Warmth, it was true honest to god warmth. Void felt it all around. He struggled towards wakefulness, but his limbs felt as if they were made of stone. He felt exhausted, but fear stabbed him. It formed in the pit of his stomach, growing until it washed over him. He struggled against the tide of fear and tried to open his eyes. A groan escaped his lips.

"Uli, be careful, he's waking up," A voice came from somewhere nearby. Void felt a wave of confusion. Where was he? What was going on?

"It's alright, Rusl," a woman's voice came from close by. It was gentle and soothing, something Void wasn't used to. Something warm and damp touched his forehead and was placed over his eyes. He gasped at the contact and tried to pull away from it, but found his body wouldn't respond. He floundered helplessly in the darkness, his muscles and body aching.

A hand pressed down on his shoulder and Void thrashed, pulling sharply away. The fear mounted as he found a pair of hands on his shoulders and pushing him down. He weakly raised his hands, trying to push off whoever was above him. They hands pressed harder, sending pain rippling through his body. Void couldn't stop himself from crying out.

Void hated the weakness he was displaying, but there was nothing he could do. When he fell still, the hands released him and he heard moving around the room. The voices were low so he couldn't decipher what was being said, but there was something about the woman—Uli's—voice. It was something he was unfamiliar with and wanted to loath and struggled against finding a shallow comfort it.

Uli walked back over side of the bed and a large hand slid under the back of Void's neck. He seized up, utterly defenseless. A cup was held up against his lips and he was urged to drink. Void could feel heat from the liquid and weakly raised a hand to hold the cup steady as he drank deeply. The liquid scalded his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He let out a shaky breath as he slumped back on the bed; the warm, damp cloth still covered his eyes.

Void slept, woke, and slept again. He didn't know how much time passed, but when he woke again a fire crackling told him it was likely night or evening. The warm, damp cloth still covered his eyes and blankets had been brought up around him. With a groan, Void forced himself to sit up and uneasily removed the cloth from his eyes. He blinked several times to clear his vision take in surroundings.

The room he was in was circular and welcoming. The single room looked to be the entire house. A fire burned not far from the bed he lay in, from the smell something was cooking. The furnishings spoke of a small family with a simple life style. It took Void only a second to realize he must be in one of the houses in Ordon village.

"So, you're awake," the voice behind Void made him jump and whip his head around. A man was sitting in a chair watching Void closely. His gaze was stern, but there was an air of reliability about him. He was rocking a cradle slowly beside him, but his eyes never left Void.

Void sat in silence, uneasy crawled across his skin as the man inspected him. He hated feeling vulnerable and exposed like this, his blood boiled at the feeling, but he couldn't bring himself to act on his anger this time. His body felt exhausted and heavy.

The door to the room creaked open and Void turned to see a pretty woman with short blonde hair come in and a young boy follow her in. They were carrying baskets laden with fruits and vegetables. What caught Void's attention though was how the boy looked at him, a mixture of fear and determination while the woman looked kindly at him.

"How are you feeling?" The woman asked. She placed the basket down and went to place her hand on Void's forehead. He wanted to pull away, but held stalk still, tremors running through his tense body. She took the cloth and said, "You're freezing… Colin, go soak this in warm water."

Void remained silent as he watched the woman walk over to her husband and embrace him before reaching into the cradle and picking up the baby. He felt like a spectator that evening as Uli and Rusl prepared for dinner and Colin sat with his baby sister when he wasn't helping. It was obvious how out of place the Shadow was in this setting, but the family made him welcome and over dinner he learned how he'd come to be in their home.

"We found three dead bulblins in the Faron wood on our way back to the village and found you by the spring. The wounds you had suggested you were the one who killed them," Rusl explained over the dinner table. Void found himself listening and not talking as he relished the thick soup Uli had made. His crimson eyes were half closed in enjoyment as the hot soup warmed his insides.

Void nodded slightly, he didn't want to or know what to tell these people.

"I want to thank you," Rusl said. "Killing the bulblins help protect the village."

Void felt a stab of something he couldn't identify. He also felt a flicker of anger in his gut. "I didn't do it for the village," he said. "I did it because I had to."

Rusl nodded at this. "I expected as much.

"I take it you're a warrior," Rusl glanced at the pale scars that marred Void's pallid flesh. They crossed his face and body in faint lines. The wounds would heal shockingly quickly because of the darkness, but they never healed cleanly, each one would leave a faint scar in its wake.

