A/N: Here's where things don't need to be completely rewritten. Well... maybe this chapter, since there wasn't much to it originally, but after this it's just revisions!

This one's mostly filler, but it's got some cute fun in it.

Revised as of 9/03/14, completed as of 8/4/14

Chapter 18: R&R

When I groggily opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer in pain, and no longer in the unbearable heat of the Goron Mines. It took me a moment to figure out why, then I remembered the last few minutes I'd been awake. I was downstairs...How did I get here?

"Hey, sleepyhead." I looked up at the voice, seeing Bethany. She must have seen my confusion, speaking up again before I could ask. "You were falling asleep at the table, Renado brought you upstairs." she said. I nodded. That made sense.

"Where's Link?" I asked, remembering him.

"He's in the room next door. He's still asleep. You guys were in pretty rough shape when you got here, I wasn't kidding when I said you looked like crap."

"Yeah yeah..." I grumbled.

"C'mon, get changed and come and eat something. Twill gave me some clothes for you to change into." my friend continued, gesturing to a folded pile of clothes sitting at the foot of the bed. She walked out of the room before I could respond.

Doing as Bethany said, I was dressed and downstairs a few short minutes later. While doing so, the aches and pains that had been gone slowly returned, though not nearly as bad as they had been.

The food was simple, but good all the same. I was jokingly scolded by Carmen, who reminded me that I'd said I'd do my best to not get hurt. I told her that most of this was done right at the end, that we weren't too badly hurt before we went to fight the Boss.

"...Fyrus was that bad?" she'd responded incredulously.

"Worse in real life. The game made it look easy." I shrugged, wincing as the action aggravated my shoulder.

A few more minutes passed, and I went outside intending to either go to the hot springs - really not preferable - or the little pool behind the Spirit Spring. The second option was really sounding better by the second.

"If you're thinking of going for a swim, I wouldn't recommend it."

I whirled, surprised to see Link standing behind me. I was standing at the edge of the little alcove beside the spring, and he'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere!

"You're a freakin' ninja!" I exclaimed, my voice bouncing off the walls in the close quarters. "I didn't even hear you behind me!" He looked like he was trying not to laugh. That didn't last very long, and I found myself pouting as he chuckled. "And why would swimming be ill-advised? I feel like I'm on fire here."

"Winter's nearly here, that water's probably cold as ice."

I raised an eyebrow at him skeptically.

"We just spent two and a half days in a sweltering volcano not two miles away, and you're worried that the water down here will be too cold." I said, toneless but incredulous.

"It's hot in the mountain, Rose. There's no telling out here." I found myself smirking as a split-second plan formed in my head.

"Wanna see?" I asked, grinning as I grabbed Link's wrists and fell backwards. I heard his surprised yell as we went down with a splash.

It was totally worth getting water in my nose.

I laughed gleefully when the two of us surfaced, my voice echoing around us loudly.

"Ha! I was right!" I exclaimed when I surfaced, laughing more as the expression on Link's face went from disbelieving to sour, before relieved. "I told you it'd be nice. I'm right, right?" I asked, ducking my head under to swim before listening for whatever response Link had.

The water, in short, felt wonderful. It definitely topped the water I'd swam in inside the mines.

Link and I spent a good hour at least just swimming around, until Carmen and Bethany joined us. For the record, they were the ones who started splashing.

When the water went from refreshing to chilling, the four of us decided it was high time we got out. Shortly after, the Ordon children - Talo, especially- demanded that Link show them that he could use his bow. Carmen asked the same of me, having never seen me use one before, and then came the explanation of the healing scab on my cheek, and my broken bow that sat in my bag.

"Funny, I don't remember those things having good aim. They certainly shot at me enough chasing me into Kakariko, but they never hit me once." Carmen mused quietly. I had to think about that for a few seconds, and my confusion must have been obvious on my face, because before I could get my question -When on Farore's green Earth were you shot at by Bulblins?- Carmen answered for me.

"When I came to Hyrule, I was on the field. A bunch of those guys started chasing me and shooting at me, until I made it into the village. Renado helped me into the sanctuary before the Shadow Beasts could notice me."

I thought about that for a few seconds. It didn't make any sense; I showed up in a Spirit Spring, Bethany in a Temple, so why would Carmen show up in the middle of Hyrule Field? So far from safety? Not that the Forest Temple was exactly safe, but still. Maybe it was just random.

"Weird." I muttered. I could figure it out later, I hoped.

Now came Link's archery demonstration. Well, after Malo set up the targets for Link.

