The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z

Can You Hear Me Now?

"So there I was," said Brown, munching ungracefully on a roasted drumstick as he sat with his legs crossed on the picnic blanket, "little ten-year-old me, who barely even knew how money worked, getting asked by an old man to play his 'money-making game'." He swallowed his food, then immediately took another bite. "I mean, come on, how sleazy do you have to be?"

Time frowned, sticking his fork in his egg salad indignantly. "Yeah, that's pretty sleazy all right." He scoffed. "Introducing a child to gambling like that... what's the world of the living coming to?"

"Maybe," added Light, who had just finished his apple and was leaning forward to address the other two, "that guy was a descendent of that thief who ran the treasure chest game in my time."

"Eh? You mean that con-artist who made fake Master Swords?" asked Time.

"Good grief!" said Brown huffily, waving his drumstick around as he continued, "You mean people were getting away with that way back then, too? Yeah, good idea, guys, scamming kids out of their hard-earned rupees - you know, the money they need to save the world and - "

Suddenly, Light shot up, sitting straight as an arrow as he seemed to be startled by something the other two couldn't perceive. Almost immediately after, however, he relaxed a little, smiling bashfully.

"Ah, Zelda! I-I thought you said you wouldn't startle me like that again!" he chuckled. "...Oh, me? I'm just having lunch with Brown and Time... yeah, they're doing well, I'll tell them you said hello..."

Brown froze, his face contorted into a shocked and slightly scared expression as he watched Light hold out his finger to them, stand, and walk off, continuing his conversation with no one in particular a few yards away. Once he was out of earshot, the younger Hero turned back to Time.

"Wh-What," he stammered, "what the heck was that about!?"

Time snickered at Brown's reaction. "What, you didn't know Light was telepathic?"

"Tele-what-now?"

Time took another bite of his egg salad. "He can send and receive messages with his mind," he clarified. "It's how he and his Zelda talk whenever they can't meet in person."

"Hold on," Brown said, his eyes widening slightly in amazement, "you mean he's psychic?"

"A lot of us are," the elder Link said, "though not always in that particular way. Sky and I used to have precognitive dreams when we were alive, though it was usually triggered by an evil presence of some sort. It's not that unusual, really."

"That's really cool..." said Brown. His amazement turned into jealousy, however, as he pouted angrily. "So, how come you guys get awesome psychic powers and I don't, huh?"

Time shrugged. "You have Hylian blood just like the rest of us; otherwise you wouldn't be able to use magic so well. So, who knows? Maybe you already do."

"Oh, good point!" At this Brown grinned. "Hey, Time, I'm gonna see if I can read your mind!"

Cracking an amused smile of his own, Time nodded. "All right, Brown; what am I thinking right now?"

The newest Hero shut his eyes in intense concentration for a moment before opening them again. "Aha! You're thinking about how I can't possibly be reading your mind right now, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"What!? I guessed right!?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you," said Time with a smirk as he took one last bite of his food, "I was actually thinking about how good this egg salad was."

Brown's expression immediately darkened. "Twilight was right," he muttered in disappointment, "you really are mean."