The Week of Faron. What a time to pay her first visit to Hyrule.

Castle Town possessed wide, quaint cobblestone streets, large enough to fit the hundreds of people that passed through on a daily basis. But now their limits were tested, with thousands of people bustling to and fro, and wooden stalls lining the streets, packed so tightly together that there was hardly room to breathe.

Usually Castle Town was quaint and colorful, little white houses with wooden trim lining its streets, green and yellow and blue and red shutters on their windows, and some of them even painted their trim with outlandish colors. But now it was even more colorful, with rainbow banners stretching from the windows of one house to another, from one vendor's stall to the next. Flags of green and gold waved from the roofs and walls of houses, each one boasting the beautiful profile of a woman embroidered in white silken thread. Vendors stood behind wooden stalls, each with their own small awnings, all of different cloth, color, and pattern.

It was more color than she thought she had ever seen before in her life, and she couldn't help gawking at it, marveling at the dozen different smells in the air, and the vendors shouting their wares, and all the busy people bustling around her.

There were people with long pointed ears and people with small, rounded ones. There were women with dark skin and golden eyes and women with milky skin and blue eyes. There were men with scruffy beards and bearskin coats, and clean-shaven men wearing only the finest of silks. There were wiry fish-people from the rivers, from the lakes, even the ocean; and there were great rock-people that dwelled only in the hottest of volcanoes.

Yet - save for the two men at her side - she saw nobody like her.

Most people didn't stop to give her a second glance, because the crowd was so thick and the people so desperate to get to their next destination as quickly as possible that they tended not to pay any attention to their surroundings. But those few who did turn their gazes to her a second time would notice pale blue skin and lilac lips, hair as orange as fire, and eyes red as the sunset. And as soon as they took note of these features, all those people would immediately grimace and look away in fear, then attempt to once again become one with the seething mass of people around them in the hopes that the terrifying woman wouldn't notice them.

It wasn't her appearance so much as her race that struck fear into the hearts of the people. And that was why she was here - to rid them of their irrational fear.

She turned her head a little to the left, and saw a stall with a bright green awning, patterns of all sorts of fruits embroidered onto its surface. It might have been this gaudy cloth that first caught her attention, but what kept her eyes fixated upon the stall was the large basket filled to the brim with strawberries that sat upon its counter.

And she decided that "ridding the people of their irrational fear" could wait until later.

With wide eyes she whirled to face the two men standing beside her, and grabbed their arms to stop them from pushing their way through the crowd. "We're getting those," she said, releasing their arms once more and turning to point at the strawberries. "The whole basket."

One of the men - blue-skinned just like she was, with short-cropped brown hair and small pupils in the center of his golden eyes - sighed at her and shook his head. "Midna, you know we have to hurry..."

"We'll be on time, don't worry about it," she insisted, flashing him a wide grin, revealing rows of pearly white teeth.

He paused for a moment, casting a glance at his surroundings and narrowing his eyes. "You know how the Hyrulians feel about us," he said in a low tone, leaning just slightly toward her in the hopes that only she would hear his words. "We don't need to scare them."

Midna huffed in aggravation and rolled her eyes. "They'll be fine, Salaas. Hyrulians speak the language of rupees, don't they? So we'll hand some over and continue on our way. They won't care what we look like as long as they have pretty gems to count."

She knew it was a lie. Whoever looked at her and her escort would stare in fear. They might even try to flee. But couldn't she hope for the best?

Salaas only stared at her, lips pressed into a disapproving line. But, eventually, he shook his head again and made his way over to the stall. With a wide smile, Midna followed him, staring hungrily at the basket filled with strawberries. She had been too nervous to eat breakfast - and since it was already afternoon, she was understandably very hungry.

There was a young man behind the stall's wooden counter, his back turned to them, busily organizing baskets filled with fruits and vegetables of all kinds. Midna stopped in front of the basket of strawberries and cleared her throat. With a start, the young man quickly turned around, a smile on his face. "Oh - sorry. How may I help you?"

Midna didn't look at him, only pointed to the basket filled with delicious-looking, bright red strawberries. "I'd like those."

