Everyone! Thank you so much for your support and everything! I am again very sorry that it took so long! But I just can't help it so put up with me, okay?
But now I proudly present you Chapter 15 Home!
Disclaimer: I honestly do not own Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.
The chapter with the unbelievable number 15!
Something was different this morning. Link just couldn't out his finger on it. Something was very different from yesterday. Link noticed the slight breeze missing but shrugged it of because he was somehow very tired. Groaning he wanted to roll over however he didn't feel the soft grass tickling his sensitive nose but his face met hard-stoned floor. Caught off guard by the sudden coldness he jumped up and promptly bumped his head into a sturdy wooden table.
"Ouch" he hissed nursing his bruised head and damaged nose. He took in his surroundings and blinked. Twice. "Where has the lake gone to?"
His eyes wandered to the window. Far in the distance he could make out the blue, shimmering surface of Lake Hylia. "Huh? When did I get to Hyrule Castle." he mumbled to himself and blamed his rather painful awakening for his memory loss. Sighing he decided to sit down on the chair he spend the last night sleeping in and organize his thoughts.
He had been at Lake Hylia to wait for Midna's return from the Twilight Realm. So, why wasn't he at Lake Hylia waiting for Midna? He panicked. He hadn't missed her, right? He had overslept and she had dumped him because he wasn't there.
He shook his head to get rid of his thoughts. No. That had not happened. He thought she had come but there was only the baby! Their daughter Sephiria! Speaking of her...
"Where is she?" Link shouted in panic searching frantically for his daughter.
He looked around seeing no Sephiria. At first he looked under the table and the chair. After this he opened several cupboards, drawers and chests. He even looked behind the curtains and the carpet.
He couldn't have lost her. Midna would kill him! She hadn't been with him for more than one day and he already lost her. Where did he loose her on the way here? Oh goddesses forbid! Hopefully he had not lost her in Zora River! He urged himself to calm down. He hated his brain in the mornings.
Link was definitely not a morning-person, especially not after swimming up Zora River and falling asleep on a table.
Taking a calming breath he paced back and forth in the little room trying to bring order to his thoughts which were a jumbled mess. His musing however were interrupted by the door opening.
Zelda stepped in looking disheveled and like a ordinary young women. She wore no elegant pink and white dress, but a simple white night grown. Her tiara wasn't resting on her golden bird-nest like hair and her jewelry was missing, too. In her arms she carried a gurgling bundle.
Instantly Link's eyes snapped to the bundle identifying it as his daughter.
"Sephiria! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" he exclaimed relieved and went towards Zelda and Sephiria.
"Good morning to you, too." Zelda greeted. Link grinned and sheepishly rubbed the backside of his neck. "Morning." He took Sephiria from her and regarded his daughter with delight.
"What happened here? Did you have another fight with Ganon?" asked Zelda suspiciously.
Link chuckled embarrassed. "Well, in my morning induced confusion I thought I had lost little Sephiria here. So I looked for her."
"I did know you weren't a morning-person, Link. However, this is ridiculous. Sephiria was hungry. So I got her some milk from the kitchen."
Seeing Link's dumbstruck facial expression, Zelda couldn't suppress a high, clear laugh.
Embarrassed he looked elsewhere. With Sephiria tucked safely in his arms now and being relatively awake by now, he could think straight now and remembered the events of yesterday.
He had been so exited to see Midna again and in the end he didn't see her. The disappointment after he had gotten his hopes up was so much greater than he had expected. Now he longed for Midna so much just as if she had left him again. However, the trip hadn't been in vain. He learned of Midna's true feelings, which made him feel much better. On top of that he met his daughter. If he had not been there who knows what would have happened to her? He admired Midna's trust in him. She had known he would be there waiting for him. He smiled at this. Just wait Midna. If there was a way for Sephiria here, I will find a way for you!
Lost in his thoughts he placed the table and chairs he knocked over in his panic on the carpet again. Zelda was still laughing at him when his stomach rumbled.
"You wouldn't have gotten some breakfast for me? I'm starving here after swimming up Zora River."
Zelda calmed herself and nodded. "I told the chef to prepare something and bring it here. Your food is on its way."
Link nodded in acknowledgment and took a seat.
"You still haven't told me the whole story, Link. What happened?" Zelda asked as she followed his example.
Link sighed and placed Sephiria on the table and told her what had happened. After the food had arrived he ate in silence while Zelda read the letter with a concentrated frown. He had been reluctant to give it to her but out of all the people in Hyrule Zelda was the most able person to help him. She only needed to know the facts and due to her immense wisdom she could find the solution.
As Link finished eating he cleared his throat. "Well, what do you think?"
After a pause she handed the letter back to him. "It is very likely that another way exists for Midna to come here. However it seems that this connection can only be upheld by Midna. Otherwise she would have come here, too. We only need to know why she is the only one able to uphold the connection, then we can try to look for another with similar attributes."
