Chapter 4: Reawaken    Chapter 6: Colin!

Chapter 5: Rana Helps with the Old Forest Temple

    Early morning saw Link and Rana jogging quietly off to the forest. The sunlight streamed golden through trees, and a few birds were chirping softly to themselves, which was unusual, but not alarming. They had had breakfast, and were talking now of things forgotten and unsaid.
    “What about Malon?” Navi asked. “Is Lon Lon Ranch near the castle still? Have Zelda and Malon met yet?”
    “Oh, right, the castle!” Rana exclaimed. “The castle’s in the centre of Hyrule now, not the north. Zelda thought that would be more convenient for everyone. And the moat actually works like a moat now. And it’s gotten a gorgeous makeover in marble. Remember when we were kids and it looked like a white spike, shining in the sun?” Link nodded. “Well, it looks… it looks sort of the same, but much bigger and even more beautiful. The old Hyrule Castle looks like a toy compared to it, but don’t tell Zelda that because she liked the old castle. Um. So, oh, right, Malon… Yeah, she has met Zelda. They’re almost best friends. Oh! Malon’s married!”
    “Is she?” Link asked, actually distinguishing those two words out of the cheerful, excited babble. They climbed the gate into the deep forest.
    “Yes! She married a knight from Kakariko. Um, a guard, I guess. He’s not brilliant, but he’s quite solid… I’m talking about fighting, right? He’s really nice as a person. His name’s Allan.”
    “I see,” Link replied. “A lot has happened in three years.”
    “You know,” Navi said, “we never really got to know Hyrule that well. You were in the forest for half of your life, and then we went all over Hyrule and made new friends, but then we left for another ten years.”
    They came to the entrance of the great clump of trees Link had mistaken for the Great Deku Tree.
    “Here’s the Old Forest Temple!” Rana chirped, hopping on top of a log. “See, this was the Forest Temple long ago, before Saria was even around, but now the monkeys live here. I’m not sure why the Goddesses brought it out of the deep woods. I guess it’s going to be important.”
    “Where is the New Forest Temple, then?” Navi asked.
    “It’s in the same place relative to Kokiri Forest that it used to be,” Naeri answered. “That whole part of the forest has just been moved further back.”
    “We’re actually pretty close to the Lost Woods,” Rana said, from inside the Old Forest Temple’s door. “Come on! We haven’t adventured together in SO LONG!”
    “That’s true,” Link said, smiling at Navi.
    He ducked his head and entered the Temple.

    The inside of the temple smelled musty. Guttering torches gave a smell of pine pitch and imperfect illumination. Dust floated in on the wind behind him.
    Rana waited for him ahead, her sword already stained with spider blood.
    “It’s a little rough in here,” she said cheerfully. “I’ve never been inside far. I went with Mido once. He really is nicer than when we were kids.”
    “How did he take it?”
    “Pretty coolly! He had a slingshot. Not phased by the LikeLikeBabas at all. Of course, we stayed away from those.”
    “We’ve never come across those.”
    “They look tropical,” Naeri said.
    They had already penetrated several tunnels into the tree, and now they heard a squeaking.
    “That’s a monkey,” Rana said, stating the obvious, and continuing with the helpful: “It’s coming from the right.”
    Rescuing the monkey from the rude cage she was in was quick work. The red flower tucked behind its ear reminded Link of… Marin of Koholint Island. He shook away the distracting thought. The monkey was not afraid of them at all. Grabbing his hand, it pulled him back to the largest room they had entered so far.
    “I’ve seen her before!” Rana said. “There’s a lot, really, though. Like about a dozen.”
    A few rooms later, Link came to a slow stop, rubbing his forehead. “Rana, this isn’t working.”
    Rana came back from the shelf she had been contemplating. “What’s not working?”
    “Us… adventuring together like this. I- I can’t concentrate on our surroundings. I can only think of you.” She came up to him and laid her hands on his shoulders. “This is exactly what I’m talking about.”
There was a long pause, and then he pulled her close and kissed her. “Oh, come on. I’m serious.”
    “Link,” said Rana, keeping her face very close to his, “this is our first day together on the first Temple. We can work this out.”
    After another pause, she said: “If you like, I can go look for the children along a different path.”
    “No, no, it’s okay,” Link said automatically. “Oh. Well, I guess you’re right.”
    “Wow! That’s a surprise!” Rana pulled away and did a little jig. “Okay, let’s get going. Time is the essence!”
    “Isn’t that ‘time is of the essence’?” Link asked.
    “Time is the essence makes more sense to me,” Rana replied, running ahead again.
    Link laughed and ran to catch up.

