Since I haven't updated you in a while, the ages right now are as follows:

Baxter is thirty-one. Zenith is twenty-nine. Archer is nineteen. Garrett is twenty-seven. Nox is seventeen. Kassia is also seventeen. Linden is ten. Wolfe is thirteen. And Zelda is eighteen.

Oh god guys, my little Linden is growing up. I can't stand it.

Anyway, in the starting in the next couple of chapters and continuing through the rest of the story will be the Sheikahn language. Because I'm nice, I'm going to tell you how to translate it, but because I love torturing you, I'm not just going to come out with it. Every chapter I'll give you a hint to help decode the language. The first person to figure out how to decode it gets a pretty hefty sneak peak at my in-progress side project, Legend, Acheronta Movebo and stuff that it doesn't include from Zelda's point of view.

Don't worry, it's not that hard. Or is it?

ALSO: Before or while reading this chapter, to get the best effect, put on Danny Boy, the version by Hayley Westenra. There's several links on youtube, so check it out!

~Alyssa

Hint #1: Mirror image.

Exhibito invenitur beatitudo non potest locorum memoria si una cum luce verto.

…

Happiness can be found in the darkest of places, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

Then

The snow fell.

I watched it flutter down from my seat by the fireplace with Kassia in my arms, admiring the perfect, pure coat of white that covered the gardens. In the darkness, with the lights from the house flickering off its surface, it was so beautiful it left me breathless.

We were all in the parlor, watching Agitha and Linden playing festive carols with rusty harmonies—the former playing on her violin, the latter carefully singing along.

She sang of a Lord, a God who sent his only son to save us, teach us to do right and guide us from temptation. For someone whose deities were strictly feminine, I was horribly confused.

When I asked, Kassia further explained the story of how the Noamatians believed the world was created, and the holiday called Christmas celebrating the birth of a boy called Jesus, God's son who was born in a manger and sent by God to help his children.

I found this ridiculous. Why would a God send his son to help man with what man could do themselves? Why would he bother with all the little problems, the silly things that can be worked out on their own like lying and stealing, coveting and cheating? If he was truly God's son, why didn't he feed the hungry? Cure diseases? Make all those miracles happen that you read about in storybooks?

If this God existed anymore then the Sacred Three, why didn't he bother helping me?

Or was I beyond help?

The song ended, and our company (that consisted of Kassia's family and mine) all politely clapped as Agitha put down her instrument and Linden crawled onto Zenith's nearly full lap.

"Did the baby like it?" Linden asked, snuggling in between Baxter and Zenith, a broad smile on her face.

"Of course she did." Zenith replied, smoothing back a piece of her hair and subtly aiming a kick at the half-asleep Baxter, whose head shot up at the impact, and quickly began his praise as well.

Kassia put down the hem of the dress she was embroidering, turning around to face me. "Why don't you play your ocarina? I haven't heard you pick it up since the first night you got here."

Although something stung inside at her request, I forced a grin, looking over at Archer, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground talking to Hena, Kassia's oldest sister.

"Only if you can get Archer to play the violin with me," I told her, knowing full well the last time Archer had played his instrument was years ago. And that he left it back in Kakiriko.

"Archer!" Kassia called. "Will you play something with Nox?"

Archer laughed, rolling his eyes. "Sure. Just let me run back to Kakiriko and get my violin."

Kassia was unfazed, as if she expected this response. "You can use Agitha's. Please? I really want to hear Nox play."

"I guess," said Archer as he hoisted himself up, taking the fiddle from Agitha and fitting the instrument to his collar, plucking out a short scale. "C'mon Nox," he encouraged, picking up on the dread that was hard in my stomach. "We can get Baxter to sing with us, just like when we were kids. It'll be fun."

At this mention, many happy memories of sitting around the kitchen table back at home with Linden in my lap, piping out a happy tune on the ocarina, throwing melodies back and forth with Archer, Baxter clapping to keep time, playing on his pipes, or singing when we were actually playing written songs.

One song in particular came to mind, the one Baxter taught to us saying that his father used to sing it to him, the one we used to play to lull Linden to sleep.

I drew the wooden instrument from its permanent place in my pouch, fitting it to my lips and playing the first notes, tentatively and unsure at first, but getting more powerful as the familiar melody came to me and manipulated my fingers.

