I'm alive, see? I promise. READ ON.

As Zelda rode upon Epona with a retinue in tow (including Cole and his pony), Zelda tried to imagine what the bird's eye view of the road was like. She'd seen it before, just a few days ago, but already it seemed so hazy in her mind. As if it were a dream she was trying to recall but kept fading away just when she thought she could remember the best part.

"Princess? Are you well?"

Gibdo's inquiry snapped her back into reality. "Ah, yes, I'm well. I just… I had a lovely dream last night. … I was trying to recall it." She lied. Or was she?

"Did you and Poe ever have that conversation?"

She blinked in surprise. It took her a moment to remember that when she'd been distraught over the question of Poe's allegiances, she'd gone to his brother. For a moment, the rational part of her brain wanted to tell Gibdo everything, considering that his brother currently wasn't on the retinue that day. Zelda could tell him everything about Poe and Vaati; perhaps he could even take the Four Sword and strike the mage down! But just as quickly as those thoughts came into her mind, they were shut out. There was the ever present suspicion of everyone now, that he wouldn't believe her and think she was crazy. But perhaps more than that was… well, she didn't want to tell him the truth. Poe was Gibdo's little brother. Sure, the two may not have gotten along so well, but she didn't want to be the one to break that familial bond. And as for Vaati…

… Vaati had done nothing wrong. He'd upheld his end of their bargain, had brought no harm to her or her father. If he wanted to do anything terrible, he had had ten years to do it but didn't. His motives were still a complete mystery to her, but until she knew for sure that he was up to something malevolent she couldn't bring herself to mention anything. For all she knew, he was telling the complete truth and he really was up to nothing bad.

She smiled brightly at Gibdo, "Oh, yes. You were right the whole time, Mr. Gibdo, there was nothing to worry about." It wasn't a complete lie – at this moment in time she really felt as if there was nothing to worry about. The monsters were out of Hyrule and her father would get better.

Gibdo's expression remained impassive at her answer, and she wondered if he was perhaps suspicious of her answer. But quickly enough, the guard smiled, "That's good to know. I was worried." And the princess smiled back, deciding her half-lie was the best choice. She didn't want anyone to worry anymore.

Thoughts of aerial views, however, were absent from her mind. She ended up engaging Gibdo in small talk, surprised to find that the man wasn't nearly as boring as his brother had described. Their conversation didn't have the chance to get any deeper, however, as Cole immediately rushed the princess ahead when they arrived at the retinue's intended destination, Hyrule's lone stone quarry. Cole began making the "proper" announcements of the presence of royalty, to which Zelda rolled her eyes.

Before the little councilman could even finish the proclamations, the quarrymaster came forward, futilely attempted to rub the dust off of his work gloves, and said cheerfully, "Ho there, Highness!"

Just as the man ignored Cole, so did Zelda as she dismounted Epona and cheerily replied, "Good day there, Sir Quarrymaster!"

"Now what brings Your Highness all the way out here? I haven't seen ye since you were a wee lass!" The man said with a hearty laugh, as the offended Cole huffed and stood back.

The princess lightly laughed, "Now, now, you were invited to my party weeks ago, if you didn't see me then, it's your own fault!"

Another laugh came from the Quarrymaster, "Aye, aye, that's true… But really, Highness, what is it you need?" He asked happily.

She nodded, retaining her bright smile, "Well, some of the walls of the castle are need of repairs, and we're considering building another arch for Hyrule Town Square, in light of the visits from Labrynna and Holodrum."

The older man nodded, clapping his gloved hands together and getting a look of determination on his face. "Aye, the castle walls! I always said they've been needing repairs… Lessee, the stone them walls are from…"

From there, the man led the Princess and her retinue through the quarries. Business was gotten down to, and prices and deals were discussed about the masonry repairs as well as the possibility of a new archway. The better part of the morning was spent mostly on deciding whether the new arch was worth it, and eventually Zelda was convinced that no expense should be spared when making an impression on the visiting kingdoms. The idea, after all, was that Holodrum and Labrynna would be visiting a kingdom they wanted to do business with.