    They searched diligently for the rest of the day, calling the children’s names in every chamber and hollow, but they found nothing. Navi and Naeri tried to help with mysterious fairy magic, but they found nothing also. They slept near the five monkeys they had rescued, but Link was restless for a long time before and after he fell asleep.
    ‘Have I done all I could have done for today?’ he wondered. ‘Where are they? I hope they’re all right…’
    After he fell asleep, Rana held his hand when he cried out at his nightmares.

    In the morning, Link felt tense and unhappy. His dreams had not only had Rana and Ganon in them – though for the first time, they ended before Rana ‘died’ – but they had also had visions of the children and Ilia locked away, dying, or dead.
    He rushed through much of the Temple at a great pace, getting frustrated at every block and delay. That lasted until noon, when Rana pounced on him, knocking him down, and demanded lunch.
    “Okay,” she said with her mouth full a few minutes later, “now tell me why you’re so grumpy. You haven’t been like this for years in my experience.”
    Link sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just really worried. We haven’t found any trace of Colin or anyone, and I dreamed about them last night, dead, and I realized that Ordona and Faron are quite right to chastise me. I’ve been slacking. I don’t feel like a hero.”
    Rana crawled over to him and began poking him in the chest. “Okay, but I don’t think that yesterday was completely wasted. And you know what? If you wear yourself out, you’re going to be no help to anyone! I think you’re probably thinking that a hero enjoying himself on something serious like ‘save the world’ is being stupid and careless, and you’re probably still distracted by me – you still are this minute; you look like a little boy, which is so sweet… But you know I’m here to help you. Haven’t we been going faster today than you usually would? I know Naeri and I have been. We haven’t been that distracted by each other.”
    Link reached up and took her poking hand in his own. “You’re right, of course. This place is just so big that it doesn’t seem like we’re going very fast at all. But we have to hurry even more. There’s no law that says the universe is going to wait for me to catch up with my enemies.”
    “That sounds a little more like you, even as pessimistic as it is,” Navi said from his shoulder.
    “Thank you, Rana.” Link smiled. “I’m covered in women all fussing over me.”
    Rana jumped up and swept the remains of lunch into a little bundle. “You’re funny. We are not. Come on, Mr. Pessimist!”

    Hours later, they reached a huge door, at least ten metres tall. It was made of brass, corroded in spots, but still gleaming in the light of Link’s lantern.
    “Now,” Link said, “this is our first battle against a giant killer evil creature, so please don’t go crazy like you did against that baboon. Like we said before, I’m still getting used to working with you again.”
    “And to letting me do dangerous stuff because you’re so worried about me,” Rana said, smiling at him. “In return, please don’t worry. I will be careful. I really do know what I’m doing.”
    “Yes. Thank you.” He opened the door.
    The creature waiting for them was composed of two huge Deku Baba heads, both armed with teeth and writhing in a purple acidic pool.
    “Oh, I know what to do!” Navi said. “Throw the Boomerang at their stems!”
    Link tried it. “Good idea, Navi, but that’s ten throws and nothing has happened. I don’t think it’s sharp enough. I don’t think the whirlwind is strong enough to carry my sword, either.”
    “Try… arrows? Oh, you don’t have your bow. Drat.”
    “I have hardly anything. Din’s Fire?”
    “Oh!” Rana cried. “Bombs! I have some!”
    “Okay, just lure it over here, and I’ll-“ Link jumped aside in time to avoid a snapping, slavering maw as one of the Deku Babas attacked. He chopped down on it with his sword, and nearly tore a chunk out of it, but the sword bounced off the leathery surface.
    “Or that… doesn’t work too,” Rana said, pulling faces at the plants.
    “Next time it attacks one of you, the other one chop it at the stem,” Navi directed. “Unless… it’s like one of those weird ones that keeps going afterwards… no, never mind.”
    “All right.”
    One of the Deku Babas fell beneath the water a few minutes later, since Link stabbed it through the mouth. The other hung back.
    “Let’s try your bomb idea, Rana,” Link said, brandishing the boomerang after five minutes of waiting. “It’s better than nothing.”
    “Which is a better virtue, patience or initiative?” Rana asked, tossing him a lighted bomb. He flung his boomerang at it while it was still in midair and sent the bomb flying out at the Baba. It snatched at the boomerang and the bomb both, and swallowed them. Link twitched, a horrible thought occurring to him.
    “So much for that…” Navi mumbled, disappointed. “Now we’re stuck…”
    An explosion interrupted her, and the Baba’s toothed mouth gaped wide as it sank beneath the water. The boomerang hovered a moment where it had been, and then whirled over to Link, who caught it easily.
    “And now what?” Navi asked, flumping down on Link’s head. “Nothing’s happening.”
    “It’s isn’t over yet, you idiots!” Midna squeaked angrily from somewhere underground. At the moment she spoke, the water heaved and one titanic Baba head raised itself out of the water.
    Rana jumped at the voice, then practically flew up the wall like a cat, crouching on a lump of hard wood, as the Baba head opened three dripping petals and leaned in close to the edge of the pool. A protrusion like a stamen wriggled at Link, and he sliced at it and was doused in acidic pool water.
    “Ow!” he shouted.
    “Here, bomb it again!” Rana cried, hopping down and throwing him another explosive.
    That bomb was dropped in the water when the Baba head lunged again. This time Link ran out of the way of the pressurized water.
    Rana tossed him another bomb, and this one the Baba had barely taken in its mouth when it went off, blowing the head off the stalk. Goop and water sprayed everywhere, and Link raised his shield to protect himself and Rana.
    When it was dead, what remained of it exploded again into black particles that coalesced into a small black object. It hovered, giving off an audible aura of power. Link straightened, sheathed his sword, and reached out for it.
    “I’ll just take that!” Midna chirped, popping out of the ground and snatching the object out of Link’s hands with a large orange hand that appeared out of her hair. “Don’t look so shocked. I need this. You don’t. Anyway, it looks like the kids aren’t here, so let’s get out of here!”
    “That’s true,” Rana said as Midna disappeared again into Link’s shadow. “We’ll have to look somewhere else.” The pool was turning crystal clear as she spoke, and the dozen monkeys and the baboon they had rescued all ran in and dove into the water, chittering and squeaking happily.
    “But what if they’re already dead? That monster could have eaten them whole and left no trace…”
    “NO, IT HASN’T!” Rana shouted. “Will you stop that? If you give up hope, what’s going to lead you on? You’re going to be guilt-ridden for the rest of your life if you keep on like that, and you’re going to make me cry. Oops, too late…”
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Link cried, jumping forward to take Rana in his arms as she covered her face with her hands and turned away from him. “I shouldn’t have said that… I just can’t stop thinking about it… Please don’t cry, Rana… you haven’t cried in so long…”

