Chapter Two:
Just in Case

Eli

One of Mother's books was propped on Eli's lap. To everyone else, it would look like he was reading, and in a way, he was. However, he didn't need the book to be open to read it. As long as the book was in the darkness with him and close enough, the shadows could read it to him instead. It was something he often fell asleep to.

But he had not yet fallen asleep when Uncle Killian came. He was laying in bed, book on his lap, when he heard another voice. Even though they were twins, Killian still sounded different from Dad. He was louder, his voice barking more abruptly than Dad's slow and gentle one. Eli perked up, wondering why Uncle Killian would be visiting so late in the night. Mom would get mad if she found out he was still up, so Eli just crept up to his door and focused on Listening like Dad taught him.

"They say us Hylians have long ears so that we can hear messages from the Goddesses." Dad had chuckled. "I don't know anything about that, but I know that we can hear the faintest sounds from far distances if you just learn to focus your senses."

"Close your eyes. Focus only on your ears. First just on all the things you hear immediately, right now."

That was easy enough, since he had already spent most of the evening in the dark. He listened first to Leita's soft breathing as she lay across their room in her bed, which hung above his. He listened to the sound of his own breathing and then the croaking of distant frogs and the chirping of crickets in the night, the creaking of the wind in the trees, the swishing of the water against the shores of Lake Hylia.

And then he reached for the voices he heard deeper in the house, near the kitchen.

"You can't be serious." Eli recognized his father's voice, aghast and shocked.

Next came Killian's, curt and angry. "Yeah, Tori, because I would joke about something like this."

"... How did it happen?" Dad's voice sounded all wrong again. All thick and heavy, like it was stuck in his throat.

"That's the thing," Killian sighed. "He was struck by lightning."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Lightning …?" Dad asked, his voice almost dazed.

"Yeah, lightning," said Killian, like the word meant something more than it did. "Now, how do you figure that a mage like our father gets struck by lightning? He could easily redirect it."

"Yes, I suppose so … What are you thinking? Just say it."

"I'm surprised you haven't gone there yourself." Uncle Killian snorted.

"It's in the middle of the night, and you just told me our father is dead." Dad's chair squeaked as he moved in it. "I'm supposed to be able to read your mind at a time like this?"

His grandfather was dead.

Eli never saw him much, the grandfather he had been named after. He lived in Kakariko Village, but Dad didn't often take them up to the house there. They never stayed the night despite visiting from so far away. Grandfather didn't often come down to see them either, even if he knew they were in town. Eli could count the number of times on one hand that he had seen him.

Grandfather was intimidating in a way.

He had the same green eyes as Dad, and yet they were nothing alike at all. Grandfather's eyes were unyielding and hard like cold, sharp emeralds. He would smile sometimes, just never with authenticity. Grandfather smiled only when it benefited him to do so. Though Grandfather would ask about him and Leita, he only inquired on how their magical abilities were developing.

His grandfather, Elias Serwen, had been a retired teacher and scholar at the magic academy in Castle Town. He was a pretty famous mage. People in Castle Town got excited when they heard who his grandfather was. Everyone in Kakariko already knew. But Eli still remembered the look his grandpa had given him, as if he were a dirty mutt.

More than a mere look, Eli had heard him say to Dad as he left, "A pity, especially after you managed to marry well. The girl at least seems viable."

Dad had his back turned to him, so Eli never got to see the look on his face, but he said nothing in response. It seemed even his own grandfather knew that there was something off with him too. It made him wonder why he felt a connection to the name Elias in a way he never did with his real first name, Khaz. After all, he wasn't fond of his grandfather, but he had been responding to that name before they had even met.

Eli heard Killian huff again. "Like you weren't already awake? Tinkering in that safe room of yours."

"Killian, please …"

Killian sighed and then said after a pregnant pause, "I'm thinking it was Sylric."

The room went still with a quiet so thick it could have clogged Eli's ears. After a few moments, Dad spoke in a tiny whisper.

"No … He wouldn't—"

"Bullshit, he wouldn't! Look at my face, Tori, and tell me he wouldn't." Uncle Killian's voice got a sharp, angry edge to it.

His uncle had a thick, mean scar across his face, but he was told that Killian got it in the Gerudo War. His brow furrowed. Dad wouldn't have lied to him, would he? And who was Sylric?

"I didn't mean it like that." Dad just sounded tired, unable to even become bristled by his brother's harsh tone. "I know what he's capable of. You don't need to remind me. I just mean, why would he challenge my threat now? He stayed away, gone for all these years."

