Chapter 1

"Drat!" The old woman spat. "Drat! Drat! And more drat!" The sun hadn't yet revealed itself in the crisp cool morning. The sky was just beginning to fill with purple gold.

Behind her, a young, strapping, dark haired soldier in a sharp gray uniform emblazoned with the Hylian crest ran to her side. "Your grace, are you all right?!" He shouted with alarm.

"No, I am not all right. Someone has stolen all of my mushrooms!" She said with irate disgust.

The soldier looked incredulous as he stopped in his tracks. "Your mushrooms, your grace?"

"Yes, my mushrooms! I needed more mushrooms for healing potion. There was a whole batch of them right here under this tree just yesterday, and now they're all gone. Someone's gone and stolen my whole patch of mushrooms!" The old woman said indignantly. "How could you and your men let someone slip into the Sacred Grove and steal them?"

"Your grace, I assure you, no one has entered this grove since yesterday." Trying to contain his amusement, the thirtyish dark haired, mustachioed soldier bent down to inspect the ground in an attempt to humor the ancient lady. All he could see was the dark mossy soil at the base of the tree. He put his white gloved fingers down to feel the soil and felt something slimy cover the fingertips. Pulling his fingers back to look at them, the substance was black and sticky, like fruit or vegetables that had rotted and sat for weeks. "Your grace, I don't think anyone has stolen them. I think they've rotted away. Look." He said to her, standing up and showing her his fingertips.

Impa looked at the black smears on his gloved fingers. "Oh." She said. She then looked more closely at the soil where the mushrooms had been, and the tree, and the plants around her. Signs of the oily blackness were like fine, inky lines running through the very veins of the leaves and branches. "Oh, no." She said slowly and in a low, horrified voice. "How did I miss this?"

"Your grace, what's wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?" The soldier asked earnestly.

He was a good man, she thought. Link said the Sacred Grove's new guards to take the place of the fallen Skull Kid were Hyrule's finest. He meant well, she knew. "No, Oliver. There's nothing you or even I can do about this now." She felt every moment of her considerable age in that one moment.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Damn! Why didn't I see it before now?" She wondered out loud in exasperation, ignoring the younger man's question. "I need to take the train to Hyrule Castle right now. I need to see the princess immediately." Impa told him. Hyrule's steam train system was still relatively new, but the trains connected all of Hyrule's far flung provinces. It was yet another one of the products of that McKay fellow's research. "No, wait. The train's too slow. I'm sorry, Oliver, but I have to use Farore's wind so you can't join me."

"Your grace, she will be busy with the preparations for the coronation." He responded. "The whole world is coming to see her crowned queen of Hyrule."

"No, Oliver. If we don't find a way to stop this... blight, then there won't be a Hyrule for her to be queen of." Impa responded in a tired voice. She brought a green shimmering jewel out from within her cloak, called out the name of the goddess, and threw the jewel at her feet. In a flash of green light, she was gone, leaving the bewildered guard captain to contemplate the old woman's words.

Captain Oliver then called another guard officer over to him. He pulled out a sheet of paper from a pocket in his uniform and began writing on it furiously with an ink pen he produced from another pocket. When he was satisfied with his message, he rolled it up and handed it to his underling telling him, "He will probably know about this before the hawk gets to him, but nevertheless, send this message to Supreme Commander Link by hawk immediately."

"Right away, sir." The underling said, taking the rolled up sheet of paper and departing.

It was the early hours of the morning when Link's eyes opened to the soft golden rays of light which had found their way through the glass of their bed chamber windows. The room was still mostly dark, but warm from the nearly dead embers of the fireplace across from the bed.

He turned his head on his pillow casually and slowly to the right so as not to disturb the beautiful, flame-haired, one time farm girl who still slept soundly, snuggled comfortably against him in her nightgown. Her breaths came delicately through her partly opened, finely sculpted lips. He did nothing to disturb the sight of her peaceful sleep. He dared do nothing. The goddesses knew she earned every moment of peaceful sleep she could get. Their twin sons saw to that.

There was a time when she would have been awake before the sun was, but that was several years ago in another life, it seemed. Her feminine but strong hands had been calloused in those days from many early mornings milking her father's cows and breaking the finest horses anywhere within the borders of Hyrule. Now most of those callouses had disappeared as a result of Malon's new life as the wife of the Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Armed Forces. There were still times though when he caught her scrubbing her own floors here in the castle. He wouldn't have had her any other way. She would always be the most beautiful woman in Hyrule to him, especially with dirt on her hands and sweat in her hair.

