you mean? She asked, disliking the quaver in her voice. "Tell me what I should do. How can I even find Link when I don't know how to follow where he has gone? His trail disappeared."

"Seek the time gates that were broken,

where the bandits were forced to go .

Where the one who bore their token,

sent them to safety long ago.

The one who set them free,

held only one of three.

The balance is the key."

"What does that mean?" Zelda asked frustrated, "You have said that before, but I don't understand."

"You hold the Triforce of wisdom, princess of light, but I shall show you what you must know. This part of the stage was indeed set long before your time."

The shade took a few more steps towards her and she cringed slightly as he reached outwards with a ruined gauntleted hand and touched her face. There was a blinding flash and she began to see pictures take form in her mind.

She was looking at the inside of a room at about mid-day, based on the light. Standing in the center of the room was a young man who looked to be in his twenties. He was wearing clothes and a hat much like Link wore, except the color was lighter and the tunic looser fitting, as was the style one-hundred or so years ago. When this youth tuned at the sound of a door opening, Zelda nearly gasped in shock. His face, though much sharper in its features, looked very much like Link's. His body held the same baring of confidence and stance. He was of a slightly taller and longer-limbed in stature and his hair was lighter in color and parted directly in the middle rather than to the side like Link's, but nevertheless, he was very similar.

The door to the room opened and in stepped a young woman wearing a red sari, which accented her flaming red hair and dark skin. At her hips there were sheathed two curved wide-bladed sabers and her hands rested causally on these. She had amber eyes that seemed to smile as she caught sight of the man standing in the center of the room. For his part, the young man's expression seemed serious and his eyes lacked that amused tilt and twinkle Link's had even when he had on a straight face. It was another notable difference between the two.

"Aviel," the green clad warrior greeted her almost solemnly.

"Link," she said in the same tone, though hers carried with it an undercurrent tone of mocking before she sobered. "Nabooru has told me to tell you there is still no change. She has also received word from the princess that the sages have decided that it is time for us all to take action."

The young man's shoulders slumped. Zelda suddenly knew who he was, at the mention of his name, if his similar looks had not raised her suspicions enough. He was the Hero of Time and she was looking at the days of the past, at an event that had taken place many years ago. Both his presence and the presence of a gerudo attested to that. The gerudo race had long since vanished from the desert that was one their home, and the Hero of Time had already taken his place in the annals history.

"Not even her majesty's eloquent speech could quell the unrest?"

"Not even her speech could. It is a pity, for it was a damn fine one at that, almost made me cry," The gerudo said with a grin as she seated herself causally in one of the chairs.

The Hero of Time followed suit and his posture when seated was no more dignified than hers.

"The people are too stirred up against us and I don't blame them, Ganondorf and his army of brigands are wreaking havoc and we gerudo are thieves, mistrust is pretty much in the job description," she smiled.

The Hero of time nodded. "I fear such unadorned displays of hatred from my people to yours will only lead to war."

"It is a pity that the your old king did not put Ganondorf immediately to death after you and the princess told of his traitorous plans all those years ago. He should have never let him go free after plotting against your kingdom and ours like that, diplomatic immunity required to give a visiting dignitary, or not. He only used his time in disgrace to spread unrest and build an army before he returned."

Link's eyes suddenly became very old, as if he had lived an entire generation more than his age appeared. The bright blue of them seemed to dim as if remembering he had lived though some untold loss. There was a long moment of silence before he spoke.

"The princess has prepared everything for us in regards to the time gate." He said as he spread out a chart upon the table.

"And she is sure this scheme is going to work?" the gerudo woman asked.

"She believes, based on her research, that it was created long before Hyrule was even formed and much of its ancient power is lost. However, she knows for sure that this time gate has magic enough left to be used like a portal to transport all the gerudo, who are followers of Nabooru, To the lands beyond the desert of your people and the mountains behind. The sages told her as much. You can escape before civil war breaks out, and before the sages go after Ganondorf and the gerudo who follow him." Link said fingering the hilt of his own broadsword.