    As they were walking hand in hand back to Link’s home, he heard something strange, as a tremor in the breath of the wind…
    “A wolf!” Navi cried. “A golden wolf! Look out, Link!”
    Link whirled and snatched hopelessly at his shield; a golden furry weight collided with him and he felt as if he were being absorbed.

Chapter 4: Reawaken    Chapter 6: Colin!

Chapter 3: The Princess Explains Again     Chapter 5: Rana Helps Out With the Old Forest Temple

Chapter 4: Reawaken

    The black wall loomed before Link again. He padded up to it, wondering if he could jump through.
    His shadow detached from beneath him and sprang up before him, giggling mockingly.
    “Who are you?” Navi screamed, flitting back to cling to Link’s ear.
    Midna tittered at the frightened fairy. The Twilight girl was mostly transparent, but her yellow and red eyes were very apparent. “I’m Link’s ‘new friend’! And he’s being silly, because one can’t just go into the Twilight like this. You have to be let in!” She turned to Link. “Do you want to be let in? It’s a bit forceful.”
    Link nodded. Midna dissolved into bubbles and floated through the barrier, making ripples in it. A giant orange hand tore through the black curtain and seized him.
    He picked himself up from where he sprawled on the bumpy golden-brown forest floor and looked around. Navi had been able to follow him, being an insubstantial fairy.
    She looked around and came over to his head. “What is this place? I mean, what happened to the forest?”
    Midna hopped sidesaddle onto Link’s back. “It’s the Twilight, silly. Isn’t it lovely today? We’re just in time – we missed the sun.”
    “I happen to like the sun,” Navi muttered, but Link was trotting forward towards the spirit’s spring and hoped Midna didn’t hear the last part.
    “Anyway, gimme that sword and shield. I want to see them,” the Twilight girl demanded, shifting herself astride her mount. Navi produced them.
    Somehow, Midna ended up with the shield over her face. Link ducked his head as she swung his sword blindly. “What kind of weapon is this? I’m not kidding you; I have no intention of becoming some sort of deformed wolf cavalry. But, seriously, how can you Hylians stand to use these things, even if you are big and strong (and clumsy)… people?”
    Link looked back at her, and tried to say something, but remembered. He looked forward, sighing, and his ears pricked.
    His sword and shield went flying, but Navi caught them.
    “Is that right?” Midna said to the wolf. “You hear the Light Spirit, don’t you? It’s mourning its lost light. Do you want to go and see?”
    He padded forward, and found the gate open. Rusl must have opened it when he had gone into the forest. The distant, sad song he had heard grew closer. The Light Spirit’s spring opened before him, and there was the faintest glimmer of light towards the back of the waterfalls.
    In front of the waterfalls patrolled three black monsters. The song cut off abruptly.
    Link growled. One had been hard enough.
    “Well, well, you can handle yourself, can’t you?” Midna floated off his back. “I’ll leave the messy stuff up to you, then!”
    “Come on!” Navi cried, racing forward. Link followed with an angry bark.
    Dancing around the slower monsters, following his fairy, he felt oddly comfortable in his new form. Perhaps it was Navi, he thought. She could reconcile him to anything.
    He took down two of the monsters, and was charging the third when it gave a terrible shriek that startled him immensely and hurt his ears. The two dead monsters rolled over and got up.
    “That’s cheating!” Navi cried, half joking, and Link spared her a grin.
    “Oh, come on!” Midna said, floating down to hover in front of him. “You mean you didn’t know? Eeee! You have to get them all at once! I guess I have to do everything myself… Like this!” She sent orange bolts shooting out at the monsters, covering the ground in shadow. They halted, as if paralyzed.
    “Well? Attack them!” she squeaked. “It only lasts a few seconds!”
    Tired as he was, Link darted forward obediently and became a living tornado of teeth and claws.
    The three creatures all slumped to the ground and burst into black fragments.
    Link glanced up. There was a blotch in the sky here, too, but it was blue.
    A faint, deep voice called from the pool. “Hero… Come to me…”
    “You have done well,” the faint voice told him. “But I still need your help. My light has been stolen, and you must recover it. I have not the strength. My light… will be in the form of blue-tinted tears. Gather them in this.”
    What was left of the light in the back of the pool squeezed together into what looked like a tiny golden grapevine.
    “One more thing… The Twilight will have attached itself to my light. Evil insects have eaten the Tears. To find the Tears, find the insects…” The voice faded away into a whisper, and the song began again, much fainter than before.