"The hell if I know how that bastard's mind works," grumbled Eli's uncle. "Maybe he's just gone so batshit insane he doesn't care anymore what Impa would do to him if she found out … But I'm worried that he's not going to stop with just Father. If he made that bold of a move, who's to say he won't come after you and Amaya next?"

Dad sighed heavily. "We still can't be sure it was him. But you're right, we should be prepared just in case."

"Tori... maybe it's time you told Impa. Why keep his secret after what he did? We should deal with him now, once and for all."

"I... know. I just …"

"You just what? You want to protect a necromancer? He may have been our brother, but after what that bastard necromancer tried to do to Amaya and you …?" More quietly, Killian added, "After what he did to me?"

"He only reanimated dead animals, not people—"

"Oh, well, excuse me!" Killian boomed. "That just makes it all better, doesn't it? Nevermind he was completely messed in the head! Nevermind he tried to—"

"Keep your voice down," Dad hissed, and Eli heard the warm breath of anger in his tone for once.

That word, necromancer.

Eli heard of them only in scary stories. They were evil casters that made the dead rise and pillaged villages. Never had Eli heard of them spoken as if they were something real. He had always thought of them as monsters from myths and legends. Uncle Killian spat the word, like it was dirty, wrong, an insult unto itself, but he also said it like it was a real thing that someone could be. Someone like the mysterious brother his father had never spoken of until now, before with Mom and now with Killian.

Eli felt his insides pitch and wave sickly despite himself as he remembered why his father had finally spoken of this terrible brother. Dad had been worried about him talking to dead people, because he was worried he would end up like this Sylric.

Eli could only continue to listen numbly as his uncle and father continued to argue.

"Then explain to me why you're making excuses for him of all people," demanded Killian. "Why would you? I would have thought me and Amaya mean more to you than him."

"Of course, you do," Dad insisted, almost pleading it seemed for Killian to believe him. "I just … Dad was so terrible to him. Even though he was the only one of us who got magic, a mage no less, Sylric still was never good enough for him. He did everything for him. It wasn't like you and I had the best childhood either. It was just... worse for him, and I wondered if he ever had a chance to be anything else."

"Oh, Din, you feel sorry for him?" asked Killian, disgust in dripping from his tone. "After what he's done, you still feel sorry for him?"

Dad sighed, sounding defeated. "I just... wanted to give him a chance to be something else."

"A bit too late, Tori," Killian scoffed with disdain. "He was already too messed up in the head. He couldn't even think of you and me as two separate people."

"I know … I'm still sorry about that."

"And I keep telling you to shut up about it. I didn't bring it up to make you feel sorry for me, just to make a point."

"I know, I know." It seemed all his father could do was sigh. "I'll talk to Amaya about it. We'll figure something out."

If his parents talked, Eli didn't manage to catch them at it.

Ever since then, he was trying to learn as much about the different classes of casters and more specifically necromancers. This wasn't as hard as it could have been if Eli didn't have the aid of the shadows. If the darkness and shadows connected enough, he found that the shadows in another room would speak to him. Night made this very easy. This way he could even "search" his mother's forbidden collection. They told him which books or scrolls made mention of necromancers without reading the entire thing.

There was only one book in his mother's collection that ever did. Still, there wasn't even much about it. It stated that a necromancer was any caster who possessed "death" magic, and that a caster with an affinity for death magic could be identified by, "their ability to perceive the spirits of people or other creatures that have died but not passed on."

His heart skipped a beat when those words were read to him. He stared at the dark underside of his sister's bunk as his pulse raced. The shadows continued to read on as he did not ask them to stop.

Casters with this affinity have partial perceptions of dead spirits, such as only being able to see them but not hear them. Most can sense the presence of the dead even if they cannot see or hear them. The deeper the connection the caster has to death magic, the more they can perceive these dead spirits by presence, sight, or sound.

Now it felt like his pulse was frozen after the shadows finished reading this passage to him.

He was a necromancer.

That word his uncle had spat like it was a vile taste in his mouth. The thing his father feared in him. The monster spoken of in the myths, legends, and even simple horror stories told to keep children like him up at night. No, not children like him. Children like the ones in Kakariko Village and Castle Town, who made up bravery tests based on him and his eyes.

He remembered his mother's words that other night when he listened by their bedroom door at the ranch. "His connection is very deep."

"Connection" like the book had described, but now Eli knew how "deep" it was. He didn't just only hear them or only see them. He saw and heard the dead as clear as if they were alive to him. He had even made the mistake of thinking that they were.