"More or less," Void found himself answering with a shrug.

"Where are you from?" Uli asked gently and refilled his empty bowl.

"I'm not," Void answered indifferently. It was true, in a way. He didn't come from anywhere in specific and he didn't have a home. There was no way he was about to tell these people that he was a shadow from the darkness, so he left it at that and continued eating, his thoughts muddled and sluggish.

Uli and Rusl exchanged a look over their son's head and Uli asked, "Do you at least have a name?"

Void nodded, "Void."

"Void?" Rusl asked. He sounded skeptical as he repeated the name and look enquiringly at the Shadow. "Who named you?"

"I named myself," Void said simply. "I didn't like the name I was given, so I chose a name for myself."

Again Rusl and Uli glanced at each other. Void didn't know why he was telling them this, but he saw no reason not to. There was no harm in giving them the roundabout answers he was. Besides, they'd nursed him back to health.

"What were you called before," Uli asked a little tentatively, reaching across the table to place her hand near his.

Void's expression twitched and he looked hard at his meal. He answered shortly, his voice coarse with suppressed anger, "Dark, sometimes Shadow."

He hated what he'd been called, but he hadn't answered completely honestly. Before he'd been called Dark Link and Shadow Link, he'd left off the last part of the name. He didn't need these people knowing that he was originally named after the infamous Hero.

Void didn't leave the house during the following days. While he recovered at a superhuman speed, it was still slow for him. The wounds ached and worked wonders for putting him in a foul mood, but he never let himself lose his temper with the family who'd brought him in. The boy Colin went out to play every day with the other village children and Rusl went out hunting in the forest; it was Uli who stayed home with the baby. She kept a motherly eye on Void while he recovered, but she also would look at him with curiosity.

Void would ignore the looks she gave him and started helping with the house work in minor ways, but he still never went outside. It was late one evening, though, that he chose to risk it.

Void felt strange as he dawned an outfit reminiscent of the Ordon villager's traditional outfits as his tunic had been decimated countless battles. Uli had looked fondly on at Void as he hesitated at the door. His anger that had protected him for so many years was beginning to fade and the fear and uncertainty were beginning to show through. Uli understandingly escorted him outside with the baby and sat on the front stoop with him.

In the evening light, Void blinked and shielded his eyes from the flaming sun. He lowered his hand and his breath caught in his throat. The house was back up in a corner of the village, up against one of the cliffs that surrounded it. There was something about the serene little village that made Void's insides roll as he sat down on the front step beside Uli.

Colin was playing down by the river with another boy, practicing sword fighting. A much younger boy sat watching them disapprovingly. Two girls were talking not far away, sitting with their feet dangling in the shallow stream that cut through the village. All the children stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Void. He realized how vastly out of place he looked and schooled his features, hardening them to an expression devoid of emotion.

There adults of the village had been gathered for the evening and were talking, but also froze to turn and look at Void. He noted how they all had brown or blond hair with either brown or blue eyes. He knew his black hair, grayish skin, and red eyes stood out, drawing attention, not to mention the scars. Void suddenly became aware of his black hair and how it fell unevenly between his shoulders and jaw, making his look even less like the relatively well kempt hero.

Void met the villagers' gazes with a hint of challenge. However, a level of fear coursed through his veins. He could feel the tension within his body as he straightened his back and raised his chin in a show of arrogance, his crimson eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

A large man approached slowly. His gave off an air of having once been powerful, but age and time had dwindled him to a large man with extra weight to him. Void met his gaze with challenge from where he sat on the front stoop, but his heart raced and his body tensed, ready to fight if he had to. The man stopped before him and looked down at him, assessing him.

"This is Void," Uli told the man, almost hastily, although her face was still like. "Void this is the mayor."

Void inclined his head ever so slightly in greeting, but he reminded himself he was above these humans and grappled to the arrogance, but couldn't quite bring himself to view them with contempt. Finally his lower his gaze and looked away, towards the entrance of the village. It was only then that he saw the last two spectators. Rusl stood near the entrance to the village with Link.

Link was gazing at him with his fierce blue gaze, but there was something in his posture. Perhaps it was to spring, or to intervene if anything went amiss. Void froze at the sight of Link and felt his body tensing. He met that blue gaze with challenge and rising anger. His crimson gaze burned into Link, but he could feel the keening call from within his tense body. This time, he was sure Link could feel it to from the same hungry look he had in his eyes from the battlefield.