Why is it that reviewers always ask me about the very things I'm currently writing about? First it was Byleth and Link being friends right when I was writing their tea time in Chapter 20 (I think it was Chapter 20, I might be wrong about that), and now someone asks me about including characters from Hyrule when I start writing about Link going back to Hyrule. Geez.

Chapter XXVIII

My path had cut close to Garreg Mach. I thought briefly about hunkering down in Abyss for a while, but something told me that that was a bad idea. Yuri probably knew on some level that the hunt had not gone according to plan, but I still didn't want to give him any reason to leave the relative safety of the subterranean network, especially given the Deadlords on my tail. Seven, Six, and Eleven were the biggest threats at present, best able to close the distance between us as I fled northwest. I had more or less pinpointed the location of the Perpendicularity, or 'rift' as Solon had called it, in the Sacred Gwenhwyvar– a forested mountain range on the border between Mateus territory and what should be known as Duscur. I wondered how Dedue was doing. If Dimitri was dead, what had become of his most loyal retainer?

It had been a many months' trek to get to the Gwenhwyvar, full of misdirections and exhausting yet quick scuffles to keep the dead dozen on my heels. If they knew I was leading them into a trap, they were very eagerly taking the bait. If all went well, which it should, they would be lost in the Lost Woods, never to return.

The open fields of Tailteann would have been a blessing to move through because of how open it was. Fodra was a pretty mountainous place, between the Oghma Mountains snaking through the middle of the continent from Ailell to the Fangs, the jagged peaks of Fódlan's Throat, the Morgaine Ravine in the eastern Empire and the Brionac in the west. I had only had to cross the first of that list, thankfully, but it had been slow going. Unfortunately, in the interest of keeping as straight a path as possible, I wasn't able to hit it.

The bounty on Katáktisi's head was known in the Dukedom, but not the Kingdom. What was known in the parts of Faerghus that still put up resistance was the tale of the so-called 'Demons of Myrddin', a baker's dozen of monstrous soldiers of the Empire who had singlehandedly crushed an entire Alliance army. The rumors said their leader was a ten foot tall mercenary from Brigid, a product of pagan rituals and an example of why the archipelago should have been stamped out entirely after the Dagda and Brigid War. Disgusting. Thankfully, their connection to Link Harkinian and Caiaphas was not so widely publicized. Cleobulus probably knew, but…

I had cut through Gloucester, Charon, Gideon, and Mateus, in that order. I didn't think I was close at all to the Silver Maiden– I wasn't south enough to catch sight of Arianrhod. I wasn't in the Fierce Deity form; I had had the opportunity to take off the mask in the relative safety of the mountains. Jeritza's domino mask would work well enough to get through Faerghus in terms of anonymity. I could have perhaps utilized the Fierce Deity in this respect, but something about using it to run away felt… blasphemous. Moreover, I wanted to use it only in cases of emergencies, like dealing with Edelgard and the Agarthans, or when death was my only other option. I wanted to claim victory by my own strength when the situation allowed for it.

I would have it no other way.

It had been late in the Verdant Rain Moon when I had left Myrddin, so if I had to estimate it was probably the Red Wolf Moon now. Importantly, it wasn't snowing, so it would be a lot easier to figure out where the Perpendicularity was compared to the last time I was looking for it and almost died of hypothermia. Even still, I had kept the coat that the Officer's Academy had given to me back in 1180. Granted, it barely fit me anymore– Golden Goddesses, I was almost fifteen now, what the hell– but it would be better than nothing, that was for sure.

Now all that was left to do was step through and wait.

I put one foot through the rift. Then, the other. Immediately, everything felt alien and familiar at the same time. The wildness of the magic in the air, the chirruping of life and the twinkling of fey creatures in the still air, that slow and insidious nagging from the forest itself at the very back of my mind… it was all there, and all things I had experienced before. But at the same time, it had been so long since I had first crossed the barrier. And a lot of things had changed since then. For one, my head was… awfully quiet. No longer did Katáktisi's whispers crawl within my skull. After arriving in Fodra, its presence within my mind had become something of a cornerstone of my relative stability. It was by no means the only thing supporting my foundation, but losing it felt almost like when Navi left. Not quite as severe, of course, but still a shattering blow.

I felt a flash of cold sympathy that was not my own, and the feeling subsided. We were still bonded, and it seemed that we were still able to communicate on some level. But since the magics of Fodra harmonized with the Crestwraith, our connection would be severely weakened while we were not in it.

We wouldn't need to stay in the Lost Woods for long. Only enough to draw the Deadlords into it deep enough that they would never be able to find their way back to the Perpendicularity. The Lost Wood's obfuscating, confusing nature would be more than enough to do just that, and they didn't seem to have any way of tracking me outside of simply following my trail.

There were no trails in the forest.