Mother insisted it was a gift, but the way Uncle Killian had talked about necromancers made Eli question that. As did all the stories told so often on the Day of Courage in Castle Town. Gift or not, it was not something the rest of the world would love him for, not that it seemed to favor him in any case. Perhaps that was always the reason.

And yet… Lady Impa wanted to train him. They had even made plans to start the training next month. She said his gifts made him suited for it. That had to include his necromancer abilities as well. She had to know after what he said about the well. Lady Impa was a Sheikah, and even in the scary stories, the necromancers were always vanquished by a brave Sheikah warrior. Everyone knew that Sheikah were the guardians of the dead. They upheld the law against necromancy and punished those who violated it.

The very book that provided him with information on necromancy had stated, "Reanimating the dead bodies of people or animals is strictly forbidden under Sheikah law, as is exerting one's will over dead spirits."

Eli didn't want to raise the dead or exert his will over them. Lady Impa must know this or she wouldn't want to train him in the ways of her people.

"It'll be fine," Eli had whispered to himself in the dark. He would just use Shadow magic, and no one had to know about the death magic.

The shadows had remained silent that night at his comment. After all, they only ever responded to a question he held in his mind. The more specific he was with the question, the more accurate the answer he received. Still, at least the shadows never lied to him.

Eli and his father bobbed up and down in a little row boat together. The sun was dipping lower and lower on the horizon between the trees, setting the sky on fire with warm red and orange hues. Dad had been checking his fishing lines and nets. Eli had come along as he enjoyed reading while bobbing on the lake surface.

"Hey, Eli, whatcha readin' there?"

Eli peeked over the top of his book at his father's summons. He was greeted with Dad's warm, loving smile. Dad may have been scared at first—with the whole talking to dead people thing—but ever since that night at Lon Lon Ranch, he acted like nothing was different.

Though, they hadn't talked about it at all since either.

"Just one of Mom's books." This one had nothing about necromancers in it. Eli wasn't stupid enough to be caught reading a book about them in broad daylight. "Different caster classes."

The one he had now just described the differences between mages, adepts, sorceresses, and elementals. Mom had all sorts of books about magic, which she often gave him and Leita to study. She didn't let them get their hands on any books or scrolls with actual incantations without her supervision, those were in the forbidden collection. They were only allowed to read the books that discussed how magic works in theory. She emphasized that magic was best felt rather than conceptualized and that books would only take them one tiny step of the way.

Father had said his unknown uncle was a mage. It was still unclear to him what this "Sylric" had done or tried to do to Uncle Killian and his parents. All he got out of that late night conversation was that his mysterious uncle had been a necromancer, and that he had reanimated the corpses of animals and possibly murdered his grandfather. He also knew that he might "come after" his parents again.

And he had no idea why. Grandfather being an insufferable asshole didn't seem like the complete story to Eli.

"You've been pretty quiet lately," continued his father.

Eli kept his eyes glued to the page, grazing over the script but not absorbing it. He kept his expression relaxed as he replied, "Aren't I always quiet? And we all know I'm pretty."

He heard Dad chuckle softly. "Yeah, but I'm your father, I know when you're being even more quiet than usual. Is there something wrong?"

Eli shrugged. "What about you? You seem quiet recently too and you're not typically so."

That got Dad to pause.

The water slosh up against the boat in that strained silence. Perhaps Mother had never really lied to him, but she had kept things from him. His father had always been so honest and open. He never really thought he could be housing such troubling secrets or that he would have lied about Killian's scar. Maybe it was just the shock of it that upset him.

"Why did you name me after Grandfather?" Eli asked, finally breaking the silence, though he could almost feel his father flinch at the question.

"Oh … Well, I suppose, it was to honor him."

"He never seemed very honored," stated Eli bluntly, but then he realized how that might make his father feel. "Sorry, I guess maybe if I wasn't... If I was more like Leita, then maybe he would have felt more honored."

"No, Eli—" Dad began but stopped, sighing heavily.

Sighing was all his father seemed to do as of late, and he was normally so cheerful all the time. He looked up to see him rubbing his brow, his bare back slumping as his tan skin glimmered in the sun from his sweat. He dropped his hand to smile sadly at him, apologetically. Even with all the burdens his father bore, he still smiled even if they weren't happy smiles. It always made Eli feel a bit guilty whenever he made one of those smiles cross his father's face.

Dad scooted over, tugged the book out of his hand, and set it aside. He touched his face, and then his hand gently grasped the back of his head and pulled Eli forward, so he could kiss him on the top of it. Eli still kept his eyes down, as if the book were still in his hands though they laid empty on his thighs. He hadn't felt in any need of such consolation, but he would not reject his father's affections.