"How many?" he asked.

"The whole basket."

For a moment the young man remained silent. She glanced up, only to see him staring down at the little fruits with his brow furrowed. "...The whole basket?" he repeated.

"That's what I said, didn't I?"

"I suppose so -"

"How much will that be?"

He paused at the question, lightly pursing his lips in thought, and lifted his eyes.

It was then that their gazes met.

His eyes were brilliantly blue, she thought, and she couldn't compare them to the sky because they outshone it, and she couldn't compare them to the ocean because they were far deeper than that. And for a moment she could only stare at him, wondering why those beautiful blue eyes seemed so familiar. And why in the world her thoughts had turned to such a ridiculous direction.

She tore her eyes away from his, scanning his sharp facial features, the light tan to his skin and the dark golden hair framing his face and falling to his shoulders, the long pointed ears sticking out from the sides of his head, adorned with little blue earrings that complemented his eyes but couldn't hope to match them. Again she wondered why he seemed so familiar - because she was quite sure that she had never seen him in her entire life.

It was only then that she noticed how long of a silence had passed between them. The young man had been staring at her, too - and she tried to disguise her frown, realizing that he must have been terrified of her, of her horrible red eyes and blue skin.

He gave her a nervous grin and ran a hand through his hair. "Uh, sorry about that, I was just - thinking. For the whole basket it'd probably be... ten rupees."

Midna blinked in surprise. "What? Only ten?" Impossible, she thought; strawberries were always so expensive, especially delicious-looking ones like these, and that price was far too low. She had expected to pay thirty or perhaps even forty rupees.

"Yup, ten," he said again with a nod, that smile never leaving his face, and she marveled at how easily he smiled and at how unafraid he seemed to be.

In response, Midna only shrugged her shoulders and turned to Salaas. "Ten rupees, please," she said with a grin, and Salaas only frowned as he reached into the small satchel hanging at his hip and produced a single yellow rupee. He placed the small gem in her palm, and she immediately whirled around once more, handing it to the young man on the other side of the counter. He accepted it, returning her grin, and handed her the wicker basket filled with small red fruits.

"Thank you," she said happily, accepting the basket from him.

He nodded in response as she turned to leave, and called after her, "Good day, miss!"

Miss. She hadn't told him her name, and she hadn't learned his either. But she shook her head to herself as she strode away, pushing through the thick crowds with the basket of strawberries clutched tightly to her chest. Why would she need to give him her name? And why would she need to know his? There was no point.

But still, she couldn't help searching her memories, reaching into the farthest corners of her mind in an attempt to remember why he had seemed so familiar. Maybe he just looked like someone she knew? No, impossible. Though she had seen at least a hundred Hylians with blonde hair and blue eyes - all in the same day, too - his eyes could not be compared to any other color of blue in the world. There was just something... something there, and she had almost had it, and if she just reached out she could touch it -

The memory slipped away, and she frowned in irritation. She hated being so close to something and yet so far away. Usually at that point she'd shrug her shoulders and move on with her life, but... but there was something more, something she couldn't explain, and she couldn't just let it escape her. She had to remember.

But what she had to remember, she had no idea.

"Midna."

She glanced over her shoulder and realized Salaas was there, grimacing at her. He was a tall, wiry man, and when he placed a hand on her arm, it was heavy. "Where are you going? Ludin and I thought we'd lost you..."

Midna had completely forgotten about her two bodyguards in her desperation to remember something about that young Hylian man. She stared at Salaas with a disapproving glare until he removed his hand from her arm, then she looked behind him to see Ludin catching up. He was the silent one out of the two men; a short man with blue skin so pale it was almost just white. His eyes were purely orange without sclera or pupil in sight, and his thin lips always seemed to be pressed together. She didn't really know what color his hair was, because he was a priest and, as such, always wore thick black clothes and tight black wrappings around his neck and the top of his head. There was a line of four faintly glowing cerulean dots beneath his right eye, trailing down his cheek.

Despite those glowing dots that stuck out like a sore thumb, Midna often forgot that Ludin was even part of her escort, because he was so silent that one tended not to notice he even existed. Sometimes his silence unnerved her, but other than that.

