A/N: I've been in a writing frenzy, getting the new chapters up and picking away at chapter 35 like it's keeping me alive. It's not that it's rushed, I just have a lot of muse for this story all of a sudden. I hope you like it.

Revised as of 13/04/14

Chapter 23: Missed You

"Is Castle Town always like this?" Link asked as we walked through the bustling streets. Yes, we finally made it. After my little...episode, we went to see Fyer and Falbi, found Epona, and rode to Castle Town. Link didn't bring it up once, other than confirming that I was okay before leaving Lanayru's spring. Now we were in the town, headed towards Telma's.

"Like what?" I asked, wondering what he meant.

"Crowded, busy." he elaborated. I laughed lightly when I realized that he wasn't used to seeing this many people all at once. Ordon was small, and Castle Town was especially busy today. It was a market day, and people traveled from everywhere in Hyrule to buy and sell.

"Most of the time. Today's a market day, so things will be extra packed." I said, weaving through the massive crowd. I'd almost forgotten this place. Then I came to a familiar flower shop once we made it through the main square. I didn't recognize the woman selling flowers at first, and it hit me when I remembered I'd been gone nearly a century.

"Karena!" I exclaimed with a wave. The familiar brunette looked to me, and she grinned, waving me over. I led Link behind me by the hand so I didn't lose him in the hustle and bustle.

"Rosalie! It's been ages! You..you're all grown up! And who's this fine young lad you have with you here?" she asked, looking to Link. I saw her give him an appreciative once-over, and beat back the possessiveness threatening to rear up. Link was not mine.

"That would be my friend Link. Karena, I don't suppose you've seen my mother lately?" I asked hopefully. Karena nodded, and I saw her smile widen.

"Actually, yes! I saw her not ten minutes ago, said she was going to Telma's to meet up with your brother and his wife!" I felt my jaw dropping at that last bit, but I couldn't stop it.

"Wife?" I repeated. Karena nodded.

"Yeah. You didn't know? Well, I guess you wouldn't, but yeah. Few years ago he met my cousin Elena, and now they're happy newlyweds with a baby on the way, due in a few months." she explained. I didn't know how to wrap my head around this. My brother, my chronologically youngerbrother, was happily married, and his wife was pregnant. Wow. Just...wow. I shook my head, clearing it.

"Well, we were just planning on headed down to see Telma, so that works out nicely." I said, smiling, though making sure I didn't get my hopes up, just in case they had left. So, with a quick goodbye, we were once again walking down the cobblestone streets.

"Who was that?" Link asked.

"That was Karena, an old friend. She's sold flowers there since I was a child, taking over the shop when her mom was killed during Astaroth's attack." I answered, my expression falling at the memory of the kind woman. Link nodded, and we started down the stairs to Telma's bar.

"That is a Zora child! This is beyond my expertise! Hmmph!" an old voice squawked, and suddenly I saw Link startle when the doctor bumped into him.

"Sorry," he quickly apologized. The doctor scowled and stormed out of the bar with a "Humph!", the door slamming behind him.

"Doctor, wait! If something isn't done, this child will..." I saw Ilia run up, within two feet of us. She trailed off, when she saw the doctor was already long gone. Link gasped, and Ilia looked to him. There wasn't the flare of recognition in her eyes I'd seen before, and she simply turned away from him. I, on the other hand, was overwhelmed by the scene that greeted me.

In the back room, where The Resistance sat in the game, instead of one table, there were two. Occupying the one to the left were a blonde man with green eyes, sitting next to a younger woman with caramel-coloured hair that was obviously expecting a child. Roran and Elena, my brother and his wife.

My brother looked startlingly like our father, though there was still evidence of our mother in his face, in the shape of his eyes.

Across from them was a woman with blonde hair, wearing a dark blue dress. I couldn't see her face, but I knew it was Lilliandil. And beside her was another, slighter woman with almost white hair tied off into a thin braid on the side of her head. Impa.