    Gathering the Tears of Light was long and arduous, climbing trees, skimming over bogs, digging dangerously glittering purple insects out of the ground, and generally doing things that he guessed normal wolves never dreamed of. There was one part he enjoyed, and that was skimming through the upper canopy between rows of corrupted Twilight Babas. It thrilled him. Naeri joined them halfway through. Working with two fairies and Midna in his form felt very odd indeed, even though he had once worked with three fairies and a demon.
    When he had killed the last insect, near dusk, and Navi put the last Tear into the golden grapevine, it quivered with power and something pulled him through white nothingness to the spirit’s pool. The grapevine dropped into the pool with a tiny splash.
    Nothing happened for a moment, and then without a sound, the black specks floating in the air blew away. The light brightened, and the clouds of Twilight broke and blew away. Midna sighed and ducked into the ground, into Link’s shadow. Colour returned to the trees and the flowers and the water.
    A ball of light like Ordona’s rose from the pool, and a great long-tailed bearded monkey appeared, curled around it protectively.
    “Greetings, Hero. I am Faron, the Light Spirit of Faron Wood. I thank you for rescuing me.”
    “We’re sorry to have started so late,” Navi said, fluttering in front of him.
    Faron shook his great head. “It is not too late. It is more dire than it should have been, but you have been spared the initial onslaught of Zant’s offensive. This is good. You have proven yourself undulled with the saving of Ordona and myself. Re-awaken, Hero.”
    Link started. He was a Hylian again. Not only a Hylian, himself again, and at the peak of his fighting strength, but he was dressed in his familiar green tunic with his sword and shield strapped to his back. He wondered briefly if Navi or the Spirit had clothed him thus for the job ahead of him, but he was happy about it nonetheless.
    The Spirit looked him in the eyes. “It is your duty to finish what you have begun. Be swift and strong, Hero. The world needs you. Your true love will wait you faithfully. Do not forget yourself again. As your ancestors before you, deliver us from darkness!”
    Link bowed. “I will. Thank you, Faron, Spirit of the Woods.”
    “Go to the Old Forest Temple. Evil still lurks there, though the sky is clear. There you will do what you need to do.”
    Faron faded away.
    Link headed back to Ordon. The sun was setting.

    A happy squeal came shrilling out of the forest from the direction of the village, and then Rana flung herself into his arms. “Link! You’re back to yourself!”
    “Yes. That was a strange experience, being a wolf. How are you?”
    “I’m great! Nothing happened all day, though. How are you?”
    “Sore, tired, and confused. Same as always.” They all laughed.
    “You do look rather beat. Can saving the world wait for one night?”
    “Yes, I suppose so. Let me see… things to tell you… Zelda is all right, for now. She’s in a tower in Hyrule Castle – which is… pretty impressive. She did a good job in three years.”
    “I’ll say! I lived in the castle, sort of, until she sent me away before the attack.”
    “She said something like that. I’m glad you’re safe.”
    “I didn’t want to, but-“ Link kissed her.