Link had first met Malon when he went to see her father Talon about a breeding contract for horses for Hyrule's cavalry. Malon's father was the owner of Lon Lon ranch in Hyrule field not far from Castle Town. Her mother had died in childbirth the same year her majesty, Zelda's mother, also died in childbirth. It was a strange, dark coincidence that when the two learned of it created a bond between them as friends that Link never understood but was glad of.

Malon had been in the corral breaking a horse, and he fell in love with her the moment he saw her. They were married by his majesty, King Gaepora, who insisted on performing the ceremony himself in the castle's great hall under the great images of the Triforce and the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Link's adopted mother, Farore. In fact, his majesty was so involved with the wedding, one would have thought it had been one of his own children who was getting married, though Link never considered himself to have that kind of a relationship with his late majesty.

It was still a rare day though for him to be awake this early, but then again he hadn't slept much in the past few nights. Too much to plan, and too much to think about. Nothing in his memory, at any time of his extended memories, had prepared him for this. Those memories were of a Hyrule in desperate times. Those memories were always of a Hyrule on the verge of total destruction. But this Hyrule, his Hyrule, was a land that had been at peace for many years now. And now, so unlike all those lifetimes before, the crown was passing peacefully from father to daughter and there was no precedent for Link to draw upon.

His majesty had passed away nearly a month ago, peacefully from a long illness and in his sleep. Her highness Zelda had declared a month of mourning for the much loved king, but Zelda could not remain merely a princess forever. Hyrule needed her king... or queen. The coronation ceremony was, thankfully, not today. But it would be before noon tomorrow. All the heads of the different races and nations of this world in alliance with Hyrule castle would be in attendance, if not to do homage, then to express their support and friendship with the newly crowned queen. It was a nightmare that Link had been dreading for twenty nine days.

Link wasn't a diplomat. He was absolutely lousy at protocol, and often felt like a total fool and buffoon at state dinners, banquets, and social occasions around the elites, the nobles, and visiting royalty. No, he was a swordsman, a warrior with the instincts and memories of a hundred other "Links" in a chain which went back to the very foundations of their kingdom. He would gladly charge into hundreds of drooling, snarling bloodthirsty monsters (and had before on several occasions), rather than sit for an hour exchanging meaningless pleasantries with well dressed fools. Malon was much better at playing the part than he was, and she was often the only one who could talk him into attending short of Zelda ordering him to make an appearance. If it wasn't Zelda's coronation, he would have gladly found somewhere, anywhere else to be.

In the room next to theirs, he could hear the gentle snoring noises of his two boys, Talon and John. The two five year old boys were both orange haired spitting images of himself, much to the consternation of their mother and the palace servants. Sometimes, it seemed the only one besides himself who wasn't off-put by their daredevil stunts and mischievous natures was the princess Zelda. Whenever she looked at the boys, no matter what they did, it was always with quiet approval. Malon, red with embarrassment on more than one occasion, had apologized to her highness repeatedly when the boys had barreled past the princess in the halls of the castle forcing her to move out of the way to keep from being knocked over. Again and again, he only response had been, "I am only thankful that the Hero's courage runs strong in them. I am glad Hyrule will have Link's bloodlines to continue to protect her."

Link quietly slipped out of bed, his bare feet making no sound as they hit the plush carpet. In his nightgown, he went to the window and opened it allowing the fresh, cool spring air to flow into the bed chamber.

From the window, he could see the electric lamps still lit in the courtyard of the castle far below him. Guards in sharp, gray Hylian uniforms patrolled, muskets in arm, swords that were far more than ceremonial hung at their waists. Years ago, these guards might not have even known how to use their blades against an enemy (much less the muskets). Link had put a stop to that. He had trained these castle guards himself. Now, they had to be able to hold their own against him with a blade in order to serve in the castle guard. He demanded no less in the protection of the royal family. And, as his own family now resided within these walls, he demanded no less in their protection either. The muskets though... that was a different man who had trained all of them, including him, with that weapon. That was the good man, the good friend, for whom his second son (by minutes) was named.

All was as it should be in the courtyard below. In the east, the sun rose slowly, just coming up over Death Mountain. The sky was filled with flaming golden light. One by one, the electric lamps winked out as the sun crept higher. They and the muskets had been the innovations of another man. Link chuckled at the thought of what Rodney would say if he saw how Hyrule was putting the fruits of his labors to use. And not just this kingdom benefited. The princess saw to it that all those peoples with whom they had treaties, even Gondor in Middle Earth, had access to the technologies Hyrule did.