After the business aspect had been taken care of, Zelda had stayed around the quarry (against the wishes of Cole), this time looking at the statuary and other projects that the quarrymaster had at the time. Most of them were simple columns and supports, perhaps a small gargoyle to put on corner of a well-to-do family's house, or small equestrian statues that children could play on. The quarrymaster was all too happy to show Zelda these things, bragging about his artisans and their excellent work. For the most part, she just smiled and nodded, forming her own opinions on what she saw. It was towards the end of their tour that the princess had found herself unintentionally ignoring the man upon seeing piles, upon piles of white marble, all packed and tied on slats and ready to transport. Some of it wasn't even slatted or tied, just solid chunks of white marble. Outside of the castle, she had never seen so much of it. She even knew that these weren't meant for the castle, either – there were no repairs or décor ordered that she knew of.

As she turned back to the quarrymaster, his words were flooding into her head now, "… t's strange. The buyer of this grand batch has been making orders of this for months now. We're always told to drop them at some part in the field and by the time we come back in the morning to check on it, they're gone."

"Have you asked the buyer about it?" She asked, curious to hear such a strange story.

The quarrymaster shrugged, "Never met'im."

"Never…?" She frowned, wondering how that was possible. "Surely you are getting paid for this?"

"Naturally, Princess, but our buyer has someone else come and buy for him. He gives us all the rupees up front, tells us where to drop off he materials, and then leaves. It's a strange situation, but so far hasn't proven troublesome to business." The way the man spoke of it, it sounded like this was just as normal as anything else. But it was still off putting to Zelda. Surely she'd be aware if anybody was buying mass quantities of marble like this – the nobility did love to talk about their newest projects and all the ways they could spend their rupees. But she hadn't heard a word from anyone. Granted, she couldn't claim to be as aware of the rumors around Hyrule anymore thanks to her self-imposed solitude… but surely the maids would have been saying something, right? Something was niggling at the back of her brain… though she had no idea if what it was had any relation to a certain someone who seemed to always be on her mind these days.

"The man who represents your buyer, what does he look like?" She asked, trying to hide the uneasiness in her voice.

The quarrymaster thought for a moment, his eyes eventually falling on Gibdo speaking to one of the artisans a few years from where they stood. "Ah, he kind of looks like that fella over yonder, 'cept without the beard and a much more crooked nose. Granted, I only know that cause one of them windier nights ended up knocking his hood off. Whoever the guy is, doesn't seem to want to be known – doesn't even give a name."

But the man didn't have to give Zelda a name for her to figure out who it was. Poe was the one coming and buying things on behalf of Vaati, she just knew it. And that only made the girl a bit more suspicious of the sorcerer and his intentions… Why would he need so much stone? And marble, no less? If he was trying to build a fortress or something, such soft stone would never do. And when he'd taken her on that flight, she'd seen no signs of any grand building projects. What are you planning?

"Princess? You have a strange look on your face." The quarrymaster made it sound like a joke, but Zelda knew there was concern there.

She smiled at him, "Oh sorry; just wondering how the buyer of all this might surprise us."

By the time Zelda and her retinue had returned to the castle, it was mid-afternoon. She remembered that she arranged for the maids to set up tea in her father's room, the princess attempting to try and… reconnect to her father. But her mind had immediately flown to suspicion for the mage and his minion. She had taken off immediately to find Poe, ignoring Cole's protestations for reports and logs. Poe's normal schedule would have him getting off of his shift for today, if she recalled correctly. So she waited by the castle gates unpestered, the maids doing their now-normal routine of ignoring their "unstable" princess. She didn't have to wait long before seeing that head of scraggly hair that belonged to her friend.

She caught up, "Poe!"

The guardsman turned around with a small bit of surprise. "Princess?" He grimaced upon seeing her expression, knowing it all too well as the one she wore when she wanted answers. He kept walking, but asked with a sigh, "What is it you want to know?"

