A tremor tore through the earth below a rising structure. Slowly, bit by bit, the ancient skeleton of stones took on a newer, finer form. At first it morphed back into that of the old temple from ages ago, and then after that, into something more of a fortified castle.

Dark creatures lurked in the surrounding forests whose trees were rapidly withering away as the Dark Sorcerer power crept over the earth to form a barrier around his territory. He leered down from the tallest tower to watch his work unfold, his form nearly rejuvenated. His flesh which had once rotted down to the bones, was mostly restored, its cool olive tone being the last thing to return. His rich, auburn hair was nearly long enough to tie back again.

He smirked as he felt another shock rip through the ground as his tower rose a bit more. A familiar chill prickled the back of his neck, giving him cause to turn towards the door where two dark figures knelt before him.

"I hope you bear good news," said the Dark Sorcerer, his impossibly green eyes expectant.

The two raised their heads to him with solemn expressions. Their faces were identical, as the Sorcerer intended them to be when they were created just a day before. Born of his renewed power.

"Lord Pallas," they said together in greeting. Pallas gestured his hand for them to rise, and they obeyed with crisp, efficient movements.

"You found the other," Pallas folded his hands behind his back.

They nodded, "Yes, we did. A girl."

One of them looked away from his master, hesitant.

"Go on Styx." Pallas commanded, his eyes narrowed at the hesitation. He did not create these creatures to hesitate, or to fail.

Styx pressed his lips togethers hard before he spoke up, "She got away from us, and after some additional scouting...we have a problem."

The other twin shook his head with frustration, grimacing as he spat, "I wish we could have just brought her here, but he meddled."

Pallas held out his hand to stop them both, his stony expression unreadable at the news, "Bia, what problem is there? She shouldn't have any power after just crossing into this world."

The frustrated twin peered up at his master and smoothed out his ruffled, crow feather hair before he continued, "A boy stopped us from interrogating her further. We did more research and he appears to be a warrior of some kind. Many people seem to have high respect for him anyway. And he seems to be some sort of companion to the girl."

Pallas's dark eyebrows knit together, puzzled. He contemplated the information for a moment, trying to determine the next best move. He turned towards the window to observe the way the land slowly died beneath the weight of his power. The twins shifted their weight awkwardly at his silence, nervous of their Lord's displeasure with this failed mission.

After a long silence they both dared to speak, "My Lord?"

At this Pallas closed his eyes for a few moments, then opened them as he released a long-held breath, "It has been too long Bia...Styx. The world has continued to turn without us, and there are things that perhaps we should...observe more carefully."

He whirled towards them again, his expression grimly determined now, "Find me books, scrolls, tomes, or sources of information you can find about what this world is now. Their legends...and especially folklore on their warriors of myth."

They both nodded and knelt before their master again before vanishing into the shadows, as if made of nothing at all.

Kali's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, throwing the blanket off as her arms flailed to fend off those shadowy twins. Her clothes clung to her skin with sweat, the sudden exposure to open air sending chills running all down her body. Her eyes darted around, trying to remember where she was. Lake Hylia.

The dream wasn't so much frightening as it was just...unsettling. It was like seeing through someone else's eyes, feeling their feelings, thinking their thoughts. Her skin crawled and she rubbed at her arms as if to brush off the creeping worms of unease.

But the more awake she became, the more pieces of the vision tumbled out of place in her mind. As dreams so often do, parts of them disappeared as she tried to grasp what she felt was important in her mind.

The shadows she saw from before, their hair glinting like crow feathers. The man with glowing green eyes. Eyes the color of poison. The dying trees…Why were they dying? And…something about stones..

She furrowed her brows with thought, tried to recall more, but the more she tried, the more faded everything else became. Her thoughts just kept shooting back to those poisonous eyes. So instead she ran her fingers through her wild blonde hair, pushing it from her damp forehead and took in her surroundings, almost exactly as she'd left it. The fire they roasted their fish on was now barely going, mere embers and ash and smoke.

Link's gold hair poked out of the top of his blankets, facing away from her on the opposite side of the fire and the even rise and fall of his breaths as he slept. Well, at least her thrashing didn't wake him.

She turned her gaze to the sky. A fat full moon hung lazily in the still dark above. Surely it was after midnight. Kali took in a deep breath, and held it a bit as she turned her head to the lake again, then released it in a long, silent sigh. This calmed her down, and so did the sight of the lake. It was so quiet, and so still. She silently got to her feet and walked to the water's edge, noticing the lack of breeze. Without a breeze to make ripples, the lake was like the surface of a mirror; reflecting all that lay above it, even her.

She met the stare of her tired reflection and smoothed out her hair again so it was almost back to its normal, wavy mess, but a movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention.

