"Stupid Link . . . stupid bed . . . stupid . . . GAH! Ignorant, cocky, annoying, JACKASS!" heads turned to Ember's direction. Telma came up to her and set down a mug of hard beer. Ember sniffed it and pushed it away. "I have no money to pay for this. Besides, I can't. Not allowed." She set her head down in her arms.

"It's on the house, honey. Sounds like you had a bad run in with Link. And don't worry about your age, I'm sure you've had the equivalent to one the other night. Besides, I won't tell." She winked at her and left to go serve another person. Ember didn't move from her crouched position. She just store at the glass and watched as the bubbles rose out of nowhere and moved through the ember liquid till they disappeared or gathered at the top.

"It's not going to go away if you keep staring at it." Ember almost told the person to go away, but then she realized it wasn't Link. She turned to look at a young man just a little older than her. His hair was short and black, it just came slightly over his eyes. He had on the armor of the royal guard. Ember wasn't really interested in what this stranger had to say.

"If I don't touch it Telma will just take it back . . . so yes, it will disappear . . . eventually." The solider laughed. "I wasn't trying to be funny and i have no interest in talking to you . . so if you will, please leave."

"Hmm, interesting proposition, but it think it would be more interesting to stay and chat with you."

"you can talk all you want. You'll be talking to yourself."

"Play hard to get all you want. I'm not leaving." Ember didn't respond. She just started tiping her glass with the edge of her finger. When she got tired of sitting by the soldier, she got up and pushed the glass to him.

"Here. You can have it." Ember walked towards the door and exited. She got halfway up the steps before hearing the door behind her open and close. "Thank god it's in the middle of the day." She thought to herself as she continued to calmly walk into the crowded streets. She backtracked her path she had taken earlier that morning, back to where Link had been staying. "Maybe I can run into him. He'll get me out of this mess . . . if I don't lose this guy in the process." She stopped at a stand pretending to be interested in the products they were selling.

"Oh! You like this, is see! Well, I'll give you a special deal for a pretty thing like you." Ember drowned out the chatter of the merchant to check her peripherals and get a reading on where her follower was. Ember huffed. He was closer than she thought. He was lurking near a close stall, trying to blend in with the crowd. "You suck at hiding." She mumbled to herself then continued on her way.

Soon after, she spotted who she wanted and slowly walked towards him. He turned his head and smiled seeing Ember coming briskly to him.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, I'm still irate from this morning." She grabbed his hand and forced him forward, Letting it go as soon as he started walking with her.

"Then why are you here? Did you miss me?"

"Again, don't flatter yourself. . . Im being followed, can you help me out?"

"hmm I don't know. If you're still mad, why should I help you? What's in it for me?" Ember stepped on his foot.

"I said I was irate, not mad."

"So you LIKED waking up with me? I thought you hated me."

"Don't twist my word around, that's my job. Can you help or not?" Link thought for a few seconds as they turned the corner into a large crowd. Link grabbed her hand and rushed her through it so they could blend in for the moment. Link turned around and brought his face close to Embers.

"Okay, I think I can help. Do you think you can keep avoiding this guy for about ten more minutes?"

"Easy."

"Okay, met me at the east gate in ten and be ready." Ember nodded. "Great, see you in ten." Ember grabbed his hand while he was turning away and pulled him back for a hug.

"Thanks Link, you're a good friend." She let go and walked away from him acting as though nothing was happening.

"Just a friend?"

Ember turned a corner and immediately regretted it. She stood face to face with an ally way that had no other exit.

"Finally." Ember spun around to face the soldier. "I've been waiting for a moment to get you alone." Ember clenched her fists. She felt her nails dig into her skin so she loosened her grip on herself. "The name's Vance." He came up to her, and Ember backed up until her back hit the wall behind her. "We never finished our conversation." He put his hands on either side of her head.

"Get away from me." She tucked her chin against her shoulder as his face came closer to hers.

"Or what? You'll ignore me again? Heh, it won't work this time, I assure you."

"See, now that's where you're wrong. All anyone does is assume by little information. It makes you look like a fool."

"Oh yeah? And how do I look like a fool when I have YOU trapped?" Ember faced fully to Vance and smiled devilishly.

"who's to say I won't to this?" She smashed her head forward as hard as she could. She felt a huge pain in her own head, but she had expected it and he had not. Because of this, she could recover faster. As Vance backed his head away, Ember grabbed hold of the front of his shirt and shifted her weight and strength to the right of her, throwing him off balance so she could run past him.

In a few seconds, he was right at her heels. Ember ran through crowds of people, with them yelling or just gawking stupidly at her only to be knocked aside again, but more roughly, by Vance. Soon enough, she saw Link waiting for her, leaning up against a chestnut color horse, his arms crossed. He turned with a smiled which immediately disappeared.

"What happened to your forehead?" He looked at a red spot that had formed where she had hit Vance.

"Not now. Let's go." Ember assumed Link had brought his horse to ride out on. So without even asking, she leapt up on her. The horse become uneasy and reared, but Ember held tight. Link quickly got his foot in a stirrup and grasped the saddle horn as Epona took off through the East gate.

