When Zelda woke up the next day, she stretched slightly and greeted Link, like she hadn't spent the night crying and sleeping out of pure exhaustion. He wouldn't draw attention to it either.

It's what she did. Royalty couldn't let their emotions get away from them very long. When she first came back and he asked about those kinds of things, he found out that they were trained very, very young.

If a ruler remained neutral, assessed the situation and fixed a problem that was threatening their kingdom? Their kingdom would win and their people would love them. If they could not win, the kingdom would fall, but their people would still be proud.

When a ruler became emotional or weak, it could only have one ending. Bad. Either being too emotional led a country to ruin and they would lose everything. If they won? The kingdom would be okay, but the people would hate them for showing such weakness. If people hated the ruler, then it was just as bad as losing the kingdom to someone else. There was a good chance, a ruler wouldn't be a ruler much longer.

It did make sense. Rulers were strong or were overturned. Zelda didn't show emotion to just anyone, or at anytime. She had shown very few. He was one of the few she did show.

"So, Link, what new treasures did you get?" she asked. "I know you had travel medallions and ancient horse gear. Anything else?"

Definitely. "Warm clothes. Cool clothes, a voe outfit, an actual knight outfit, and a simple hooded outfit." Link dug around in his stuff, moving his stuff out of the way of his new stuff. He moved his rushrooms, he loved those in a pinch. He moved around some of his own horse gear, Zelda's stone she had him carry, and some rupees. "There wasn't much. I took two beetles for Beetle." He had to remember to visit him. "Oh, and a diamond and a ruby."

"I bet he's wanting that voe outfit about now." She cleared her throat. "I will deal with him soon. It's not right to keep the Gerudo watching over him. He's my responsibility."

"I can take you, Zelda," Link offered. He'd rather be near when she saw him again, dungeon or not.

"I would appreciate it, but I want to speak with him alone," she insisted.

"I could still give you a ride when you are ready." Was she ready or did she want to do something first?

"You know, Link." She gestured toward his tunic. "I'm happy you found your new champion's tunic after all."

She had been? She was mad about it before. His new tunic. Maybe? Maybe she was thinking about what her father said about marriage too yesterday?

"Our time's castle had been wiped away from it's spot. You never would have received it," she said.

Oh. Yeah. She wouldn't have meant the marriage thing so quickly, not the next day after.

"I would like to visit Gerudo, the longer I delay it, the worse things will be," she insisted.

Link laid out a travel medallion. "There's already one hooked to Gerudo for you." He did it this morning, knowing she usually took duties taken care of quickly.

Gerudo

"This feels different." Zelda felt something odd about Gerudo. The guards seemed to be different. She walked up with Link. "I am here to speak to your leader."

"You may come in, but your voe must stay out here," they warned her.

Odd. The Gerudo hadn't had a problem with Link lately. He had been able to walk freely in there with Riju granting him that.

Link!

Zelda heard Riju's voice calling to Link, but the guards couldn't seem to hear it.

"Riju, what is it?" Link asked.

I am the last Gerudo of my time left. One moment I was talking to Buliara, the next I am surrounded by a seemingly endless oasis!

"Endless oasis?" Link looked around. "There isn't an endless oasis."

No, he changed it again. I tried to contact someone, but my power feels limited, like it's being used just to survive. Now, it is not my Gerudo. Lady Urbosa is there.

"There is no need for caution." Urbosa tossed her hair and smiled at Zelda, like she always had done. "Well, it's nice to see you, Princess Zelda. I didn't think I'd see you again until we visited the next goddess spring."

Urbosa. Urbosa. Urbosa. Zelda felt Link's hand clasp instantly to her as he pulled his sword.

Clearly. Clover was not in the dungeon anymore.

"What's wrong, Little Bird?" Urbosa asked her. "Clearly something is wrong. Your knight looks like he's ready to pounce for a fight at any second, and you look like you've seen a ghost. Come in, sit down. Follow me."

How long ago did he escape? "Urbosa." Keep it together. Keep it together. "I . . . I think I have something important to do in Hyrule. Right, yes, you have to. I must stop someone, and then, I will come back." She took off back outside. "Link, I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain."

"He is going to restore Castle Town," Link answered. "We can tell them later, we are running on precious time, Princess Zelda."

Right, this was the right decision. She couldn't sit down and easily tell Urbosa everything.

They needed to get to the ruins of Castle Town.

Castle Town

Around there. Link still had her time stone. "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice. A man like that will ruin the entire future of our world." She wandered through the ruins, knowing where she must go.

"A visit again, Princess Zelda?"

Zelda turned and saw the woman that Clover had restored in time. Her children must be inside. "You are in your house?"

"There was no guarantee if Clover picked the same time for my home and the castle." The kids were heard playing behind her. "Over there, we might disappear. Plenty of people aren't going to be able to support themselves forever."

"I will be making plans to make sure you receive food as well. I am already making plans to help provide food for the castle. By the time they run out of food, there will still be more." She tried to cheer her up while looking around. It had to be there.

"Gruel that will support thousands of homebound people, when this whole population is less than them? Sure."

"You all can leave for hours too, and then come back," she said, still looking. Exact. She needed to be exact. "Ma'am, do you by chance know where a little boy named Clover lived around here?"