The feeling of being watched raised the hairs on the back of her neck, and she straightened slowly to track the movement. It was too dark to tell, but whoever it was stood atop one of the bridges that zagged through the lake. The figure faced her direction, a shadow cast by the light of the moon obscuring any features she might otherwise see. Not even if they were male or female. Kali started to walk slowly, skirting the water's edge to try to get a closer look. The figure also began to move slowly across the bridge towards the small island in the center of the lake, maintaining its distance from her.

Kali clenched her fists, suspicion rising in her gut about the shadow. Suddenly the figure waved its arm in a throwing motion. Her eyes searched the air, trying to stay aware of the person's movements, and suddenly the lake rippled from where the object must have splashed into the surface.

She watched the ripples for only a second before she looked up and the figure was gone - like it was never there. Her eyes frantically searched the lake, the island, the pillars, the bridges, trying to spot the stranger as her heart began to drum a warning in her chest.

A hand gripped her shoulder.

Kali shrieked and without thinking whirled around to throw her still clenched fist into whoever grabbed her. It connected to something, she wasn't sure because she'd closed her eyes tight in a fit of panic and fear. The person gave a shout of pain and it was familiar.

She snapped her eyes open to see Link, without his hat and his head snapped back with both hands over his nose. Blood started to pour from between his fingers.

"Oh my god, Link!" she cried out, reaching out her hands to help somehow, but unsure of what to do, they just hung there.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you. I saw this person, and I didn't know who so I was trying to see and you just grabbed me and I panicked and got scared. I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" She continued to ramble frantic apologies at him as he leaned over, still clutching his bloodied nose.

She finally took a steadying breath and rushed over to their things, grabbing a handkerchief and then hurried back to him.

"I'm so sorry, Link. I really didn't know it was you," she reached between his hands to place the piece of cloth tenderly to his nose to stop the blood from running down his arms. Link blinked his watering eyes a few times, as if trying to focus and accepted the quickly reddening cloth.

"I... ugh...It's alright. I don't think it's broken..." he mumbled painfully, his voice muffled from having to plug his nose, "I think you just busted it."

She saw his cheeks rise into a sort of smile and her jaw dropped in disbelief, "Link...I... I just punched you and you're smiling at me?!" She ran her fingers through her hair and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down.

"Oh my god." she groaned, cringing at herself. He had just gone on about how he wanted to be her friend – which she'd been thrilled about inside – and she'd punched him in the face.

"What?" he seemed impossibly amused, "I've never had someone just – well, especially not a girl – just punch me like that before. I think it's impressive, and even a little ironic."

"What do you mean by ironic? You've never been in a fight with a girl?" She began towards their camp sounding very tired all of a sudden. She eyed up his sword and shield resting near his sleeping bag. She thought of Impa, and how fighting an armed woman in this world couldn't be that uncommon.

He folded the cloth again so that he could dab his nose with a cleaner part. He flinched painfully from the pressure. Maybe she really had broken it..

"Well, I have fought women. Most of them have a weapon though. And it's ironic...because Impa has been acting like if you took one step out of the village you'd melt or something. She actually doesn't know I brought you here, by the way. That'll be fun when we get back." Link answered with a sheepish smile.

Kali sat down on her bed roll as she listened, and then she ran her hands over her tired eyes and down her face. She groaned loudly, dreading that encounter as her eyes closed. It felt like they were both about to get in trouble with a crotchety aunt, or a strict babysitter. Link turned out to be more mischievous than she had anticipated, and didn't seem that bothered by being in a bit of trouble. She flopped back onto her blankets, and kept her eyes closed.

"So, she thinks I'm a weakling." Kali laughed half heartedly, shrugging her shoulders. "No surprise here. If you compare me to her, it's like trying to compare the land to the sky, or a mountain lion to a house cat."

Link gave a little shrug of his own, "While that might be true, I think you could be like her if you were trained."

Kali rolled to look at him, mostly to see if he was joking. He sat on his bedroll now too, considering her with a new light in his eyes.

"No way." She said flatly.

Link nodded and gave another half-smile before wincing again, "Yeah, I really do. I didn't know how to fight once too, you know. Anyone can learn. It's a skill just like anything else."

She gave it some thought, biting the inside of her cheek. It would be pretty neat to learn how to fight, and logically, if he had to walk around at all times with that sword and shield on his back...maybe it wouldn't be a horrible idea.

The conversation dropped as she drifted into wonderings of what she would be like as some manner of shield maiden, or a ninja, or an archer. Childish thoughts..

"How's your nose?" she asked tiredly after a few beats of silence, the worry and guilt eating at her.

He pulled the cloth away and then gave his nose a little swipe with it, clearing any trace of blood. "Seems okay now," he chuckled lightly, "Can't believe you got me like that. You're fast."