"Don't you worry about what your grandfather thinks." He leaned back again, smiling that bitter sweet smile. "He's... an impossible man to please."

It wasn't that Eli was worried about what his grandfather thought of him. There were very few people in his life whose thoughts he truly cared about in regard to himself.

"Yet you still wanted to please him?" inquired Eli, raising his eyes.

"Yes." Dad's gaze dropped for a moment but mostly due to deeper thoughts. "Your grandfather just had a way about him. He was enthralling without ever trying to be. Even though he was distant, I still felt compelled to try to reach him somehow … Or at least I used to. After a while, I was finally able to let it go."

Eli nodded and looked off into the water. Dad wasn't always as confident and self-assured as Mom, but he was strong in his own way. To be honest, Eli had no idea what he would have done if he was never able to please or reach Dad. He, Mom, and Leita were all he had, and they were really all he wanted in any case.

Unlike the other Hylian villages and towns, his family lived out in the isolation of the lake region. They were not surrounded by their community as most Hylian families were. Though, Eli rather preferred it that way. He disliked the idea of living around other people on a daily basis, surrounded by their whispers and flinching, hateful gazes. He enjoyed the solitude of his home at the lake side.

It made him wonder why someone as social as his father would pick such a place to live. He knew that Dad loved fishing, hence why he was a fisherman. Still, he could have done river fishing. Eli knew Mom enjoyed solitude as well, but she seemed fine with being in the towns and villages too. She probably would have been fine with any location Dad chose. Besides, it was an odd choice for a Hylian to make. He noted from his observations that they typically favored being in groups, forming rather close and supportive communities.

Though, Eli did notice the attention his family received for being related to his grandfather. The people of Castle Town and Kakariko also seemed to expect some kind of magical greatness from them by proxy. It wasn't just Grandfather who inquired about their magical abilities and progression. Practically everyone else did. It always came up in passing with his elders somehow.

It made sense to Eli if Dad had wanted to be free of that too. Even Uncle Killian did not live a very sedentary lifestyle. He passed from village to village, visiting occasionally, but never settling down anywhere. Perhaps it was easier for them to escape Grandfather's shadow that way.

Soon Dad was done with his nets and lines, and he was paddling them back to their home in the East corner of the lake. It happened when Eli got out of the boat and looked up.

His grandfather was standing there.

Elias was a tall and slender man, cloaked in dark tones of black and gray. His face was lined and wrinkled with his age but reminded Eli of what his father might look like when he got that old. His dark, ink-black hair was faded with gray and lengthy, and it did not stick up and out at odd messy angles like Dad's did. It lay flat and straight around his face, like Eli's did. Those green eyes were as intense and piercing as they had been in life. He stood with his arms folded at the small of his back as Eli gazed up at him.

He was dead, but why would Grandfather visit?

"They are coming," said Elias. "Run."

Eli paused before he realized what his grandfather meant, but he knew. Maybe it was because his father was always working on that safe room hidden with a trap door in the storage floor.

Always just in case.

He nodded. He felt oddly calm.

Elias cocked his head slightly, seeming to really look at him now, and he looked Eli in the eyes. He had never interacted with his grandfather enough to know if he could do this without flinching, just like Mom did. He didn't know whether or not Grandfather was phased by whatever the shadows cast in Eli's eyes. After a moment, to his disbelief, his grandfather seemed satisfied with a stern nod.

"Hm. Good. Now show me that Sheikah woman was right about you. I don't have time—"

And then Grandfather convulsed, falling to his knees as if his whole body was in pain. Eli took an instinctive step forward, but Elias shook his head.

"The fool keeps trying," Elias hissed and panted. He looked up into his eyes then. "Tell your father I'm sorry. Now run."

Grandfather vanished.

"Eli …?" His dad had that worried tone to his voice again. He must have noticed his unusual behavior just now.

Eli whipped around. "Dad, they're coming. We have to go. Now."

His father blinked. "Who—?"

"The Gerudo, they're—"

Movement caught the corner of his eye, and Eli saw Grandfather again. He was pointing. He looked over and saw two people on horses. Their hair was such a brilliant red that it shone in the sun from across the lake. Dad had followed his gaze and his face paled upon seeing them. There was the briefest pause before he was being scooped up into his father's arms and rushed into the house before Eli could utter another word.

"Maya!" Dad shouted. "Amaya!"

Mom and Leita emerged from the back, confused and somewhat alarmed.

"They're coming, Maya," said Dad. "The Gerudo, I just saw them on the north side, approaching by horseback."