"Clover," she muttered. "There were lots of children around here, I don't remember every name. Although that is the name of the man that did this. No, he's much too young. It's been 100 years."

"What about Clive?" Link asked her, trying to help.

"Yes, I knew a Clive. He had married a friend named Ivy. He was a neighbor, not too far away. How do you know we can leave for hours each time, Princess Zelda? What if the amount of time we can be gone doesn't just recharge when we come back? Do you know for sure?"

Questioning. If this woman had trust in her as a leader, there would be no questions. Yet, she posed a strong one. Everyone who left for a long time, didn't come back. "You are right, I cannot prove that."

"No, you can't, Princess. The closest thing I have is an apple tree, but I will harvest it for as long as possible before getting bolder," she said.

"Your neighbor, where does he live?" Zelda repeated. "Can you show me?"

The woman left her home a small ways from her bubble of time, but not far. She pointed to her left. "Right there? Um? It used to be here. There isn't a single ruin, just this strange drop."

"Right." Okay. Zelda looked at the spot. Seeing where a door even went was impossible. It looked like a sunken in mound. "Healing from the wound." She could feel it. Mainly it was gone, healed and even covered, but she could still feel it. "Link. I must go back, and stop Clive from saving his son." It was a tragic thing to say.

She felt him grip her hand. Did he not understand? "Link, last time I went back, I couldn't find a way forward again. This could be a one way trip. It could change our entire future."

"I couldn't beat the ancient technology fighting for you the first time, and I missed your hand the second time when I jumped in. I'm not letting you down, Zelda."

"Jumped in?" She looked at him. "We were both falling in."

"No, Zelda. I jumped, but I missed your hand."

"Link. If I hadn't disappeared I would have died. If Rauru's hand wasn't there, you would have died!"

"I couldn't just let you go."

"But if you grabbed my hand, we still would have gone down." He jumped. He willingly jumped? The earth didn't shatter around him like it did her, he jumped. He couldn't even save her with anything.

Then, the sunken hill in front of them that had been covered in grass started to burn. The whole sunken area was just scorched earth, still smoking, with a firey red coming from it.

"That is what happened thirty seconds after my father died."

Clover! He wasn't far and she understood why he said that. "Link, don't draw your weapon, if you kill him, more than he will suffer."

"I knew you'd be smart enough to figure it out, Princess. Move away."

Link and Zelda both moved away from the area, but Link still clearly wanted to draw his sword. If it hadn't been half as dangerous, Zelda would gladly let him swing it.

"As smart as Purah is, I'm sure she'll figure things out. She'll be coming soon," he told them. "If not, then you might want to have a little visit with her. You have two days." He started to leave.

Zelda let him. His day would come.

"Linnnkyyy! Prin-ceeeess!"

Link watched Purah come running up to them, out of breath. She ran from Lookout Landing.

"The instruments are going crazy," she warned him, showing them the information she was working with. "Look, look, there are micro tremors all over Hyrule. It's nothing new, but the micro tremors never beat like this, it's like a beating heart all over Hyrule."

"Where are the micro tremors not at, Purah?" Zelda asked. A terrible feeling.

"There's nothing going on from here to here." She gestured on the map. "There's nothing under Kakariko, nothing under Hateno, and this small little strip through the remains of Fort Hateno that swerves and goes to Kakariko."

Clover. "Could you check history on this?"

"It just registers waves, I whipped it up to help study the depths from the surface," she answered. "I could do within the last 24 hours but that's it," she told them. "Let's see." She adjusted her glasses. "The waves started yesterday, briefly and then released . . . where the old time bubble happened. It wasn't that much though, only a few seconds at most."

"Gerudo this morning."

Purah watched the timing. "There was the same kind of throb of micro tremors shortly after the prisoner would have arrived and stopped about two hours later." Purah went silent. "The tremors came back again less than an hour later and then disappeared."

"Urbosa is back," Link told her. "Clover bubbled Gerudo. Only Riju remains."

"Oh." Purah looked at the display. "Gerudo throbbed all the way around like this once, and then twice. Hyrule is beating the same way, almost like the ground beneath us is breathing. Linky? Zelda? Are we about to lose our home?"

"Tell everyone to head to Hateno, Kakariko, or at the very least, the remains of Fort Hateno," Zelda answered. "Immediately, and then get back here." She looked back toward Link as she started to run. "He said two days, but I don't know or trust this man. The timetable is as soon as possible. Measures to be taken quickly with haste. When Purah gets back, snag her and bring her to me to Hateno. Then, we will help and save in order of most importance along with distance."

"Yes, Zelda. Hateno?"

"Hateno."

No quips, no sorry to say it this way apology, Zelda was solidly stating it. Hyrule was in big trouble, and they had to be strategic to save people.

It wasn't the first time Link was under pressure. All civility stopped and instinct took over. He was already taking note of who he needed to get from where while he gathered some silent princess flowers.

Purah was heading straight back to him. "Okay, I warned Jonah and Robbie, they are sending out the word and people at Lookout Landing are already running." Yeah, he could see them running. "Where's Princess Zelda?"

Link grabbed Purah's hand and pulled her onto the medallion.

"Linky, I don't ever get on these things," Purah complained. "Never. Linky, I studied teleporting, but I don't want to do it! Why do you think I gave you the paraglider, Linkyyyy!"