She just rolled her eyes and half smiled at him, unable to be as annoyed by his lightheartedness as she thought she should. But then she felt that chill wash over her again, and her expression fell as she locked her stare on the lake again.

"I saw someone." She murmured.

There was another moment of silence as her statement settled on him. He didn't wait for her to look back at him to speak. "Did you see who it was? It's not uncommon for people to sneak out here at night. It could have been one of the Zora."

Her lips pressed into a thin line, recalling the eerie sense of eyes on her. "Maybe. I guess it could have been... but it seemed weird."

"Weird how?"

She rolled back over to face him, now laying on her side and covered herself with the blanket to fight the chills again. "Weird like... how you're being watched and you can't see who."

Link gave her a puzzled expression, "You've felt that before in your world?"

Kali only served him an exasperated frown, "Come on, Link. We aren't that different from one another."

He leaned back on one hand, and stroked his jaw with the other. "Well, if you really feel like it's not safe here. We can leave now if you want."

She sat up, considering the offer. It would take a few hours to get back, but she wasn't really tired anymore and after that, sleep was nowhere in sight. Then she took in her companion. He didn't seem very tired either. She couldn't imagine he would after getting punched in the nose. Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

"What?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"I really am sorry about punching you." she said again.

He shook his head, laughing and got to his feet to begin gathering their things. "It's fine. I should be more... noisy when I walk." he grinned at her in a way that she can't help but smile back a little, slightly relieved.

"We could put a bell on you or something." she joked, and he laughed more in earnest this time.

Link whistled for Epona, and she came trotting merrily over to them. He began to load up their gear.

"Thanks a lot for saying we can leave." she mumbled to him as she hefted up her bedroll onto the horse, letting Link show her how to strap it on securely. He turned to her, his blue eyes completely alert now.

"Don't thank me yet," he said as he made his way back to the last of their things, "We still have to face Impa when we get back."

Kali let out a noise of discontent and then ran her fingers over her face again, "Don't remind me."

Together they made quick work of gathering the rest of their belongings and Link instructed her on how to strap the rest of their things more securely to a horse. She nodded and tried making the knots and adjusting straps when prompted by him.

He kept glancing at her though. Maybe he was worried about what she'd seen. She recalled how Link explained that people put letters they never intended to send, or secret confessions in glass bottles. She considered that maybe she was just overreacting and it was someone who had been trying to perform that little ritual in secret.

But still... how does someone just disappear in thin air like that? The twin shadows who assaulted her before did just that - vanished like they never existed. She shuddered again.

"Still bothered by what you saw?" Link asked grimly as he offered his hands to give her a step up onto the saddle. He was getting better at reading her mood. Or maybe she was just that obvious.

She braced her arms on the saddle as she accepted the lift. He followed to mount Epona in one easy movement.

"I guess so." She answered glumly as she adjusted her cloak and arms around his torso.

Link started Epona into an easy trot.

"It was like," she continued, remembering the ripples in the water, "I looked away for a second, and they vanished."

Link remained quiet and then wordlessly increased their speed to a gallop. It was going to be a long way home. Him not speaking made it feel like bad business.

"You think it's related to the twin shadows? Or the portal?" she asked tentatively.

She didn't want to annoy him with further questions, but damn it, the idea of those twins finding her again would be like a real life nightmare. She felt his chest rise and fall under her arms from a long sigh he gave. Then in answer he just gave a nod of his head.

"What in the Goddesses' names were you thinking?!" Impa's voice rang through the early morning light, a sheepish Link flinching a little from the scolding that was underway.

"Sorry, I guess I should have left a note. It was a spur of the moment idea. I didn't think about it." Link responded, not looking all that sorry. Perhaps not sorry they went, but sorry he didn't let her know.

They had arrived in Kakariko, both looking haggard from the long ride back, and both sorely missing the warmer weather by Lake Hylia. Dawn's light was still trickling in through the windows of the house as Kali carefully folded her cloak over her arm and went to stand by the fire to warm her frigid hands.

Impa gave her the stink eye as she snuck past her. Guilt flopped around in her gut and she bit her lip. How in the world could one look from this woman make Kali feel so bad?

"That is very clear that you weren't thinking, boy." Impa spat, rubbing the spot between her eyebrows with her fingers, and placing the other hand firmly on her hip, "She could have been hurt. Did you forget that those men came after her just days ago when she left the village?"

Link rubbed the back of his neck as he crossed the room to settle in at the table for what was looking to be a good, long lecture.

"She was with me the whole time, she didn't leave my sight." He explained tiredly.

Kali couldn't help but notice the bruise that had bloomed on the bridge of his nose. He caught her stare and she made an apologetic face. He offered a small, forgiving smile and waved his hand at her as if he could wave away the apology. It helped a little, but naturally Impa didn't miss the exchange. She finally noticed the bruise.

