Year 3 (Post Seven Years of Darkness)

Link scratched at his hair idly, contemplating the house. He held up his thumb, and checked the corners of the stone cottage… as far as he could tell…

"It's still crooked," Navi sighed, sitting on his shoulder.

"Well… damn…" Link grumbled, wiping the sweat off his shoulders with his tunic, before tossing it back on the barrel.

"We could always ask Darunia for help…" Navi suggested.

"Sure. Ask a blind goron for help. He'll never let you live it down," Malon laughed, careful of her growing bulge.

"If I can't get it right in three days… I'll ask," Link said reluctantly. He should have been framing the roof already… but the slope of the land just outside the Lost Woods was treacherous for building… Even though Saria had convinced all the saplings to uproot, and plant elsewhere, leaving a small meadow around the house in progress.

"Fili!" Malon said sharply, and the wolfos pup quickly dropped the bundle of rawhide guiltily.

"I told you not to play with that," Malon grumbled, hiking over to rescue the slobbery bundle. Milna watched patiently from the shade of the trees, panting a little. Malon's wasn't the only pregnancy. The scarred wolfos flicked an irritated ear at her only surviving pup. Epona ignored all of the foolishness, continuing to graze quietly nearby.

Malon joined Milna in the shade, feeling a little flushed. It was only her fourth month… she watched her husband continue to fight with the stones, trying to reinforce the sagging corner with additional cross-braces… but he might have been the Hero of Courage… but that didn't make him a mason. Every so often, Link would turn, and the azure and gold starburst tattoo around his left eye would catch the light, sending a little flicker of pride through Malon. It had taken her a whole week to get it right.

And Link had sat through the entire process patiently. Navi's healing abilities had greatly sped up the laborious process of applying the two tone pattern to Link's flesh. Most importantly, he was hers.

Talon had quarreled endlessly with Link, about the location of the house. He wanted to add onto the ranchhouse, of Lon Lon Ranch. Most likely, to keep an eye on his daughter… and new in-law.

Malon had promptly declined, and a knock-down, drag-out brawl had commenced between father and daughter. Link wisely decided to check on Epona. Malon could fight her own battles, after all. In the end, Link brought her home.

"So… boy or girl?" a boy wondered.

"Shut up, she'll hear," a girl hissed.

"Ian and Natalie…" Malon growled.

"Yes Miss Malon?" the kokiri chimed, in a sing-song.

"What have I told you about lurking?" Malon asked calmly.

"That you'd pin our ears back if you caught us doing it again," Ian said promptly.

"So… shouldn't you be running?" Malon asked.

"You're slow now, and your bow's half-way across the meadow," Ian said confidentially.

"Si'ka?" Malon called.

A golden eyed kokiri girl erupted from her hiding place, tackling Ian and Natalie, carrying both immortal children to the ground in a tangle of legs and tails.

"Si'ka!" Ian yelped, scrambling to escape.

The former Gerudo giggled to Malon, in the desert tongue, "They're only half as stealthy as they think they are."

"Now, just hold them for a minute," Malon replied, in the desert tongue. She was headed for the rain barrel.

Ian's face paled behind his mask. He hated getting wet.

Malon watched the two dripping kokiri scamper off, cursing vehemently in their native tongue. Si'ka watched them, amused, fists planted on her hips. Of all the kokiri, only Si'ka did not wear a mask. Instead, she had a scrap of woven bark-cloth across her lower face, like a Gerudo warrior's sand veil.

"So… have you decided yet?" Malon asked, looking at Si'ka. The former gerudo shrugged, "Seth is... good fighter, he makes me laugh… but it is strange, to be the one pursued. I do not like it," Si'ka said, shrugging again.

"So go after him, run him down," Malon suggested.

"He wouldn't run. He wants me to catch him," Si'ka grumbled.

"Link wanted me to catch him," Malon pointed out. The girl shrugged, again, undecided. Si'ka glanced at the faerie on her shoulder. Vinn was young, for a faerie, only five hundred years old, and looked like a little red man… at the moment, he was whispering earnestly in his charge's ear, no doubt a plot, or scheme involving Seth, the Skull kid.

"Or… think of it like hunting… but with lures, instead of running the prey down. You choose when to bring the prey to you… and take him," Link suggested, taking a break beneath the shade.

Si'ka was still wary of the former kokiri that had shot her three years ago… but at least she no longer left upon his approach. Everyone looked up, as someone large pushed through the ferns, into the clearing.

"Has Ian been here yet?" Burt asked.

Malon grinned wickedly, "I gave him a bath. He fled in… that direction, I believe," the fiery haired woman chuckled.

The giant peasant sighed, and continued deeper into the fledgling woods, calling out Ian's name.

((()))

Impa kept an eye on Princess Anna. The toddler was patiently planning her escape from the crib, assessing the obstacles in her way. Queen Zelda was currently meeting with the corps of royal engineers. Most of them were gorons… rebuilding Castle Town had become one of the primary goals of the Queen, second only to the harvest rotation program, to ensure none of her subjects starved in the lean years, before the blighted fields could be successfully resown, since there was such a shortage of seedage. Nearly fifty-percent of the first year's foodstuffs had consisted of deku seeds, from the kokiri.

That the plants involved had a taste for red meat dampened the enthusiasm of the farmers… as well as the blandness of the seeds.

Still, few had died from starvation.