     “So, explain why everything is all different. Where’s Kokiri Forest? Why is it called Faron Woods now?” Link demanded when they parted.
     “Oh, well, Zelda was using the Triforce of Wisdom to heal the land, and I think she summoned the Goddesses… accidentally.”
     “What? Really?” Navi asked, laughing at Rana’s expression. They began walking towards Ordon.
     “Yeah. And they did some stuff. Zelda told them some things that she wanted, and that she knew the Gorons and Zoras and Kokiri wanted – she talked with all of them before she started to fix stuff – and the Goddesses just went and did stuff. A lot of it was their own thing, but for example, the Zoras wanted to be closer to Lake Hylia, so they got moved north so now Zora’s River doesn’t cross across the Gorons’ roads. But, there’s still a river flowing through there, through the forest, too. It’s called Kakariko River now. I’m not sure why. And the Gorons started mining, like, not just to get the tastiest rocks, but that’s not anything to do with the change of the land. Um… the Kokiri wanted to be a little further away from the edge of the forest now that Ordon was starting up,and so there’s a mountain deep in the forest where the Great Deku Tree isnow, but the Kokiri live all around inside Kokiri Forest, which is behind the Lost Woods, which is over to the west, there…” Rana paused for breath.
     “And the Skull Kids have mostly joined them,” Naeri continued. “There are a couple that don’t live in the village, but all around the forest. And there weren’t any monsters until Zant showed up.”
     “I see.” Though he didn’t quite. Rana chattered so fast it was sometimeshard to make any sense of what she said at all.
     “Wait, what’s that?” Naeri asked, stopping and hovering suddenly, lookingback, deeper into the forest.
     Link’s ears twitched. “Fighting?”
     Rana breezed past him impetuously. “Well, let’s go see!”
     In a clearing, they saw someone holding off three Bokoblins at once. He was weakening, though he fought with skill.
     “Rusl!” Link shouted, plunging forward. Rana brought her sword down on one Bokoblin’s head; Link sliced the other two in half with two quick strokes. Rusl, breathing heavily and bleeding from a head wound, straightened up and wiped his forehead.
     “Thank you… Green?”
     Link ducked his head, embarrassed, even as he steadied Rusl from falling.“Well, now, that’s a story… I’m sorry, Rusl. I’m Link. I was running away from something… but fortunately it found me and corrected my view of things.”
     Rusl looked back and forth between the two Hylians. “I think I can see where you’re going with this. Well, I owe you my life. I found no trace of the children, though…”
     “Oh, no,” Rana said. “And it’s really dark now. Well, we’ll get you home, and then you can rest, and then tomorrow early we’ll go look again.”
     “How early?” Rusl asked.
     Rana laughed and shook her head. “You need rest! You can catch up with us later, or we’ll come back at lunchtime or something. I’ll let Naeri give you a message tomorrow.”
     They came to Rusl’s house, and Uli was startled to see her husband wounded, but thanked Link and Rana. Then she had to be told the story of Link’s grief-stricken past, though it was confused coming as it was from two Hylians and two fairies at once, and the circumstances that called him back to the path of Hero now. Rusl was very concerned about the state of Hyrule Castle, while Uli fussed over his head. “I knew things were not right for a few days, about the time that the Princess says the castle fell, but I didn’t know it was this bad so soon.”
     “Yes,” Link said. “I need to move fast now. I don’t think my tardiness ten– three years ago helped at all.”

     They left Rusl.
     When they had arrived at the door of his house, Link turned to Rana. “Would you like to have supper with me?”
     “I’d love that. Too bad Saria can’t come, but it’s a bit far and late for that. What are you having?”
     They ate, and talked, and Rana laughed merrily, and soon Link found himself laughing with her. Outside, he knew there was danger and evil shadows, but inside, for one evening, he knew that at least one thing had gone right.
     At last, though Rana had hardly finished talking, she got up.“I’m sorry, Link! You’re completely beat, and here I am keeping you up…You’ll need lots of sleep if you want to go and look at the Old Forest Temple tomorrow. There are monkeys there, you know! Even if evil is there– and don’t panic, I’m not going to check it out tonight – you’ll need your rest to get around in there. I’ll show you where tomorrow.”
     “Good night,” Link said. “Come early tomorrow!”
     “I will!” she answered, and skipped off into the darkness, her fairy hovering around her ear, to go to her home in the Kokiri Forest. Link couldn’t help but worry, but he let her go.

