Ruuya stared down at the ring Flow had left her. What must have at one time been a brilliant silver was now tarnished by age. It thickened on one side where a design of winds and wings had been carefully etched. She was certain that a preservation spell had been used on it, though for how long it had lasted, none could say. There was not even a faint trace of it left, now.

Leaning back against a tree trunk, Ruuya sighed. It had been three days and she still didn't know how to feel. To being under a yellow sun. To being human once more. To being unable to find Jamila. To losing the odd sorceress.

An odd sorceress who had bequeathed unto her a plain old ring that had definitely meant something to the deceased. There had been a simple note with it. 'To the one who brought us back hope.' And no more. Ruuya's gut twisted, not for the first time, knowing what Flow had meant. However, she refused to acknowledge the silver-tongued mage as anything close to a savior or hero.

Even now she could hear him striking up a conversation some ways a way, his voice strong and confident. Likely, he was reiterating his plans to meet with the King of Hyrule once the village had been established in the Land of Light.

Ruuya shuddered. The king of the Hylians. What sort of man was he like, she wondered, to be the ruler of so many dangerous people? That was, if they really were as dangerous as she had been taught at all.

A low rumbling sound interrupted her thoughts. Ruuya jerked her head up, staring as the air in the village center began to ripple and churn. The re-newed Magic Mirror, sitting on a makeshift table made of ancient bricks and old wormwood, shined brightly for several seconds. Alysse stood beside it, her back half-turned to Ruuya, her eyes focused on the thickening air. She looked worn and tired, but stood with that same resilience that caused Ruuya to look up to the older woman.

Suddenly, a slender line of light cut through the air, then spun, forming a circle of light in the air. When the light faded away, a group of men and women stood where there had once been nothing just moments before. In their arms were bulging sacks and blankets and chairs and numerous other supplies. Whatever could be carried was slowly being transferred from their old home in the Dark World to this one.

Other villagers came to help them move some of the heavier things they had brought from the Dark World. Ruuya spotted a table, two large tents with their corresponding pegs and poles, and several barrows and boxes filled with food and drink. Gesturing, Joshua took the reins, separating them all into teams and sending them off to wherever the supplies needed to go. Another team approached the mirror. Alysse smiled, giving them a nod, and then placed a thin hand on the mirror. It sparkled, and in another rumble and flash, they were gone, disappearing into a portal of light. A part of Ruuya still found it amazing that they were so willing to go back there. So brave, really. The very thought of going back herself made her stomach tightened in fear.

It was an amazingly efficient system for something created within only a couple hours. The supply runners had been at it almost nonstop except to sleep, thus almost everyone had a tent or something similar setup within the Light World ruins of some old forgotten hamlet. Unlike the old mirror, the new one could create portals large enough for a whole group, as long as it had someone on this side fueling the spell. Various people had taken turns, including Ruuya herself, but it was Alysse who was most often doing so. The process, Ruuya had found, was surprisingly tiring. She didn't know where the old ow – woman found the strength. Perhaps she fueled it through stubbornness alone. It wouldn't be too long before the new village, or town she supposed, was reconstructed.

A whole town built within a year, perhaps six months, just as Joshua and Alysse had wanted. When they first said that was their goal, she couldn't believe it was possible, and yet, looking at the skeletal outlines of homes and pathways, it seemed that the former Dark Worlders would succeed. They were strong people, hardened by their harsh mother – the Dark World – forged in her shadows like a hard plate of steel.

Ruuya idly rubbed the ring. The tradeoff hardly seemed fair.

Maybe one day it would be. She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.

Restless, Ruuya pushed herself to her feet. She grabbed the bag she had acquired in the other world and set off through the through the future site of Windfall Village. She had to admit, the name had a certain ring to it. A few were already calling Joshua "mayor" – whatever that was – due to his quick thinking to rally everyone rather than allow panic to set in. They still grieved, but they all had a goal to work towards.

As did she.

She passed makeshift signs and markers, denoting path names and future areas of interest. Wood planks and stones were gathered in stacks and piles. People hauled them in from the forest and outlying areas if not from the Village of Outcasts itself, preparing for when they could start rebuilding in earnest. Some had been gathered from the ruins they had found on this side of the mirror, a reflection, no doubt, of the place the villagers had once called home. She nodded at the people she passed by, absently noting how...human they looked. Even now, it was strange to see so many individual faces, Hylian and Calatian both. Once monstrous, they now sported round or pointed ears, a variety of skin tones ranging from nearly white to dark dusky brown, and short statures, at least compared to herself.

Most surprising of all, however, they meant her no harm. That, perhaps more than anything, was the strangest revelation of all. Every one of Rhiun's and Minia's rantings about insidious and treacherous outsiders were so far holding up as well as a handful of sand in a sieve. These people had been welcoming and open, and towards a complete stranger no less. And now that everyone had returned to their original forms, nothing had changed. She had expected maybe a few glares or thefts or so-called accidents or something. Anything to justify the chills running up her spine, or the tensing of her muscles whenever one of them shot a smile her way.

