A/N: Dear James Birdsong from last week,

Thank you. I've been up in the air on whether or not to just wipe this story from my profile altogether for the past few chapters and I'm glad I'm still going with it. Mostly because someone said something nice about it. I mean, I know I can't please everyone, but still. It's nice to know when I am pleasing someone. A little encouragement can go a long way. You're the real MVP and I reward you with a virtual hug redeemable any time you ever see me in person.

All my love,

Lumi

And now, we go on, yeah?

The Castle Town open air markets were always plentiful, but the shops were where all the good stuff was. And the shops were notoriously expensive. Unfortunately, I needed a few things I couldn't get from the stalls. No one could give me potions or bombs and if I'm going to go after Zelda, I'll need both. And lots of them.

There was one shop that wasn't too bad. According to the paper, this was Castle Town's best kept shopping secret. I'm not saying I already knew that, but I might have had a hand in it. Hidden away in the western thoroughfare was Hyrule's friendliest mini mart, full of everything an adventurer needed at reasonable prices. At least that's what it said on their flyers.

Now, if I'm going on another great and grand adventure across Hyrule, what am I low on? My glass bottles were empty, so a few red potions wouldn't be a bad idea. My bomb bag was quite spacious, so thirty should be good for now. If I need more, I'll be around Death Mountain. Bomb flowers grow wild all over the place there.

On the display in the corner hung a nice, sturdy set of red armor. It said it was made from dragon scales. Sounded like a good idea, but it thrives on a constant magic supply. My magic was extremely limited right now and all of it had to go into the Master Sword. Maybe when I have an ampler supply and eight hundred rupees to drop on it, but for now, I'll stick with my green tunic. It hasn't failed me yet.

While I'm here, I should make sure my quiver is full, too. I'm not too bad with my bow. I've shot monsters from a mile away easily! Maybe I should get some arrows for Luna, too. She doesn't use any other weapons from what I've seen…Experienced. And she won't hesitate to use it from a close range either. After I dropped a little over a hundred rupees in the shop, I looked around the thoroughfare.

Luna was nowhere to be found. I couldn't have been in the shop for longer than twenty minutes. Luna can't go missing in Castle Town. If someone finds out who she is, they'll burn her at the stake in the square. Where could she have gone off to? This isn't good. Would she have gone back to the tavern? When I went into the shop, I told her to stay right outside for the sake of her safety. But she just had to be a rebel. I walked up and down the thoroughfare, looking for a girl with a hood over her head and a bow on her back.

"Luna!" I called out, "Luna!"

"What?" Luna skipped down the stairs of a different shop on the corner where the west thoroughfare met the south thoroughfare.

"Where have you been?" I gasped, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"You were taking long enough," she shrugged, "You're not the only one with things to do before we leave."

"I was getting everything we needed," I reached back into my quiver, "By the way, I got you a bundle of arrows."

"Thank you."

"What could you have needed that I couldn't get for you?" I asked, still a bit on edge.

"Since I've managed to upset most of the kingdom," Luna thought, "I don't even want to know what they'd do to me if I got recognized."

"That's why I told you to stay!" I growled, "If you're with me, chances are that people will be more trusting of you."

"And for the times you're not around?" she defended herself, "Look, Link, I can't always be stuck to your hip. I'd go crazy. I'm sorry, but that's not happening."

"Luna," I let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, "I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"And I appreciate that," Luna nodded, "But I've trained moblins to fight. I grew up making sure my body and spirit were one of a warrior. Don't worry about me. I can handle just about anything."

"So," I wondered, "What were you doing while I was in the shop?"

"Like I said," Luna dropped her hood, revealing a long, golden braid running down her back, "If we're going to be traveling the kingdom, I should probably be unrecognizable. Can't be the Gerudo princess if I don't look Gerudo, right?"

All of a sudden, my reoccurring dream flashed into my head. The woman and the baby at the Great Deku Tree. The burning village. And the blonde girl that always comes at the end just before I wake up at the center of everything. She looked just like Luna. Which only made me think. Just who are you, Luna? You're not just the Gerudo princess. Why am I seeing you in my dreams?

"Good idea," I approved, shaking off my apprehensions, "Is that your natural color?"

"For the most part," she confirmed, "A shade or two off. This was the closest the lady had to my natural color on hand. It'll do for the time being."

"I think it suits you," I complimented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luna scoffed, "Are you suggesting something?"

"No!" I squeaked, "I was just…"

"I wouldn't be hitting on me if I were you," she teased, "That'd be weird."

"Why?"

Luna held her face in her hands, rolling her eyes, "Hero of Time and he's denser than pound cake. Come on, Hero. We should hit Goron City by daylight if we leave right now. Let's go get those spiritual stones Impa was talking about."

"Ok," I followed Luna through the town square and out through the eastern gate. If I knew where Epona had run off to, we could be making this trip in half the time. Although, we met a little bit of trouble at the Kakariko bridge. A group of bokoblins blocked our path. They growled and snarled at me, but then, they got to Luna.

"Do you mind?" she jerked away as they crowded her, sniffing at her. One of the bokoblins, the one that looks to be the spearhead of the charge, growled at Luna. Instead of taking out her bow, she put her hand gently on the bokoblin's face, speaking softly to him, "Zaza, it's me. It's Luna. Please let us through."

"You know him?" I gave her a look, worried about the kind of company she keeps.

"Moblins and bokoblins aren't that difficult to train if you get them young enough," Luna told me, "When I got Zaza in my ranks, he was fresh from a group of Hylian knights slaughtering his clan. You were just a little one then, Zaza."

The bokoblin snorted in disgust at me, "Did I do something?"

"Unless you've been in on those raids," Luna settled the angry bokoblin in front of her, "He's ok. He's not going to hurt you or any of the others. As long as you let us pass."

"Luna," I wondered, "Do you understand what it's saying?"

"What he's saying?" she corrected me, "Zaza's not an it. And yes. I understand moblins and bokoblins. How else do you figure I trained Ganondorf's armies?"

"And they understand you?"

"Yep," Luna gave Zaza a pat on the head, "And you're going to let us get to Kakariko, right, Zaza?"

Zaza broke his gaze with her, drawing a spear. His eyes filled with apology and sorrow. Like a reflex, I jumped in front of Luna, "I got this taken care of."

"Link, no!" Luna stopped me, "Don't! I can reason with him! With all of them!"

"They're not giving us a choice," I pointed out, "And clearly, you can't do anything about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she drew her bow, "If my own bokoblins are going to turn on me, they know they're on the wrong side. They've made their choice. As much as this is going to pain me, it has to be done."

"Are you sure?" Going by how I saw Luna with her moblins back at my house and in the Lost Woods, she had a connection with all of them. She could pretend she didn't care about them all she wanted to, but I knew, deep down, she really didn't want to hurt them.

Then again, Luna was a trained killer. And one of her arrows went through Zaza's heart. I guess that was the go ahead to start taking out the rest of them. Because they weren't going to hold back on us. Only three of them, though. And with the power of the Master Sword, despite its current weakness, it wouldn't take many hits to get them down. After the fight, I could see Luna was exhausted. Yet, somehow, she still went on. I couldn't help but worry about her.

"Luna?" I approached her carefully, "Are you alright? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"I'm fine," she brushed me off, fighting tears in her eyes, "Let's just keep going. I can't be around here anymore."

"Alright," I wasn't going to force her. Something tells me she was still buzzed on the adrenaline enough to not care about killing me. Or on her own heartache. This truly was the end of her reign as the Gerudo princess. No turning back now. And the arrow through Zaza made it real.