"So, you are saying we could open another portal from this side?"
Zelda nodded. "That is very likely. However I fear lest at the moment we also don't have the means to reproduce the procedure Midna did. It would be much easier, if Midna told us the details how she was able to open a portal. Right now I think it's best for you to go home and care for your daughter. I will look into some books here. However I won't have much time at the moment. There are still many problems because of the invasion."
"I can do nothing to help?"
Zelda shook her head. "Link. No offense, but the castle's library is huge and many books were damaged due to the explosion. I already hired conservators to repair the books but this will take some time and I doubt Midna would like her daughter growing up here while her father had only eyes for books. I will contact you when I got something. So be patient. You can trust me."
Link just nodded and got up. "Thank you so much Zelda. I wouldn't know what to do without you."
"It's nothing. You saved my life and my kingdom I am forever in your debt."
Shyly he rubbed his neck. "Yeah well. It was no big deal. Er, I better get going now I want to be in Ordon before it gets dark."
Zelda smiled and stood up herself. "Of course. I still have some matters to attend to. Have a safe journey, Link."
After Zelda had left, Link cradled Sephiria and went outside.
The ride back to Ordon wasn't very eventful. The heat of the last weeks was diminishing and there wasn't as much dust due to some showers. Link was very thankful for that since he didn't want Sephiria to have a sunstroke. None the less he stopped at some trees to let themselves cool down a bit and gave Sephiria some milk which he had purchased in Castle Town before departing.
However due to the breaks and the rather slow pace he had ridden Epona they arrived later at the edge of Faron forest than Link had expected.
It was late midday and the sun shone mercilessly down on the trio. Link had wanted to arrive earlier to avoid as much midday sun as possible. Still, he was relieved since they had escaped the even hotter temperatures in the afternoon. Because of the shade provided by the trees the air had a pleasant chill to it and Link finally felt somewhat home again.
Even though he still missed the huge part that was Midna, the forest felt very much like home. He wasn't alone anymore he concluded.
Not that he had ever been alone in this forest with all his friends and those he regarded as family here, but now that his daughter was here with him he was now part of his own little family. Something he had dreamed of since he had been living alone in his tree house.
"Well, welcome home." Link smiled down at his daughter, who giggled in response. This made smile brightly like the sun. In such a good mood the forest seemed a lot brighter and full of life.
So he steered Epona towards the house of Coro who sat at his little bonfire with a bird nesting in his hair.
"Hey, Link. You are back!" he waved from his spot standing up to greet Link. "I've been wondering what you have been up to after you raced away as if you had an angered Ilia on your heels."
Link chuckled. "The Princess had something very important to tell me."
Coro's eyes nearly fell out of there sockets. "Dude, I'll never get used to you being the hero of Hyrule. I never saw the princess with my own eyes and here you go and have a talk with her highness herself. Err... So what was it about. If it isn't some super secret hero business, I would really like to know."
"Well... I wanted to surprise everyone in Ordon, but if you can keep a secret, I'll show you." Link demounted Epona and when Coro nodded he showed him Sephiria who peeked out of the blankets with curious blue eyes.
Coro blinked disbelievingly, then he looked to Link for a explanation and back to Sephiria again. "She resembles you. She wouldn't be your... daughter by any chance."
Link just smiled proudly at his response.
"Wait. You are kidding me, aren't you. You... a father?"
Link just nodded. "This is Sephiria, my daughter. "
Coro was silent for some time, processing this fact. "Well. This is a surprise. Remind me next time, Link, you are a man full of surprises. But a kid with royal blood. My, my Link. You are hero charming in person."
Link stopped dead in his tracks. How did Coro know of Midna or even that she was the Princess of the Twilight Realm.
Coro laughed out loud. "You and Princess Zelda! Now this is something. Don't worry your secret is safe with me!"
Dumbstruck Link blushed. "Stop, stop, you got it all wrong."
"Why? You get a call from the princess herself and then you come back with your daughter in your arms. Just nine months after you last saw her. I don't know about you, but that isn't something I call a coincidence."
"Well." Link cleared his throat. "Zelda and I are just friends. Sephiria's mother can't be here due to... political reasons, so she send Sephiria to Zelda. I..."
"Okay, okay. I understand. So this is your daughter, but not Zelda's. You don't want to talk about it. I understand. Every man deserved his secrets. But if you want to talk about it. I'm here."
Link nodded and mounted Epona again. "Thanks. I appreciate this. Oh, and I need some lantern oil. The family probably used it all up."
Coro nodded and filled a bottle with oil. "Yeah. But you will need to think of a good explanation. You know how the villagers can be."
"I'll think of something. Thanks. How much do I owe you?" Link sighed and took the bottle.
"Nothing. It's on the house for showing me this little beauty."
"Thanks." Link laughed and rode off.