A dark corner of my mind kept asking what we would do if this didn't work. We couldn't just keep running, and we couldn't let them focus on anything other than me. Furthermore, we knew we couldn't slay them. As a matter of fact, there were only three people I could possibly turn to who could have the strength to stand their own against such a threat– Dimitri, Byleth, and probably Thales. Dimitri was dead, Byleth was presumed dead, and the Agastya… no chance in hell.

It wasn't like I could throw Ganondorf at them…

I stalked through the empty halls, passing various symbols of opulence that I casually ignored. Downwards I went, deeper into the annals of the building, deeper below the surface. There was a small dungeon in the castle– most prisoners were dealt with in less important places, but I guess this one needed special treatment. I disregarded the building claustrophobia as the air grew stiller, the hallways grew narrower, and the light grew dimmer.

There he was.

Ganondorf Dragmire, locked behind bars though he was, still possessed an intimidating aura. A bolt of pure terror surged through my veins, despite the fact that I knew I was completely safe and that there was nothing he could do. His cell was surrounded by powerful wards and reinforced with thick concrete. The sound of my boots scraping against the floor prompted him to glare up at the source of the noise. Upon seeing my visage, his grimace deepened. "You," he snarled, his words sending a chill rolling up my spine.

"Me," I agreed. "How's your day been?"

"Have you come here solely to taunt me?" the former– future? King of Evil drawled.

"Basically." I had had a free moment while in Hyrule Castle and wanted to make sure the King of Thieves had gotten what he deserved.

"If only I had taken the opportunity to cut out your tongue when I had the chance."

"Tongue? Why stop there? I would have gone for the neck. Like how I should have gone for yours."

"Don't you have anything better to do, child?" the Gerudo sneered. "It's nearly time for your supper. Or did Mummy not make it for you today?"

"A mom jab? Very creative."

"I would have insulted your father, but that one's already been done to death. What has got you in such a fuss? Got caught with your hands in the cookie jar?"

I internally bristled. I was so done with being treated like a child by everyone around me. "If you're trying to get me mad enough to open the door and come in there, it's not going to work. Aren't you supposed to be good at planning?"

"To be quite frank, I hadn't thought you would have understood the insinuation if I had tried," Ganondorf smirked. "My word, didn't the Deku Tree teach you manners before I killed him? Or did he simply train you to do all he said and nothing more?"

"I–"

"I wonder if there is even a voice of your own bouncing around that skull of yours. Did you know that the human brain finishes developing at the age of twenty-one? You're… what, ten and a half at most? It'll be twice your life before you have a coherent thought."

He did not just play the age card. "Shut up!"

"Aw, did I strike a nerve?" the green-skinned man apologized with mock sympathy. "They say children are easier to rile up due to the aforementioned stunted brain development. There must be more truth to those words than I had realized. You have my sincerest apologies." There was no sincerity in his voice.

A scream of frustration escaped my lips, and I tore myself away from the ex-king. There was nothing to be gained from this 'argument'. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was expecting that to go. Had it been a bad idea? Probably, but I couldn't help myself. And now I was regretting that choice. I ascended from the dungeon and glanced at the setting sun through a window. Had he been right? Was my only purpose to be sent to the princess in Father's final moments, tossed onto that wild goose chase through time itself, just to be cast aside and abandoned once I was no longer needed? I cast that thought from my head. Ganondorf was wrong, of course he was wrong, he was the King of Evil, for Goddesses' sake. He had to be wrong. He had to be. Right?

Right?

I shook the memory from its place in my mind's eye. Ganondorf would never cooperate with me to kill my pursuers, not even if they desolated his own people. And the man had not received the Triforce of Power in this timeline; he was certainly a titan of a man, but in this time he was far from invulnerable. No, the Lost Woods would be enough. It couldn't not be.

The crack of a twig put me on high alert. Was it one of them? Had they somehow managed to track me down after days in the Lost Woods? Impossible! But who else could possibly be here? Surely not one of the Kokiri. Maybe it was just a Stalfos, or even better a Skull Kid? Actually, would Skull Kids be aggressive towards me now that I was an adult? Did a teenager count as being an adult in the eyes of the denizens of the forest? I supposed I would have to find one and try that out sometime.

Regardless, I had to act. If I just ran, I might leave enough of a trail for whoever it was to track me further even through the forest's obfuscating magics. So if I couldn't run, I would have to hide.

Fortunately, I was in Hyrule. That would make it a lot easier.

I hadn't worn the Deku Mask since I left Termina. Out of my functional facades, the only mask I had used with any regularity was Katáktisi– and even then, most of the time it wasn't by choice. I couldn't possibly forget how it felt to transform– where the Goron was like a tower and the Crestwraith was like a blade, the Deku Scrub felt more like a reed, swaying in the wind yet held firm by deep roots.