"You trust your princess? She is, after all, a Hylain."

"So am I," The Hero of Time protested as he sat back further in his chair and ran a hand through his bangs as he pushed them back to frame either side of his face. His body language alerted Zelda to the fact that they had probably had this conversation many times before. "And it is this very type of language and prejudice that has spurred on the conflict we now find ourselves in. It takes two to create an argument."

"But only one to start a fire," She pointed out. "I come close to trusting you because you're different. You are one of us, and have earned that rite of passage." She said in answer to his first claim.

"I trust the princess with my life," he assured her softly. "Also, I will be going with you for at least the first part of the journey, for I am one of the only three who can open the time gate. Any treachery would fall on me as well."

"I am still not a fan of this running idea, but I do believe in living to fight another day. There are too few of us on the side of Nabooru to stop the traitors and, with many Hylians against us as well; the odds are not at all in our favor. Kinda makes me wonder why you insisted upon becoming one of us in the first place. It was not exactly the best move for a secure future-though I know you care little enough for that. I still think you cheated in that duel we fought, almost knowing my style of fighting before we even crossed blades. And it is nothing but unique for I created it myself by adapting the gerudo's basic forms."

"You were the one who gave me your token, which means you thought it fair when I defeated you." All that age seemed to vanish from his gaze and the rather childish expression of assumed innocence he held almost made Zelda want to laugh and did make the gerudo.

"I demand a rematch someday soon," she said her eyes narrowing as she smirked at him.

"You will have to save it until after we get you people out of here. Spiriting away an entire rebel force of dangerous women through Kakariko village without being seen, will be difficult enough-even if our mission has the fortune of escaping the notice of Ganondorf and his murderers. Either way, it will be a hotly contested quest."

"One that we will win," she said in a tone of defiant arrogance. "I owe allegiance only to myself and the people of my race who have not fallen and it is a matter I will never lose."

He smiled wanly at her bold but completely serious words before they silently began to discuss plans to set the day and important details of their desperate venture. When they were finished Aviel rose.

"I will inform Nabooru of these matters," she said as she headed to the door to take her leave.

"Don't get spotted," the Hero of Time warned her softly.

She scoffed at his concern, "I learned to do that before I could even walk," she said before she added. "You never did tell me, Link; why did you become one of us? You seem too densely noble to really enjoy the life of a thief."

"Why, for the close proximity to all the women, of course," he said, that barely noticed shadow of a childish nature surfacing for the most fleeting of moments before it was buried deep again. He retained a stoic expression as he considered her.

Zelda saw the Gerudo's face turn almost as red as her garb, but whether with rage, embarrassment, disgust, or all three, she could not tell.

"I have half a mind to take my knife to you for that comment, then you would really be a gerudo woman, and would have no use at all for all the Hylain, Zora, and even forest girls who beg to be netted by you."

It was the hero's turn to flush.

"You hold as much charm as ever I see," he called after her as she shut the door behind her. His face became inscrutable for an instant.

Zelda watched as the Hero of Time's eyes grew sad again and he spoke what Zelda guessed was the true answer to the Gerudo woman's question in a soft almost breaking voice as he addressed the spot Aveil had previously stood.

"To regain the friends I lost to time, Aviel. To be with those I once fought with and nearly died for, in a world that is no longer remembered. That is why."

The image, or memory, slowly faded away into the shreds of the ghosting fog around them, and she found herself once more looking into the one good eye of the shade. That voice… The one belonging to the Hero of time was younger, more resonant, and full, but there was no contesting the cadence and the diction, especially not when the Hero of old had whispered.

"You are the Hero of Time," she breathed, awed.

"I once went by that name," he said slowly, "I came back to aid the Hero of Twilight, for never had I the opportunity to convey the skills so hard learned during my lifetime. All deeds of merit I performed for my country stood only to vanish from time and memory. Even the tale thus shown to you, though once given to the retentions of others, has been forgotten. But not all that is forgotten is lost. Make sense of the past to find the road of which you seek… Farewell princess of light, may you travel the path to victory… and may we meet again…"

"Wait!" Zelda cried as he began to fade, but it was too late. The Hero's Shade was gone and she was back where she had been before their encounter as the mist that had surrounded her was cleared. The star-strewn night was still young. It was almost as if no time had even passed. The camp was the same as she had left it right down to the sleeping Chefra who lay huddled in his blankets near the dying embers of their camp fire.