Link turned from the window to face the opposing wall. Hanging from a set of gilded hooks was what remained of an old and dear friend that he had known through a hundred lifetimes since the very beginning. Her blade was gone, shattered in the explosion which had finally broken the cycle and ended Demise's curse upon their world. No one, not even Impa, knew what to do with just the sapphire hilt, so he took it and kept it safe in his own chambers so it would always be close to him. Fi, the "spirit" of the sword was gone, but he refused to allow her to be forgotten.

The Master Sword had been the Hero's blade since it was reborn by dragon fire fully forged from the goddess sword thousands of years ago. It was the only sword capable of fighting and defeating Demise and his incarnations for those thousands of years. It had been known in myth and legend as the blade of evil's bane. But now the cycle was broken, and the Hero would finally be allowed to rest with his sword. Link could, and did, have a family. He could grow old and wrinkled. Sooner or later, he would be join Fi and be laid to rest. He had given instructions that when his time came, she would be buried with him. It was only fitting that, just as the sword and the Hero had started their journey together, so they would end it together.

A flash of memory, and once again he found himself facing the twisted gray face of his enemy. The Master Sword held tight in his hand as he rammed it into the hell spawned demon. A bright flash of light filled his vision, and then pain, and then darkness. He buried his face in his hands to clear the memory from his mind's eye.

He came out of it and crossed to his closet to dress in his every day palace uniform. He had insisted to Zelda that it not be some ridiculous lacy costume like he had seen many of the courtiers wear. Instead, it was a rather simple gray and blue coat and trousers emblazoned with the Hyrule royal crest on the shoulders, and the gold bars which indicated his rank on the collar. It was tight fitting, but not so tight that he couldn't move to fight if the need arose, even if it was to only spar with his men. Off to one side in the closet hung a green tunic, steel chain mail, and green cap. He hadn't worn it for years now, but her highness insisted he keep it ready and at hand.

The Hero, he, was supposed to be able to rest now. The cycle had been broken and the land was at peace, but Zelda was insistent on keeping him by her side, and keeping the symbols of the Hero within arms reach at all times, whether he wanted them or not. So there in the closet the forest green tunic hung. But, like Fi's hilt, it seemed to be just waiting to be laid to rest with him. Perish the thought that the Hero should be buried in anything else but his "fighting greens."

But both would have to wait for him. The Hero may be laid to rest, but Link still had his family, and a sworn duty to Zelda. With Malon, Talon and John, at the age of twenty five he had a lot of living still to do.

He dressed slowly so as to let Malon sleep as long as she wanted to.

Fully dressed, Link left his bed chambers and followed the hall past his boys' bedroom towards the turret railing which opened out to a small terrace which gave a stunning view of Hyrule field. It was a view he tended to love. Except he found that he was not to be alone there this morning. His boots were not quiet on the polished wood floor, and the blond haired young woman in her royal day clothes turned to greet him. "Oh Link, good you're up. I was hoping to catch you this morning." Zelda said, with a knowing gleam in her eye.

In other words, she's been waiting here for me, he thought to himself. "How may I serve you, your highness?" Link asked.

"Must you be so formal when it is just the two of us? With the considerable history we both share together?" Zelda chided him.

"I'm sorry, Zelda. What's on your mind?" Link corrected himself.

"We're to have a briefing this morning about the coronation ceremony tomorrow. I want you to be there to share any insights you may have." Zelda told him.

"I don't think I would have any..." Link started to say, trying to get out of it as painlessly as possible.

"Nonsense. There will be heads of state from all over this world, as well as guests from Middle Earth and Termina. As Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Armed Forces, ensuring their safety is your top priority." She said in a stern voice. "You will be there."

"As you wish, your highness." Link conceded in defeat. It didn't matter that he had already laid out the plans for the coronation's security. It would be held in the Great Hall with a hundred of his best, hand-picked men watching the guests with eagle eyes. Hundreds more would be patrolling the rest of the castle and the castle's perimeter. He would take no chances with Zelda's, or his family's safety. Zelda is like family to me as well, he thought to himself. Throughout his past lives, she had always been his princess and the incarnation of the goddess Hylia, but she had also been by turns a good friend, a companion, a wife, and a sister in the thousands of years they had come and gone in the legend's cycle. Zelda and he were bound together just as much as Malon and his two sons, maybe even more.