Link barely was able to stay on and his grip was slipping. Ember grabbed his open fingered gloved hand and heaved backwards as hard as she could, giving Link the leverage to pull himself up and set himself right in the saddle behind Ember. He reached around in front of her and took the reins from her hands, pulling back on them to settle Epona to a stop.

Ember sighed in relief and settled back against Link.

"Want to tell me what that was about?" She looked up, leaning the back of her head on top of his shoulder, to see Link's cross face. She picked herself off of him and unsaddled, dropping to the ground.

"Some guy from the royal guard was stalking me. Then trapped me in an ally way."

"Vance?" Ember spun to face him, he was already on the ground behind her, too close for comfort, so she took a step back.

"Yes. Does he do this often?"

"He's on probation for harassment."

"More like sexual harassment . . . ick, I'd rather wake up with you again, then ever see him." Link raised an eyebrow.

"I could make that happ-"

"Insult, Link . . . not a compliment." She make a chopping motion with both of her hands at the same time, stopping at a ninety degree angle.

"You're losing your touch then. And besides, that could be interpreted to be at least HALF a compliment"

"AM NOT! You're just a cocky, think-you-know-it-all hero." Link chuckled, shaking his head, and turned to grab Epona's reins.

"So what are you going to do now?" Ember sat down and scratched her head.

"huuuu, I don't know." She fell back and just took in the cool grass, closing her eyes. "maybe go to Kakiriko . . . Stay there for a few days-" Her voice trailed. She felt a thud beside her and heard Link heavily sigh as he joined her on the ground.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" She raised her eyebrows and turned her head ever so slightly towards him, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Why-" he stopped, rewording the question. "Who exactly are you?"

"Ember of Wolves. Unpleased to meet you."

"No not that I mean- . . . wait, wolves?" Link turned his head to her.

"Mmhmm. My ancestors befriended wolves and lived in peace with them." He turned his head back to the sky.

"huh . . . interesting." Link chuckled to himself. "That's ironic." He mumbled.

"How it that ironic?" She knew he didn't mean for her to hear it, but it made her curious.

"oh, well while I was journeying around Hyrule I-" Link stopped himself before he told her about being able to turn into a wolf using a twilight stone. He didn't know why he started to tell her, but he knew it was a bad idea in case she figured him insane. "N-Nevermind." Ember laughed beside him.

"Oh? The great hero has a secret?" Ember turned her head. Link was still facing the sky, a look of worry on his face, grinding his teeth. "heh heh, don't worry, I won't press you for answers. You want to keep it a secret, so be it." She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes again. "It's none of my business anyway."

"Thanks." He said as he let out a sigh of relief. "But you still never answered my question."

"Then you have bad memory."

"Uh . . . that's not what I meant. I mean who are you to show up and disregard me as a 'great' person?" He put sarcastic emphasis on the word 'great'. "I mean, not that I'm complaining. I'm glad there is someone who just sees me as something less. I-"

"Is there an actual question I can answer in this?" Link laughed lightly. This was exactly what he meant.

"Yeah, why don't you worship me?"

"Why would anyone worship you?"

"Hey, It was the only way I could word it."

"Your vocabulary is lacking my dear friend. You want the question; 'why do I treat you like a normal person?' . . . Actually that doesn't really have any extreme vocabulary in it. Unless you count 'normal' which I'm sure is completely foreign to you since you're so 'special'."

"YES! Exactly! That . . . and why are you not like all the other girls? Always trying to flirt with me . . . do you know how many times my hat has been stolen by some girl just to get me to chase them so I can get it back?"

"To answer your question that I made up for you; it's because I don't care for theatrics. So you saved Hyrule . . . woohoo. So has other people in the past and I bet in the next hundred years ganondorf is going to somehow resurrect himself ONCE AGAIN, and somehow temporarily capture Hyrule AGAIN! Then some hero will come along, AGAIN, and save these lands and be cherished, idolized and put on a pedestal for the rest of their life. Maybe, MAYBE if you were the VERY FIRST person to save someone from something then I would maybe be impressed . . . maybe. As for pursuing you in a flirtatious way, I don't go for the show off-y type. And about your hat . . . that suck for you, but I don't own that problem. Maybe you should stop wearing it." Link's hands went to his Green windsock hat and he pulled it farther down on his head.

"I like this hat."

"yeah. It does suit you."

"Ember of Wolves, was that a compliment?" Link asked sitting up, propping himself up with his arms and turning towards her. She looked at him as a smile spread across his face. Ember sat up as well and sighed.

"Sadly, yes." Link pulled her into a half hug by slipping his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm so proud of you." Ember calmly picked his hand up with her thumb and forefinger and slid out of his grip.

"Ehh . . . don't do that . . . It's weird."

Link sighed and got to his feet.

"Shall we go then?" He asked Ember with disappointment. She stood up and stretched walking away from him.

"You can go, I think I'll travel around a bit"