"No, no, no!" Link bellowed, pounding a stony fist into his palm, making a sound not unlike a thunderclap, "we build the retaining pool after the aquifer!"

"But we won't know how much duct to build, without knowing the size of the pool," King Rulias said calmly from where he lounged in the palace fountain. Sadly, Ruto's father had never recovered from his illness, and had died less than three months after the war's conclusion… passing the crown to Ruto, and by extension, Rulias.

As soon as possible, Zelda wished to have people living in the shadow of the castle. Idly, Zelda wondered how Nabooru was doing, as she led her people from the Gerudo Fortress. True, nearly twenty percent of the Gerudo now called Hyrule home, and had integrated somewhat with the customs of the Hylians. At least there hadn't been any more man raids on weddings… not since the second year. The Mirror of Twilight now rested deep within the Gerudo Fortress, returned to its guardian, the Desert Colossus… and locked within its depths Ganondorf would remain.

Zelda smiled, glancing at her daughter softly. The King of Nothing had used his last moment of freedom, to curse her and all her blood-line… but that curse slid harmlessly off her daughter… immune to her father's magic. Princess Anna had the fine golden hair, and pale complexion that was the hallmark of the royal family… but her eyes were not blue sapphires.

Instead, they were flawless yellow topazes. Beauty was everywhere, and in everything… and even the child of such cruel evil acts, could grow to fight it… because, although she was the child of Ganon, she was more importantly, the daughter of Zelda… and eventually, when the time came, Anna would wield the Triforce of Wisdom.

Ser Donovan entered the palace gardens, and ably sidestepped the increasingly vocal argument, as he approached Zelda with a rolled missive in his good hand.

Now… all she had to do was give Ser Donovan the nudge he needed… Zelda mused, glancing thoughtfully at Impa. The Sheikah woman watched the knight out of the corner of her eye… and the knight missed the gleam within their pink depths.

"Ser Donovan… I have a task for you, and Impa…" Zelda began. Impa smiled behind her mask, bemused, as the girl she'd nursemaided attempted to play matchmaker.

((()))

"I told you the child would be Sheikah," Lito said patiently. Sejuno glared at the shadow demon.

"You no listen," Sejuno snarled, still… emotional, from the recent delivery.

"I say child be girl, no say she be gerudo," the woman panted, her third daughter already suckling. So far, the children had all possessed the pale skin and hair of the Sheikah, as well as pink eyes… and all had been female. Just because shadow-demons always bred true, didn't mean superior blood couldn't get a word in edgeways, Sejuno thought smugly, eyeing her man. It looked as if he were considering putting another daughter in her belly… when Tris suddenly burst out of mid air, with a wail. Lito lunged, neatly fielding his firstborn.

"Teleporting… again…" Lito sighed. Even he hadn't been this bad… although Impa would likely disagree. He didn't start teleporting until he was seven. And by the smell of things, she'd been in the Royal kitchens again.

((()))

Sheik stood on the ramparts of the rebuilt castle, gazing out across the land, now blanketed by night. She had never felt so powerful… and never so alone. The other Sheikah… they had adjusted to peace as readily as they had to war. Lito had wasted little time in his efforts to rebuild their tribe… and he seemed content with the desert woman. Aris had taken one of the Hylian soldiers, a man blinded by the Keese… and had given him the gift of True sight. Sheik knew little about the man, beyond the fact that he made Aris smile.

And now, Impa had found someone to love as well. Ser Donovan, of all people… although it was hardly a surprise, Sheik allowed. The two had worked together and fought together closely for nearly fifteen years… and Donovan was of the ancient blood-line… although children of their union would likely be like Link, and not true Sheikah.

In the end… Sheik had lived so long in war, and so little in peace… she didn't know how to go back. She didn't know how to let someone in. The Shadow Sage's eyes flashed angrily… she didn't know how… but that didn't mean she would remain content to stand at the window. She would find a way, to take that forbidden warmth for herself. She was a Sheikah… and in the end, even death could not stop her over long.

I will find what I seek.

((()))

"You're sure?" Mido asked, apprehensively.

Saria rolled her eyes, "Of course I'm sure, I'm the one who made him."

Mido continued to stare at the bulge that should not have existed.

"And you're saying… I made him too?" Mido clarified.

"Well… with some help from me," Saria shrugged.

Saria sighed. This would take some time. She was the Sage of the Forest… and the Forest was life. This was not so different from nurturing a seed into a flower… and had actually not been overly difficult either.

"He's not going to look like a tree… will he?" Mido asked. That earned him a smack on the ear… which led to all sorts of interesting things.

((()))

Deep within the Mirror of Twilight, a shadow stirred. Fools. They did not know what they had done… this was no prison… it was a sanctuary… albeit one without a door…

But Ganon felt others, that might be of use… should he find a way to escape this abysmal place of twilight.

((()))

And so the land of Hyrule took a breath, and began the slow process of rebuilding. Such was life. There was peace, for now, but it would not last, nor should it. Too much peace led to stagnation. Too much war led to extinction. In all things, there must be balance. There would be other monsters, other wars. There would be other heroes, other villains… in the cycle. So long as there were those with the courage to do what was necessary, those with wisdom to guide and protect the masses, and those with a thirst for power… then life could continue.

And that was how it should be…

And the Lady slumbered within the Temple of Time, waiting for the next hand that might wield her.

For there would be another…

There was always another.