Zelda awoke out of a groggy sleep. She was lying on her bed. That's right, I . . . took a nap. She sat up and was surprised when the room nearly spun in a circle in her vision. Waiting a moment before standing completely, she called, "Shadow?"

When no one answered her, she cautiously walked to the bedroom door and went out into the hall. Why is it so quiet? She was uneasy, and it wasn't just her queasy stomach. She came across two guards, who were in as groggy a state as she was. What . . . happened? These guards couldn't answer her question, so she moved on. Everyone in the castle she met was in the same state. No one had seen Link, Malon, or the children.

Finally she reached the nursery hallway. The scene was alarming. There were four guards, as dazed as all the others, but on the ground was Colin, not moving. By the nursery door stood Link, looking less dazed than everyone else, but still visibly shaken. His children were sat against the wall near him, and he knelt by them, looking over each one. "Link! What's going on?"

"I don't know, princess. We all woke up at the same time, and all these guards remember is Shadow sending them after some 'man' Saria saw."

"Shadow? Is he here?"

"No."

"What about Zelly?" Zelda's hand clutched at her heart. "This is where they were last."

Link shook his head empathetically, the same pain in his eyes. "Do you know where Saria is?"

Zelda shook her head. She walked to the guards who were now helping Colin stand. "Guards, as soon as you can, join the search parties, check every house in town. Make sure the people are safe, and for goodness sake, find our children!"

Link, Zelda, Malon, Colin, and Shad stood around the war table in the castle's great room.

"No one has a clue what happened. It's like they literally just vanished," Link was saying. "No footprints, no trails, nobody saw anyone suspicious go in or out of town."

"Is it possible that Shadow took Zelly?" Shad suggested, then quickly added, "To protect her, I mean."

"Then why hasn't he come back?" Zelda questioned.

"Maybe he was injured," Colin suggested.

"Regardless," Link interjected, "I think we have to conclude that this was a magic break in."

"A magic kidnapping," Malon corrected bitterly. The ranch girl was barely holding it together, being somewhere between rage and despair.

Shad pursed his lips. "I don't want to break any sensitivities here, but isn't it possible that Shadow simply snapped?" He was glad he prepared himself. The icy look Zelda gave him was one that could have started wars. "Princess, you must consider the possibility!"

Zelda was considering. "Shadow told me earlier, after the incident in the courtyard, that it was like he was being controlled by Ganon again."

Shad's eyes bulged out of his sockets, exaggerated by his spectacles. "And you mention this NOW?!"

"Shad!" Link uttered sharply. "There's no way Ganon has returned." He looked at the birthmark on his left hand, two perfect triangles with one triangle balanced on top. The mark of the Goddesses. "I would have felt it. And Princess, you haven't been haven't any prophetic nightmares lately."

Zelda placed a finger on her chin. "That's . . . not entirely true."

Now it was Link's turn to gape, although there was no judgment in his. Just surprise.

The princess straightened herself and coughed self-consciously. "In my current physical state, it can be confusing which dreams are . . . prophetic and which are . . . the baby's. It's not like Zelly, who has my prophetic gift. This baby's dreams are just dreams, but I experience them anyway, and also just regular dreams and nightmares from being pregnant."

"Shouldn't you have told the council about the dreams anyway?" Link asked.

"YOU try getting pregnant and having several hormone-induced nightmares a night and see how YOU do at remembering them!"

"Are there any you DO remember, Zelda?" Malon asked, desperately.

Zelda closed her eyes and concentrated, rubbing her temples. "Oh, it makes me so queasy just thinking about it . . . there was one dream. It was about Shadow. He somehow became . . . lost to me." A tear began to trail down her cheek. "There was a dark haze that swallowed him up, and soon it had swallowed all of Hyrule . . . but many of my nightmares are about Shadow disappearing in some way, or dying, or going back to his old ways. I've learned to ignore them. I guess looking back, this one seemed . . . perhaps different. But I can't be sure."

"A dark haze? What . . ." Shad changed his tone to a less incredulous one. "What are we supposed to gather from that?"

"Haze . . . or . . . wind. It was wind. A dark, evil wind. Shad, go to the library and look up any legends about wind, people or places. I will study the Book of Mudora and the Temple of Time's holy books. Also . . . lapses of time and sleeping spells. Study all of it!"

"Right O!" Having something productive to do that he was good at, Shad couldn't wait to be out of there. He was always uncomfortable speaking to the princess on somewhat equal terms, but at the same time didn't know when to keep his stupid mouth shut.

"Link, can you check the castle for any magical activity?"

Link nodded. "I'll use the Master Sword. It was quite responsive down by the nursery. Colin, you can help me." They left together.

Malon walked up to Zelda, handkerchief still held up to her swollen, tear-stained cheek. "What can I do?"

Zelda studied her friend, then put a hand on her arm and smiled reassuringly. "I think you'd better call on your father to take the children back to the ranch. They'll be safer there than here, don't you think?"

Malon considered, then nodded. "But what about Saria?" she sobbed.

"Link will do everything possible to find her. And so will I."

Malon took a deep breath. "Alright." She wiped her eyes one final time and took in a few more breaths. "Gotta look good for the kiddos!" She put her arms firmly at her side. "Once I send them off, I'll be back."

"We could desperately use your help."

Shad had only been in the library for half an hour, and already there were stacks of books circling round his seat on the ground. He heard a knock on a bookshelf and lifted his head out of the large tome he'd been studying. "Ilia!" he greeted. "How nice to see—um—um . . . who's watching the children."

Ilia's green eyes smiled. "Malon came to get them. I guess they're going back to the ranch."

"You're not going back to Ordon already, certainly?"

Ilia knelt in front of him and shook her head. "Nope," she said with a chuckle.

She had such a calm way about her, Shad couldn't help but think. Nothing was startling about her, and that's something he liked about her. A small smile graced his lips as he relaxed.

"Malon told me a little of what was going on," Ilia said. "What are you looking for?"

"Any stories about wind mages, or temples. I can't seem to find anything relevant, though."

"We have a story in Ordon."

"Oh, really?" Shad asked with interest, closing his book and leaning forward.

Ilia nodded. "It's the legend of the Picori—tiny little people who make people's good wishes come true. There's a legend that they live in Faron woods, next to Ordon Village. Only children can see them, which is why they go undetected."

"Do they control the wind?"

"Not exactly. You see, there was one Minnish, named Vaati, and his heart was full of fascination for all kinds of evil. He envied this evil, and he used a powerful wish to make himself the most formidable wind sorcerer history has ever known. The Minnish knew this couldn't be, so they found a hero among Hylian children who believed in them, and with his help they sealed Vaati away inside a sword deep in the forest."

"Wow . . . would you know it, I have never heard that story before!"

Ilia giggled. "Well of course you haven't! It's only a silly country story, after all," she teased.

Shad blushed. "I wonder if there's anything in HERE about the Minnish. Perhaps under a different name?" He pulled a large encyclopedia of Ordon from the middle of a stack of books, and the rest of the books went tumbling down with loud thumps. Shad cringed. Then he turned to Ilia with his heart fluttering (he scolded himself—what a terrible time to be so happy!), and said, "Would you like to help me look?"

"Of course!"