Once upon a time, Zelda may have given him a mischievous smile and attempt to coyly pry out an answer. But that was before Poe had proven himself a liar. While he was still her "friend," she didn't feel she could ever act in her old mannerisms around him. Her smile was sharp and hawklike, "While I was at the quarry today, I saw that the quarryman was preparing a rather large shipment of white marble. But I simply have no idea who might have arranged for so much stone – I'm afraid I haven't heard of anyone with such large projects within my own circles; have you?"

Poe's face scrunched up, clearly unsure as to what to say. To the princess, this only reinforced the conclusion she'd come to. "I may have heard of someone but…" His voice was strained, "He really wanted to keep it a secret."

"Well, tell him I want to know." She said matter-of-factly.

The guardsman nearly tripped over himself. "What?!"

"You heard me, I told you to tell him I want to know." She responded in the same tone. She had decided that if Vaati was going act like a power player, she would too. "If he really wants to understand me so badly then I'm sure you've told him I'm notoriously nosy. I won't rest until I know." The princess justified it by telling herself that as the soon-to-be monarch of this kingdom, she had to keep her enemies close. The deepest corners of her mind, however, were hesitantly admitting that just as he was so curious about her, she'd found herself wanting to solve the mystery of this heinous mage that had done absolutely nothing horrible so far. I just haven't caught him yet!

The soldier scowled, knowing full well the statement of her nosiness was true. The girl was far from flighty, and she had a one track mind. "He won't be happy about it." Poe said warningly.

"As if I care what he feels." Zelda snorted. She certainly didn't care that he seemed to delight in her fear of him. But she refused to be toyed with any longer. This was her chance to one up him and catch him off guard.

And with that, she had taken leave of Poe with her chest held high, brimming with a sense of confidence she hadn't had for what seemed like an eternity. The girl had to remind herself it was a bit silly, however, to get such an ego boost from what surely would be a rather pointless line of questioning. She doubted Vaati would even acknowledge the question, and even if he had it was surely inconsequential. Marble, after all, was a soft stone – not meant for anything like fortifications or anything that could stand much stress. She could only guess that it was some sort of vanity project, but if she could catch the mage off-guard in some sort of attempt to show that she was in an equal station of power to him, that was enough.

With that business out of the way, she went towards her father's room to take tea with him, but found herself stopping at the door again.

"… -pposed to be here, but I suppose she's not up to it."

"Well, she has been busy with Cole, arranging that gala, right?"

Malon was there. She'd been visiting a lot lately… Zelda found her heart growing a bit heavy, remembering what she'd overheard just a few nights ago. What came of that conversation between Malon and her father, she wondered. They seemed to be closer than ever before… had they confessed? A pang of envy hit her heart then, and, as with the other night, she found herself quietly backing away from the door and leaving.

Her plans for the remainder of the afternoon had been derailed with that. She wandered the castle halls aimlessly, trying to cheer herself up with earlier thoughts of thinking how close she was to unveiling a possible plot from Vaati. But her mind's eye kept envisioning her father and Malon talking together, just imaging her father's hand entwined in the ranch woman's. The tightness in Zelda's chest increased then, a reminder that, despite her and Poe being on more or less friendly terms again, she really was alone.

She sighed as her legs had taken her to her normal nook in the garden maze. Zelda sat and hugged her knees, feeling more like a child than ever. She had thrown herself into this loneliness to protect herself from the insincerity of other people… yet here she was, craving a friend. And hearing her father and Malon, she found herself craving a deeper connection as well. With her face buried in her knees, she tried to empty her mind.

"My, my, I haven't said anything and already you're wallowing in self-pity."

Her head shot up immediately, looking around fervently for the source of the voice that instantly managed to infuriate her. A little beholder was perched on the corner of one of the bushes by her nook, its red eye staring at her unblinkingly. She wasn't sure what was worse, speaking to him in person, speaking to him through one of those little sentry eyes, or that he'd just seen her in a vulnerable state. "Ugh, your timing is awful." The princess finally concluded. Despite it, however, she didn't change her knee-hugged position.

