A.N Okay Zelda stuckies, chapter . . . . Six . . . I think. . . . In this chapter, without spoiling things, you'll get to read why Ember wants in the desert so badly and a little bit about her past . . . not sure how much cause I totally wrote this AN in the middle of typing.

Also a big shout out to xxxxInu girlxx93839, who is now my awesome Zelda buddy on the internets. =D I love you girl. And if I ever see you I shall hug you and love you and keep you in my house forever =D wait . . that sound like kidnapping . . . NEVERTHELESS! I shall do it =3

Link found himself standing once more in the sacred grove that held the legendary Master Sword. It was just a few months ago he was here after his long journey to save Hyrule, putting it back where it belongs. Even now, he could feel it call to him to take it up in his hands.

He recalled the first time he had been to the grove. He was a wolf then and trying to get to the Master Sword felt impossible at the time. He figured it was because he was shrouded in darkness, making him turn into a wolf.

Link kind of missed being able to turn into a beast. He was able to for a time after Midna had destroyed the mirror, for he still had that shard of twilight with him, but that ended when Princess Zelda confiscated it from him after he had scared some of the guards in that form. She wouldn't have done it if it wasn't intentional. Not that he wanted to terrorize them or anything, he was just so bored. After that Zelda sent him to get a treaty signed so he would have something to keep him occupied.

Maybe just for now, Zelda would give it back to him since he wasn't going to be anywhere near people anyway.

Breaking from his reminiscent memories, he stepped up onto the pedestal the Sword rested on.

"Hello old friend. I'm going to need your power once more." He placed his hands on the handle and pulled it out of its pedestal. He could feel its power ebb into his being. It was like a cold shiver went through his body and yet it warmed him. The feeling subsided but he could still feel it's presence within him.

"I'd almost forgotten . . ." His voice trailed off. He swung the sword around to get the feel of it once again. It somehow seemed lighter than he first picked it up. He assumed it was because he had grown stronger since then. Nevertheless, he had places to be and it would take a day or so to get there.

Strapping the Sword on and adjusting his shield on his back just so, he turned away from the grove and started his way to the desert where a new challenge awaited.

The ground rushed at Ember and she put her arms up in front of her just before she crashed into it. She went head over heels into the sand, making a huge dust cloud in her wake. It seemed like forever to her before she finally stopped tumbling through the dirt. She laid there for a few seconds for the ache of the impact to subside. The heat of the sun burned on the sand making that impossible and she hurried to her feet, sand falling from her as she did. She shook her hair making more sand fly from her person.

"Never . . . again." She brushed her arms and legs of before remembering there was someone else that she was with. "Shad?" She looked around for him not seeing him.

"Uh, behind you." She turned around to see him standing there, free of bruises and sand. In fact it seemed like he LANDED on his feet. "You alright? That looked like it hurt."

She huffed "Yes, it did, mister Lands-on-his-feet. How'd you do that anyway?" Shad chuckled.

"Ah, this isn't the first time I've been to the desert. Though I don't think I'll ever get use to the trip."

"Aye, but at least you land on your feet." There was a thud next to her and she turned her head to see Ashei crouched in the sand with one hand on the ground. "See why can't I land like that? Damn gravity. I bet you've had practice too?" Ashei shook her head

"No, this is the first time I've been to the desert. I usually expedite mountain regions. Why? Did you fall?" She smirked at Ember. It looked as though she was mocking her, but the intention of mockery was not there. Ember turned her head away, face red in embarrassment. "Haha! That's a definite yes."

"That's a tad bit unnecessary don't you think?" Shad placed a hand on Embers shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, my first time wasn't that great either." She looked at him, smiled and nodded.

"It does, thank you. Good to know I'm not alone." She laughed it off like it was a joke. Ember looked up and in the distance she could see Auru flying through the air at top speed. Ashei and Shad had begun discussing their journey through the desert and either hadn't noticed or didn't care. She watched him as he came towards the ground and wondered If he would be alright since he seemed a tad old. He didn't land perfectly like Ashei and Shad did, nevertheless, he landed with more dignity than Ember.

