The western thoroughfare of Castle Town was famous for two things: Doctor Borville, and crime. The fact that Borville had set up office in the middle of the slums- and they wereslums- was something that puzzled most everybody. After all, Borville treated the wealthy, not the poor. And he was undoubtedly surrounded by poverty.

The houses here were small and cramped together, crates and barrels of imports- from clothing to weapons to foodstuffs- packed along the streets. Clotheslines hanging between houses displayed laundry halfway-dried, the lines criss-crossing each other as they journeyed from one window to the next. Most of the windows were open to let in the last of the summer air, and the sounds that came from inside the houses were of a wide variety; a dog barking, a child crying, a husband yelling at his wife. Smells came in a wide variety as well: from spices to sweat to perfumes, each house smelled different, sounded different, and probably felt different. The people here were poor, were dirty, were sturdy, were cold; Ashei supposed, as she walked purposefully down the street, that she admired them.

She rounded a corner just in time to dodge a tin can falling from a balcony above. She glanced up; a young child's arm was dangling over the edge, and for a second, Ashei was confused. A few moments later, a middle aged woman with a square jaw and wide shoulders came marching out, her apron clutched in both fists. She picked up the can irritably. Then, she turned to Ashei.

"Do forgive my son, miss. He's been aiming at soldiers all day- must have mistook you for one, the way you're dressed."

Ashei glanced down at her tunic and the array of weapons she wore with it. She could understand why the child had mistaken her for a knight, although the purpose behind it puzzled her.

"Why has he been aiming at soldiers?" she asked. The woman's jaw tightened.

"You haven't heard?" she asked. "There are soldiers going about Hyrule, ridding it of unfit leaders."

"Oh," Ashei said, and the information came rushing back into her head. "That's right, I remember, now. Yeah, they tried to take out the shaman in Kakariko village a few months back."

"Is that so?" the woman mused. "I'm not surprised. They brought the Zora prince in for questioning two weeks ago and nobody's heard from him since."

Ashei recalled young Prince Ralis; she had met him during the dark days. "He's young," she said, shaking her head, "but there's nothing untrustworthy about him."

"So you say," the woman answered, shaking her head slowly. "They will find something, I am sure of it. Evidence has risen concerning the Goron leader- perhaps you have heard of him..."

"I have," Ashei answered, and she thought suddenly of Darbus. Ilia, Link, and Shad all had history with Darbus, and although Ashei herself hadn't met him, she'd heard magnificent stories concerning the great goron.

"Word is that he was possessed by dark magic during the dark days," the woman sighed, and Ashei frowned.

"But magic-" she remarked, and her words got caught in her throat. "They don't really believe that, do they? Magic only exists in legend..." her frown intensified as she remembered Link's remark that he had transformed into a wolf. She knew that there were SOME supernatural elements to the world; the Twilight Realm, for example. Or the Oacca City of which Shad was so fond. But these were not the result of magic, these made up the very essence of Hyrule; such things were science, were law. But the more she thought about it, and the more others spoke of it, the more plausible it became... WAS there magic in the world? True magic? What about the case that had surrounded Hyrule Castle during the dark days? Or the spirit's spring? The case she had brushed off as an illusion, a construction of the light; the spirit in Lake Hylia's spring surely didn't exist... Did it?

Her head started spinning and she balanced on a crate for support. She recalled a rumor that Link had fought a dragon- but that was just a rumor, wasn't it? ...Had Link really fought a dragon?

She had always brushed off sorcery and religion as explanations for what science hadn't yet covered. Until now, she had been exclusively atheist.

Could it be that she was wrong?

The woman was giving her a strange look.

"Miss, are you all right?"

"Do you believe in magic?" Ashei asked abruptly. The woman seemed taken aback.

"Well- sometimes, yes. There is magic to this world- are you saying you don't?"

Ashei blinked a few times. "I'm suddenly not sure anymore," she answered. Another can came crashing down. The woman groaned.

"Albie!" she cried, craning her neck toward the balcony. "Cut it out, I say! She's not a soldier!"

"I don't mean to snoop," Ashei mused, "but why does he- why does Albie, I mean-"

"Why does he care?" the woman finished, and Ashei nodded. "He cares because-" here, she halted. "Miss... I don't know whether I can trust you."

