A/N: a short follow-up regarding Shadow and life.
It takes Shadow a couple weeks to return to full strength.
As it turns out, coming back from the dead takes a heavy toll on the body. Shadow can only thank the Goddesses that Ember is willing to watch over him during that time, when he's far more defenseless that he's comfortable with. She seems to take great amusement in seeing him wobble about her den like a newborn fawn with his magic too drained to summon so much as a spark. His muscles have been reduced to all the functionality of wet paper– that is, limp, entirely useless, and liable to giving out on him with the slightest jostle.
Once he's (physically, because while his body is healed his magic is slow to return) recovered, though…
Ember has him tucked up against her side as they recline beneath the clear night sky, the moon casting the world into star-silver and midnight blue and shades of black. The weather is pleasantly cool up on the mountain, a light breeze drifting down to the lands below. It's peaceful, serene in a way that Shadow has never experienced before.
In all his short life, he never had the time to simply relax without having to worry about any other responsibilities. Before, there was always something he had to do, whether it was a job for Vaati or research on how not to die along with the Dark Mirror. Always a monster army to manage, a group of Heroes to fight, another problem that he was supposed to deal with. The work had never ended.
This, he decides, is a nice change. He could get used to this. But…
"Hey, Ember," Shadow forces out around the thickness in his throat, idly tracking the chitter of keese in the distance, "I know you're probably not used to having a freeloader like me hanging around, but I can walk now. I could get out of your way whenever you want me to."
Ember goes still. Her head snakes back to look at him, startled. "What?"
Shadow feigns casual ease and shrugs. He's fairly certain that she can hear the way his heartbeat's spiked, but his pride won't allow him to do anything else. "Ya, well, you're probably tired of putting up with me and I haven't exactly been helping out, so…"
She snorts at him, a wave of hot air that's threaded with wisps of smoke. "You are clan," she states, firm and unyielding as the mountain beneath them. "You stay as long as you want." Her snout scrunches up in the expression she gets when she's trying to figure out how to say what she means in Hylian. "Never… leave. Never have to leave."
If Shadow had an ounce less control his jaw would be completely slack. He's gaping at her, hope a fragile, fluttering thing in his chest. Whatever he'd expected her to say, it wasn't that. "I– seriously?"
She makes a sound like the hiss of fire and the scrape of stone, the draconian form of a laugh. "Yes. You are clan. Dragons look after our own." Ember pauses, wrapping her tail around him. Her scales are warm and smooth, glossy black as they reflect the moonlight. "You thought I would abandon you?"
Shadow ducks his head, a bit sheepish now that she seems to be disappointed. "Well, it's not like I'm doing anything. All I'm good for now is sitting around and eating your food and–"
Ember growls, cutting him off, but her words are fond. "Still healing. Don't need to prove your worth; already proven it very much."
...Well. What is he supposed to say to that?
It was never like this under Vaati. There, Shadow was acutely aware of his own worth, of his own expendability. He saw how the monsters were used as little more than fodder, living obstacles that could be used and discarded as the situation called for. He knew that Vaati and Ganon would've had no problems doing to same to him if he ever disappointed them one too many times, which was the entire reason he'd created his failsafe in the first place. To think that he doesn't have to do anything for Ember to still consider him worth protecting is mind-boggling.
"Thank you," Shadow manages, leaning closer against her side. "Seriously, thank you."
Ember curls herself around him in a comforting embrace. "New life," she reminds him. "Second chance. We are free now."
Shadow gives her a throaty laugh. "Yeah," he says. "I guess we really are."
It seems that there's going to be a lot to get used to.