Upon hearing the song, Archer smiled to himself, picking up his bow and quietly playing the harmony, looking to Baxter to begin his singing.

He sat up, placing Linden in his lap and smiling broadly, taking a deep breath before beginning.

"Oh, Danny Boy.

The pipes, the pipes are calling."

The sound was like magic, his booming baritone filling the room with intangible warmth and happiness that filled my chest and made me, for the first time since we left Hyrule, with a sense of peace.

"From glen to glen,

And down the mountain side…"

Zenith closed her eyes, leaning back and folding her hands over her belly, sighing quietly as she took in the smooth honey of her husband's tone.

"The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying…

'Tis you, 'tis you, must go, and I must bide."

Wolfe looked into his lap, but for the first time ever I saw the traces of a smile on his face. He, like everyone else, was affected by the sheer beauty and uplifting spirit of Baxter's voice.

"But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow…"

I closed my eyes, letting the music lift the weights off my heavy heart and fill my soul with light. I was far away from here, in a warm, beautiful place where nothing terrible happened. For a sacred few moments I forgot that my heart was broken, that my lover was married, that I was abandoned by both my Gods and theirs. For those minuscule seconds, I realized that I was happy.

"I'll simply sleep in peace

Until you come to me."

Archer and I looked to each other, putting down our instruments and singing the last line together, a simple harmony we came up with years ago that I was surprised I still remembered.

"I'll simply sleep in peace, until you come to me."

Kassia put her hand on my cheek, turning my head to the side so she could kiss me, her lips hard on mine with a pent up passion that took me off guard.

Archer wolf whistled, and both Linden and Agitha began to giggle. Someone cleared their throat, and that's when I realized Kassia's father was not a few steps from us, getting a front row view of what we were doing.

I pulled away, my ears turning red, but she waved my worries off, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me close again.

"Happy Christmas, Nox." She whispered, a broad smile coming over her face as she pressed her forehead on mine.

"Happy Christmas."

ox(O)xo

I took one look at Baxter, who had called me into the dark paneled study where he preferred to do his work these days, and sighed, knowing exactly the topic of conversation by the apologetic don't-shoot-the-messenger look on his face.

"We're going to have to leave soon, aren't we?"

"Aye." Baxter replied, his lips turning down at the edges, probably dissatisfied at how quickly I caught on. "In a few months or so, I'd say. As soon as the weather starts to die down and Zenith and the baby are strong enough."

"Where are we going?" I sat down on the dark red armchair beside his, looking over the map of the Hylian Empire that was spread across the large table.

"Back to Hyrule, I suppose. Or maybe north, to Termina." He drew his hand over the approximate path we would take. "I don't want to take little man over the mountains, and I haven't seen my folks in some time, either."

This was new information.

"Your parents live in Termina?"

"Aye." He nodded his head. "I left a week or so after my brother was engaged, fourteen years ago. I want to see how he's doing."

He paused, looking to me; his light blue eyes piercing as they trailed over me, making me feel naked under his scrutiny. I shifted uncomfortably, my lips twisting into a grimace.

"Something on your mind?" He asked gently, concern briefly touching his features.

I bit down on my lip.

"I can't figure out how I'm going to tell Kassia we're leaving."

His brow furrowed. "Why would you have to? Do you think she'd not want to go?" This was what I loved about Baxter. In a moment he'd switched from concerned father to supportive brother. He filled both parts equally well, and although his leadership in our group was absolute he treated us as his equals.

When we came to him with decisions he heard us out, and never told us straight out that we weren't allowed to do something. He preferred to let us make our own decisions and mess up. Once, when I asked why, he replied, 'You can tell a child a thousand times that the beautifully glowing embers of a fire will hurt them, but the only way you can keep them permanently away is if they get burnt. So sometimes, you have to let them.'

"I doubt she would stay behind if I asked her to go," I said quietly. "But I can't see her father letting me take her without her hand. Would you?"

This was, of course, a major concern. AlthoughColin was a fair, even tempered man, I can't imagine any father allowing his daughter to go off with the man—boy—she was courting with no knowledge of when she would come back, and all that time unsupervised and alone, Farore forbid.

It didn't make sense to me, but then again, I wasn't a father.

Baxter frowned as he considered, obviously unwilling to give me his answer. "I can't say I would. He wouldn't be being unreasonable, though, Nox."

