*EDIT* I can't believe I didn't post this! What is wrong with me! o

Ok, gonna try and finish this tonight…will fail. If I seem abnormally happy this chapter, blame the Christmas songs my dad's listening to! They're insufferably happy! Thanks for reviewing guys! You are awesome!

Chapter 12

Reunions of all sorts

Link leant against Epona sipping tea. Lana sat opposite, a cup clasped in her hand. Silver lay curled round Link's leg.

"How you feeling?" Lana asked.

Link smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

Ruto shot the zora a sharp glance, she withered beneath the ghost's glare.

"And, I wanted to apologise, for causing you so much trouble."

Link glanced at Ruto, before turning back to Lana. He smiled and shook his head, to assure her he bore no ill will.

"Ruto, why are you here?" Epona asked.

The ghost suddenly looked very guilty.

"Well…I…uh…"

"It's certainly not for Link is it?" Despite the innocence of the question, the way Epona said it made it sound distinctly threatening.

"No of course. Just, doing my duty as a sage."

"You're telling us the new water sage is around?" Silver asked, suddenly coming to life.

"Someone hasn't quite woken up yet." Lana muttered.

"Watch it Flipper!" Silver growled.

"So, at least we know there is a water sage." Epona said.

"Wait, if Lera was Nabooru's Gerudo and she was the heir. And Daruis is Darunia's youngest son. Then…it must be inherited." Silver said.

Link nodded.

"That's correct." Ruto said. "My father arranged that I marry one of the zora nobles. The line has continued."

"But, Zelda told me that the powers of the sage could only be passed to an incarnation." Epona said.

"And in English?" Silver asked.

"Nabooru was a high-ranking gerudo female, one of three sisters. Dariunia was the strongest goron, patron of the clan, as is Darius. They have to be the same." The mare explained.

"So, we're looking for a descendent of Ruto, whose a girl and really bossy and obnoxious." Silver said.

"Do you want to be haunted?" Ruto asked.

"I say nothing." Silver chirped in reply.

"But, Rutela only had one son." Lana said. "She never had a daughter. And Ralis isn't about to be having children any time in the near future."

"And so we come to a dead end." Silver muttered.

Link shook his head, his mischievous grin back.

"Why do I feel distinctly afraid?" she muttered.

"That makes two of us." Ruto agreed.

Their fast broken, Epona inspected Link's wound. She sniffed it with an educated air.

"No infection or anything. Though I doubt you'll be swinging a sword any time today."

Link growled in annoyance and pulled on his shirt. He picked up his chainmail, holding it up so that the light shone through it. It was torn in several places. Link sighed.

"Looks like we'll have to ask Ronan to fix it again." Silver muttered.

Link nodded, it was cut in so many places it wouldn't do him any good in a fight. Link folded the material and put it in his pouch. Lana, having never seen him do so, gaped.

"How?"

"Old magic." Ruto replied with a smug smile.

Link pulled out his zora armour. The zora scale chainmail would grant him some form of protection so long as it wasn't in the form of ice or fire.

"We should head back to the domain, now we've taken out their main hub, the Goriya should start dispersing." Silver said.

"I'll take the path through the north field." Epona told them, I'll meet you there."

"Want me to go with you?" Silver asked.

Epona glanced at Ruto.

"I would be glad of the company."

Link nodded.

Epona and Silver climbed to their feet.

"If you arrive before us, get a physician to take a look at your wounds. I'm still worried about how your hanging affected your muscles. It might have torn something inside." Epona said.

Link nodded.

"You still nag like an old mother hen." Ruto muttered.

"Wrong Epona." The mare replied.

With that, they sprinted off.

Lana and Link exchanged looks.

"Oh it's on!" Lana said.

Jumping to their feet, they sprinted to the cliff edge.

"Link, I really don't think you should-" Ruto sighed, as Link leapt off the edge of the cliff in a spectacular dive. "Some things never change."

Epona and Silver ran headlong through the field.

"Do you think we'll beat them?" The wolfos asked.

"Is there any creature faster than us?"

"Toushe"

"EPONNA!" A voice cried.

"I swear, if it's that bloody postman." Silver growled.

But no creepy underdressed postman came into view. A White speck the crested the hill, pelting straight towards them. The closer it came, the more they could make out. The speck, became a horse with a figure hunched atop its back. After a while it stopped approaching, galloping behind them unable to catch up anymore.

"EPONNA!"