From the outside, not knowing what to look for, I would have appeared as simply a small knotted tree. Presumably. Maybe. I hadn't put it on in a while and I had definitely done some growing in the meantime. Regardless, it was hardly an uncommon sight in this arboreal purgatory.

A rustle of leaves. An errant twitch. And the most unlikely creature imaginable wandered right by me, seemingly no worse for wear and driven by some unknown force.

Anna.

That one merchant from Garreg Mach Anna.

The person who had absolutely zero business wandering around the Lost Woods Anna.

What the hell, Anna.

I was quick to rip off the Deku Mask, taking the form of a teenager once again. I trailed her for an hour or so, just to be absolutely certain that it wasn't some deception of the forest or just a lookalike. There was no mistaking it– it was her. There was no doubt in my mind.

"How'd you find this place?" I demanded, finally making my presence known.

Anna had a hand on her blade; she had clearly had some run-ins with Stalfoses or Skull Kids to be so on her guard. She met my gaze, obscured by Jeritza's mask though it was. "I was following you," she answered. I didn't feel particularly chagrined– I had known I was being followed, but I had always attributed it to the zombies.

"For how long? And why?"

"Since some guys in Hrym tried to sell me the same kind of crystals you bought that axe with," she revealed. "I wanted to get in touch with your supplier, so I decided to trail you. And what do I find? That there's a whole other Outrealm Network out there and none of my sisters know about it!"

For the second time in the last minute, I was blown completely off my feet. At least Katáktisi seemed to be in the same boat from what I could sense across our limited connection. This woman must be some demon lord of capitalism and greed.

"Your… sisters?"

"We're the Secret Sellers, slinging wares from all across Fódlan and beyond. And we're all identical siblings and we all share the same name."

I was becoming more confused by the second. "That must make family reunions hell." It was the only sentence that came to mind. Maybe there was some Gerudo blood in there…

"True, but aren't everyone's?" she laughed. "But now you're a problem. The Outrealm network is a closely-kept trade secret, so obviously we would never leave an unmanned entrance lying around. Otherwise people would stumble across them and cut into our bottom lines. Then we get people like you, artificially deflating the prices of rare gemstones!"

"Uh–"

"So here's what's going to happen," Anna sighed. "You're going to get me out of these woods to wherever you got those gemstones, and I'll give you, say, a five percent discount on everything from my inventory. Or my sister's inventories. How's that sound?"

I mulled it over for a second. She was asking to be brought to Hyrule. Was that a terrible mistake? Sure, Hyrule wasn't exactly dangerous, but bringing a Fódlan merchant to the area probably wasn't the best idea. That being said, a discount would be nice in the times ahead… "Ten percent."

The Secret Seller blanched. "Five and a half."

"Seven and a half."

"Six percent, final offer."

"Deal." We shook hands. "By the way, I don't think telling anyone about this… what did you call it?"

"Outrealm Rift," she repeated. Wasn't that similar to the phrasing Solon had used for it all that time ago?

"I don't think telling anyone about it is a good idea unless you all want to be turned into Stalfoses."

"Are those the skeleton things? I had to fight off one or two before… they were no pushovers, but you'd be surprised how common undead are in the Outrealms. Ever been to Magvel or Valentia? Crazy places."

I shrugged, choosing to ignore most of what she said. I was still processing the whole 'Anna is from another dimension' thing. "Well, I don't know how it works over in that universe, but this very forest is… hungry. The whole place is basically a giant death trap, intentionally misdirecting anyone foolish enough to wander in. People typically die by dehydration, and after they die they become Stalfoses… doomed to wander the forest and kill anyone they can find. They're mindless things, full of nothing but malice and hate."

Anna shivered. "Good point." I could already tell her mind was buzzing with potential ways to tame this forest. If she chose to go through with it, that choice would be her last. There was probably no convincing her as long as there was money to be made. Maybe if she knew that Rupees were just what was used as currency in Hyrule, she would lose interest. Either way, it wasn't my place to leave her here to die, and I couldn't bring her back to the Perpendicularity. "Well, how do you know how to navigate this place?"

"Kokiri raised," I revealed. It was pointless to pretend like I wasn't from here– the fact that I had known about the 'Outrealm Rift' proved I was.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

I had initially been planning not to spend much time here. Just long enough for me to ensure the Deadlord's departure, nothing more nor less. But it seemed my hand was being forced.

I was going home whether I wanted to or not.

Anna quizzed me about the local politics of Hyrule all throughout the journey. I hadn't really kept up with the times, which was fair considering the fact that I'd been more or less stranded in Fodra for the last four years and counting. I told her a bit about the structure of Hyrule, and how it was set up as more or less a coalition between the Hylians, Gorons, and Zora overseen by the Royal Family. Also the Gerudo were there. I didn't mention the fact that those were all different species and not just nation-states– Anna kept so many secrets, and I wanted to keep some of my own. No reason to play my entire hand when I didn't have to. Besides, Hyrule was just as weird and crazy as Fodra– if I had to experience it all blind, so did she.