Zelda nodded and silently turned towards the open landscape in front of her. Link stood there for several minutes waiting for her to dismiss him. He knew that she probably wouldn't mind if he just quietly went his own way, but there was something about her demeanor that said he should stay by her.

"Do you ever wonder what purpose we serve now?" Zelda asked him, breaking her silence, her eyes staring off into the distance.

"Your highness?" Link asked in confusion. Although, he felt he knew what she meant.

Zelda continued, "The Demon King has been destroyed and will not return. The cycle is broken. The Triforce is safe. Hyrule can grow and thrive like it was always meant to. What need is there for the wise princess and the courageous hero in this new age?"

"I suppose we just try to get on with our own lives." Link responded thoughtfully after a pause. "Hyrule is free, and we are free with it to live however we want. I intend to live as happily ever after as I can with my family in a way none of the Hero's previous incarnations could."

"Is it really that easy? Would fate really be so kind to us?" She turned to face him and Link saw there were tears running down her cheeks. "Hylia chose to be reborn as a mortal girl to protect Hyrule when it needed her most. Now, there is no more need for her... no more need for me to remain bound here to this mortal world."

"We are in a new age, with unknown obstacles," he said, "sometimes it's easier to face the battles you know than the peace you don't." He then added, "Hyrule needs its queen."

"And I thought my gift was wisdom," she chuckled through her tears, looking at the black triangle birthmark on the back of her left hand. "I wish I had your courage, Link." Zelda told him.

Distant memories of past Zeldas raced through his mind. He had never thought of the princess in any other way but as courageous, and he told her so.

"That's too kind," she said, wiping her tears with her sleeve.. "We have been on this journey together for a very long time, and in many different ways, you and I. Haven't we?"

"Yes we have, your highness." Link responded. Maybe that was why he was hesitant to break protocol with her now. He was married to Malon, and he loved his wife dearly. But he and Zelda had shared a relationship which spanned thousands of years, and went more intimate than Malon could or did know. He would not do anything which could conceivably come back to hurt his wife, and Zelda knew it.

"Let us promise each other then, that no matter what happens, we will see this through to the end as we began it. Together." She said.

"I will always be there to protect you, and Hyrule, my princess." Link said.

Zelda's face darkened as she said, "Don't promise what you can't be certain of, Link." There was some knowledge Link saw flash in her eyes that he didn't understand. "But do promise that you will never give up on me, or this land."

"I swear it on my life, your highness." Link said, meaning every word.

Zelda smiled, then quickly stood up on her tip toes and gave Link a small, affectionate kiss on the cheek, saying, "I'm glad you and Malon found each other, my friend. I will see you at the briefing at the second hour." She then walked quietly off, her slippered feet making no noise as she moved, leaving Link to his own thoughts.

The sun had risen to the second hour after dawn, and Link had stopped by the castle kitchens for a quick bite to eat before making his way to the early morning "briefing." He wished it was actually a military briefing, finishing off his pumpkin spice muffin as he stood outside the closed wooden door, taking a deep breath to steel himself before entering. It unfortunately wasn't to be a military briefing at all. It was in fact a scheduled planning session for the coronation, and had Zelda herself not herself personally requested that he be there, he would have gladly slept in, or been out at the training grounds overseeing new recruits, or volunteering to watch his twin boys, or jumping into the caldera of Death Mountain just to go for a swim. There were times he sincerely missed having some incarnation of the Demon King running amok in Hyrule. This was shaping up to be one of them.

The second most powerful leader in all of Hyrule summoned all of his considerable courage, and opened the door expecting to be assaulted by stylists, decorators, and a riot of last minute inconsequential details that had nothing to do with him. Instead he found his monarch sitting at the head of a long marble conference table with an ancient and familiar face seated next to her. There was no one else in the stately chamber.

"Link, good, come in." Impa welcomed him, motioning with her hand for him to sit in the carved wooden chair next to her.

"Your grace?" Link questioned, surprised.

"Yes, boy, it's me, or is your mind addled with all these preparations for the ceremony?" She then patted the chair with her hand. "Come. Sit. We need to talk."

Link obediently sat down in the chair next to her, and faced her and his monarch. He had no idea what this unexpected, and unexplained visit could be about, except for the coronation. But everything about Zelda's worried expression told him there were far more serious matters than a mere crown. It would take more than a coronation to get the Sage of Time to leave her sacred grove.