"Stay behind me," Link warned as he pulled the bowstring back, an arrow set to fly. Malo was quick to rejoin us, before watching Link expectantly, almost...like he was expecting him to be unable to do it.

Link was quick to prove him wrong -though I doubted he saw the look- by hitting the target almost spot-on. Malo mumbled something about that one being too easy, before pointing to a second target on the roof of his shop.

That one I didn't see quite as clearly, but Link most definitely hit it, elsewise the target wouldn't have fallen.

"Hey!" Talo's voice echoed down to us from the lookout. He pointed to what looked like a long stick that was standing up not too far from where he stood. "Can you hit that?" the boy called. I saw Link was hesitant. Waving his hand, he gestured for the boy to move to the side and down.

That was a good idea. I imagined even a practiced archer would be ooky about allowing a boy to stand so close to the intended target. There were so many variables to account for, wind change among them.

A few seconds after Talo was a good distance away from the pole, Link readied another arrow. The kids were all quiet, waiting for him to shoot.

The bowstring snapped back, and the arrow flew. The lookout was on the opposite side of the village, I couldn't even tell if Link had hit it. For about... two seconds.

"Woah! He hit it! He hit it!"

Talo's excited shouts echoed down, and the other kids were quick to cheer. I was amazed, too much to do more than grin. I've mentioned a few times now, it's one thing to do something in a game, another to witness it in real life. Link had shot an arrow across the expanse of the entire village and hit a pole smaller than my wrist. That was just... amazing.

Link was trying to pass it off as not that big of a deal. I nearly rolled my eyes.

"No need to be modest, Link, that's amazing!" I exclaimed, pointing to the lookout for emphasis. "Even practiced archers I knew on Earth would have trouble with something like that!"

This went on for a few minutes before Link went inside to dry off, and the kids went off to play a game.

The day was fun, though otherwise remarkably uneventful. I'd been dragged into a few rounds of hide-and-seek, plus the introductions of several games kids played on Earth. Simple games, really, since we didn't have much at our disposal for playing with. The fun went on for several hours until the kids were called in for dinner. I opted to simply explore the village a little longer before dark. My fear of heights seemed to be lessening lately, so I figured why not?

My thoughts of exploration came to a halt with the feeling of the ground shaking, accompanied by a loud rumble. My first thought was the volcano; even without the help of an angry beast like Fyrus had been, volcanos erupted on their own. But... it didn't look like it was erupting. So what was it?

The answer came a moment later, in the form of several Gorons appearing at the entrance to the trail up Death Mountain. The kids all appeared to have run from the inn to see what the commotion was, even with Renado trying to usher them back inside.

"It's the Gorons!"

"They're here!"

I counted a dozen in the group altogether, and the one who appeared to be in charge approached first.

"The elders instructed I and my brothers to protect the village once again, after the green one and his mate-" my eyes blew wide at the word Mate."-restored our Patriarch to his former state. Gor Coron sends his apologies for abandoning this village, when you were clearly in need of our help."

"We're not-"

"She's not my-"

Link and I had spoken up and quieted in the same seconds, and I heard my friends, as well as a few of the kids, giggle behind us. Renado opted to ignore the scene, extending a hand to the Goron that had spoken.

"We are glad to see you return. Our village has been in dire need of your aid. I imagine I will not be the only one resting easier tonight." the Shaman said gratefully. The head Goron nodded, shaking the man's hand before turning and gesturing to the other Gorons. He spoke in what I assumed was their native tongue, and the rest of the Gorons split up, going to various places in the village. As Renado finally managed to get the kids inside, I saw that the Gorons were arranging themselves strategically around the village as lookouts and defense.

"Smart move. Something could attack from any direction, it's good to be prepared." I heard Midna comment, the first time she'd spoken pretty much all day. I hummed quietly in agreement. "We should leave. The Twilight in Lanayru isn't going to dispel itself."

I sighed. I'd expected her to say something like that eventually. After 'wasting' - she probably thought it was wasting - a whole day playing around, she probably just wanted to get out.

"Not until tomorrow." Link said. "It's nearly night, traveling Hyrule field in the dark is risky." Midna rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a huff.

"Fine. We're leaving first thing in the morning, then. I mean it." the Imp muttered, returning to his shadow.

Well, that went better than expected. Midna was usually pretty snarky when it came to waiting for us. I shrugged it off and decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth and just take her acquiescence as we headed inside.

A/N:This chapter didn't go as well as I hoped, but it's done! I'm sorry I kept you all waiting so long.