"Why not?" asked Ashei. "I'm not trying to snoop. I don't know who you are, and frankly... well, I don't really care. It's Hyrule I care about, not you, yeah?"

"You invest yourself quite heavily in the welfare of Hyrule for a girl that's not a soldier."

"You can say that again," Ashei remarked, and the woman sighed.

"My husband... the boy's father... was a high-ranking official on the council of Princess Zelda only a month ago. But they discovered evidence- you see, it was for Her Majesty's own good, you must understand that... but it was technically illegal. They thought he was poking around in her personal affairs- he found sketchy things, too, very sketchy... I shouldn't relay them to you..."

Ashei blinked a few times. "I'm afraid you're not making very much sense," she finally said. The woman let out a heavy sigh.

"While he was working in the castle, my husband read all of Her Majesty's mail before it arrived on her desk. He wanted to make sure that she wasn't being threatened. But he found private information regarding the princess that I'd rather not relay to you. You see, the princess was behaving in a way that... well, it's really not our place to discuss it. But in the end, they decided my husband wasn't to be trusted. He lost his job, the money ran out, and now we're here, rupee-less, and with nowhere else to go."

"Who's behind all of this?" asked Ashei. "You mean the soldiers? Who's the one weeding out the leaders they don't trust?"

"It's a select group of soldiers. They have yet to identify themselves to the public- even my husband didn't know who they were."

Ashei clamped her lips together in thought. "Where are they getting the authority to do this, though?" she asked. "There's no way Zelda approves of their actions."

"I haven't the foggiest what Her Majesty approves of and disapproves of. All I know is that if she's not careful, she'll be their next target. And the last thing we need is another war over the throne of Hyrule."

This hit Ashei hard. "That's impossible," she said quietly. "Listen, I don't like Zelda much- uh, don't repeat that- but she's a good leader, and kicking her off the throne would be a stupid idea, yeah? Kicking out any of these leaders is a stupid idea. Are you sure you don't know who's issuing these orders?"

"It's like I said, miss," the woman answered. "None of us have got a clue. The best we can do is hope that it will stop soon... I would hate to see the kingdom plagued by anarchy."

"Couldn't agree more," Ashei said, a third and final can bouncing off of her shoulder and landing next to her feet.

"That's it!" cried the woman, fuming, and she drew inside the house to go scold her boy.

By the time afternoon rolled around, Link was fast asleep in his bed, so Ilia and Shad drew back downstairs to finish cleaning the bar. Ilia attended to the dishes, and Shad collected garbage into a bin, and they didn't speak a word for most of it.

When the bar was almost clean, Ilia finally spoke up.

"I really hate Ashei for doing that to Link."

Shad glanced at her. "You mean making him drink?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ilia answered. "I told her it was a bad idea, and I was right. She's making a mess, and she doesn't even care. Does she ever care?!" she continued, pounding her fist suddenly on the bar. Shad's eyes widened, surprised that Ilia had been moved to anger. When he didn't answer, Ilia just grew more frustrated. "Drinking is dangerous!" she insisted. "Drinking kills! That's why I was so uncomfortable last night! Because when I was a girl, my father was my hero! But when my mother died, he started drinking, and he didn't stop for years! And when he was drunk, he hardly knew who I was! And the only person- the only person who was ever around to help, ever around to make me feel better, was that boy in the- in the stupid green tunic, the same boy that Ashei's going to destroy if she doesn't just leave him alone!" And with that Ilia took an empty bottle and smashed it on the ground. Then she leaned forward against the bar, throwing her arms across it and sobbing into the wood.

Shad was at Ilia's side in seconds. He pried her off the bar and then she fell into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder, the happy, cheerful, funny girl gone, and replaced with this sad, heartbroken figure with nowhere else to turn.

"I know you don't think so," Shad muttered into her hair, "but Ashei loves Link. I really, truly believe that she loves him, just not in the way that you'd expect. He has a very special place in her heart, but she'll never admit it. And she wants to help him. She does."

Shad pulled away from Ilia, keeping his hands rested on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes, red with tears, and continued speaking."But Ashei has a very roundabout method of fixing things... she has to break it first. She has to make sure that everything's been uncovered, that the whole problem has been revealed... then she can build from the ground up. Then she can make sure that every problem is being solved, right down to the core. Because if you only scratch the surface, well... you can only fix the surface. But the stuff underneath is still broken, right? Everything has to get worse before it can get better. And it'll hurt- Ilia, it will hurt- but Ashei loves Link, and she will do everything in her power to get him back. I promise you... she won't give up."