Zelda's fingers were pressed hard against the marble table as she searched for the words to begin. Link had rarely ever seen her so concerned, and the goddesses knew she had been given much over her considerable existence to be concerned about.

"We have a serious problem, Link." Zelda began.

"Hmmph, that's an understatement." Impa quipped sarcastically.

Link immediately began to tense. "What kind of problem?" He asked.

"The Sacred Realm is dying." Impa answered for her. "And if the Sacred Realm dies, so does Hyrule as well as all the Realms linked to her. The Twili, Termina, the Dark Realm, everything and everyone in them will die."

Link was stunned as the implications of what she said struck him. "How? Why? What happened?"

"There's a blight that's spreading, boy. I first saw it with my magic mushrooms in the grove this morning. They're all dead; rotted away. The magic has rotted and died within them." Impa said.

"Your mushrooms rotted?" Link said, not understanding how her personal garden wilting had anything to do with the fate of the world.

"No, the magic's rotted. Magic flows throughout Hyrule and connects it to all the other Realms. It binds and holds the Realms together and flows through all living things within them. The magic flows from the Sacred Realm, and there's a corruption spreading from the inside of the Sacred Realm. It's bleeding out into every living thing in our world. It's starting small, but soon it will spread to everything. We need to restore the balance within the Sacred Realm. We need to return the Triforce to the Sacred Realm in order to heal it, and save our world." Impa explained.

"How did this happen?" Link asked.

"Long ago, as you may remember, the Demon King was imprisoned in the Sacred Realm where you, Hero, went to defeat him and prevent his return." The sage began, "Not as long ago, but long enough, the two of you imprisoned him again when you sealed Ganon there. His evil began to seep into the Sacred Realm like a poison." She took a deep breath and then let it out. She seemed tired, and every bit as ancient as she most likely was. "It has saturated the Sacred Realm now to the point where it is seeping into Hyrule."

Link took this information in. It was their fault; Link's, Zelda's, the Sages', all of them. They caused this. "The Triforce needs to be returned? Then that's what we'll do." Link said decisively. The solution didn't appear that difficult to him. "You have the Triforce of power locked in the Temple of Time, and Zelda and I still retain the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage. We can leave for the Temple as soon as possible." He said, looking at them both hopefully.

Zelda looked him straight in the eyes and slowly, sadly, solemnly shook her head.

"No? Why not?" Link asked.

"In order to re-enter the Sacred Realm, boy, we must have the key." Impa said sadly.

"So where is the key?" Link asked. "Who has it?"

"You do, Link." Zelda responded. "Or at least what's left of it, hanging on your bedroom wall."

Link looked with confusion until comprehension broke over him. "Oh no." He said.

"Now do you understand, boy? The key has been destroyed. And by sunset tomorrow night, so will Hyrule be." Impa said with a voice like the grave.

Link stood up and began pacing up and down the length of the chamber. "No, no, no, no..." He kept saying. "No, there has to be something we can do!" He said angrily and loudly. He, Zelda, and Hyrule finally had a future, and now from beyond oblivion the damned Demon King was going to have his final revenge? No! Not if he could do anything about it. He didn't come back time and time again for thousands of years to allow Demise to win in the end.

"And what would that be, boy?" Impa replied. "There has only ever been one Master Sword, and the Realms of this world were always intertwined with it. The blade was shattered, and the blade must be inserted into the pedestal to open the Sacred Realm. There is no other way."

"The blade must be inserted?" Link repeated, his mind racing.

"What are you thinking, Link?" Zelda asked, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Can the blade be reforged? If it was reforged would it work?" Link asked hopefully.

"That was no ordinary blade boy!" Impa raised her voice. "It was forged by the ancient goddess Hylia herself thousands of years ago!" Impa looked at Zelda. "No one in this world now knows how it was made, much less how to do it again. Even the goddess herself doesn't remember!" Impa motioned to Zelda with her hand.

"I wasn't thinking of anyone in this world." Link responded with hope in his voice.

Zelda and Impa both just looked at him incredulously until the meaning of his words broke over them. "Is it possible?" Zelda asked Impa.

Impa thought for few minutes. "Maybe. With the Triforce of Power, maybe. But we have very little time to get you to the Temple, boy. We can't wait. You'll need to get dressed."

"Get dressed?" Link asked. "I thought we didn't have the time?"