Her lip curled in irritation, and she grabbed a strawberry from the large basket in her arms, biting a sizable chunk from it - she noted how delicious it tasted - and chewed with her mouth open. She spoke around a mouthful of food, "Where am I going? To Castle Hyrule, of course, where I'm supposed to be going. Or did you forget why we even came here in the first place?"

Obviously displeased with her sarcasm, Salaas only glared at her for a while, then he shook his head and sighed. "Please, Midna... remember what your father told you before we left -"

"Act polite?" She gave him a humorless smile. "Not a chance." And with that, she spun once more on her heel and strode away through the crowds, not bothering to see if her bodyguards were following her. In fact, she would have much preferred it if she lost them.

Castle Hyrule loomed over the surrounding town, casting an everlasting shadow upon it, tall white towers like fingers reaching into the sky. Midna followed the tall structure, keeping her focus on it as she turned corners and attempted to ignore the enticing calls of hundreds of vendors, shouting about their wares above the tumult of the crowd. She heard many of them advertising rare jewelry and clothing from other lands, pastries of all imaginable kinds, delicious meals hot off the fire, even wild animals caught in deserts or mountains or forests. She only stopped to cast one glance at a large black wolfos hunched over in its cage, hand-like front paws curled around the metal bars, snarling wickedly at whoever passed by. For a moment she stood there, transfixed by the beast's fierce yellow eyes, and then she continued on.

She emerged from a slightly smaller side street into a small round plaza, a beautiful fountain nestled in the center of it. Five round platforms stood atop one another, each one smaller than the one below it, until finally, on the fifth and top platform, there stood three life-size, gold-plated statues of the Goddesses. One was shorter than the rest, long wavy hair cascading about her face and spilling over her shoulders and down her back like a waterfall. There was a kind, patient smile on her soft face. Another was slightly taller, long straight hair falling to the small of her back, and she held her head to the sky, just one corner of her mouth slightly tilted into a smile. Her right hand was raised to the heavens, while her left hung at her side. The third was the tallest, and had quite a muscular form for a woman. Her eyes were narrow, her hair tied into a high ponytail, loose strands of it falling around her face and her shoulders and onto her lips, which were pressed together in a thin line. All of them had an element of kindness in their eyes, even the last one, somehow.

They were quite lifelike, Midna thought as she studied them for a long time, walking round the marble fountain multiple times, watching the water bubble forth from beneath the women's feet and spill, smooth as silk, down the many platforms before pooling in the bottom one. She made another round, trying to decide which Goddess was which. Obviously the tallest, strongest-looking one was Din; being the Goddess of power, that much was obvious. But the shortest one, with the soft face and kind smile? Nayru, perhaps; there was a certain wisdom to her face. That left Farore, the one with her hand stretched to the sky. As soon as she decided that, Midna realized that there was a certain courageous look to her, as if she was ready to take on the world without a care. She was a Goddess, after all.

And despite how beautiful the fountain was - and how much she admired the ridiculous amount of detail in each statue - she couldn't help grimacing at it, thinking about how expensive it must have been, and how the Hyrulians seemed to care more about wealth and pretty decorations than anything else.

Or perhaps she was wrong. After all, she hadn't seen too much of Hyrule yet. Maybe they were so prosperous, their kingdom so flawless, so peaceful, that they had money to spare and decided to use it on things like this.

There was a great cobblestone road behind the fountain, wider than any other she had seen so far. It led to a large set of marble stairs that stopped before a tall, thick oaken gate set in a long white stone wall surrounding Castle Hyrule itself. Two guards flanked the gate, which hung open, revealing yet another set of marble stairs beyond that led up toward yet another white stone wall, and another thick oaken gate.

As she craned her neck to look at the soaring towers of the castle and the two thick walls surrounding it, she once again thought that the Hyrulians had far too much money and far too much time on their hands. Were all of them prideful? Selfish? Gluttonous? At the thought, she swallowed, and dreaded meeting the prince of this wealthy kingdom. She had already been dreading it for weeks - months, even - but now more than ever the thought of meeting him made her heart clench and her stomach flip.