Mom's face went cold and alert but eerily calm at the same time. Her dark blue eyes pressed to Father's. "Did they see you?"

"I don't know," breathed Dad, his voice starting to shake a little. "I don't know if their intent is to attack, but I saw weapons on them."

Eli supposed he would have considered that too, if the dead spirit of his grandfather had not specifically told him to run. Not to mention that the Gerudo never came to Lake Hylia, despite being relatively close by. Eli had only ever seen one, and that had been in Castle Town.

"It's fine. We'll follow the plan, just in case," said Mom, her voice smooth and tranquil. "Let's get into the safe room."

Dad moved, still holding Eli in his arms, as he went behind the counter found at the front of the fishing pond, which connected to the side of their house. He grabbed a bag and a scabbard containing his sword from his days as a soldier. Then he followed Mom. Leita was already starting to cringe into her shoulder as they went over to the door down off to the side of the counter.

The storage room.

Dad was popping open the door, which blended so seamlessly into the floor that if you didn't know it was there, then you wouldn't. That was when Eli heard the front door to the fishing pond shudder open violently. Dad exchanged a startled look with Mom, before she nodded her head swiftly toward the safe room. They quickly lowered both Leita and him into it.

"Eli, take your sister's hand." Mom was already stuffing Leita's into his. He heard her breathe the words, "

Akite darui nisemono."

"Wait!" began Eli, but she was already closing the door on him.

He heard her whisper another incantation just as he shoved at the trap door with his shoulder. It didn't budge.

"Mom!" he called, but he could already hear her footsteps fading, mingling with the soft hiccuping of Leita's sobs, her hand still clutched in his.

Tori

Tori was already on the move after he finished lowering Eli into the safe room. He left Amaya to cast the necessary spells to effectively hide their children not only from sight but also from sound. He pressed his back into the wall and peeked around the doorway's frame. His scabbard in one hand and the hilt in the other.

It was quiet. He didn't see anyone, but the front door was still wide open. They were either hiding or they didn't actually come inside yet. He swallowed and tried to keep his breathing silent even if not steady. He chanced peeking around it more and found the fishing pond was still empty.

He focused on his ears, distilling all the sounds around him as he had been trained to. He searched for the crunch of foot falls of strangers. He heard no breathing in the fishing pond area. He turned back to Amaya and shook his head, indicating that they weren't there. She jerked her head to the right, telling him she would check around the back. He nodded and slipped around the frame to check the front.

He crouched and moved along the wall to the counter near the front door. Instead of going behind, he moved in front of it. Then he pressed his back against the wood of the wall, feeling his bare skin stick with his sweat, which connected the counter with the front door. He peered out, as far as he could see to the right.

No one was there.

Just as he was sliding back, to try to get a better angle, she came through the door. He locked green eyes with her golden bronze ones. In that instant, his sword sliced out of its scabbard and clashed against the scimitar that she swung at him.

The twin scimitars swooshed and whipped through the air. Repeatedly, he barely managed to block them with his own steel. The Gerudo was a red and tan blur. He was losing his breath fast. He couldn't keep up with her. She was pushing him back, deeper into the fishing pond, before she smacked his sword out of his hand and slammed a kick into his gut.

Tori was sent hard to the floor, and she was already on top of him. The blades of her scimitar stopped, though crossed, at his throat. Her orange-red hair hung to the side of her dark-skinned face. Her red lips curved into a smirk, as she settled into the straddling position she had on top of him.

"Well," she breathed, "aren't you a pretty thing."

Tori panted, keeping his chin up. He could feel the sharp steel pressed but not yet cutting into his skin. He looked up into her eyes.

"Hmm, I might just keep you."

"Get off," he huffed, not because he actually thought this would make her do so—just an instinctive muttering.

She gave a chucking "hum" before responding suggestively, "I just might with a delicious thing like you."

She ground her hips against his, and her smirk slid further up her face. Tori flinched more out of shock than the attempt at stimulating him. His brow furrowed as he instinctively jolted and began to wriggle in an attempt to move out from under her.

"Don't struggle, sweetie," cooed the Gerudo, pressing her blades forward so that the sting of it would remind him of their presence. "It'll be less painful for you."

The swords forced Tori to press his back completely against the ground. His hands grasped the dirt beneath him, thinking to throw it in her eyes, but there was still the chance she would cut him open before he could get away.

Tori had heard the stories, back during the war, of the men that the Gerudo would take after demolishing a village. The Gerudo might keep them for a while and then, after they grew bored, kill them. Fear jolted through his insides as they turned sickly. He glanced around, looking, hoping for something, anything.