"I didn't do it on purpose, I assure you." The tone in which he spoke sounded… sincere. A word she never would have associated with Vaati. It was certainly enough to have Zelda look on his sentry with suspicion, trying to detect what expression the man could have making on the other side. Automatically she assumed that he had to have been making fun of her, it was something he took joy in in every encounter they'd had so far. But he had always been obvious about it. Again, she found herself a bit surprised by the mage and how capable he seemed of behaving human. And as if to surprise her more, his voice came through from the beholder once more, "I can always lend an eye to listen, if you care to."

Zelda stared at the sentry dumbfounded, registering those words. "Was that… a joke?"

The sentry's wings raised and lowered as if in a shrug. "I'll admit, humor has never been my strong suit, but it seemed appropriate to try."

He had. He had attempted to make a joke. It failed horribly, it wasn't funny, but the mere fact that he tried was the most shocking thing. "Why do you even care?!" The girl found herself blurting out without thinking.

"Hm? Oh, I don't really. It just seemed appropriate." The sentry nodded with Vaati's words.

The strawberry blonde's expression flattened. That sounded right… but even so, it "seemed appropriate"? She didn't understand. Why did it seem appropriate? Why did he feel the need to make it seem like he did care? She shook her head, attempting to reorganize her thoughts. This wasn't why he was here. The infamous Wind Mage of decades past wouldn't just appear before her to play therapist. "I wouldn't tell you anyways." Zelda spat, "Why do you have Poe buying ridiculous amounts of marble?"

The sentry's eye rolled. "Really, Princess, must you always make me question your intelligence?"

"I already know you are building something," she said defensively, her arms coming down to her sides and taking in fistfuls of her skirt in annoyance. "I want to know what. I can only imagine it's something large and ostentatious, dedicated to yourself."

"Your opinion of me truly is low." Her expression flattened again. "Well, credit where it's due, Highness: you're not entirely wrong. Though I dare say even you could appreciate my current venture into the world of the architecture and engineering."

She snorted, "If it's a vanity project, I highly doubt it." Zelda felt that pride of hers rising again, with that rebellious streak already trying to figure out where it could be so she could put a wrench in his plans.

"Truthfully it's more of a restoration." He confessed.

And at that, the princess found herself staring at the little beholder in confusion. "Restoration?" Immediately her brain went into overdrive, attempting to map out that aerial view of Hyrule she'd seen not long ago. The only place she could really think of that actively needed restoration was the temple in the Royal Valley. So far as she was aware, no one had been going out of their way to repair it. "Liar." Zelda concluded.

"Not at all, Princess. I've told you before, I'm the one person who hasn't lied to you. This is no different. I had actually planned on telling you of it myself, though not quite so soon. It's not ready yet."

"Liar." She would hear none of it. He may not have lied to her so far, but there was no way he could be telling the truth.

A sigh could be heard from the sentry eye. "You are stubborn. Is this supposed to be an endearing trait?"

"I'm not trying to endear myself to anyone, least of all you." She sneered at him and said smugly, "I think I've just finally called you out on a lie." The princess's pride was ready to come back full force – she'd finally tipped the scales in her favor. Or so she'd thought.

Vaati's irritation was palpable when he spoke again. "Fine then. I suppose I can make an exception for you, even if it does ruin the aesthetic by showing you the unfinished product."

She blinked. It was not at all what she had expected, even if he did seem to be very put out by it. The shock wore off quickly and Zelda felt a surge of determination go through her. She picked herself up then, stepping towards the sentry quickly as she demanded, "All right then, show me."

The sentry eye tilted itself to the side curiously. "Your enthusiasm is noted, but the reward for it comes tomorrow."

"What? No, show me now." She insisted, her tone reflecting Vaati's own earlier irritation.

The sentry picked itself up, its wings batting the air. She stepped back as the small beholder circled her for a moment and then hovered in front of her face. Zelda grit her teeth as she heard a chuckle from the sentry, again finding herself taken aback when one of the spare wings of the beholder came and poked her nose. "Good things to those who wait, Princess. Just come to the Shrine in the morning." And then the sentry flew off into the sky, Zelda's eyes following it until the castle walls hid it from her.