     That night, dreams still assailed him. Navi put damp cloths on his brow while he tossed and thrashed. When he woke, it occurred to him that the only time he had slept fearlessly in the last few years was two nights before, when he had fainted in the Twilight of Faron Woods.
     There was a knock on his door almost as soon as he remembered that. Dragging himself reluctantly out of bed and down the ladders, he opened the door.
     Rana stood there, bright and cheerful.
     “Well? When do we start?”
Link smiled.

Chapter 3: The Princess Explains Again     Chapter 5: Rana Helps Out With the Old Forest Temple

Chapter 2: “…What?”     Chapter 4: Reawaken

Chapter 3: The Princess Explains Again

    Link nosed the doors open and trotted in. On one side of the room was a fireplace, a tiny table, and a worn chair, on the other, a hard-looking bed.
    A black-cloaked figure stood at a wide window. It was far too small to be Ganondorf, but his skin crawled at its ominous appearance. A growl rose in his throat before he realized the back of the cloak was embroidered with the Eye of Truth.
    The figure gasped, a light, feminine gasp, and whirled. A pale face and intensely blue eyes peered at him from beneath the hood of the cloak.
    “Zelda?” Link said – or tried to say. What came out of his mouth was a cross between a growl and a yelp, and completely unintelligible to Hylians.
    The princess took two stately steps towards him, then sank to her knees. “Rana? The Twilight took you after all?”
    The creature on his back giggled. “Not at all, Princess.”
    Zelda’s quick eyes looked up and down, resting briefly on his left paw and then looking into his eyes. “…Link? You returned? Oh, is Rana safe, did you see her? How did this happen?”
    “Well, obviously he can’t tell you. But I can tell you he’s a wolf because of the Twilight!” his rider shrieked with mirth.
    “Midna, this is no laughing matter. I’m glad you are safe, but the shadow creatures have been looking for you.” The creature, Midna, floated up off his back, turning her back to the princess petulantly. “Why is this?”
    “I don’t know,” Midna replied sulkily. “You tell me… Twilight Princess!” Her voice was loaded with irony.
    Zelda turned her attention back to Link. “So, is Rana safe?”
    He nodded. She sighed, and drew back her hood. Link blinked in surprise. She was twice as beautiful as he had last seen her. “That’s good. I guess you don’t know anything about what’s happened. You’ve come back in the nick of time… Three days ago, I woke from a dream. The world was falling under a shadow of darkness, spreading from… the castle. This time, there was no light from the forest, no boy, no Emerald… but there was still a spark, though so dim as to be hardly seen. An even dimmer spark flew from the castle to the forest, and the first one exploded into a brilliant light…”
    “I still don’t understand it in its entirety –“
    “I do, a bit more, perhaps,” Link said under his breath in wolf.
    “- but that afternoon, black monsters appeared right on the bridge of the castle. My soldiers were completely overwhelmed… there hasn’t been much time to train them… The army of monsters made their way inside, surging up the stairs. I could feel them, from where I sat on the throne… I could feel them as well as if they were crawling through my belly up to my heart. They reached the throne room… a black cloud blasted into the room… My soldiers fought desperately, but they all died… horribly…”
    “Then, their leader came… Zant.”
    “Oh, yes, Zant!” Midna cried mockingly. “That foul traitor…”
    “Hush,” Zelda commanded. “I surrendered rather than have more of my people die, but this is just as terrible, for though they cannot see the Twilight if they are in it, they live in dread and fear. They are no more than ghosts in this world. I have felt this from my prison in this tower… Link, oh, Link, please help us!”
    Link padded forward and laid his head in Zelda’s hands.
    “Thank you. What a princess I am… only three years, and already Hyrule has fallen again…”
    “I would have done the same thing,” Link mumbled.
    “I’m sorry? Oh, never mind. You can tell me later. For now, you can’t help properly in that form. You must be helped yourself, but I don’t know how…” Zelda sighed desperately.
    “Princess, your guard is coming soon. Might want to wrap up,” Midna interrupted.
    “I agree. Take him back to the forest, and talk to the Light Spirits. They may be able to lift his darkness. Link… be strong.”
    “I will!” he replied, nodding as best he could.
    Midna plopped onto his back again, and he darted through the door, which Zelda closed behind him, gliding on noiseless feet.
    Halfway down the stairs, Midna suddenly yanked on his ears, making him rear back in surprise and pain. “Not that way!” she hissed. The door at the bottom slammed open.
    Link jumped for a window, scrambled, and pulled himself through just in time. A monster identical to the one that had dragged him into the Twilight plodded up the stairs below.
    Midna went to the edge of the sill, looked both ways, and somersaulted out across the roof. Link followed more cautiously.
    “Well, and now what are you going to do, Hero?” Midna tittered. “Save the kingdom again? How are you going to do that?”
    Link tried to tell her something, but it stuck in his throat and his wolf’s tongue stumbled.
    “Aren’t you forgetting something?” the little creature asked. She spun round twice, and suddenly Link saw Colin and Ilia, both screaming in fright. He started and glared. Right. His friends came first, and they would lead him to the enemy.
    “And how are you going to get back to the forest in the first place?” Ilia’s image asked with Midna’s voice. “Well, if you’re stuck there, little Midna would be happy to help!” Ilia’s expression was sharp, sly, and superior, making her look dangerous and attractive, even dangerously attractive, quite unlike her own gentle face.
    Before he could nod or reply in any way, he felt something tugging at his head, and then he felt himself dissolve…