Ilia gave a long, dramatic sniff, and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She turned back to the dishes and sighed. "You're really nice, Shad."

"I... thank you, I-"

"Nicer than Link, I think," she continued. "Much nicer. Probably even nicer than Telma. I don't think I've ever met anybody as nice to me as you are."

"Well, you deserve it," Shad answered in bashful earnest.

"Call me a dreamer, but I've always wished to find a guy as nice as you."

Shad felt his face heat up. "Well-"

"But I don't think it will ever happen," Ilia added melodramatically, and Shad's words caught in his throat.

Don't be a fool, Shad, he thought to himself. She doesn't think of you that way.

And then he drew off to the other side of the bar, where he continued picking up the garbage until it was all gone.

"The best advice I can give is to sleep it off! Treat the bumps with warm water, and whatever you do, don't scratch them- what- hey! I said don't scratch them! What are you doing? Stop- oh, forget it. You people..." mumbled Doctor Borville, waddling out of the small ward and drawing the white curtain shut behind him. He pulled off his gloves and threw them into a trash bin, adjusted his glasses, and then jumped as the door to the office opened.

"Drat!" he muttered. "Another patient- just what I need-" but then he stopped grumbling as a young, attractive woman entered the office, shutting the door behind her, and looking Borville dead in the eye.

"You're the doctor?" she said directly, her voice harsh, powerful, demanding attention. Borville attempted to straighten up.

"Y-Yes- mph- yes I am, what is it? How can I help you?" he asked, striding forward and finding himself- comically- eye level with her hips. "Do you need an examination?" he asked hopefully.

"My eyes are up here, you dirty pervert," she sneered, and he harrumphed angrily.

"Well, I'll be!" he exclaimed. "Very well, fine. I see how it is. What do you need? So little time, and so many patients- a physical will cost you a pretty rupee, girl!"

"I don't need a physical," she answered. "I need information regarding a former patient."

Borville narrowed his eyes. "That sort of information is confidential. I'm forbidden by law to share that sort of- hmph! Just who do you think you are, anyway?"

"I'm Ashei of Snowpeak, and I need your help. It's about Link..."

"Fine," Borville sighed after a moment. "Let's discuss this in my office." He led her into a small room separated off by another white curtain. There was a desk inside, with a rickety wooden chair, and stacks and stacks of scrolls, books, and paperwork concerning patients. Borville yanked the curtain shut and Ashei sat down in the desk chair, eye level, now, with the doctor.

"Well," he said after a moment, "I should have known a soldier would confront me about this after awhile..."

"I'm not a soldier," Ashei clarified quickly. "In fact, I'm far from it. I'm a freelancer."

"I'm sorry if I offended you," the doctor said. "It's true, nobody likes the soldiers nowadays. They're so strict with their laws, afraid that if they don't keep everybody under careful watch, the kingdom will fall to pieces again." His mouth contorted to the side. "It's true. They weren't happy when Her Majesty Princess Zelda hired me to treat the Hero of Twilight after the dark days ended. She said that he fell quickly and suddenly into a great amount of pain... we treated him within castle walls to make sure that nobody bothered him- all the guards there, you know, to keep away prying eyes-"

"Wait. Why didn't they want you treating him?"

"They said he wasn't sick," said Borville. "It was a dumb thing to say; we could all tell he was dying."

"What exactly was wrong with him? I mean medically, not just physically." Ashei said, and Borville froze.

"I'm afraid I can't- well, you see, I'm forbidden by law to reveal such information..."

"Listen! I don't care what the law says- Link is my best friend, and he's getting... sick... again. I need to know what you know- it's the only way we can help him!"

"Miss Ashei, I'm very sorry, but-"

"Please," she said, her voice growing weak. "I need to stop him before he starts dying again..."

Borville's eyes fell shut, and he sighed very slowly. When he opened them again, he was surprisingly somber. "After the dark days, Link was taken to the castle infirmary to be treated for injuries and sickness. I performed a series of tests on his body to analyze what was wrong with him. The diagnosis as I conducted it suggested a sort of manic depression. Bipolar disorder, if you will," he explained.