She seemed kind of let down that all was peaceful after the Ganondorf investigation had concluded, which was weird to me. "War is hell, but it's very good for business" was her argument. I guess I couldn't argue too much with that.

Eventually, we slipped out of the range of the Lost Wood's myriad of obfuscating effects. We were further south than I had initially anticipated, coming out to the sprawling vista of Hyrule's largest body of water. It smelled of fall– good to know that the seasons and year lined up between dimensions. The sight filled me with a churning mix of dread and nostalgia. My stomach did a backflip, or tried to, anyway. It got stuck in my throat about halfway through.

"Welcome to Lake Hylia," I narrated, trying to dislodge the feeling. "Death Mountain's up north, Castle Town's a bit closer than that. You're going to want to go there if you want to set up shop, because that's the big commercial location if I understand correctly. If I had to estimate, it's about thirty-five kilometers from here across Hyrule Field. Should be pretty easy to travel. Whatever you do, do not go too far east or west. The former will take you straight back into the Lost Woods, where you'll get lost and turn into a Stalfos, and the latter will strand you in the middle of the Gerudo Waste. Not a fun place to die."

"Doesn't sound like it," she agreed. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways for now. Obviously you're going to have to take me back to Fódlan when all's said and done. As much as I hate to admit it, I probably wouldn't have made it through those Lost Woods on my own."

"Why would you hate to admit that?" I asked.

"Because confidence and capability boosts your bottom line, duh." Anna sighed. "Now, onwards! Profit awaits!"

She determinedly set off northward, towards Hyrule Field. A feeling of calm washed over me courtesy of Katáktisi. Was it relieved that Anna was gone? Did it like being in Hyrule? Did it want me to stay? Two sparks of derision flared up in the back of my mind, before clarity washed over the embers that were left. That was an ix-nay on the first two, but it appeared that the Crestwraith wanted me to stick around in Hyrule for a spell, for some reason. The mask was a lot harder to read when it couldn't talk…

I could probably stick around for a month or two before returning back to the hunt. It couldn't hurt me more than Hyrule already had, and I probably wasn't going to get much done wandering around Faerghus, Leicester, or Adrestia in the blind hope of stumbling across my mark again. And Thales couldn't reach me, nor could any other Agarthan or Nabatean, excluding Cichol via his book of fables still loyally resting in my pouch. Katáktisi pointedly planted nausea in the pit of my abdomen, which had finally finished that backflip from earlier.

I'd need a place to stay. And fortunately, I had just the location in mind…

It was overcast as I entered the ranch. It smelled like rain. Well, there was nothing to be done about that. I had a song that made it rain, sure, but I was going to get rained on regardless, so the Song of Storms wouldn't be very helpful in that respect. That was alright, though. Fact of the matter was, I liked when the sky was slate-grey. It was impossible to see the moon.

The sound of Malon's voice lured me further in. As usual, she was in the corral, singing her mother's song as she worked. Her father was nowhere to be found, but surprisingly enough, Ingo was out there as well. If memory served, he was usually in the stables. Ingo always put me off a little– I was all too keen on how he had acted in the lost future, and the Gorman brothers hadn't exactly made me warm up to his face. But I couldn't really judge him for something he hadn't yet done.

What was I saying? Of course I could.

The sensation of warm arms coiling around my upper torso did not quite catch me off guard– I'd been half-expecting her to pull something like this– but it still took an embarrassing amount of willpower to not go for my sword on instinct. Given the whole business with the Deadlords, I felt at least somewhat justified.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said quickly, disengaging the embrace. She had greeted me similarly when I had first come back with Epona, and suffice to say I had not reacted well. "I told myself I wasn't going to do that if you ever came back, but I'm just happy you're here! I never thought I was ever going to see you again, and…"

She trailed off. The last four years had certainly treated her well; she looked more like Cremia than she did Romani, or I guess to be more accurate, she looked more like herself after drawing the Master Sword than before. She was still a little shorter than she was, to be sure, but she had switched to the purple dress. But that was something to be expected of someone who still had two to three years to go. I relaxed my hands and my posture, or at least I tried to. Knowing me, I did a horrible job. The last years of fighting hadn't been kind– not that I wasn't a jumpy bundle of nerves before going to Fodra. The last time we met hadn't exactly been much better.

We rode for several hours, long enough for Din's Eye to cross the zenith. It was 12:18 PM when I trotted into Lon Lon Ranch.

At least Epona seemed happy. That made one of us.

The place looked slightly different from how I remembered it. It was a lot smaller, with a much more constricted plan. And where was the dog racetrack? Maybe my memories of Hyrule and Termina were blurring together. That was probably it.