She had woken before the sun had even risen, riding Epona as fast as she was able to the Four Sword Shrine. Zelda had expected that Vaati would be present and waiting, but evidently she was more of an early riser than the mage was. Not that she had really slept all that well the night before. Her mind had been racing too quickly with possibilities, wondering what the mage could possibly be working on and why she was actually feeling a bit excited to see it. She stayed with Epona for a while as she waited, until her restless legs took her pacing around the Shrine. After circling the area impatiently, the princess had finally taken note that that sun was drifting down through the canopy of trees, its light glinting off of the Four Sword.

Zelda paused, looking at the shining sword from where she stood. After a moment, she walked up to it and knelt down to examine it as best she could without having had to touch it. Of course she remembered the promise she wished she could go back on, considering perhaps sealing Vaati once and for all whenever he did decide to show up. But the thoughts occurred to her in passing, as things she knew she should have felt, but found her heart was no longer into. Instead, all she could feel was overwhelming curiosity as to how the seal, that should have been broken now that Vaati was free, was still completely whole.

Her mind flashed a memory before her, reminding her of the blood she'd found on the blade the night after her birthday celebration. It was obvious to her now that it had to be Vaati's own blood, it was the only thing that made sense. His blood was tricking the Sword into thinking he was still sealed, probably because as a child she'd just barely cracked the thing. It was more of a peek into the seal rather than a breaking of it, Vaati had just exploited that weakness when he could. She sighed. If only I hadn't been such a fool child… But there was no use dwelling on the mistakes of the past, she concluded as she stood herself up and went back to wait near Epona. She had made a horrible mistake, one which was now certainly back to haunt her. But as long as Hyrule was safe and prosperous, she would deal with the misfortune she had brought upon herself.

The sun had risen higher into the sky, signaling mid-morning when the winds picked up and various little beholders began to flock into the grove of the Shrine, Epona growing uneasy where she stoof. Signaling the sorcerer's actual presence was a strong gale that eddied itself into a miniature tornado, the wind strong enough to send Epona whinnying in displeasure and have Zelda covering her face to protect it from her whipping hair in addition to dust and leaves. When the winds died down, where that small tornado had once been now stood Vaati. He was quick to catch on to her presence, glancing at her over his shoulder before turning to face her proper and offering one of those mocking bows of his, "Princess."

She kept her chin held high, refusing to show any sign of the fear she held for him on past encounters. It was made all the easier by the fact that he'd given her no reason to be afraid since he clearly said he wished no harm on her. "Well? Where is it, what is this project of yours?"

He gracefully rose up from his bow, a careless smile upon expression. He pointed up.

Puzzled, she looked up, seeing nothing but the gap in the canopy that revealed the sky. She looked back to Vaati and said in her best haughty voice, "I already saw from the air last time nothing but Hyrule as it was. Be more precise."

He frowned a bit, "That tone is quite bothersome." But his smirk returned, "But amusing when I realize you have no idea of what you speak. It's not in Hyrule, dear Princess. It's above it, in the air."

The dots connected fully. "The Palace of Winds?!" She gaped.

Her response seemed to please the mage, looking smugger than he had in their previous encounters. "Correct."

"I- I want to see it!" Zelda blurted out, realizing too late her tone sounded a lot like that of an overeager child's.

Vaati's grinned widened, looking as if he'd won himself a mighty victory. "I did say yesterday I would show you, though you should be aware of the method of transportation."

The princess had to reel herself back to reality to process it. There was a reason, after all, he seemed very self-satisfied. It didn't take her long to figure it out, and she found herself unconsciously stepping back. Flight. That was the only way to access a place that floated in the sky. The redhead's mind went a mile a minute, remembering the fantastic views from the air… but her fists shook remember the discomfort of being held tight by savage claws. The internal debate she was suffering was no doubt written on her face from the way Vaati seemed to be restraining a laugh. "I'm giving you options, Princess. I can carry you like this," he spread his arms out wide, presenting himself as he was, "Or we can proceed as last time." He dropped his arms then, and then added cheerily, "The last option is just taking my good word on this and leaving it alone until it's finished."