    He came back down right in the middle of Ordona’s spring. The sky was thick with stars, except for a single black and red magical looking blotch right overhead, but he was still a wolf.
    “Here you are!” Midna’s voice sounded as if in his ear, and he jumped almost in a complete circle. “Well, you didn’t think I was gone, did you? And you didn’t think it would be so easy to change you back into a Hylian, did you? Oh, now, before I forget, you should get your hero stuff for when you get changed back! Bye now!”
    Her voice stopped, but Link still felt uneasy.
    And it was night time? How long had he spent unconscious?
    He padded slowly towards the village, wondering how on earth he was going to get into his house. He couldn’t climb the ladder. At least, he figured it would be hard to try, and he didn’t have the time.
    Moonlight flashed on something long and sharp, and he leapt backward just in time to avoid a quick sword blow. The person with the sword hopped back from him, but the fairy gave her away. No, two fairies! Was that Navi?
    Another attack forced him back, and Rana yelled.
    “You’re not getting past me, stupid Wolfos!”
    Link jumped into the open, into the moonlight, dropped flat, and put his paws over his head protectively. Her sword stopped just before slicing him in half, and Rana gasped.
    She sheathed her sword and dropped beside him. “Hey, is that you, Link?”
    He raised his head and nodded. She tackled him, sending him sprawling on his back with the girl lying on his bulky, wolf chest. His paws waved in the air in an undignified manner.
    “No way!” Navi said. Link could still manipulate his eyebrows, and did so.
    “I think it is,” Naeri said slowly.
    Rana kissed his black nose. “It is. Look at his eyes. Hey, you’ve still got your earrings! What happened to you? Is it the blackness? How can I help? Hey, Rusl’s gone to look for the kids. I don’t know if he’s in the blackness still. Did you see him? Is he a wolf too? Oh, right, how can I help?”
    Gently, he pushed her off and got up, then nudged her sword and pointed his nose at his house.
    “What, you want your sword?” Navi asked. He nodded. “And your shield, too, right? You can’t even use them, but…”
    “Oh, well, the guy at the watermill wanted them, so I let him take them. Just a sec.” Rana ran back into the village.
    Link followed her at a distance. She ran lightly across the bridge to the mill.
    The miller opened the door. “Miss Rana?”
    “Hi! Um, Link needs his stuff back right now. Why, I don’t know, but could you give it back, please?”
    Link paused before the top of the bridge. If he showed himself, everyone would think he was a monster. He heard a pretty, haunting song… played very badly…
    There was a whoosh, and claws raked his shoulders. With an angry bark, he whirled, and found more claws waiting for him. Forest was attacking him.
    “Hey! Forest! Stop it!” he yelped, backing away from the hovering hawk.
    “Sorry, master,” Forest replied breathlessly. “That man called me…” Link looked up and saw Sara’s husband on top of a rock with a bit of grass in his hand.
    “Hey!” Rana came back to the bridge. “Knock it off! That’s Link!”
    “It can’t be the Hero. The Hero’s disappeared! Rusl’s gone to look for the kids! And that’s a wolf!” The wolf was slinking away into the darkness.
    “I know! He was cursed or something. Just stop, okay? He hasn’t attacked anyone yet.”
    Link scrambled onto the roof of the shop as quietly as he could.
    “I’m sorry, Miss Rana, but wolves are sly creatures. No telling what they could do.”
    Rana folded her arms indignantly. “And so, what? Are you going to-“
    Link padded up behind Sara’s husband and barked. The man howled and jumped into the water.
    Rana gave Link a thumb up. “Nice.”
    The miller and his wife ran to the bridge to gawk, but Link had leapt to the roof of the mill and was already slinking through a window.
    Navi flitted back and forth. “Over there! There’s the sword!”
    Link leapt up and picked it up with his teeth.
    “He must have the shield with him. No… wait… that ignorant idiot!” Link whirled. “It’s in the oven! What’s with him?”
    The wolf tossed the sword to the fairy and snatched the shield. The other oven tray fell into the dying fire with a crash.
    “Quick! Quick!” Link bounded up the stairs and wriggled out the window as the miller flung open the door.
    The wolf fell silently to the ground behind the watermill, and Rana came running over. “Did you get your stuff?” Navi brought out the sword. “Good! Now how can I help you change back to a person?”
