I don't know why I've never read this before, because a.) Shad and Ilia make up my favorite Zelda pairing ever, and b.) this is absolutely beautiful. The use of present tense really helps to move the story along, and the description of Ilia's emotions feels really thorough. I love the hopeful ending. The characterization of both Shad and Ilia is fantastic, especially the line about Ilia forcing herself to smile for Link and Midna in spite of her jealousy. Ilia is one of my favorite characters because I feel like she represents light in a dark place, an idea that you played with in physical form when it came to the final scene inside the cave.

This entire piece was just really delightful to read, and I'm so glad to have found something about Shad and Ilia that I didn't have to write myself. I feel like I've struck gold!

-Colleentj

Ilia's actually one of those characters who ships well with a variety of people and Shad's one of them.
I liked the cavern and how Shad let her hit him. The repeated blue eyes to tie it all together worked quite well. The fact that she isn't quite whole, but maybe she's getting there, seems in character for her after the whole debacle of everything.
Good job.