And I recognized them all. It was my family. The soldiers were at the other table, but my family, sans Jethro, was right there within my reach, for the first time in fifteen years.

"Well, this isn't good. A human doctor won't do, huh..." Telma muttered, and I was drawn back to the current issue. I decided to speed up the scene a little bit.

"There has to be somebody. Maybe... somebody who's treated Zoras before?" I suggested. Telma looked to me, and it almost hurt when I realized she didn't recognize me. Then again, I supposed I looked a sight different from the nine year old she'd known a century ago.

"Maybe... Aha! I've heard of a shaman in Kakariko Village, in the Eldin lands, who's tended Gorons and Zoras." she remembered. Beside the table with my family, the soldiers previously gathered around the map turned around interestedly. Ilia leaped to her feet, looking to Telma excitedly afterwards.

"Is that true? Perhaps if we take him there..." Ilia trailed off, cautiously optimistic. The soldiers that had obviously been listening in on the conversation turned around, one of them clearing his throat.

"Inadvisable. Too dangerous. But we can't turn a blind eye to a pretty girl in need, either. Yes, we'd better escort you! Am I right, boys?!"

I rolled my eyes at their raucous cheers of agreement. 'Din's flame, dad, if you acted like this..' I thought, almost embarrassed at the thought. Telma didn't seem to mind. She actually seemed to be used to this, but the group in the corner seemed disturbed by the noise.

"Well, isn't that nice." Telma turned to Ilia. "To reach Kakariko, we've got to cross two plains that are each infested by dangerous beasts. But we'll be safe now!"

In the midst of her sentence, the guards slowly edged out of the bar, all but the shortest one. When Telma turned around, he noticed the others weren't there and tore out. Telma growled, and I bit my tongue to hide my snickers.

"Cowards! Don't ever show your faces here again!" Telma hollered. Then she caught sight of us. "Oh my!" She glanced to our weapons. "Well, it looks like we've got two young swordspeople left." When we didn't immediately book it, she smiled widely. "And not only that, but it looks like these fine young'uns are gonna escort us to Kakariko! Go get ready honey, pronto!" Telma said happily. In my peripheral, I saw Roran stand up from the table.

"Yes Ma'am!" Ilia said, a hopeful smile on her face as she ran off. Link's eyes followed her the whole way. I couldn't help the pang of jealousy I felt again, though I insisted to myself that I wasn't going to get jealous like that again.

"You know that girl, don't you?" Link only nodded in reply. "It's a real shame... She can't even remember her own name right now." a flash of pain entered Link's eyes at this news, but I tried to remain as detached as I could, viewing it as I would were I playing the game instead of living it. "Bless her heart... She found this poor boy collapsed in the road, so she did all she could to save him. More courage in that girl than in all the soldiers of Hyrule, for sure!"

A soft smile formed on Link's face. He knew Ilia, and I guess that sounded like her, to him. Telma leaned in closer, her face soft but stern.

"You lend your strength to her, you hear me?"

"I will. And... her name... is Ilia." Link murmured. Then I saw Roran approaching behind telma.

"If you wanted an escort, you could have just asked, Telma. It's the least I could do." he said. I forced myself to keep my shock off my face. My little brother was huge!

"Come with us." I offered. He looked down at me -he was at least six inches taller than me, good grief- curiously. "Well, like Telma said, it's a dangerous road ahead. We could use all the help we can get." I explained. I could see he was trying to figure out who I was. Probably why I looked familiar too. Roran looked over to the caramel-haired woman I inferred to be Elena. She nodded her head with a reassuring smile.

"I'd be happy to come. My name's Roran." he held his hand out, and I shook it with a smile.

"Rosalie, but I prefer Rose." I said in reply. The two women I couldn't see tensed slightly, and I figured I should come clean, especially at Telma's quiet gasp. "It's nice to finally meet you, I've been gone awhile." I added. Now, the three women from the table had come over. I saw my mother, saw her face outside of a memory for the first time, and I couldn't help the tears brimming in my eyes. You'd probably do the same if you hadn't seen your mother for fifteen years, and your last memory of her wasn't very happy.