Ember huffed at this and turned to survey to desert

After getting over the fact that she had less grace than an old man, she realized that her skin wasn't crawling with sweat. It was the desert wasn't it? It was supposed to be hot and practically unbearable. Before she embarrassed herself further, she thought about this for a moment before realizing the sun was going down on the horizon. It would be dark soon. She wondered if they would let her camp with her or not, either way it didn't matter. She was going to be gone on her own soon anyway.

She watched as the others stretched a cloth out over the sand and started to prop it up. It wasn't very big and only came up to Ember's midsection. She figured this was because it would be a burden to carry a larger tent. She imagined it would be cramped for four people to sleep in it and had second thoughts about staying for the night. After thinking about it, she had come to the conclusion that she would slip away when they had all fallen asleep. Hopefully they wouldn't do night watches or some other stunt like that, but figured that if they did, she would volunteer and head off on her shift.

As if reading her mind Auru Spoke of such things.

"Now Shad knows because he's been here before, but Ashei and Ember," Ember snapped from her thoughts and her attention was brought onto Auru. Off to the side of her vision, Shad was looking at her. She wondered how long he had been staring like that and deemed it a tad bit creepy. She also kind of liked that he had an interest in her, but the creepy factor outweighed that thought. "The desert is a dangerous place and there are thing out here that want to harm you. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be attacked in the middle of the night, so we'll do night watches. Ember, I know you aren't officially part of this group, but would you mind taking a shift?"

Ember celebrated the offer, but not outwardly, instead she nodded slightly like it wasn't such a big deal. "Thanks, much appreciated. I'll take the first shift, Shad you take the next, then Ashei you the last, just before dawn. Any objections?"

"Actually can I take the morning shift? I get up early anyway so there would be no point into having someone else up when they could rest." This was a complete lie. She was never good at getting up in the mornings. Especially that morning she woke up with a hangover the morning after meeting Link. But she figured it would be the best time to make her escape. Not only could she leave just before dawn, but it won't put the others in danger of not having a watch for a part of the night.

"Ah yes, that would be better. Then Ashei, you and Ember switch shifts." The sun by this time had sunken down past the horizon and only the pale twilight filled the landscape and making the air cooler within seconds. It surprised her how fast the temperatures dropped when the sun set after the area being so hot all day. Ember shivered and glanced towards the tent, wondering if it would provide a bit of warmth. "As I said, I'll take first watch, you kids get some sleep." Ashei and Shad Walked towards the small tent. When he realized Ember hadn't followed, Shad turned around and called to her.

"Hey ember, You coming? There's plenty of room inside." She nodded and smiled at him, happy for an invite instead of just trying to barge in. According to him, there was supposed to be "plenty of room" but when ember entered there was nary and space to maneuver. Though much to her relief, the air was much warmer than outside, like the walls had trapped the day's heat and now insulated the tent.

There was a small opening between Ashei and Shad and she decided to lay herself down there and try to get some sleep before her watch. After just a few seconds, between the warm air in the tent and the body heat of Shad and Ashei, It got too hot for her comfort.

"Too cold outside, too hot inside . . . can we let some air in? Make it luke warm?" "Tolerate it for now girly." Ashei chided. Ember rolled her eyes, just because she didn't get taught in the ways of general courtesy doesn't mean it was an excuse for her be abrupt with her words, but she knew Ashei meant well so she held no grudge "It may seem hot now but that air outside will cool it down eventually. If we let it get colder now, it will become freezing in the morning and we risk hypothermia."

"damn" She was just going to have to endure it until her watch started. Of course she didn't think it would be half as bad as having to endure Link when he was around. Then again it wasn't so bad after a while, she kind of enjoyed the day she spend with him. Although she spent most of it with subtle insults and little ticks to get on his nerves, he never seemed to get the least bit annoyed at her. Looking back on it, he had just been shrugging it off the whole time.

Link's smiling face crept its way into Ember's mind. And she couldn't help but smile because of it. It was like an infectious disease. She finally realized Link had sought a kind of friendship from her that he normally didn't get from other people. Princess Zelda was, well, a princess. So check her off the "normal friends" list. And as for everyone else in Hyrule . . . that didn't really need explaining. After a bit more thinking she wondered if he had friends at home and when was the last time he went to see them.

"Well then what does he need me for?" She thought. "Traveling through Hyrule and rescuing people, he's bound to have met many people with whom he enjoys company with. Ah well, it's done and over with."