I followed the sound of Malon's voice, or rather, Epona did. We caught the ranch girl by surprise; her attention had been focused on wrapping bandages around an obviously injured horse leg. I was all too aware of the fact that serious leg injuries could spell death for a horse, which was why I rarely cajoled the rust-colored filly into a full dash. A speedy gallop was fine by me.

"Epona!" she greeted joyously, wrapping her arms around her neck. I dismounted and tried to make a stealthy getaway, but I was promptly grabbed by the back of my collar and spun around to face Malon. I was incredibly uncomfortable. "Oh no you don't, fairy boy!" she castigated. "I'm not letting you run–"
"If I could cut you off real quick," I interjected, hands balled into slick fists, "please never touch me again. It's not… comfortable for me."

"Oh, I–" Romani said, taking a step back, "I didn't know that… I'm real sorry. Anyways, I'm not going to let you run off again so soon! It's been half a year now! You should stay awhile!"

"I can't do that," I replied, feigning regret. "I still have to return the Ocarina of Time to Zelda."

"Oh. And… what then?"

Despite myself, I cast my glance eastward. She followed my gaze, a twisted frown appearing on her lips. "Still looking for her, huh?"

I nearly choked on my own spit. "Wh-what? I–"

"You're not much of a fairy boy without a fairy," the farm girl noted. How astute, but I couldn't help but feel insulted. "You lost her?"

"She left." My voice was strained and reedy. Fortunately, she seemed to take the hint.

"'M sorry."

There was no sound for a time.

"Well, when you're done with Zelda, why not come back here for a spell?" Malon needled. "Have a rest for a few days before you go back in?"

I breathed out, slowly and evenly. "Sure. I guess it wouldn't be… the worst thing to do."

She laughed, a high and jovial giggle that proved quite infectious. I kept my expression flat. "Okay, Fairy Boy! I'll tell Dad and Mr Ingo the good news!"

She refocused her attention on Epona, humming her mother's song with newfound alacrity. I took my cue to slink away, northwest, towards Castle Town.

"Malon, it's… fine," I managed. "It's not as bad as it was. Thank you, though."

The warmth of the moment was abruptly cut off as Ingo's long shadow obscured both of us. He was a bit shorter than I remembered, or perhaps I had simply grown taller than I'd expected, and a bit less round. He scrutinized the both of us, his gaze cold. I tried not to glower.

"Didn't think you were coming back."

"Is that a problem?"

The farmer raised a bushy eyebrow. "No. Despite the abruptness of your previous departure and how inconsolable you made Malon, I'm happy you're back, and not dead. Epona's in good shape, if you were wondering— better shape than you are, by the looks of things."

I couldn't help but snort. I still didn't trust Ingo any further than I could throw him, but at this point I imagined I could throw him pretty far. I had stayed at Lon Lon for a little while right after returning brokenly from Termina. I had used it as a sort of base of operations as I physically recovered, and I had hung out longer than expected before I left to find closure, which eventually spiraled into finding Fodra. It was kind of crazy, in retrospect, to think about how Katáktisi had been here before, all that time, sitting in my pouch, waiting to establish a bond with me.

Regardless, Ingo had always been a little suspicious of me during that time. I had thought he was just a thankless cowardly cheat, but I was starting to consider that perhaps he had changed. Or maybe I was just looking at it for the first time from a grown-up perspective. Who wouldn't be distrustful of some feral child with a sword who showed up out of nowhere? I probably would be, if I was in his situation. Though his actions in the future past… well, I couldn't forgive that business.

Malon waving her hand in front of my vision snapped me out of my doldrums. "Mind making yourself useful, Fairy Boy? Since you're going to be here anyway?"

"Sure," I said. I was always happy to help around the ranch. It made me feel better about parasitically abusing their hospitality. "What needs doing?"

Lon Lon Ranch was not, by definition, a ranch. A ranch dealt exclusively with hooved animals, and while Lon Lon did have lots of horses and cows, they also dealt with cuccos and a deceptively large wheat, bean, and lucerne farm for use as feed. Apparently, that diet was what gave Lon Lon milk its unique flavor. I thought that was a load of nonsense, because you could play Epona's Song in front of any old cave cow and get milk that was just as good. I didn't say anything, of course. I didn't want to make them angry at me.

Unfortunately, such extensive farmland called for equally extensive weeding for the fall harvesting season. It had long since been divided into twelve sections– they rotated the crops throughout the fields such that each field grew different crops in different years while leaving others empty. Supposedly, this kept the soil fertile. Malon and Talon, who had finally woken up at ten o'Goddesses-damned'clock, had taken Section 9, whereas Ingo and I agreed to team up on Section 8.

"What's happened since I left?" I asked, uprooting a particularly stubborn weed.

"Not much," the older man replied curtly. "Nearly threw me into a panic when I learned you'd just run off without so much as a goodbye. Malon was hardly herself for weeks afterward."

I flinched. I hadn't realized. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. But I appreciate it."

I shot Ingo a small smile, which to my surprise, was returned. I was starting to like him more and more.