She jumped when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, and whirled to face Salaas. There was an aggravated look in his golden eyes. "Again, Midna?" he hissed through clenched teeth. "What have we told you, time and time again, if you run into trouble without us by your side, then -"

"Whatever," Midna huffed, rolling her eyes and turning away. "We're already late. We should get going." And without waiting for a response from her bodyguard, she stepped round the grand fountain, casting one last glance in its direction before continuing on. She had been carrying the strawberry basket close to her chest the entire time, and had almost totally forgotten about it until now. She slipped the basket on her left arm instead, and used her other hand to grab one of the little fruits and pop the entire thing in her mouth - save for the leaves, of course.

Behind her, she could hear the noisy footsteps of Salaas, but she ignored that fact, and instead kept going only until she reached the first set of open gates. Only then did she stop, looking between the two guards stationed there. Both of them looked bored and tired, as they were leaning on their spears and staring at the ground with dull eyes.

One of the guards stared at Midna's shoes for a while, and, in the middle of a large yawn tried to say, "Week of Faron, all visitors welcome..." He trailed his eyes up her long black dress adorned with white and cyan markings, and stopped short when he met her gaze. His small brown eyes widened, and suddenly he looked very much awake as he stumbled backward. "Who are you?" he demanded.

It was then that Ludin stepped forward. The entire time he had accompanied her, Midna had never seen him pull his hands out of his long, draping sleeves. But now he withdrew his pale right hand, fingers curled around a scroll. He unfurled the scroll and handed it to the guard, who only stared at him, the fear obvious in his face. It was clear that Ludin's pure orange eyes were scaring the poor man. And Midna didn't blame him. Ludin's utterly silent demeanor could seem quite threatening at times.

After a moment of silence, the guard swallowed and accepted the scroll, quickly scanning its contents. He mumbled something aloud, clutching his spear tight in his hand as he held the scroll with the other, and then returned his gaze to the three people before him.

"...All right," he said, voice quiet, after another moment of hesitation. "Go on inside." He cast a glance to the other guard, standing quite a few yards away, and jerked his head toward the gate. "John! Take them inside. And send someone else to take up your post."

"M-me?" Clearly John had been happy to avoid the situation, but now that he was being forced into it, he seemed quite unhappy over the fact. He swallowed heavily, beady eyes darting between the three foreigners standing before him.

"Yeah, you! Who else would I be talking to?"

John swallowed again, then took a few hesitant steps forward, still keeping a fair distance from Midna and her escort. He said nothing, only continued flicking his gaze between the three of them, as if expecting them to attack him at any given moment.

"And take this with you," said the other guard, holding out the scroll and waving it around.

Reluctantly John took a few more steps forward, accepting the scroll. He didn't bother to read it over, only distanced himself from the foreigners again and stepped through the gate. "Follow me!" he called, not even bothering to stop as he ascended the second set of stairs that led to the other oaken gate.

Midna glanced between Ludin and Salaas, unable to help something of a small smirk. She hated the way people feared her and her race - but she couldn't help being amused by it, too, just a little. What pathetic guards, she thought, acting like frightened children just at the sight of her and her escort. Salaas only offered a small shrug before stepping through the tall gate, Midna and Ludin in tow.

Only once she began to ascend the stone stairs did Midna notice that they actually formed a bridge high above the castle's moat. She stared over the gold-plated marble railing into the dark blue water far below, and noticed that it seemed to flow like a river. There must have been something constantly feeding the moat, and something to allow it to drain as well, she thought.

John led them through the second gate, still keeping a fair distance from them, and didn't stop to introduce them to the castle's outer ward. It was beautifully decorated, with the bright green grass trimmed to perfection, flowers of all sizes and colors lining the elegant stone path leading to the front gates of the castle itself. There were a few small aspen trees here and there, thin white trunks complementing the color of the castle itself.

Midna began to notice a theme, and she sighed as she looked at the white marble stairs behind her, the white stone of the castle, and the white trunks of the aspen trees.