"Whew. That was harder than expected." Link sighed as he rode on the bridge towards the Spirit's spring. "And I only introduced you to Coro. He was right telling the others will be quite troublesome."
By now he was at the spring and heard two giggling children.
"Did you see his face?" asked Beth's unmistakeably high voice.
"Yes. It was very funny." giggled Colin softly.
"Your idea with the bee's hive was brilliant." Beth praised with a smile.
"Wasn't it a little bit too harsh?" asked Colin while looking bashfully at the ground and rubbing his hands together.
Beth shook her head vehemently. "You know what that jerk said about Link! He deserved it!"
"I guess you're right..."
Link steered his trustworthy friend towards the two children. "Who said what about me?"
The two children whirled around to see him so that he could see their cheerful looking expressions on their faces. "Link! You are back!"
"Where have you been?" asked Colin exited.
"Did you save a beautiful maiden from a fearsome monster?" Beth asked dreamily.
"You didn't even say goodbye! In a blink of an eye you were gone and you didn't even stop when I called after you. We were worried!"
"Yeah! It must have been a really important mission!"
Link smiled brightly. "Stop, stop. I'll tell you."
When they saw Link's smile all worry was washed away from their faces, because Link didn't smile as much as he used to after he came back from his adventure.
"However." Link said, pausing a little when they saw their exited faces. "First I want to introduced someone to you."
"The beautiful maiden?" Beth asked hopefully, interrupting his speech.
"Why, yes! She is very beautiful indeed." Link chuckled and descended from Epona water splashing around his feet. After another pause he showed them Sephiria. "This is my daughter Sephiria."
At first they were speechless and looked at Link to see if he wasn't pulling their leg. However, when they only saw a father's proud face, Beth began squealing. "She is sooo cute!"
Colin smiled at the little girl. "Hello, I'm your big brother Colin."
"If you are the big brother, I will be the big sister! Hey, Sephiria, my name is Beth! I'll be your big sister!"
Link chuckled at their reactions.
"May I hold her?" Beth begged.
He nodded and put Sephiria carefully into her arms. Colin and Beth could now see Sephiria, who regarded the two of them with curiosity, even better and smiled widely. After cooing at Sephiria for a while, Beth gave Sephiria back to Link. "She is really adorable, Link! It's really easy to see she 's your daughter!"
"Link?" asked Colin after his gaze left Sephiria and met Link's eyes. "The mother... is she the girl you mentioned before you rode off?"
Link averted his eyes and looked at Sephiria. After a pause he bit his lip and answered truthfully. "Yeah. Her name is Midna."
"Where is she?" Beth asked.
Link sighed with a faraway look and dropped his eyes. "Far, far away."
"Oh..." mumbled Beth, noticing the glum mood. "Well, you won't imagine what we did to that jerk Ezio after he called you a coward!"
Colin continued when he noticed Beth's try to lighten the mood. "Yeah! When he went out, we shot the hive with the sling-shot you gave me the moment he was under it!"
Beth giggled at the memory. "The bees thought he was the culprit and stung him totally in the face."
"He ran away sceaming like a little girl." Colin laughed out loud bringing a little smile to Link's face.
"Yeah! But later his mom told us he has apipitiphobia!" Beth told Link. "And then Colin felt bad!"
"Apiphobia, the fear of bees. But he really deserved it!"
Link just nodded and noted the fact that his rival feared bees for later purposes.
Sephiria interrupted the retelling of the prank the kids had played on Ezio with a loud yawn and Link chuckled. "Looks like someone is tired. I'll go home now. Could you tell Uli to come see me at my house? I want to ask her for her help with Sephiria here."
The two friends nodded and stormed off eager to do the task. Link called after them. "Oh and keep this a secret from Ilia! I'm not really sure if I'm ready to face her wrath, yet."
"Okay!" Beth shouted and Colin added. "You don't need to worry, though! Ilia is away with Rusl and Ezio to buy some things in Kakariko! They won't be back until tomorrow!"
"Come on now, slowpoke!" Beth exclaimed from a distance. Colin raced after her. "Wait up!"
Link chuckled at the two of then and turned towards Epona and took her reins. "Let's go home."
That was it! Done! Don't forget to review!
Question corner!
Jackskellington123 If minda used something like the elegy of emptyness from majoras mask. Could she send her self over because there is now two of her ?
Well. No. The song only works withing the area of Ikana and well the statue can't really do anything besides standing around, right? So no. Not really!
Lady Fai Will Sephiria be able to use magic or change forms like Link?
She has Twili blood and so I guess she is able to use Twili magic. However, as long as there is nobody to teach her I don't see her lifting bridges and teleporting. Well and shapeshifting like Link is a problem. If I remember correctly Link was cursed and Sephiria not.
monkeylove123 Will we see Midna POV again?
I haven't planned anything in the near future. For now I want to concentrate on Sephiria and Link. And to be honest... I have no clue what's happening in the Twili Realm...^
Yeah! See you next time!