"Is that?" Silver asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Zoran!" Epona suddenly slammed on the brakes, skidding through the grass.

"OI!" Silver jumped, turning 180 and skidding backwards.

The stallion continued his headlong gallop. On his back crouched a very white faced Zelda. The stallion slowed to a canter and ran straight up to Epona.

"Sweet Nayru you're alive!" He cried.

Silver leapt aside as he gleefully pranced around Epona, shaking his mane and half-rearing with joy. The mare watched him as if he were a particularly annoying child.

"Hello." She said simply.

Zelda was clutching the reins so hard her knuckles were white. Her hair looked as if it'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

"You alright up there?" Silver asked.

Zelda's jaw slackened a little as she unclenched her teeth.

"Never again." She whimpered in a small voice.

"ZORAN YOU SON OF A GUINEA PIG!" A third voice called.

"THEY'RE ALIVE!" Came the stallion's ecstatic reply.

A howl of joy cut through the air. Then something very solid bundled into Silver.

"You're alive! Oh Farore! When I heard the castle had been taken!" came Dal's extremely joyful voice.

"Bloody hell Dal!" Silver cursed, clapping him over the head with her white paw.

"Where's Link?" Zelda asked, having composed herself.

"He's with Lana and Ruto, we're to meet him in the zora throne room." Epona explained.

"Ruto?" Zelda muttered in confusion.

With a rear the horses leapt into a gallop, the wolves keeping pace.

Lana did beat them to the throne room. Link had swam off to the sky canon. Ruto, sensing his emotions, had explained to Lana.

"He's just protecting someone, he needs to find someone else."

"That's a little vague." Lana had muttered as she watched Link being fired up above the clouds. "But you have to admit that's hilarious to watch."

Ruto however, had dissolved into hysterical laughter.

"You let him go?" Silver growled.

"Well, it's not like he could explain it to us." Lana replied indignantly.

Silver had just growled.

"I'm going to go and find him."

"It's very high up Silver. It's the reason why he didn't take you the first time." Epona warned.

"It can't be that high up." Silver replied.

"Try a good three thousand feet."

"I'm not some cub that needs to be babysitted." Silver barked.

Turning on her heel, she padded out of the throne room.

"They're really similar aren't they?" Dal said.

"This is what I have to put up with." Epona explained.

"Give me a kingdom any day." Zelda replied with a laugh, patting the mare's neck.

Link hurtled through the sky, screaming like a lunatic. Something solid hit, wrapping round his middle. The shock of it knocked the air of it his lungs, choking Link's scream off.

"Sorry about that, I've only just started learning how to catch moving objects."

Link craned his neck sideways to get a better look at his captor. A sky dragon clutched him in its claws. It still had the fluffy Einstein-style head feathers of a chick. Its feathers were hazelnut brown and a splash of crimson adorned its chest and belly.

"Hang on a tic, I'm gonna land." The dragon called. "Mind your head."

The shudder that racked Link's body that was more reminiscent of hitting a brick wall at considerable speed than landing.

"Heh, haven't quite got the hang of it yet." The dragon muttered.

Well that it explained it. The dragon was clutched the tiles of a rounded building with the claws on her wings. The dragon was still small, about the same size as Epona. Link's momentum had propelled him into the side of the building.

"Two secs." The dragon said.

It clambered loudly around he building, tearing the tiles off the building as it went. Link was thrown into the building with every little leap the dragon made.

"Sorry. Sorry. Ooh, that's gotta hurt."

Link growled irritably.

"Oh good gracious Kay, but the poor boy down. Gracious how many times did you land?" A familiar high-pitched voice said.

"Sorry miss!" The dragon called back, her voice getting gradually higher as her panic built.

"Good gracious! Be careful!"

Link suddenly felt himself free falling. He hit the ground with a thud and the air rushed to vacate his lungs. Link groaned. His injured arm was beginning to smart sharply.

"Gracious me, are you quite alright?" Oocca's face suddenly filed Link's view, Link gave a start.

The ground shuddered as the dragon landed.

"Sorry about that, I thought I'd got the hang of landing last week."

Obviously. Link growled and climbed to his feet.

"Are you bleeding?"

Now that the dragon was perched in front of him, he could see her much more clearly. She was quite obviously female, the stark frost-like markings around her eyes marked her out against males, who had no such markings. Her markings were very similar to that of a robin, a small bird Link had often seen as a child flitting about in the winter forest. They were the only bird who dared to stay out in the deep woods when it snowed. Her bright sea-grey eyes glinted in the light, her small sharp beak like an arrow head set in her face.