Two more guards flanked the doors into the castle, and when they looked up to see Midna and her escort, they immediately had the same reaction John had - to stand there, wide eyed, and tremble.

It was funny the first time. Now it was getting old, Midna thought with a huff as she stopped, looking between the two guards and waiting for one of them to do something.

Eventually John stepped forward, tapped one of the guards on the shoulder, and said quietly, "Can you escort them inside...?"

"No way!" he responded immediately. "It isn't time to leave my post yet! I'm supposed to stay right here!"

John clenched and unclenched his jaw, fidgeted with his spear, stared down at his armored feet for a moment. Then he took a deep, shaking breath and nodded. "A-all right. But I had to leave my post to escort... them -" Here he motioned to Midna, Salaas, and Ludin - "into the castle. Someone needs to go take it up again..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get on that. Just take them and go!"

Midna heard Salaas sigh with annoyance in front of her. Ludin, as usual, remained utterly silent, seemingly unfazed by anything happening around him. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck as the two guards opened the doors into the castle itself, and motioned the foreigners inside.

Midna obeyed, stepping over the grand threshold of the castle into the vast entry hall beyond. Predictably, the entire thing was made of white marble - its ceilings, walls, floors, stairs, columns, and even the statues lining the walls. Thankfully the monotony was broken just a little by the gold-trimmed columns. From the high ceiling hung a large crystal chandelier, though it was not lit due to the bright sunlight streaming in through the tall windows lined along the walls. A long red carpet trailed from the door all the way up the wide staircase at the end of the hall.

Along with statues and columns, guards also lined the walls, standing tall and almost motionless, spears clutched in their hands. John led Midna and her escort across the grand entry hall, and as they passed, the guards gave them all sorts of looks - some curious, most of them scared, and a couple of them didn't even seem to care, surprisingly enough.

Up the stairs they went, and they emerged into another hall, this one smaller, though still no less impressive. The walls and ceilings remained white marble, though it was made less noticeable due to the paintings lining the walls, portraying men or women sitting in lavish chairs, adorned with silken clothes and glimmering jewelry and golden crowns. Suits of armor stood watch here and there, the same as John and all the other guards wore - light silver, trimmed with gold, a large beautiful winged symbol of the triforce engraved on the chest-plate. On the ceilings hung plenty of crystal chandeliers, smaller versions of the one that hung in the entry hall.

Midna could only marvel at how vastly different Castle Hyrule was from her own palace.

Eventually they stopped before a large set of mahogany doors, engraved with the scene of the Golden Goddesses creating the world. Din swept across the land with flaming arms, sculpting the earth. Nayru followed her, bestowing her wisdom upon the world, giving law to the land. And Farore trailed behind them all, creating life to uphold the law. In their wake they left the Triforce, a relic of their power and their love for their creations.

"Wait here," John said, interrupting Midna's study of the beautifully-carved door. He turned one of the golden knobs and pried the door open ever-so-slightly, then slipped inside and shut it again behind him.

A moment of silence passed before Salaas took the basket off Midna's arm, and muttered to her, "You'd look like an idiot carrying this around in the presence of Hyrulian royalty, your highness."

Your highness. Of course, now that they were out of the busy streets of Castle Town, he insisted on calling her by her title instead of, simply, "Midna".

"You can call me by my name, you know," she whispered back.

Salaas grimaced at her. "Your highness... everyone knows how much you hate being royalty -"

"I love being royalty, I just hate formality."

"- but please," he continued as if she hadn't said anything, "act normal just for this once. This is our only chance to gain the trust of the Hyrulians. Don't mess it up."

Midna folded her arms across her chest and cocked a brow at him. "Oh, of course, whatever you say, Salaas. After all, everyone knows you suddenly became king out of nowhere."

"Your sarcasm is the first thing that needs to go," Salaas told her with narrowed eyes. "Prince Eldren won't like it."

So that was his name. She had forgotten. She mentally tucked the name away for future reference. "I'm not going to change myself just for some pompous prince," she snapped.

"You've never even met him, how do you know that he's pompous?"

"I just do."