And that was what decided things for the Princess. His last statement was no doubt what he wanted – he'd been very clear he didn't want to show off this project before it was done. She replaced the step she took back with a step forward, and said, "Fine. You may have the honor of carrying me as you are."

The cheery expression the mage had dropped to stoicism. "Stubborn, indeed." He then sighed a defeated sigh. "There's no helping it then." Without hesitation, he approached Zelda and then scooped her up like a bride, inciting a squeal of protest from the girl. He paid no mind to it, but the princess didn't dare say anything through her burning blush. She could only ever count two men to have ever held her as such, and that was her father and Poe. And the latter had only ever carried her as such when she was a child all those years ago.

Yet despite her best efforts, she let out another squeal, wrapping her arms around his neck as they lifted from the ground. The mage was quick to give her a look of warning, telling her he was not about to deal with any sort of protest out of her after he'd given her other options. While there was no screaming this time, she was sure that her tight grip on the mage was giving him some amount of discomfort, but he made no complaints as they continued to rise into the air. Zelda forced herself to keep her eyes open this time, trying to peer over her shoulder to see the sprawling layout of Hyrule Field below. Alas, from the position she was being carried in, she found her view wasn't as impressive as it had been when was in the discomfort of deathly sharp claws. The best views she could get were of the sky and of Vaati himself. Awkward enough as it was, she decided to focus on the former.

While she was missing out on the view of her kingdom, Zelda again found herself in a situation in which she could only claim amazement at what she saw. There was no comparison to it. It wasn't at all like laying on the grass and watching the clouds roll by. Here, she was flying by the clouds, with them. If she had courage enough, she could reach out and touch them. She was sorely tempted to, wondering if they felt like the cotton she always thought they may have felt like. Yes, they were supposed to be water… but water could feel like cotton, right? And through all the clouds, she could see the sky, as blue and clear as she could ever imagine, the colors so much more vivid than she had seen from the ground. Zelda had never thought something as simple as the sky could appear as beautiful from soaring in it as it did from peering at it from the ground.

The princess had come to relax then, closing her eyes and trying to soak in the newest memories of the sky she had formed. The sensation of soaring this time was pleasant, her hair not whipping at her face so violently but gently caressing her instead. Despite the lack of an easy view of her country below… this form of flight was certainly more tranquil.

When she had opened her eyes, she'd honestly forgotten to whom she had been clinging to. A part of her felt sick to her stomach that this man was the reason she was able to take delight in the new scenery around her. Man? The princess had thought to herself. He'd had human traits, surely, but above all he was still a beast. When had she begun to regard him as anything else? Had it been simply seeing him in this form that had done it? Aside from his eerily pale complexion, she certainly couldn't deny that his outward appearance was that of a handsome young man. Of course, the thought alone was enough to tell her that he may not have said any verbal lies, but certainly his appearance was. He had made his grand appearance 30 years ago already an adult, which meant that the mage was likely even older than her father. Does it count if 30 years of his life were in a torturous stasis, though? If it didn't… then he likely wasn't that much older than herself.

Zelda managed to tear her gaze away from him, trying in her mind to put together this puzzle that was Hyrule's greatest enemy. She never had the chance, however, when she saw a shape in the clouds that didn't belong. It was still small, but she immediately attempted to lean in closer to see, prompting Vaati to clutch her tighter and gave her a disapproving glare. "I can drop you."

"S-sorry," the word came out of her mouth before she could stop it, but rather than get embarrassed about it, she focused on the ever nearing shape. "That's it, right?"

"I couldn't imagine why you would get that impression," he replied dryly. Sarcastic reply aside, the mage did speed up, and the princess let out an involuntary squeak. She kept her eyes on the incoming Palace, her heart thumping hard against chest as she now clearly made out the exact shapes she saw. It was an enormous, interconnected structure that layered and layered upon itself with open air halls, spired towers… or at least the standing parts did. Much of it, she could see, was in disarray, damaged, or completely fallen apart. But on what she guessed what the "port" of the Palace, were the large slabs of marble she'd seen at the quarry just yesterday. She could make out individuals by these supplies, bringing them together – an organized system of those ready to work and build.