"We can't take the chance of them not recognizing you in that silly guard's uniform. You need to be in your greens when you step through the portal." Impa said, standing up.

"It's been nine years. A lot might have changed for them." Link said. It certainly had for him, Zelda, and the rest of Hyrule.

"It will have been fifteen for them by now." Impa corrected him. "Don't ask me to explain. But you're right. I will have to make certain adjustments to the portal. Now go, and tell your lovely young wife you'll be back before the coronation tomorrow morning, and give those sweet boys of yours a hug from me."

Link looked at her in surprise.

"What are you standing there for, go get dressed!" Impa ordered him sternly. "We have a train to catch!"

The morning train flew fast and furious across Hyrule field towards the Faron woods and the system of lifts and bridges which had been built to make entry into the Sacred Grove less challenging than it had been for the guards on watch who were rotated in and out. The train system had only been built within the last few years. Hyrule as a whole was a geographically small kingdom, and the magic-fired steam powered trains were capable of getting anyone anywhere within it or its surrounding provinces within an hour.

Link watched the countryside speed past him faster than even Epona could have run. He hated leaving his faithful companion in the stable, but time was now of the essence. Seated in the passenger coach with him was Impa. There was no one else. This engine and single passenger car had been commandeered by the Supreme Commander for himself and Impa alone, much to the consternation of the other waiting passengers, many of whom he knew personally. It couldn't be helped, and he didn't have the time to give them an adequate explanation. He gave the order for it to leave the moment he and Impa were on board.

Link flexed his fingers as he looked at the leather gauntlets which covered his hands and forearms. He hadn't worn them in a long, long time, and had grown unaccustomed to them. The gauntlet completely covered up his triangular birthmark on the back of his left hand, the one which had defined who he was and what role he played as fate demanded of him. The chain mail felt heavier on him than he remembered as well. Was he getting soft? He wondered. His mind returned to less than an hour before as he pulled it on.

"Where are you going?" Malon had asked him just as he was pulling his green tunic over the mail. He was still facing the closet, and she was standing behind him. Her voice constricted with worry.

"The Sacred Grove," Link replied, not turning around. How was he going to explain this to her? How could he? "Her grace, Impa, requested that I join her there." It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't everything.

"She wanted you there ready for a fight?" Malon asked, her voice beginning to raise. Link knew his wife to be many things. A fool was not one of them. Link hadn't worn his mail and Hero's clothes for years, and she knew it. She also knew what it meant when she suddenly found him dressed in them. "What has happened?" She asked. He could hear her trying to regain control of her voice.

Link was silent for a short time, unsure of how much to say. He then said simply and solemnly, "Hyrule needs me." And let the implications of that single sentence hang in the air.

"I see." She replied calmly. With his back to her, he couldn't see what reaction was spreading across her face. He could only imagine it, and what he imagined pained his heart. He didn't have the courage to face that, Triforce or no.

He then felt her arms around his waist, and her body warmly pressed against his back in a passionate and protective embrace. "Come back to me, Hero." Malon said with quiet loving. "When it is all over, make sure you come back to me." She whispered gently into his ear.

"I will." He replied to her, turning to face her. There were the tears he had hoped to not cause, they ran like tiny streams down her resolute face as she tried to be strong. He put his own leather armored arms around her waist and pressed his lips to hers lovingly and passionately. "Always." he said as he pulled away. "I will always come back to you."

She smiled sadly, looked into his eyes and said, "Don't make promises we both know you don't have control over, Hero." Her words echoed Zelda's words from earlier that morning. In some ways, the two women were so alike they could be sisters. Malon then buried her head in his green tunic, staining it with her tears, and he embraced her tightly to himself, kissing the top of her head, and stroking her hair with his hand.

After a short time she pushed away from his embrace and, wiping her eyes with her hands, she walked over to the opposing wall where hung the sapphire hilt. Malon nodded her head reverently before the sacred relic and whispered a quiet prayer to the goddess that forged it that she might protect her husband. She then just as reverently lifted it from its gilded hooks and brought it over to present it to her husband.

"You're going to need this then." She said to him. "Go. Bring her back whole."

The woman misses nothing, Link thought as the memory ran through his mind. He still had no idea how she knew, neither did he ask. After six years of marriage, he had learned it was better not to.

Link continued to stare out the window at the landscape. In the seat across from him, Impa held her eyes closed and remained silent throughout the trip, leaving him to his own thoughts as he dared not disturb hers.