With this, he hopped upon a stool and reached for a scroll that was very high up on a shelf. He slid it out from its compartment, and then turned to his desk. With a swipe of the arm, he had cleared the desk of all its books and papers, and then rolled out the scroll very matter-of-factly. Eyeing it, he continued, "the change of demeanor was likely brought on by stress... such an ailment might also be considered post-traumatic stress, although it didn't seem that way when we performed the tests. Really, the test results pointed heavily towards bipolarity, something that Link may have had his whole life, but it was very small, and thus was not triggered until after the events of the war.

"Well... what does that mean for Link?" Ashei asked, her brow furrowing.

"Phases," the doctor answered. "Highs and lows, to extremes. Highs to the point of near euphoria... lows to the point of extreme depression." Here he gulped. "Risks of suicide," he added softly.

This hit Ashei quite hard. "Suicide?"

"If pushed far enough, yes," Borville answered. His eyes glazed down the scroll. "This is a report from the tests performed eight months ago," he described. "Besides bipolar disorder, Link was ailing from various injuries- scars, bruises, and burns. He had also suffered a minor concussion and was dying of malnutrition." He glanced up at Ashei, his eyes even wider than usual. "It's no wonder the boy's body was shutting down. All of the above combined with near-death experiences and various other psychological trials... the fact that the boy's still alive is a miracle."

Ashei's forehead had fallen into her hand, and her eyes were wide as she stared blankly ahead.

"Are you all right, Miss Ashei?"

"Just letting it sink in," Ashei answered quietly.

"Ah," Borville answered, adjusting his glasses and fidgeting in place. "I see."

Ashei glanced up. "How can we help him?" she pleaded.

"Keep him healthy," the doctor answered. "And be patient. Try to take the stress off of his shoulders, and be understanding of him when he's upset... arguing with him will upset him. Even things that shouldn't upset him could upset him if he's not feeling well, and... does he drink?" Borville asked all of a sudden.

"Yes," Ashei answered. "He's an alcoholic." The words were painful, perhaps because they hadn't seemed real until she said them out loud.

"Oh," Borville answered slowly. "Well, that's certainly a setback, isn't it? I suppose you'll need a distraction. Find a way to bring back good memories, push thoughts of the war aside, yes? Thoughts of his childhood might work..."

"What do you mean might work?" Ashei questioned. "Are you even a real doctor? Can't you help treat him, with... with, I don't know, medicine or something?"

"This is an ailment of the mind we're discussing," Borville reminded her. "Such things are beyond my expertise! I was trained only in malfunctions of the body, but the mind- well, we're talking about something else entirely!" He leaned in. "The caverns of the mind are a dark place to explore. When we pry into another's brain, we are prying into their very soul. Surely that is black magic! You don't expect them to teach that in the medical schools, do you? I should think not!"

Ashei stood up very suddenly. "Fine," she said. "I get it. You can't tell me anything else. You're forbidden by law or whatever-" she took a few steps towards the door. Borville stopped her suddenly.

"I didn't really treat Link in the castle to keep away nosy townsfolk," he confessed very quickly. "You don't need guards for that. The princess and I agreed it was best to keep the guards around because Link- well, he was trying very hard to kill himself, and we were trying very hard to stop him."

Ashei didn't turn around to face him. She just stood with her back to him, arms slack at her sides, eyes downcast as she listened. When the room had gone silent again, she spoke very quietly.

"You shouldn't have told me that," she said.

"Why?"

"Because I didn't need that knowledge." She felt slightly hollow as she continued, "And I damn well didn't want it, either."

They both fell quiet, and then she walked away, her feet dragging heavily behind her in the newfound gloom.

From behind the opposite curtain, a patient began complaining about a boil, or something insignificant of that nature.

The long- awaited (was it long-awaited?) Chapter 11.

The humor for which this story is famous-ish should be returning in the next chapter. Telma finally gets her cameo- I just love Telma, I really do. Also, what are your thoughts on Shad and Ilia? I don't know, there's something about watching Shad fall a little bit in love that makes me d'aww. (I'm sorry. I have a shipper's heart.)

I know I say this every time, but thanks again for your support, your advice, anything. You guys don't know how much even a bit of feedback means to me, you really don't, and I know it sounds like I'm mooching for reviews- okay, I'm mooching for reviews- but that's what keeps me going.