Drinking in the scene, she had then noticed that Vaati had stoppe din midair, making no move to continue forward. "Aren't we going down?"

"To the Palace?" He asked, forking an eyebrow at her. "Not at all. I said I would show it to you, that is all. I don't want you entering this place at all until it's complete." The mage explained it as precisely and as commanding as she had to him before they took flight.

"What, no – but I want to see! This place is legendary, I want to know the plans and see what's happening!" She argued.

The mage rolled his eyes. "Perhaps you should pay a bit more attention to my workforce."

She'd no idea what he meant until she made out the precise shapes of the ones Vaati had gotten to do this work: monsters. Moblins were untying slabs, peahats were grouping together to lift heavier chunks to certain areas, Miniblins were carving out chunks of the stone – all of them, working as engineers and artisans. It made perfect sense: Vaati was a demon of sorts, he had the power to command monsters. No doubt some of these in his "employ" were some of the monsters he ran out during his tempest. "So? What of it, I'm not afraid!" She said determinedly. How could she possibly pass up the opportunity to miss out on a tour of a place that even the Wind Tribe had no more access to?

"You should be. You can barely handle two Moblins by yourself with a bow, not to mention you have the barest grasp on any magical talents you may have. The Palace is crawling with significantly more beasts that would destroy you in heartbeat simply because they can. I could put you under my protection, but I didn't even want you here until the Palace itself was completed." In other words, he was saying he didn't want her there.

A power play. Here he was, showing her something she wanted dearly and now she had to sit and wait just because he said so? "And what if I managed to get my magic up to par, enough to keep those monsters at bay?" He glanced at her skeptically. "I can do it! And you are a mage! So teach me!"

Vaati's expression was blank. Zelda inwardly smirked – he hadn't expected her to say anything like that at all. And then she saw it, a glint in his eye as if a new cog in the clockwork of his mind had begun to turn. It was enough to immediately shrink her pride back down in favor of a great sense of unease, but she kept face stern. She wasn't going to back down. "Asking your father's greatest enemy to teach you how to control your magic? Are you sure about that?"

She didn't hesitate, "Yes." No one else was going to teach the "unstable" princess how to use her magic properly. And the Palace of Winds, if she could just explore it, would no doubt have some great merit, not just to her own personal interests, but to Hyrule.

He laughed then, that strange, genuine laugh that Zelda did not know what to make of. "You are more interesting than I gave you credit for, Princess! Very well, then, I'll teach you. Hopefully you'll survive it."

It's been nearly a year, and for that I am sorry. Allow me to repeat: If I, for whatever reason, were stop writing these fics, I will be the first to let everyone know. Hopefully, next update won't be in a year, but I will see these through to the end. That's the plan, anyways. I won't go into details why I've had the hold up or whatever, if you really want to know go to my DeviantArt page and read the journal or feel free to PM me with any and all questions.

Also, Zelda clearly isn't asking the real question here. Can you figure out what that real question is? :3

Ai Star, oh, it will come to bite him. How, I can't say. As for ulterior motives, yes, Vaati does, in fact, have ulterior motives. What they are... well, you'll have to find out, now won't you. -twirls fake mustache-

fleets, HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN FLEETS? HOW LONG? BAW. ANYWAYS, onto the response proper. XD Is it going both ways, who knooooows? Aside from me, that is, hehehehe... And yeah, it has to be slow. Granted, it picked up a bit in this chapter, and I imagine the pace will pick up a bit now, but it has to be a slow burn. By all means, guess! I certainly love hearing guesses, I just can't answer whether you'd be right or wrong. :3

Zom Bees Knees, I AM SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GIVE YOU MORE. D:

eureka93, well, the pace did pick up a little, I think? XD Thank you! I like to think I have a pretty accurate depiction of Vaats. BD