"Aw, what's the matter? Already married?" she taunted, lifting one of her swords and sheathing it while keeping the other safely at his neck. "Afraid you'll enjoy it more than with your wife?"

The Gerudo glanced up from him, her eyes searching, the smirk fading from her lips. "Now, if you really are married, where's your wifey?"

This was the only reason he kept silent and did not call for Amaya. If she was nearby, he didn't want to give her away.

She looked back down at him, that smirk returning. She brushed her hips against his, almost teasingly. "If you don't tell me, I'll take you right here, right now … Of course, she might already be dead."

He merely cringed, feeling his stomach twist sickeningly as her hips sought to brush and stimulate him. Tori had never really been able to say he hated anyone. Not even his older brother, Sylric, when he probably should. But if he were going to hate anyone, it would be the Gerudo. What they had done to that Sheikah village still haunted him.

It wasn't every night that he woke in a cold sweat, the image of a flayed Sheikah man, their heads on spikes burned into the back of his eyelids, the smell of burning flesh still stinging in his nose.

But it happened often enough.

Killian had always said that he wasn't made for war, but Farore, who was? Who was made for things like that?

All the same, Tori was confident that his wife was not dead. Amaya had always been his father's favorite student for a reason. He just needed to wait for her to be finished dealing with the second Gerudo.

The Gerudo pouted. She reached down and grabbed him, causing him to jolt and gasp again in shock. His hand latched onto her wrist, a knee-jerk reaction to pull or push it away, but the sharp pressing of her blade to his neck halted him.

"I really will fuck you right here. Don't think the love of your wife will keep you from getting hard. I'll show you how wrong you are."

Nayru, she wouldn't really do that right here, when an enemy was unaccounted for. She was bluffing. She had to be, but Tori still felt the fear rush through him.

Thankfully, he never got to find out.

The Gerudo was suddenly lifted off him. Her hand clutched at her throat, as if something were choking her. Her sword was twisted out of her hand. Tori sat up and looked around, expecting to see Amaya but found no one else in the fishing pond.

He looked back up at the Gerudo who dangled in the air and then shock shuddered through him like lightning. The image of his father faded into the air. It flickered in and out of clarity and transparency, like a light struggling not to die. He stood in front of the Gerudo, one arm held at the small of his back and the other lifted before him, as poised and elegant as he had always been, the gesture of his hold on the Gerudo woman's throat.

"Touch him again, you wench, and I'll drag you into the abyss with me."

It couldn't be. He was dead, and Tori couldn't see ghosts as his son did.

With a lazy flick of Elias' wrist, the Gerudo was sent flying, slamming into the right wall next to the counter. It shuddered with the blow. Another flick, she zoomed back into the left wall. Elias raised his hand up, and she rose. He dropped it, and she smashed into the ground.

He was starting to lift her up again, but Tori saw his father's image start flickering more rapidly. Elias shuddered, his image showing him dropping to his knees, his arms curling around his middle. The Gerudo fell to the ground again, as he lost his control over her.

"Not now," he half groaned and growled, his voice sounding like an echo, no longer as clear as it had been before.

He vanished. A second and then another passed, but he did not return.

The Gerudo was panting and wincing in pain, but she was getting back up to her knees, lifting her head up. Her golden bronze eyes locked on him again, her hair a wild red mess around her face as it had come loose from being thrown about. Her lips pulled back in a snarl, and her hand grasped her dropped scimitar.

Tori realized he had been too shocked to have the wherewithal to retrieve his own sword. His eyes darted around to find it, lest he be caught in the same position as before. Thankfully, before he could even scramble to his feet, he heard her scream. He jerked his head back up and saw the Gerudo writhing on the ground.

Amaya stood next to her, though Tori had not seen her approach. A soft breeze blew into the fishing pond, rippling her dark blue sundress around her knees and sweeping her long silver hair across her face and shoulders. Her dark eyes had that cold and detached look Tori had come to know during their days fighting in the war.

It was a strange scene, because his wife was practically dainty compared to the tall and athletic Gerudo on the ground at her feet. Amaya bent her knees and sat on her heels, just watching the woman twist and contort.

"Yes, it hurts," she said in a soft voice heard between the Gerudo's pained grunting growl. "Don't worry. Soon you'll wish you were dead, and I'll grant that wish. I'm not without some measure of kindness."