"Stubborn as usual." Salaas huffed in aggravation. "Just - give him a chance please, your highness."

Midna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever you say, fine." To an extent, she agreed with the man. She could not allow herself to fail. If she did, the Hyrulians would forever fear her people out of nothing more than sheer ignorance. If she could simply marry the prince of Hyrule and show them that her people weren't quite as terrifying as they were made out to be...

But her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened again, and John peeked out. "Prince Eldren will see you now," he said quietly, then immediately slipped back inside.

Midna and Salaas exchanged a glance before he first stepped into the room, followed by her, and then finally Ludin.

The throne room was a grand affair, a vast room with a high ceiling supported by thick gold-trimmed columns. She was not surprised to see that, of course, the ceilings, floors, and walls were white marble, interrupted only by a thin red carpet leading from the doors to the throne, and multiple crystal chandeliers on the ceiling. It looked quite similar to the entry hall, the only difference being the throne at the far end of the room and the plush red chairs lining the walls. The tall windows were made of clear glass, pouring bright sunlight into the room that spilled onto the throne itself, a tall, wide, gold-plated chair covered with thick red cushions. The back of the chair extended high, almost to the ceiling itself, and was engraved with an image of the three Golden Goddesses surrounding their Triforce. It looked quite similar to the carving on the doors leading into the room.

And, standing there in the center of the room with his hands behind his back, was a young man she could only assume was Prince Eldren. He looked like no Hylian she had seen thus far, though his ears were long and pointed like one. His skin was dark, eyes bright golden, short hair the same color.

Upon seeing her, he smiled and stepped forward to meet her, slightly bowing his head. "You must be Princess Midna of the Twili."

It was time to put on an act. A mask that she hated wearing, but a burden that she had to bear nonetheless. It was hers and hers alone, and if she failed, she failed her people.

She had told Salaas that she wouldn't change just to please a man. But that had been a lie. If she needed to please him in order to protect her people, then please him she would.

So she forced a smile onto her lilac lips. "Yes," she said sweetly, lifting her hand and waiting for him to kiss it, no matter how much she hated that particular formality. "Prince Eldren, I assume?" He only took her hand in response and lightly pressed his lips to the back of it for only a second before drawing back with a small nod. "A pleasure."

"A pleasure on my part, too," he said with a smile. "I apologize for my father's absence; he didn't quite feel well enough to leave his bed this morning, I'm afraid."

"I wish him the best," Midna said with eyes slightly widening, and she pressed a hand to her lips in surprise - fake surprise. She couldn't have cared less about the king. She couldn't even remember his name, or anything about him. "I will pray for his well-being."

To her side, she thought she could see the faintest hint of a smile on Salaas's lips, clearly pleased that she was playing her part.

Eldren studied her face for a moment, and she thought his brow might have been just slightly furrowed. But as soon as she noticed the expression, it was gone, and he was smiling again. "He will be fine, I'm sure. Thank you for your concern. At any rate, I'm sure you're tired after your long journey." He motioned to one of the guards lining the throne room, which, admittedly, Midna hadn't even noticed until now. She had been too focused on her nervously-racing heart and how she would win over the prince. She had to do it, for her people, she reminded herself, no matter how much the thought of marrying a man she neither knew nor cared about made her sick.

"If you would, please escort Princess Midna and her guards to their chambers," Prince Eldren said, breaking her from her thoughts.

The guard nodded, and hesitated a moment before stepping forward. He studied the three Twili for a moment, gaze lingering nervously on the ever-silent Ludin for a moment before he took a deep breath and nodded towards the doors of the throne room. "This way, please," he said, guiding them toward the doors and opening one of them to allow them passage.

Once again Midna found herself in the hall, staring almost blankly at a painting on the wall, depicting a stern but kind-looking woman with blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. She didn't wear nearly as much jewelry and fancy silks as the people depicted in the other paintings, and to Midna she seemed like she might have been a little more humble than the rest.

But her thoughts drifted away, to Prince Eldren, and she couldn't help wondering what he was like. Would he treat her fairly? Would he treat her people fairly? Or would he sit around in a pile of plush cushions all day, demanding food from his servants, completely ignoring her and the problems of both their kingdoms?

