Author's notes: Here's the first chapter of Warned, the fourth installment of the Keyblader Trio series. Just a bit of an orientation chapter for you all, but enjoy never the less.

Warned

Tara stood in the tree above the Lizalfos, watching as it struck the trunk again and again. She tried to figure out what to do. She went through the list of objects in her bag. Her DS, her Phantom Hourglass and Twilight Princess collector's edition strategy guides, a hooded jumper, her ocarina…

Wait a moment!

Tara pulled out the small, blue instrument, slinging the bag back onto her back. She raised the ocarina to her lips and began to play a song she knew all to well from Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess…

Sora watched from where he sat on the small slope as Link circled the paddock, herding the Ordon Goats, goats with a grayish purple coat and oddly shaped horns, around the yard. Sora had used a Cura spell on himself without telling Uli, and pretended to still be in a little pain if he moved too quickly. He didn't want to be rude, after all. And the red potion Link had offered him had helped, too.

The farmer Link worked with continued to dart out of the way of the running goats. Suddenly, Epona, the chestnut mare upon which Link rode, halted and pricked her ears up.

"What is it, girl?" Link whispered, patting the side of the horse's neck. Suddenly, the horse bucked, sending Link sprawling off of her and onto the grass. Epona took off, jumping the gate and charging through the town. Link got up and gave chase. Fado stood there with his hand on his forehead in shock.

Tara watched as the chestnut mare appeared on the fields, galloping towards her. As Epona approached, it gave a hard kick to the humanoid lizard, and then eyed Tara apprehensively. Tara played the song again, and Epona shifted so that she could climb into the saddle. Tara put her ocarina away, then carefully climbed out of the tree and into the saddle as the Lizalfos began to get up. Tara grabbed the reins and gave them a flick while giving Epona a light kick on the sides. She then gripped the horse's mane as it began galloping away. Tara only used the reins to steer the horse in the direction she knew Ordon Village to be.

"Ilia's going to kill me." Link groaned as he climbed back over the gate into the paddock. Fado gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Did you try the whistle?" He asked.

"Yeah. Epona didn't return." Link answered, and then sat down beside Sora, watching the goats run. A minute later, the chestnut mare dubbed Epona jumped the fence, a pale-faced brunette girl clutching onto the horse's mane for dear life. She promptly brought Epona to a stop and climbed down. The moment her feet met the ground she collapsed. Link and Fado were both frozen in shock. Sora laughed. He couldn't help himself, after all, seeing Tara ride in on Link's horse, looking a bit shaken, was a little bit amusing.

Link finally seemed to recover from the initial shock and walked over to Tara, offering her a hand. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alive." Tara answered, taking his hand. The green-clad teenager pulled her to her feet.

"How did you call Epona away from me, anyway?"

"Oh, sorry," Tara apologized, "I had a Lizalfos chasing me up a tree… I wasn't sure what else to do."

"Okay… but how did you call her?"

Tara put her bag on the ground and pulled out her ocarina. She stood and raised the instrument to her lips, before beginning to play Epona's Song on it once more. Epona whinnied as she began to play. This time Tara played the song, she continued to play it the entire way though; the entire tune Malon sang in Ocarina of Time. When she finished, Link was, needless to say, shocked.

"Wh-where did you learn that tune?" He asked. Not only had she played what he did to call Epona, she played the entire thing, which he had not formerly heard, but it seemed so familiar to him…

"It's a long story. You wouldn't understand a word of it." Tara answered, putting the ocarina away. Sora laughed.

"Too true."

Link looked over at him.

"If you understand a quarter of what Tara says, you are either lucky, or her friend Sarah." Sora told him. Link laughed nervously. This was going to be fun…

"Why do you want my radio?" Sora asked. They were sitting on the floor in Link's house. He had allowed them to stay there until they found somewhere to go to.

"Newsflash!" Tara pulled her laptop out of her backpack. "Fully charged. You said Roxas isn't answering, well, I took the liberty of planting a tracker on yours, Roxas's and Riku's radios one night, with the help of some stuff Cid sent me, of course, so, if I hook your radio up to the program Cid gave me…" Tara logged onto the computer and, using a cord she had also produced from her bag, hooked the radio up to the laptop computer. A small window popped up.

"And now to open the map of the Hyrule in the era of Twilight, as I like to call it," she muttered. A map titled 'MAP OF HYRULE – Twilight Era' appeared in the window. Three dots showed on there. One was at the bottom of the map. "That's you." She pointed to the gold dot. Towards the north was a blue dot. "There's Roxas." A purple dot flickered in and out in what looked like a barren wasteland. "What the hell…" She squinted. "That's where the coliseum is… where the portal to the Twilight Realm is, even if it can't be opened any more… why would Riku be in the Twilight Realm?" She pondered. Sora wasn't sure what she was talking about, but she knew where Riku was…

"Where is he?" Sora asked.

"The Twilight Realm, where the Twilis live." Tara paused. "Y'know, Roxas is a lucky bastard. He's up in Zora's Domain with the peaceful fish-people, and we got attacked by monsters."

Sora laughed. "Just our luck."

They both looked up as the door opened. Tara quickly closed the laptop and put it away, hidden by her hooded jumper. Link walked into the room a moment later.

"The raven came back." Sora lied.

"Do you know where your friend is, then?" Link asked.

"Zora's Domain." Tara answered.

"That's on the other side of Hyrule…" Link muttered. "You'd have to go-"

"-Up to South Hyrule Field, into Castle Town, out the east gate, then north to North Hyrule Field and then north to Zora's domain." Tara finished. Link went through the route in his head.