"I know." I sighed, resting my elbows on my knees and putting my head in my hands. I expected this answer from him. He was, technically, a father of three—four if you counted Wolfe, but no one really did—with another on the way. He knew how a father's brain worked.

"Have you considered asking her hand? You seem pretty serious to me."

This, I didn't expect him to ask.

Propose to Kassia so her father would let her go with us?

"Yes," I said, looking to my lap. "But I thought we were, you know, too young."

The second part, of course, was a lie. The reason why the thought had never occurred to me was because somewhere deep inside I was still faithful her, despite her betrayal to me.

"Zenith married me when she was eighteen." He supplied helpfully—and little did he know, not at all. "And the Princess—" Somehow he was able to ignore my wince. "—just a few months ago, she was seventeen. As long as you're sure you want to spend your life with her, it is perfectly acceptable."

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with her, though. She was a convenient distraction, one I was satisfied—even sometimes happy—with, and considering my first choice was gone from my grasp forever, she was a perfect second. And she had no problem marrying someone else for convenience. Why couldn't I?

But that was the point. I could.

The real question was: did I want to?

Kassia deserved someone who loved her back for reasons beyond him, who would wake up in the morning thinking of her and dream of her in the night. Someone who knew her favorite kind of flower—blue foxglove, I had learned in the summer. She was intrigued the way they looked like bells—and the way she loved waking up early to name the rabbits that frolicked in the gardens. Someone who knew the way she loved lavender, both the color and the scent, which she used the essence of to spray on her clothes, or the way her secret pleasure was archery but was loathe to tell anyone for fear that she wouldn't be accepted by the other girls for taking up a sport so masculine. Someone who was devoted to her and only her, not someone like me who was torn between her and another.

And the part of me that was Nox did love her, with a devotion that I could hardly explain. Nox loved everything about her, every little quirk and charm that made him fall harder over heels then he ever had, who wanted to fill his hands with her auburn curls and ravish her, who did want to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. But at the end of the day, Link was stronger and Link loved Zelda and Link decided that Kassia was just a distraction.

And so that was what she was.

"I'll consider it." I told Baxter, trying to sound hopeful, leaving the anguish out of my tone. She would say yes, I knew she would, and I would be digging my hole even deeper, living an even bigger lie. "Is that all you wanted me for?"

Baxter grinned, patting me on the back. "Go get Archer, will you? Something tells me bedding our host's daughters won't put him well in his book."

I laughed half-heartedly. "Of course." I smiled, standing up and going to the door. "See you."

I walked out the grand arches of the study and into the hallway, stopping halfway from my destination to look in a gilded mirror that hung on the wall, smoothing my hair back nervously and checking my teeth for any stray bits of food.

When the examination proved satisfactory I continued down the corridor, my footsteps echoing eerily in the hall.

I knocked on the grand mahogany doors twice, and pulled the heavy doors shut behind me when the tired "Come in." resounded from inside.

Sir Colin Amex smiled as he took me in, taking off his glasses and looking up from whatever he was doing. "Nox, m'boy." He said cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, going to sit down, taking a deep breath, my mind suddenly sure.

"Sir," I began, looking up from my lap to stare him straight in the eyes.

They were the same dark copper brown as Kassia's.

"Sir," I said again, taking another breath, clenching my hands tight in my lap.

Oh, Goddesses, I can remember how many nights I stayed up pondering this very moment, trapped deep within temples or with her breathing deeply in sleep at my side. I imagined how sure I would sound, so confident that no one could deny our love, that he would have to say yes, despite who I was.

But of course, when I imagined this exact scenario, I was picturing sitting across from King Nohansen, in Hyrule Castle, with Zelda as my bride.

Not fair. Not fair. Not Fair.

Nayru, out with it! I ordered myself, almost choking on my own breath. You must look like a madman!

And so, sucking up all my courage, never leaving his gaze, I choked out the words I had only dreamed about to the wrong man. But in that moment, I didn't care.

"I love your daughter. I want your blessing for her hand in marriage."

Are you happy now? spat a voice deep in the back of my head as he observed the shell-shocked face of Colin, his spiteful voice almost making me grin.

For the first time since I left my home of Hyrule, I could honestly answer yes.

Love you guys! Please review!~

~Alyssa