Link's good arm lifted and he put a hand to his injury. It felt hot.

"Gracious me, what trouble have you got yourself into this time."

Link smiled awkwardly. Kay stretched her head forward and looked at Link's wound, her head cocked to one side.

"We should ask mam to take a look at it. She's good at herbs."

"Kay…" Oocca said, the dragon cocked turned and looked at her. "Take a good look around."

There was a moment of silence. Link could see the cogs turning in her mind.

"Oh hell!" THe dragon suddenly cursed. "I've landed on the wrong bloody island."

Oocca sighed and hid her head in her wing.

"Climb on." Kay said, extending her wing to allow the hero to climb on. "And I'll make sure to land carefully this time."

Link rather hesitantly clambered up, wincing at the pain the movement sent lancing down his arm. He sat down in the hollow between the dragon's wings. Oocca flapped up to sit on his lap.

"You might want to hold on tight though, I'm not exactly a smooth flyer."

AS Kay leapt up into the air, Link's face collided into her neck. Then he was nearly flung off her back. Only his experience as a rancher stopped him from being thrown off.

The dragon leapt out a sharp piercing cry of pure exalted joy. Tucking in her wings, she dived down in a spiral dive. The sharp whistle of the wind, the soft feathers clutched in his fists and the exuberant cries of Kay awoke a deep-rooted joy in Link. He instinctively shifted his position to follow Kay's movements. He cried out in unison with Kay, matching her sharp piercing cry with his own other-worldly howl.

"Good gracious, you're both as bad as each other." Oocca moaned, her wings clutched over her head.

When Kay landed, Link was very nearly pitched into the tree that the dragon now clinged to. Only years of experience at riding a very high-spirited and bossy mare kept him from losing his seat.

"Sorry about that." Kay said.

The dragon shook moisture from her feathers and climbed up the tree. In the branches of the strange thick-branched tree was a nest. It was nestled in the crook of the tree and was easily the size of the entire Ordon Village.

"MAM!" Kay called. "MAM!"

A sky dragon came into view. She was large, larger than the sky dragon leader. Her feathers were pearly white, with huge white wings folded down her back. Her beak looked a lot like Kay's, only a stark orange and black. Her eyes were black as coal with blue pools swimming in their darkness, an island of darkness in their centre. Her claws were hooked and sharp, like an owl's, but her long neck and shimmering plumage was much more akin to a swan. The dragon, on seeing Link perched on her daughter's back smiled kindly.

"Ah, Link. I had hoped I would get the chance to meet you. My name is Gaia, and you have already met my daughter Kay. My sons are circling around somewhere, I'm sure you'll meet them sometime soon."

"Mam, Link's been hurt."

"Oh dear, maybe you had better sit down."

Link slid down Kay's wing and perched on one of the thick branches that made up the wall of the nest. Gaia lowered her head, Farore she was huge.

"Can you take your armour off?"

Link pulled off the zora scale armour one handed, wincing as his wound smarted.

"Oh dear, what on earth were you doing?" Gaia muttered as she sniffed it. "By the looks of it, you were dangling on a rope for an hour with a sword in your arm."

Link let out a bark of laughter. She wasn't that far off.

"Kay, could you go and get some cloudberries and dove ivy?"

"On it mam!"

Link sat there obediently while Oocca fussed and Gaia bustled about, her talons surprisingly delicate as she ground different herbs. It made Link feel altogether useless, like a small child.

When Kay returned, it wasn't just sprigs of cloudberries and dove ivy in her talons, but a very scared-looking Silver.

"Did you lose something?" Kay asked, gently putting Silver down.

The wolfos crouched there, shaking uncontrollably, tail between her legs. Link jumped down and knelt beside her.

"Its high…" Silver whimpered into his shoulder as he hugged her. "Very very high. Very very very high."

Link chuckled and ruffled her fur. Trust Silver.

Ok, this chapter has been floating around in my head. And, I have finally decided to make my triumphant appearance in this chapter. Feel free to guess. I'll probably be up early tomorrow. I always say I'm not that excited for Christmas, then I'm up at two o'clock and pacing around the tree like a caged lion. So, my Christmas special will be up either tomorrow or boxing day, depending on how quickly I read my fanfic Christmas present. But yeah, expect my typical snarky humour and yeah. MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!