Despite her ingrained fears, she made herself nod back in kind, shoving her gnawing fears into the back of her mind. There were more important things to do than idle on thoughts of "what if".

Ruuya strolled along the less used roads. The signs and outlines for homes eventually petered out, giving way to a vast field of green. Patches of bright colors sprung up everywhere and apples trees loomed just as orderly. Absolutely none of them had eyes or wanted to spit bombs at her. Ruuya snorted at that. To think that such a thing had once been a problem.

Somewhere in the distance, past the crumbling structures of old buildings, two members of the town watch sat on rocky outcrops overlooking where the field gently rolled down. It was a quiet and lonely job, but a necessary one. The land was now unfamiliar after so much time away, and some, she knew, had been there far longer than Alysse and her family. That was if they had even fallen into the other realm around the village in the first place.

A small figure clad in blue ran across the field from the outcrops. Ruuya smiled and ambled out to meet them.

"Ruu-ya!" The call was faint, almost stolen by the wind. The figure waved an arm in the air frantically. Ruuya calmly did the same. "Ruu-ya!" they shouted again, louder this time. Moments ticked by and an early teenaged girl with curly brown hair jogged up to her. Nan was excitable as always. "Ruu, hey, Ruu!" she said, breathlessly.

"Hey, Nan," the woman said, smiling slightly at her young friend. Nan leaned over, hands on her knees, catching her breath. "What did you see today?"

The girl gulped down air as much as she did sweets. When she had enough, the floodgates opened. "All sorts of stuff! There were tiny birds everywhere and they were brown and blue and yellow, and there was a little brown thing Totsuna called a squirrel climbing up a tree, and – oh! There was this deer bouncing around but it didn't stay for long. Everything's so green and bright and the air tastes weird, but it's not bad weird so it's okay. Hey Ruu? Does your horse have big ol' white spots on its bum?"

"Uh, I… Yes...?" she replied. Then she paused, feeling her heart beat faster. "Wait, how do you even know what a horse looks like? Did Totsuna tell you?"

"Naah." Ruuya couldn't decide if the bleating was intentional or a side effect. She was beginning to think it was the former, considering who Nan's grandmother was. "Maa has illustrated books of animals she got from a friend. They were a natural historian or something like that."

"A what?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Doesn't matter. C'mon!" Nan grabbed Ruuya's hand and led her across the grassy field to the outcrops. "It came by this morning and was eating some wildflowers growing on a bush, but I told her not to 'cause I don't think roses taste very good. They kind of taste like bleck if you ask me."

Ruuya raised her eyebrows at that. Why was Nan eating flowers of all things? Those weren't fit for human consumption!

"Anywho, she ignored me and kept eatin' so I got some wheat and brought her over to the ruins 'cause then Chabi, Totsuna, and me could keep an eye on her."

"What color was it?" Ruuya asked in the brief lull it took for Nan to take a breath.

"Brown," the girl answered. "It's awfully pretty-"

Ruuya ran forward, outpacing her. "Let me guess, she wouldn't let you near her?" Ruuya asked.

Nan smiled. "Yup! She's an ornery one."

Quite suddenly, Ruuya's throat tightened and tears pricked at her eyes. "That's Jamila," she said. "Jamila!"

Ruuya started sprinting and Nan chased after, joyful laughter trailing in Ruuya's wake.

Of course Jamila would stay close to where they last saw each other. Of course Jamila would still be here even over a month later. There was food, shelter, and there hadn't been any aggressive animals seen in days.

"Jamila!" she called again, the urge to do again and again going uninhibited. She couldn't help it. And she didn't want to.

She was soon upon the worn and weathered structures. One was circular and tall and the other was short and squat, like some sort of temporary lodging or storage shed.

"Jamila!" She wasn't in the smaller one.

Whinnying echoed off the walls of the decrepit tower.

A grin split Ruuya's face. "Jamila!" She ran into the crumbling building. Brown and white, and built as solid as any desert dweller. Ruuya rushed to her friend, throwing her arms around the horse's thick neck and crying her name, apologizing up, down, and sideways for her disappearance. Jamila raised her head, lifting Ruuya's feet slightly off the ground.

"Oh, I missed you, I missed you..." Ruuya sobbed into Jamila's neck. She didn't flinch when the mare nipped at her, as if to say "How dare you worry me!". Ruuya chuckled ruefully. She deserved it.

The horse nuzzled her back, sneezing, and spraying snot all over her.

Ruuya shuddered, then burst out laughing.

She was finally home.

Jazzy: I think Ruuya might be missing something…

Smashy: And it ain't the spear she left the wastelands with.