"Well… yeah, that's probably better than going over the Lake Hylia bridge…"

"Archers." Tara commented.

"Yeah… we'll run into monsters no matter what, but Castle would be a good place to rest."

Tara hummed. "Hey, is there an extra bow anywhere I could use?" She asked.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Damn it. I'm actually not half-bad at archery."

Link grabbed something off a shelf and tossed it to her. She caught the small item; a wooden, toy slingshot.

"You serious?" She looked at him.

"Would I have tossed it to you if I wasn't? The targets are set up outside."

Tara was up and out of the room in a split second.

Later that day they set out for Zora's Domain. Link left Epona with Ilia, since the mare wouldn't be able to carry all of them. Tara seemed to love using the slingshot to shoot rocks into the air and then catch them again.

The walk seemed slow – Link would very much have rather ridden on horse back. They had started around mid-day and it the sun was setting by the time they reached Castle Town.

"Ah, Hero Link!"

Link looked up as a guard darted up to them, just as they walked up the steps towards the south gate.

"What is it?" He asked.

"The entire town's in an uproar! We've tried to calm them, but they refuse!"

"What has happened?" Link asked him.

"It's the Princess… she's missing! She just up and vanished a couple days ago!"

Link paused. "I'll find her for you." He assured the guard.

"We'll help you." Sora added in.

"No." Link shook his head. "Saving Hyrule is my responsibility and mine alone."

"You had help." Tara reminded him. "Midna helped you the entire way through your journey." Link looked at her. This girl was shocking. She knew everything about him, it seemed. He remembered what Sora had said about her answers making no sense so he didn't ask at all. Instead, he turned to the guard.

"Is there safe lodging in Castle Town for us?"

"Always for the Hero and his friends!" The guard answered. "Come, I will escort you to the castle." He turned and led them through the gates.

The cobblestone streets were crammed fuller than usual. People yelled and shouted, but as Link and co. passed, a silence fell over the crowd.

"It's the hero!" Shouted one person. Link didn't respond.

The gate to the castle was in the town square, where an intricate fountain was located. The water in it was crystal clean and pure. Tara looked at the water feature as they passed it, walking towards the gate.

"The water comes straight from Lake Hylia, which is fed from Zora's Domain and the Zora's River." She told Sora.

"Roxas is in Zora's Domain, isn't he?"

"Yep." Tara answered.

They didn't stay in Castle Town any longer than need be. Early the next morning, before the town had awoken, the trio had left via the east gate and continued north. Tara took the opportunity to teach Sora about the general facts about Hyrule.

"We came from the southern most area, the Ordon Province, watched over by the Spirit Ordona, who takes on the form of an Ordon Goat. Castle Town is in the center of Hyrule, and just east of that is Lake Hylia. Go north to get to Zora's Domain. West of Castle Town is another section of Hyrule Field. That's all in the Lanayru Province, watched over by the Spirit Lanayru who takes on the appearance of a serpent. Remember that forest we passed through when we left Ordon? The Faron Woods? That's the Faron Province, watched over by the Spirit Faron, who takes the form of a monkey of some sort. Then there's Kakariko Village and Death Mountain, in the Eldin Province. The Spirit Eldin takes the form of an owl." She explained. "Their names resemble that of the three Goddesses, Din, Nayru and Farore… although Farore is missing an e…" She paused. "Then there's the Gerudo Desert to the far east, and the northern most area, Snowpeak, neither of which have Light Spirits. The entrance to Snowpeak is through Zora's Domain."

"Where's the entrance to the Twilight Realm?" Sora asked her.

Link, who must've been listening in, stopped suddenly. "There isn't one. The Twilight Princess destroyed it." He turned to look at Sora. "Why do you wish to know this?"

"My brother's there."

"I'm sorry." Link turned away and continued on. Sora looked at Tara for an explanation.

"The Twilight Realm is where those who are condemned for having brought evil to Hyrule are sent to by the Goddesses and the Six Sages." She told Sora.

"Why is Riku there?"

"Maybe the Sages feared his darkness and requested that he be sent to the Twilight Realm." Tara suggested.

"Who is the Twilight Princess?"

Tara laughed. "Not Leera."

"Wait, you know who Leera is? How?"

"I talked to Hannah." Tara answered. Sora sighed. He should've known.

"We're nearly there." Link called back to them.

Roxas stared up at the sun, which was now high in the sky, as he floated on his back in the calm waters of Zora's Domain. It seemed so peaceful here… He had to wonder why the place even had warriors.

"Roxas!"

Roxas moved to tread water and glanced around. On a piece of land stood Sora, Tara and a strange teen garbed in a green tunic and hat. The latter of the three was talking to Prince Ralis, who had come up out of the water to chat to the unfamiliar swordsman. Roxas swam over to them and hauled himself onto dry land.

"Thought you guys would show up, did yah?" He asked teasingly.

"You lucky bastard." Sora laughed as the two clutched each other's right hands. "We end up getting attacked by monsters, and you end up in paradise!"

"What happened to you two?" Roxas laughed at him.

"I got knocked unconscious and repeatedly hit with a club."

"I got run up a tree by a large, humanoid lizard called a Lizalfos!" Tara added in. Roxas shook his head.

"You're an unlucky bunch."

"Tell me about it." Sora shook his head. He then paused. "I know where Riku is…"

"Sora, just let him be." Roxas sighed. "He has all right to leave. Especially if the lies Leera's been feeding him are pissing him off."

"Yeah, I know…" Sora looked down. Roxas's lips formed a thin line.

"You'll get to see him again soon."

"I hope you're right."