Malon's father had already fallen asleep again. I was starting to get seriously envious. The three of us had finished tending to the fields around noontime, which meant a small meal to tide us over until supper. Knowing Talon, he would be out of commission until the end of the day at least. It was, at times, difficult to wrap my head around just how much he slumbered. If I had had it, I would have been half-tempted to latch the All-Night Mask onto his portly face just to see what would happen. Well, I mean, he had to manage the Milk Bar at night. Maybe all the sleeping he did was because he pulled all-nighters each night. Huh. I hadn't thought of that before.

"Talon!" Ingo hollered. The farm owner made no motion to respond.

"I don't know how he manages to do this so… consistently," I confessed. "How do you people put up with it? I remember last time I was here, I was about to blow a gasket over your old man." That was shortly after Termina. Now I was much better at controlling my emotions.

"He is like that, huh?" Malon laughed. "We've all been there. It's just something we got used to."

"He wasn't always like this," Ingo corrected. "Before… everything that happened, the ranch was his life. Now, well… guess this is his way of dealing with it."

I pursed my lips, deep in thought as I bit into the tough bread that had been offered to me. What could have happened that would turn Talon into this, especially compared to Ingo's testimony? It must have been something of great importance. I decided to quietly ask.

"Malon's mother," came the soft reply. "We lost her in the delivery."

What milk delivery could possibly have been that perilous? "Delivery of… what, exactly?"

Ingo blinked, appraising me with a look like I was a moron. Accurate, but still. "Of Malon."

Oh.

Oh.

I had never exactly learned how Hylians, ah, procreated. The Kokiri were eternal children, and new Kokiri weren't really a thing that had ever happened. Obviously, I was never taught how Hylians did it, or how humans did it in Fodra. A jeering mirth swam in the back of my head, as though Katáktisi was laughing at me. I had never known that the process of making a baby was something that could kill the mother. I wondered how Talon survived. Actually, scratch that. I did not wonder anything about that whatsoever. I was going to not think about it, and I was going to maintain what few shreds of childlike innocence I had left.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I… didn't know." I glanced at Talon, still snoring away with a Super Cucco in his hands. I knew all too well the pain of loss. Half of me was envious of him, jealous of his ability to snore away his days without a care in the world. The rest of me found him even more pathetic than before, unbelieving of his lack of drive to solve his problems.

"Hey, you couldn't have known, Fairy Boy. It's no problem."

I breathed in. I breathed out. We got back to work.

After giving the animals their feed, all our attention had to be focused on further preparing the fields. We had already done a lot of the heavy work, but as the sun began its trek down the western side of the sky, we spent much of our time cutting off smaller plots of land to manage the time of reaping. With only three people– by which I meant two people– working on the ranch at one time under normal circumstances, it was useful to make the daily load manageable.

I wiped the sweat off my brow as we polished off the day's main work. All that was left to do was feed the animals and ourselves. A twinge of pain tiptoed across my fingers. I took a closer glance. Splinters. How irksome. Not a problem, though. I kept my right index finger's fingernail jagged and sharp just for occasions like this– or, at least, I pretended I did. I was able to pick out the wood fragments with relative ease.

I returned to my task of pushing the cart laden with hay into the stables. All the horses had to be brought in for the night, and a quick head count confirmed that everyone was accounted for. Confident, Malon and I closed up the stables while Ingo went off to prepare supper.

Suffice it to say, Ingo prepared the largest amount of food I had seen in one place in an incredibly long time. Maybe it looked larger because of how long it had been since I had had a proper meal. Maybe they were subconsciously celebrating my return. Or perhaps it was something else entirely. Either way, the sheer amount of food present made my stomach do a flip. I was almost repulsed.

I hesitantly took a seat next to Talon's slumbering form– as far as I could tell, he seriously hadn't moved since midday– and took off my hat to try to be polite. I had been castigated by Anju's mother back in the Stock Pot Inn during one of my break Cycles for wearing it while eating. As much as I liked my hat, I wanted to be courteous to my hosts.

"Who the heck cut your hair, Fairy Man?"

I blinked. "I did?" Was it really that bad?

"You did a terrible job! It's all uneven and way too long–" This was why I liked my hat. Well, one of the reasons, anyway.

"Mal," Ingo said seriously, grabbing a fork. "Don't antagonize him."

"It's alright," I said lightly. "It's surprisingly hard to cut your own hair…"

The only sound was the clinking of utensils on china as the ranch dwellers dug in. I hesitated before following suit at an unhealthily slow rate. It wasn't because the food was bad, of course– my standards were incredibly low, and Ingo's cooking was palatable. When you got used to running on crumbs, fumes and spite, it was hard to acclimate to normal-sized portions.

"Something on your mind, Fairy Man?" Well, it was preferable to 'Fairy Boy', at least.