Amaya waved a particular gesture in the air, and though the Gerudo continued to wriggle in pain on the ground and her mouth gaped in agony, there was no sound. His wife stood up and looked over at him, the warmth returning to her eyes. She swept over to him as he managed to get to his feet. Her hands went up to his bare shoulders as she gazed searchingly into his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

But Tori's mind was still on the impossible thing he had just witnessed. "Did—did you see …?"

Amaya nodded. "Your father."

"But—how?"

She glanced down thoughtfully.

"Those with magic who linger after death can still use it. It's the soul that generates mana. Mages or those with a connection to death magic can make themselves visible to everyone even after death, but still." She looked up at him. "It's very difficult to do while one's spirit is still clinging to this world on will alone. It usually takes a long time for them to regain even a small portion of the magical abilities they had in life."

Tori smiled weakly. "Well, you know Elias."

She nodded. "He always was a quick study."

She watched him swallow thickly as he asked, "What... what happened to him? It seemed like something was hurting him and then he was gone."

"I don't know." She shook her head. "Well, it's not something I can be sure of right now at least."

Tori nodded, his hand running through his hair, his eyes cast downward.

"But he came for you," she said, raising her hand to stroke his face. "To protect you. I know he was never good at showing his true feelings. I'm not sure if he was ever good at knowing what those were to begin with, but death can be... very sobering."

Tori put a hand to his face, his brow furrowing as his face tensed as Amaya slipped her arms around him.

His childhood had been filled with nothing but shameful failure in those unyielding green eyes. When he came of age, he joined the guard, at least hoping to please his mother and his community in some way, to be great in some manner or form. She had been a very skilled warrior, so much so she had been the captain of the royal guard before Kubera and Aravin. Yet again, he could not rise to that challenge. Combat was not something that came to him as it did to his adventurous twin.

After the war, Tori finally decided to follow his own heart.

"A fisherman?" He remembered Elias saying with disdain, glancing up from his desk covered in scrolls. After a brief moment, he had looked back down at his work, continuing to twitch his quill across the parchment. "It suits you as well as anything."

It was then that he realized it wasn't his father's disappointment that stung in deep. It was his complete disregard. His utter lack of interest in Tori's life if it had nothing to do with magic. It wasn't until his father had given his stinging comment about Eli that Tori finally stopped wanting to care. Because he did not want to pass on this pain and all these expectations that could never be fulfilled onto his own son. He never wanted Eli to feel this way.

And yet Elias had appeared here, even after death, to protect him. Tori still remembered his chilling wrath when he had dragged Killian home with the gash on his face.

"This wound is cursed," Elias had stated, as he had signed a Healing spell. He had glared most bitingly over at Tori. "Tell me who has done this."

That anger had only become more frightening when Tori and Killian refused to tell him. What Elias would have done to Sylric had he known was something Tori never wished to think about. Yet it had been one of the rare times his father had shown even a hint of interest in them.

Perhaps Amaya was right. Maybe his father had always cared in some way.

Tori felt his throat tighten. When Killian told him of his death, it wasn't as if he had felt nothing. He had felt both regret and hopelessness. Their relationship all his life had been full of nothing but bitter stings and awkward silences. Even if he had tried, if he had known, Tori wasn't sure those attempts would have been any more fruitful than they had been in the past.

"Come, love, we must hurry," whispered Amaya. "There could be more of them to follow."

Tori nodded and swallowed hard again. "Where should we go?"

"I'm not sure." Amaya released him from her embrace. "They probably only sent a couple warriors here as an afterthought. Once they don't return they will send more to see what became of them. If they are attacking Hyrule again, they would have focused the majority of their forces on Castle Town and Kakariko. Kakariko will have a better chance of seeing the attack coming, as they will likely take Castle Town first, as it is closest. They would have more time to set up a barrier if they have enough magic users in Kakariko. That's assuming their strategy is just to attack whatever comes first. They could have also divided their forces and attacked at the same time. In any case, we won't know until we see for ourselves, and we must leave here first."

"The other Gerudo?" asked Tori. There had been two.

"Already dealt with." A cold shadow flashed over Amaya's face again.

Tori just grimaced and nodded. His wife was as magnetic as she was terrifying at times. He glanced over at the Gerudo; she was still convulsing.

"Maya, not that I'm unappreciative, but is that... really necessary now?"

"Go get the children and take them outside," she instructed him. "I will finish dealing with her then."

He resisted the urge to shudder at the thought and nodded.

Eli

Leita sniffed. "What's happening?"

Eli had long stopped shoving against the trap door. No doubt Mother had sealed it so he couldn't force it open. Now he was sitting on the wooden steps under it, his arms around Leita who sat on a step below his own. It was dark, though dimly lit by fluorescent fungus and moss that were set into little spaces carved out in the walls.