    He tugged the hem of her tunic towards his house.
    “Okay, I’m coming. Lead on, Hero!”
    Navi flopped on his flat head. “Wow, this is much more comfortable than usual. Are you sure we have to change him back?” Link rolled his eyes. The three girls giggled.
    They came to the spirit’s pool, but something was different. Black spikes stuck up around the edge of it, black shot through with red streaks. Runes, perhaps?
    Link charged in, leaving Rana behind momentarily, and another spike plunged from the sky and thudded behind him. They began to glow, trapping him in a barrier shield of red runes.
    The black splotch in the sky seemed to open up, and a dark, tentacled mass fell out of it. Splashing into the pool, it got to its feet and turned around to face him.
    He was much faster than it was. Darting around its claws, he lunged forward and sank his teeth into its neck. It tasted horrible, but he dug in with his claws and kept biting.
    He heard a thump and a cry of pain from Rana. Jumping away from the black creature, he turned and saw she had tried to get through the barrier. Her arm looked burned.
    The monster caught him across the shoulders with its claws and he was sent rolling over and over. Leaping to his feet, he darted forward and clamped his jaws on the back of its neck.
    It moaned and slumped into the water. The spikes and the barrier melted away, and Link stood, panting, in an empty pool. He rolled over to heal his back.
    When he got up again, the pool was filled with an iridescent, pale blue-green light. It spread to the rocks behind the pool, outlining ancient-looking carvings. A single drop rose and fell, sending droplets everywhere, and a shining insubstantial ball flew up out of the pool.
    Rana plopped herself down beside Link, putting an arm around his furry shoulders. Her arm was healed.
    The ball of light spread out and diffused, and then brightened again, forming into the shape of a giant, gentle-eyed goat.
    “Greetings, Hero. I am Ordona. I offer my thanks to you for saving me from that shadow beast. Greetings, Lady Rana. It is good to see you at last. Greetings, Navi and Naeri.”
    “What would that thing have done?” Navi asked.
    “It would have stolen my light, and then this last part of Hyrule would have fallen under the Twilight. Zant’s victory would have been complete. Yet, with your action, there is still hope. Look at the sky.”
    Link craned his neck back, and saw the black and red blotch had become a black and blue blotch.
    “That is a sign that evil no longer controls that portal. You need not worry about Ordon Village any longer. If the Moblins return, that is another problem, but it is now safe from Twilight.”
    “But you, Hero, I cannot restore you to your original form. You must see Faron. Faron can help you.”
    “Dawn is coming. Lady Rana must stay here; she cannot enter the Twilight. You, Hero, with your friend Navi, and Lady Rana’s friend Naeri if she wishes, and certainly your other friend who is hiding at this time, may enter. Indeed, you must, for if you do not, the Twilight will remain…”
    “Thank you, Hero… Go in hope…”
    The bright shape of the Light Spirit faded, and the last of it exploded into golden spray. Link blinked and shook himself.
    Rana sprang up. “So, you have to go to the forest? I guess I’ll wait at your house. It’s a nice house. I’m going to have a nap. Naeri, do you want to go with Link?”
    Naeri hesitated.
    Link sighed. The inability to contribute his opinions was really starting to get to him.
    “I think what Link means is that Naeri doesn’t have to come if she doesn’t want to. We’ll be fine, I think.” Link nodded. “But who’s your hiding friend? Is it a new fairy?”
    Link shrugged and scuffed around in the sand with his paw.
    “I guess it’s too hard to explain.”
    “I’ll stay with Rana so she can get a proper nap,” Naeri said. “Okay? As soon as she’s up I’ll come and find you.”
    “Okay!” Navi replied. “That’s great!” Link nodded again.
    Rana bent down and kissed Link’s nose, and he nuzzled her cheek in return. “I’ll be waiting. Give me a sign when you want me, okay?”
    He nodded and took off running towards the bridge, fairy fluttering around his head.

     No one saw or heard Zelda, after her guard had gone, kneel into a tiny ball on the hard stone floor of her chamber and weep with heartbroken loneliness.

Chapter 2: “…What?”     Chapter 4: Reawaken