Ember turned to her side, resting her head on her arm, and attempted to fall asleep.

It was early in the afternoon and after resting up at home, Link was trekking to Hyrule so he could get the twilight shard from Zelda. As he approached Castle Town, Link dug into his side pouch and produced a cloak. He replaced its spot with his shield so it wouldn't clink while walking around. Never would he put the master sword in his magic pouch, who knows what that would do. So he unstrapped it from his back and held it in his right hand, concealing it with his cloak.

All of this wasn't necessary. He just wanted to get in, get the twilight shard and leave for the desert. All without being stopped by people. Or Goddess forbid, he shuddered, teenage girls. Except Ember, he kind of wished she was still there. She was fun to talk to. Link wondered where she headed off to and where she was at that moment in time.

He didn't know it but at that moment Ember was stumbling through the desert, suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, just barely able to stand.

Ember opened her eyes and found a kind of fabric above her head. It felt as if she had just fallen asleep. She couldn't even remember if she dreamed at all. It felt like she did but the images of it were just out of her minds reach. She couldn't even remember where she was, all she knew is she was freezing. She sat up and saw Auru and Ashei sleeping soundly.

"Oh, right. The desert." She yawned and stretched as much as the enclosure would allow her. "I hate the desert." Trying not to wake the other inhabitants, she wriggled her way out of the tent. When she emerged, she immediately wanted to go back inside. It was more cold out there than in the tent. Never the less, it was almost time for her watch. She vaguely remembered there being some kind of trouble in the middle of the night, she couldn't remember much, just that the ground shook and there was some commotion about things coming from underground. She was so tired, she fell back asleep before it was taken care of. She couldn't do anything anyway, Shad wouldn't let her out of the tent, said they would take care of it.

Ember hoped that nothing would happen in the wee hours of the morning, else the others would be up and she wouldn't be able to take her leave. She was planning on how she would sneak off when she looked over and made eye contact with Shad. He was sitting close to the tent with a thick blanket drawn around him. He smiled to her and immediate guilt was introduced into her system. How could she do that? After all he had done for her? Provided she only knew him for less than a day, he had done much. She quickly shook away the feeling for she knew what she was doing was more important than some handsome scholar.

"Hey, what are you doing awake?"

"Just woke up, decided I might come out here for a bit for some fresh, not stale, air." She shivered. She looked longingly at the blanket around Shad and shyly asked, "um . . . would you . . mind if I uh . . . could you share that blanket?" She could feel her face flush from thinking about it. Shad looked at her for a second before he could process her request.

"Ah . . . OH! yes, yes. Of course, you must be quite cold." He opened to blanket for her as she sat next to him in the sand. She felt his hand brush her back as he drew his hand away and shivers went down her spine. "Better?" Ember drew the blanket around her,

"y-yes. Thank you." They sat in silence for a bit, Ember was nervous as hell. She could tell Shad was having the same problem because he kept fidgeting with his hands.

"So, uh, what are you doing here in the desert anyway?" Ember shook from the cold and Shad scooted a bit closer to try and warm her up.

"I got bored, wanted to see some place I've never been." She could physically feel him not believing her. She lifted her head to look at him and could see it in his face. His lip was raised to the side and his eyes had the look ofReally? THAT'S the story you're going with? "What?"

"No one in their right mind would just go here on a whim. It's a dangerous place even without the Moldorm patrolling underground. Besides, if we didn't run into you, you would have been out in the cold all night. Without food or water from the looks of it too. What in Nayru's name were you thinking?" Ember stayed silent, shaking as a wind blew past. Shad sighed. "Come here." Shad started to put his arms around her and she stiffened. "Calm down," He said gently. "you're cold is radiating, I can feel it, I'm just trying to help." Her body relaxed and she let him hold her.

"So why are you here? There must be a purpose."

"I'll tell you if you tell me why Zelda ordered you to come."

"How did you-"

"You said you had a letter from Zelda, it's no secret on who wrote that."

"Oh heh heh . . . right. It's um, I'm not sure if I can tell you."

"Why not?"