And, for what might have been the hundredth time that day, she was broken from her thoughts when Salaas whispered, "Your highness?"

She seemed to be getting lost in thought more than usual. With a small sigh, she met his gaze and muttered, "What?"

Salaas motioned to the guard who was to escort them to their chambers, simply standing motionlessly further down the hall, waiting for some kind of response from the Twili princess. "Your highness," he said, nodding to a mahogany door nearby him, "your chambers."

"...Ah. Yes, thank you." Midna forced a smile and strode over to stand before him as he opened the door for her. It led into a sitting room decorated with plush carpets. A long, low wooden table sat in the center of the room, surrounded by comfortable-looking red couches and chairs. There was a fireplace on the far side of the room, and nearby it, a wooden door that probably led to the bedroom portion of the chambers.

Thankfully, Midna thought as she stepped inside, the marble walls were disguised with plenty of colorful tapestries.

Salaas and Ludin followed her inside, and the guard shut the door behind them. Midna investigated the room once more, and noticed another door on the right side of the wall that she hadn't seen before. She opened it and peeked inside, only to see a somewhat small room with five beds surrounding a round wooden table. It was somewhat bare, with only one red rug on the floor beneath the table and nothing else in the room at all.

"That's where you sleep," Midna said with a grin, pointing to the inside of the room and looking pointedly at Ludin and Salaas. The former stepped wordlessly inside, while the latter only sighed and lightly shook his head to himself.

Midna brushed past him, heading toward the door she had first seen upon looking into the room, the one nearby the fireplace. Salaas stopped her with a hand on her arm, and as soon as she turned to face him, he slipped the basket of strawberries into her hand again. In spite of herself, she found herself giving him a slight smile and a nod of thanks - and then she slipped into the other room.

As she had expected, it was a grand room meant for royalty, with tapestries of all sorts decorating the walls, rugs of all colors adorning the floors, and a huge, lavish bed in the middle of it all, covered in golden blankets and draped with a red curtain for privacy. On the left side of the room was a simple but comfortable-looking golden chair sitting before a vanity, and on the opposite side of the room, a red couch with a small wooden table before it, and a fireplace in the wall.

Midna heaved a great sigh and crossed the room to sit on the bed, placing the basket of strawberries beside her. And, upon tasting another one of the delectable fruits, she couldn't help remembering that golden-haired Hylian man with the deep blue eyes. And as she gazed out the only window in the room, gold curtains drawn to the sides, she thought about how familiar he was.

And that memory, the one that had slipped away from her, the one that was so close and yet she couldn't grasp it. Eyes staring blankly into the sky outside her window, she reached for that memory again, absentmindedly taking a bite of the strawberry.

Again the memory slipped from her, and she gave an audible huff of irritation as her gaze refocused on the room around her. Lip curled in annoyance, she tossed the leaves of the strawberry back into the basket. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she shut her eyes and reached, reached again for that memory, whatever it was...

Her mind felt as if it was engulfed in darkness. She could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, remember nothing. And yet there was that memory again, like a tiny prick of light in the blackness, and she desperately lunged for it, fingers scrabbling -

And it slipped through them like sand.

But a tiny grain of sand remained on her palm. A fragment of a memory. Her eyes flashed open once more, and she stared down at the bed beneath her, her hands in her lap, and her lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile.

There was a single word in her mind. She had no idea what it meant, or why it was there, but it was a nice word anyway. Perhaps it was a name. She tested it on her lips, and liked the sound of it.

"Link."

A/N: Based on a little oneshot I wrote, and decided I couldn't just let it remain as a oneshot. So... since I'm sort of just winging this, I can't make any specific promises neither here nor there, but I'll do my best to finish this story and work hard on it too.

Hopefully this introduction chapter was at least slightly interesting, and if you read it all, thank you so much! I love reviews, and constructive criticism if you have any. I always love to improve. And sorry about all the OCs - that relates to a headcanon I have that will be explained later. ;P

Thanks again!