"The Gerudo have come, like they did before," whispered Eli.

"Like in the war?" Her voice trembled like a leaf.

"Yes."

"What are Mommy and Daddy doing? Are they gonna get hurt?"

He paused, not sure what to tell her. Should he lie when he didn't even know that himself? "I'm not sure... Be quiet for a little bit, and I'll Listen like Dad showed me."

Between Listening and what the shadows reported to him, he had an idea of what was going on. His heart was pounding in his ears as his father was knocked to the ground by the Gerudo. He squeezed Leita, afraid of the finishing blow.

It didn't come, but what followed next was a conversation that made him feel uncomfortable. It wasn't until the shadows told him where she had grabbed Dad and he heard what she last said that he truly understood it.

"I really will fuck you right here. Don't think the love of your wife will keep you from getting hard. I'll show you how wrong you are."

Eli's eyes snapped open wide in the dim lighting of the safe room. Where was Mom? She would make this stop. She would.

"What is it? Are they hurt?" asked Leita, noticing his sudden anxiety as he had clutched her tighter.

Eli couldn't answer. The shadows told him that Mom was on her way back inside, and then he heard and felt his grandfather in the fishing pond.

"Touch him again, you wench, and I'll drag you into the abyss with me."

Intently, Eli listened to the shadows describe how the Gerudo was thrown around, and he heard confirmation of this as well as he heard her body slam into things. And then his grandfather's presence was gone, just like before. Where did he go? Why did it seem like there was something wrong with him? Spirits never just vanished in front of him like that before. Something felt wrong; a sick feeling twisted his insides.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Gerudo's scream. It had made him jump because it was so loud, he wouldn't have needed to be Listening to hear it. Leita, also, had given a startled jolt and a sob at the sound.

"Eli!" she cried, clinging harder to him.

"It's okay—It's not Mom. It's the Gerudo," he explained to her quickly, stroking her head.

Mom had picked up where Grandfather left off. He asked the shadows what she was doing to the Gerudo that made her scream like that. It was a spell that caused pain all throughout her body. She was screaming so much, Eli had a hard time hearing what Mom was saying to her.

"Yes, it hurts … Don't worry. Soon you'll wish you were dead, and I'll grant that wish. I'm not without some measure of kindness."

Mother had never sounded like that before. She sounded so empty and cold. Even while it sent a chill down his spine, he couldn't help thinking, Good.

Then he listened to Mom and Dad talk about Grandfather and what to do next. The Gerudo was suddenly silent even though the shadows told him she was still alive and still under Mom's spell. She mentioned having dealt with the second Gerudo. He asked the shadows, and they said this Gerudo was out back, and her head was crushed.

"It's okay—they're okay, Leita," he said to her. "Dad is coming to get us."

They waited until he heard Dad's footsteps, and the trap door came open. Eli blinked and squinted as more light flooded the safe room. He turned to find his father standing above him. He reached out a hand to them.

"It's okay now. Come on out."

Dad carried Leita and held Eli's hand as he guided them through the fishing pond and back outside. Eli glanced over to where the Gerudo should be, but he didn't see anyone there. He looked up at his mother, who stood there waiting for them to leave. The shadows told him she had used a spell to mask the Gerudo's presence from his senses. He remembered reading about spells like that. It was called illusion magic.

They sat outside the house, staring out toward the lake as night began to fall around them. Dad held Leita and wrapped his other arm around Eli as they waited for Mom to finish with whatever she was doing to the Gerudo. Eli was satisfied knowing that he could ask the shadows if he wanted to, and that he knew what had happened to that other Gerudo too. Mom would make them pay, and that was all he needed to know.

"Daddy, you're hurt," said Leita after a while, noticing the cut he had on his neck.

"Oh, it's nothing, sweet pea," began Dad.

Leita reached up, touching his throat and said, "Kono karada to shite kōzan baransu keiyu ishi."

She and her hand glowed with a blue aura, and so did Dad's cut with aqua until it was all gone. Dad stared in amazement. "Honey, when did you—"

"—I told her what some of Mom's books said," admitted Eli. "You know, the ones with actual spells in them."

Dad's brow furrowed in confusion. "But those are locked up."

"Yeah... so?"

Dad sighed but didn't seem mad at least, just tired mostly. "I'm going to have to talk to your mother about that."

"Oh?"

Eli turned, finding Mom standing outside by the door. She had her arms crossed over her chest but a smirk on her face. She even looked almost proud.

"It's fine, perhaps better even." Her smile faded. "They might have to start learning and fast."