"I was never informed if it was confidential or not?" Ember huffed

"I don't think that matters at this point, what did you expect to do after we got here? Just leave me in the desert and be on your business? Since coming along then I would find out anyway." Shad chuckled.

"Something tells me you talk your way into a lot of things. Alright, I'll tell you." As he began to tell her of Zelda's dream, he could feel his eyes grow heavy. Before he could finish, he had fallen asleep, clutching to her. His head resting on her shoulder.

Ember sat for a while, waiting for the light to start shinning before the sun hit the horizon. She knew it would take a while and sitting still for hours on end was not something she could do. Carefully she removed herself from Shad's grip, so as not to wake him. He slouched a bit and she held her breath. Fortunately for her, he only stirred. She took this as a sign that he was fast asleep.

Ember stretched her legs and decided to go for a run, if not to warm up but to have an idea of her surroundings before she headed off. She went back into the tent to grab her bag before heading off just in case she decided to leave while she was out on her little excursion. When she reached for her bag, she saw supplies in the other corner of the crowded tent. In those supplies was a canteen most likely full of water. She wasn't terribly thirsty at the moment, but she could go for a drink. And later she knew her thirst would be worse.

Ember debated whether or not to take the water. On one hand, she really needed it, on the other hand, she was raised not to steal. She remembered when she was younger and her family had been forced to move to a different territory due to the lack of food. The wolves that her family lived with moved along with them for they too could not hunt for food that wasn't there. They came unto a town, and being low on resources, they also had nothing to trade for money. They went through without so much as being able to buy a meal.

Ember had looked with envy at the meat shops wishing she would just be able to get a taste of it. She would even challenge the alpha wolf of the pack to gain part of his share so she could have more. Usually she would succeed but every so often she would end up with scratches and bites on her body. Not too bad though for the alpha knew she was just a child. She had a kind of bond with the leader of the wolf pack. He would protect her when she was in danger. And she would treat him with special care, like catching game for him and giving him her blanket in the winter. Even now, years later, she felt uneasy to be away from him.

She asked her father why they didn't just take the food and wasn't it the same as taking from the forest? Her father answered with, "we only take what we need to survive without doing others damage. Taking food would hurt their business and cost them money to replace it."

"But we take lives of animals, isn't that worse than stealing?"

"If we did not kill, how would we eat? Where do you think the merchants get their meat from? It doesn't just appear. Our family, even the wolves that have joined us, do not kill more than we need." At the time Ember didn't understand, all she knew is she was hungry and they had the food she needed. When her father wasn't looking, she tried to sneak a piece from the stall, but the alpha wolf tugged on her shirt and growled at her.

Ember sighed. "Alright, but only because YOU said not to." She petted her companion and he bent down so she could ride on his back. Being as small as she was at the time, he seemed like a giant to her so it put no strain on him.

Coming back to the present, Ember decided that in this situation she needed the water to survive. She grabbed the canteen before she could talk herself out of it. And slid back out without disturbing the others. Thinking of her wolf companion made her realize how much she missed him and her family. But being away from the alpha was worse than anything though. That's why she was on this crazy trip, to try to find her way back to her clan.

Ember had checked everywhere she could, her recent stop had been the mountains of Snow Peak, from there it had led her to Hyrule. It was prosperous and because of that, she figured that would be an ideal place for them to head after what had happened a year ago.

She didn't want to think of it at this moment so she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind. She had spent too much time thinking of the past that light had begun to creep onto the horizon. It was either now or never to leave before anyone noticed. So Ember pulled her bag on, along with her "borrowed" canteen, headed forward and never looked back.

Sorry it took so long guys, but I've been trying to figure out how to get events into motion. That and college takes up most of my time. So one day I sat down and wrotelike half of this in a day. I hope it's not crappy. And if it is, I'm sorry. I didn't get as far as I wanted to in this chapter =( *sad face* But fear not my friends, I have much more planned out =D much much more. It's just a matter of getting it into writing. But there you go. A few of you were asking about Ember's past so I kind of snuck some of that in there.

Things we know so far.

1. Ember has a wolf companion that she yearns to be with

2. Link wants to get his crystal to be a wolf (coincidence? I think not =3)

3. Ember is somehow nott with her family due to some incident around a year ago (why? You will find out later)

4. link likes to scare people when he's bored =D