Now that all thoughts of sleep were thrust aside, she found her mind focusing in on all she had learned. She recalled now that she had heard the whispered legends of a gate of time somewhere in her studies and the Hero of Time mentioned something about its location being somewhere near Kakariko village. Could she then infer that these stone ruins she stood by now were the very same such fabled gates of time?

Inspired, she reached into her pack and pulled out a sheet of paper and a stick of charcoal. She often found that it was easier for her to think when she put her thoughts down on paper. She hastily wrote down everything she knew, separating the facts from suppositions before she moved down to draw conclusions. If this was the time gate, then she he had sought out the place the shade had told her to. All she had to do now was puzzle the rest together. Obviously the Hero of time was the one who bore the bandit's token and he had tired, and probably succeeded, in sending those bandits, or rather, the gerudo, to safety.

The Hero of Time had mentioned something about himself being one of the only ones able to open the time gates and activate the portal that would take the traveler to the other side of the Mountains of Snowpeke. She could probably assume that Ganondorf also had this same gift for he had obviously used these gates. What was specific to those two individuals? Then she remembered the last piece of the hero's shade's poem. It was something about the balance of three being the key. Suddenly she halted her suppositions and her pen. The answer was so glaringly simple she cursed herself for not seeing it sooner. Dropping her hastily scribbled notes on the ground, she shouldered her weapons, including Link's. It was a precaution just in case she needed it, she thought. She had secured his sword to her pack and so she put it on.

Chefra sat up instantly as she passed by him.

"Your majesty?" he asked her questioningly as he fully came awake.

"I think I have an idea how they managed to disappear," she said as she stopped inside what would have been the threshold of the arch were it still complete.

Taking a breath, she raised her arm and aimed the back of her fist where the Triforce marked her skin at the pillars; just a Chefra rose and began to make his way towards her.

Zelda's whole body tensed with surprise as a blue flash grew all around her and she felt an odd jolting sensation. Her captain's startled cry of, "Milady!" was cut short as the blue light engulfed her completely and then receded. By the time her eyes had once again adjusted to the night, she stared in wonderment. She was standing inside a canyon but it bore only a slight similarity to the one she had been in before. If the portal had worked the same for her as it had for the Hero of Time, it only stood to reason that she was now in the lands behind the towering mountains of Snowpeek.

Completely shocked, she tried to catch her breath. She had not expected it to work like that and she had left Chefra behind. Turning in the vain hope that she might use the same method to go back, she raised her hand but nothing happened. Her frenzied mind soon found out why. The pillars of this time gate had almost crumbled away to nothingness and, of the grand arch that had once stood, all that remained were two twisted and eroded spires of stones that stood little higher than her waist. She was trapped here and she was alone.

So the Hero of Time in the flashback had already gone through the events of OoT and MM and has come back from his wanderings during a time of political upheaval. I used what I learned about the timelines of Hyrule Historia and what the sages said about Ganondorf and sort of combined them into a tale that I hope was as acruate as possible, with a little bit of my own ideas thrown in. I have never seen an explanation as to why the Gerudo are gone in TP so I came up with my own that will play a great part in what will happen next. I hope I did a satisfactory job. (:

Question- Do you think that OoT Link harbored resentment against Zelda for sending him back to relive his childhood after the events of OoT?

I think that he might have some not so great feelings towards her for that and for the fact that all the hard won friendships he had gained would have been for naught and no one would ever know about all he went through. However I also think that he would be ok with it because by going back he could save countless lives, families, and stop the suffering of hundreds of people before it happened, especially since it was partly due to his own naïve actions that helped to unleash the terrors in the first place. Idk it is a bit of a tough question.

See you all next week!