"Rose..?" she whispered, coming up to me. I nodded my head. A happy, beaming grin lit up her face, and I was suddenly being crushed in a familiar embrace.

"Mom!" I gasped out, immediately returning the hug and wishing I could bury myself in the familiar embrace. As it was, I just held her as tightly as I could. Pulling back with a watery laugh, I looked over to Roran.

"And my brother, you're all grown up and married, and I never saw any of it!" I felt a pout slipping onto my face at that, and we both laughed, him quickly pulling me into a hug. It was weird knowing that he was born nine years after him, but he was older than me. "Just try keeping me out of my niece or nephew's life, I dare you." I added mock-threateningly, and we shared a laugh, before letting go of each other. Lilliandil was wiping her eyes, a smile on her face. I remembered that there had been a third woman, Impa, with Elena and my mother, and she made herself known right then.

"It's good to see you again, Rosalie." she said with a soft smile, which I returned. Until I remembered where else I'd heard her voice.

"You...you saved me from the Shadow Beasts!" I remembered, my eyes going wide. Impa acknowledged me with a nod. I blushed, remembering her angry scolding. She'd been right of course, it was stupid of me to think I could handle three Shadow Beasts on my own, even if I had forgotten they would be there until I was already trapped.

Turning back to my brother, I said,"Now, I suppose it's high time I actually met my brother and his wife, huh? At least while we're waiting for Ilia." . Of course, not five seconds later Ilia came down. "Huh. Okay, so I'll get to know you on the way to Kakariko." Roran laughed at my statement.

"I suppose so. In the meantime, Elena, my sister Rose. Rose, my wife Elena." I grinned and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Now c'mon, we gotta go. I'll introduce Link properly later, too." I promised, giving my mom one last hug before taking Link's and Roran's hands and leading them towards the door. Telma and Ilia followed behind us, the latter quietly chuckling amusedly.

"So who's the boyfriend?" Roran asked. We were in the stables, and Link offered to meet us outside Castle Town with Epona. I gave him a look, though I felt my face heating up.

"He's not my boyfriend. We're just friends."

"Are you sure you haven't...damn, what was the word...'friendzoned' him? He doesn't look at you the way a friend does. It may not be romantic, but you two are more than friends, I think." my brother mused. I choked a little bit. Friendzoned?

"How do you even know that word?" I asked. The friendzone may have existed in Hyrule, but the word itself was Earth slang, I was pretty sure.

"A peculiar boy I met about a year ago, turned up outside of Castle Town without a clue as to where he was, or how he got there.. We're friends now, and he has the strangest way of speaking, words I've never heard of. And living as long as our mother and I have, that's an impressive thing." he answered. I frowned at that, and my theory that Scott was in Hyrule solidified a little more, though I knew it could have been anyone else.

"What was his name?" I asked, crossing my fingers.

"He introduced himself as Scott Grant when we met."

I heard my sigh of relief at that as said relief flooded through my system. Scott was alive, he was in Castle Town. I made a plan to visit him as soon as Link and I had a spare day or two.

"Back to the point, the green boy?" Roran brought me back to our conversation, and I rolled my eyes at the stereotypical 'Big Brother' vibe he was giving off, I'd heard it before from my adoptive brothers; Dean, Anthony, and Braeden.

"That's Link. He's from Ordon." I said, remembering the topic of our conversation.

"Ordon? He's a little far from home, eh?"

I rolled my eyes, getting into the back of the carriage with Ilia and Prince Ralis. "Yeah, so? He's more a proficient swordsman than many of the babies that serve as soldiers." I retorted. He had Rusl to thank for that, I knew. Roran and Telma laughed at that, and we were off to meet Link.

A/N: Didn't need to fix much with this one, thank the gods. I really want to finish these revisions before the anniversary. I certainly hope it happens.