"There was a fight." She spat the words like an accusation, surely feeling like this just proved her point further.

Kali pressed her lips together, clearly not wanting to try and explain how she bloodied Link's nose because he startled her. She could feel Link's gaze boring into her back, and could sense his amusement with her silence.

"Sort of." He snickered.

"This isn't funny, Link. Who was it? The same men?" Impa asked, practically full to the brim with questions she needed answers to.

Kali could hear the smile in Link's voice as he responded and she closed her eyes tight against what he might say. She knew he wouldn't lie for her. She didn't expect him to.

"We already caught the culprit." His voice was all ridiculous nonchalance.

After a long pause, Kali glanced over her shoulders to see Link grinning as he jabbed his thumb in her direction. Impa stared wide eyed at her in disbelief.

"Have you lost your wits?!" Impa looked startlingly conflicted between being angry that she'd punched Link, and in complete denial that she'd been able to hit him in the first place.

Kali was wringing her fingers together when she blurted out, "It was an accident!"

"How do you bruise someone's nose by accident?" Impa raised a skeptical brow, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kali continued to wring her fingers as she looked to Link for help. He only shrugged his shoulders, clearly at a loss of how to handle the situation himself. She frowned at him, and then turned her eyes to Impa again.

"W-Well... I woke up in the middle of the night and was wandering around the lake when he snuck up behind me and scared me," she took a breath. Her explanation was all rushed together in a fit of nervousness, "And I just... punched him?"

Impa just gaped at Kali, again in disbelief that she could even lay a finger on Link. Link, who carried a sword and shield everywhere he went. Link, who appeared to travel amongst monsters and thieves, or whoever he had experience fighting.

Kali glanced at him again and he was staring hard at her. It was difficult to read. Serious as stone, but with an urgency. He was trying to get her to do something, or it seemed, to ask something. She knew what, but was terrified to even suggest it to Impa – who was already furious with both of them.

Kali closed her eyes tight as she summoned her courage and set her green eyes on Impa's crimson ones. Her fingers clutched at the front of her dress tightly, holding onto anything to keep her grounded to her desire.

"I... I know you keep saying how dangerous it is outside the village. I understand now how quickly things can go badly here." She paused, trying to form the words in her mind.

Finally, she just said, "I want to learn to fight too."

Impa just surveyed her, no longer open mouthed. This was miles ahead of the outright 'No.' Kali was expecting. Impa uncrossed her arms to step up to Kali. It was a startling reminder of how Impa was practically a foot taller than her – she towered over her.

"What if I refuse?" Impa asked, her tone as serious as death.

Kali felt the challenge in the woman's voice. It felt like a test. If she looked for help from Link, she'd fail and Impa would refuse for sure. Her clenched hands trembled, making the ends of her skirt shiver.

"Then... I suppose I'll have to find someone else who will teach me. But I refuse to be helpless if I'm going to stay in your world." Kali said with as much confidence as she could muster, her voice sounding steadier than she expected it to.

She wasn't sure who that voice belonged to, but it wasn't the girl that had broken down in a teary mess nearly a week prior.

"It won't be easy training." Impa said.

"I know." Kali responded.

"It'll be painful, and long, and maybe impossible for you to learn it all" Impa pushed.

"...I know." Kali muttered.

Kali kept her eyes on Impa's, hearing her heartbeat in her ears as she awaited a clear, definite answer. Impa was the first to break eye contact as she turned to the side, to see Link doing a poor job of pretending to not pay attention.

"This was your idea wasn't it." Impa said, clearly exasperated.

Link shrugged his shoulders, a ghost of a smile on his lips as his finger idly traced the patterns of the wood on the table. "I may have mentioned it."

Impa sighed and then looked back to Kali with narrowed eyes, looking her up and down – assessing her.

"Physical conditioning starts in the morning at dawn. Use today to get what rest you can." Impa moved towards the door, her tone final.

Kali's eyes lit up and she couldn't stop the smile that widened across her face. When she looked at Link, he was hiding his returning smile from Impa.

Impa jabbed a pointed finger at him. "And you," she spat, "No more taking my ward from the house without leaving some kind of note. I was worried sick."

Link only lowered his head, trying to look ashamed. He wasn't very good at pretending. They had that in common it seemed. Still, what Impa said had a warm feeling spread through Kali's chest. She had been concerned about her when she disappeared.

It was a feeling Kali hadn't realized she'd missed for a very long time. The idea that someone waited up for her, cared for her well being enough to worry.

Hello readers!

2 chapters in one night. That's my limit right now haha. I'll try to re-write more tomorrow. I hope you like the direction this is going though.

-K