"Hm? Um, no, sorry," I replied intelligently, adding a flicker of embarrassment to my voice. I decisively bit into a potato. Malon looked like she wanted to pry, but she held her tongue. Ingo shook his head.

"You were gone for four years," Ingo stated. "Do anything interesting?"

"Not really," I lied through my teeth. "I just… kind of wandered around the Lost Woods for a while. Eventually, I came to a land called Fodra on the far side– two hundred leagues from Hyrule at least." That was a lie, but it was at least tangentially the truth. "I stayed there for a time, made some friends, had a good time… but war broke out. So I made my way back here. No doubt I'll have to go back and deal with that eventually. But I think that can wait for a little while. Frankly, I deserve a bit of a vacation."

"Is that where you got that mask?" Malon asked.

"Well, yeah," I said. I had nearly forgotten that I was still wearing Jeritza's mask; I had basically started treating it as a part of my face, with how often I wore it. No reason to lie about the reason why, I felt; I trusted the ranchers far more than I did pretty much anyone else, and if I didn't elaborate on Katáktisi I would probably be okay. Plus, it would be convenient to give the mask a break. The thing probably needed to be washed, or at least cleaned somewhat; I had been too busy running from the Deadlords to pay too much attention to my personal hygiene recently. "I started wearing it after my marks came in. It's more convenient than makeup." I reached for the sides of my head, and with one gentle motion I pulled off the false face. The slashing war paint was exposed to air for all the world to see.

"Whoa."

"Is that… part of–"

"My skin, yeah. Must be a hereditary thing," I shrugged. Hopefully they wouldn't question it too hard. It wasn't like I could say 'yeah, I forged a pact with an artificial voice that lives in my head and calls for the heads of the lizard people, don't worry about it'.

Talon faceplanted into the table, still snoring.

It was 11:57 when I woke up. They would be coming soon. I got up and darted out of the door. I was fully dressed, of course– I couldn't bring myself to sleep in the bed prepared for me, as it was too soft. I already had my bow in my hands as I tiptoed down the stairs and towards the corral. Romani should already be down there. Waiting for me.

I opened the door and darted into the stables. I had to grab Epona to be fast enough to circle the ranch house to defend the cows from all angles. I played Epona's Song, and like clockwork, she arrived. She wasn't saddled, but I hopped on anyway. We knew each other well enough for me to handle, no problem.

"Sorry for waking you up this late, girl," I whispered, knowing she didn't understand me, "but we gotta protect the ranch from Them. You don't know about it, but we've done this hundreds of times."

We rode out of the stables and into the corral. There was no sign of Them yet, but it was only 11:59. They would be coming any moment now. Where the hell was Romani?

I circled the ranch house, but saw neither hide nor hair of Romani or Them. Were they invisible? I needed a better angle. I dismounted from Epona and Hookshotted up onto the roof, the terracotta shifting slightly under my weight. I keep my eagle-eyed gaze on the horizon, ever wary for any sign of movement, an arrow preemptively loaded into my bow. The visibility was very poor. I couldn't even see the dog raceway from here.

"Fairy Boy?"

I whirled, glancing in all directions, before looking down from my perch and seeing Romani on the ground, still shaking tiredness from her eyes. "There you are," I said. "They're late."

"Who's 'they'?" the rancher echoed.

I froze. Romani had never shut up about Them until after the First Day before. Had I shown up a day late? That explained it! I had already failed. How was my internal chronometer this messed up?

Then I realized.

She hadn't called me Grasshopper.

Frigid clarity swept through me, and I narrowly avoided dropping my bow. It was over. Termina was over. What the hell was I doing?

I rappelled down from the roof, unable to make eye contact. "No one," I said calmly. "No one at all. I just… thought there was someone. Here, let's go back to sleep. Ingo would kill me if he learned that I woke you up."

I slowly led Malon back to her room, and waited outside her door for a while. I then tiptoed down the stairs and returned Epona to the stables. Every moment longer that I stayed here, I was endangering them. Who knew how long it would be before I did something in a memory-induced haze that they could not forget nor forgive.

I awoke coated in a sheen of sweat. I had dreamed of the last night I was here. It was… embarrassing to have made such a mistake. I had been so crushed by that slip-up that I had decided to leave Hyrule right then and there. Sure, I had been mulling the decision over in my mind for a while before that incident, but that had been the tipping point. I supposed I couldn't complain too much– it had led me to Fodra, after all. I never would have met Dedue or Leonie or Dimitri or Seteth or Mercedes or Annette or Katáktisi or Cyril or Alois or… or anyone else from that world. I supposed I had to be grateful for that. It had only been over two and a half years and I already missed them. Funny how that worked.

The weeks started fluttering by in a comfortable monotony. I remembered getting mind-numbingly restless back in between my adventures in Hyrule and Termina, when my wanderlust was strongest. It hadn't set in yet now that I had returned; either it needed more time to build, or I was mature enough now to simply not let it consume me. I really hoped it was the second explanation, but I couldn't help but doubt it.

Day in and day out were mostly the same. Wake up at the crowing of the cuccos, join Malon and Ingo for breakfast, ask Ingo what he needs help with today, do whatever that was, almost forget about lunch until Talon has to go out and remind me that people normally eat three times a day and not just once, give Epona some much-deserved affection, pretend like I wasn't having nightmares at age fourteen and three quarters, stuff like that. It was peaceful. Kind of like my monastery work, but more confined around one particular duty as opposed to several diverse ones. It wasn't better or worse, of course. Just different.

The child in me was happy I was back in Hyrule and out of that vile Fodra. It wanted to maybe look for Navi while I was here. The adult in me didn't want to be here, with this stabbing reminder of what I'd lost. It wanted me to abscond, to lose myself in the Lost Woods far away from all these places. The Crestwraith in me insisted that I must return to the hunt for Caiaphas, goaded on by the First Axiom as it was. That was something I could not reject or resist while outside of Hyrule, but while on this side of the Outrealm Rift, its influence on me was much more limited. Besides,I did not know where to start. And taking a couple months off to rest was probably in my best interest. So Katáktisi was sated. For now.

What I wanted, I couldn't as easily say. I knew I had felt it before, and I had wanted it for longer than I had been here. It had been present before Garreg Mach fell, even. I wanted what I had with Ashe before everything fell apart, when I had made the most grave of mistakes. Playing the Elegy of Emptiness had ruined what I had had– an easy way to speak of my past, a way to come to terms with it without raising questions and without just letting it fester in the dark corners of my mind where I dared not tread. I couldn't do the same with someone like Malon, because all the context of Hyrule would not be lost on her. And there were too many similarities between Hyrule and Termina for me to instead tell her about that. At the same time, I could no longer do it with anyone in Fodra, in case they said anything about it to Ashe and he told them. No, that avenue was closed to me. Now and forever.

I thought of Seteth's book of fables, and in that moment his greatest message became glaringly obvious to me. I had read it cover to cover dozens of times, if not hundreds, and yet only now did I understand its true meaning. Sometimes, life gave us the answer to problems before it gave us the problem itself.

If you want to talk about your past in a way that nobody can possibly understand, disguise it as a bedtime story. Preferably with a strong moral to wrap things up in a neat little bow.

'In the vast, deep forests of Hyrule…' I wrote. 'Long have I served as the guardian spirit… I am known as the Deku Tree. The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has their own guardian fairy. However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy…'

Dang it. This needed illustrations. I barely had enough paper to write anywhere close to the amount I wanted to, much less draw pictures when I needed to to sell the world. How was anyone supposed to visualize the dark opulence of Ganon's Tower or the whimsical wild of Kokiri Forest or the sprawling vista of Hyrule Field without them? Oh, I would figure it out later. Worst case, I would have to buy more parchment, and I was far from impoverished. Turned out gutting monsters for a living paid great, even if the Rupees had to be invariably deep-cleaned of monster guts.

'Navi… Navi, where art thou? Come hither…' I continued, after spending a couple hours writing a handful of very short paragraphs regarding life in the forest as a Kokiri and the general background knowledge needed to understand the tale that was about to unfold. 'Oh, Navi the fairy… listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree… Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm? Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule… For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining order in this world. But before this tremendous evil, even my power is as nothing… It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey– the youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth… Navi, go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me. I do not have much time left– fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest– nay, the world, depends on thee!'

I set the quill down. It was nearly midnight now, and the only candle I had was running low on its wick. I could barely even read my own cucco-scratch penmanship in this light. These were hardly optimal writing conditions.

I extinguished the light source and prepared myself for bed. A tired mind probably wasn't best for this sort of thing, anyway. Maybe I would try some more tomorrow night, or in the morning. I had plenty of inspiration to draw from, after all.

Congratulations, Link, you're now a novelist. Maybe you'll write something as long as Cobalt Crescent one day.

Review please!

GreenEyesOrigamiDragon (FF): You're too kind.

XLilaXTheXSpecterX (AO3): Gotta keep you folks on your toes! Caiaphas is… indisposed right now, and Hyrule isn't exactly on his hit list just yet. Never say never, though.

Equilized Enigma (FF): Heh.

Parkourse (AO3): I had initially included more explicit details of the hunt, but it ended up being bad for pacing so I ended up condensing it.

Grimmideals (FF): Oh, no worries! I completely understand.

flameMail (AO3): Yeah, it was really fun to write! I'm glad I was able to capture Link's very clear combat expertise in a way that spoke to the readers. That being said, it might have been a little… too high-octane. I was thinking Link would spend one chapter in Hyrule… it's four now. I'm fine with it, though– he deserves a nice vacation.

quadjot (AO3): Same to you!