It took an hour to reach the Sacred Grove and the Temple of Time once they reached the Faron Province station. Link's men saluted when they saw him, but then he heard their quiet whispers as he passed by. His dress had caused something of a stir, not disrespect, but alarm. The whispers when he caught them went something like, "Something bad must be coming for him to be wearing that." It didn't inspire him with confidence.

Once again, he and Impa faced the doors which seemed so out of place among the ruins of the once great temple. But he knew that the doors were anything but ordinary as Impa sang them open and they passed through into the temple in another time outside of time.

Once inside, Impa left him waiting in the gilded marble main hall while she went and made the preparations. He knew that, inside the temple, time meant nothing, but it still felt like her preparations were taking far too long for what time they had. He was left to sitting on a marble bench while he waited.

When she returned she carried a folded piece of paper in one hand and a leather satchel decorated with sacred gold glyphs in the other. "Here, take this and keep it safe." Impa handed him the piece of paper.

"What is this?" Link said as he unfolded it. On it was inscribed ten symbols which he didn't recognize right away.

"Put that away in your pouch, boy. You must give it to Rodney McKay. "Impa told him. "That is your ticket back here to this time and place. I can't give you a linking book because it make take more time there than we have here. You'll have all the time you need to reforge the sword while you're in their world, but these symbols entered into their portal will return you here just after you leave. Once you return, the clock starts again. Do you understand?" Impa said to him with as much gravity as she could impress upon him.

"I thought you didn't know how to bring me back through." Link said, remembering the warning she gave him the last time he stepped through to the other world.

She looked exasperated with him, then said, "After McKay left us, Princess Zelda had the foresight to send me his journals from Hyrule Castle for safekeeping. The man was kind enough to write down in those journals enough information on how their portal works for me to come up with these. I only hope they have enough power to make the connection work from their end."

"Yes, I understand." Link replied.

"Good, now understand this, Link. The Triforce, all three essences of the Triforce must be returned to the Sacred Realm before sundown tomorrow. That gives you about a day and a half from now in this world. Those symbols should bring you back when I said they would, but in truth I've never tried this before. I don't know if anyone has. I am placing a clock in front of the time portal where you will be able to see it to tell you how much time you have left once you return. Hopefully I will still be standing here setting it up when you step back through."

"I understand." Link replied.

"It is the essence of the Triforce which matters Link. You must take the essence of the Triforce into the Sacred Realm. Once you return, nothing else matters." Impa said.

"What about Zelda's piece of the Triforce? The Triforce of Wisdom?" Link asked. "Shouldn't she be waiting here for me to return?"

"There are a large number of guests due to arrive between now and the coronation through the linking book. It is necessary for her to be there in the Castle to greet them. And the Castle is still the safest place for her to be. I will send word for the princess to come here by Farore's wind as soon as you return. We will attempt to extract the Triforce pieces from the both of you and rejoin it then. Until then, she and it are safest where they are."

She went to the pedestal which once held the Master Sword. Lifting up the leather satchel she withdrew a golden triangle that pulsed and shone with it's own inner power. The whole hall seemed to become subdued and solemn as it was revealed, and Link bowed his head in reverence for Din's gift, the Triforce of Power. She placed it on top of the pedestal placing her hand over it and whispering an incantation. The sacred triangle glowed and light seemed to flow from it into the pedestal. Impa then began pressing indentations on the pedestal and the floor opened up in front of them. In front of them a great ring rose out of the floor and began spinning, symbols on the outside of the ring lighting up.

"What do you mean 'attempt' to extract the Triforce from she and I?" Link asked uncertainly.

Just then a vortex of what resembled water and light whooshed from the ring out in front of them and then back in.

"We're in uncharted territory yet again, boy." Impa said, her eyes on the portal. "I am no goddess, and it is the goddesses alone who truly understand the Triforce and why it does what it does. Power, Wisdom, and Courage are the gifts of the goddesses for us, their children, to live our lives, care for one another, and do what's right. A person cannot have power without the wisdom to know what to do with it and the courage to actually do it. They cannot be wise without the courage to do what they know is right and the power to be successful in that endeavor. Likewise, they cannot be courageous and powerless to do anything or unwise and do stupid things with their courage*. We ourselves must become the embodiment, the incarnation of the Triforce in order to fulfill their will. It is when these virtues are thrown out of balance that we are thrown out of balance and our land falls into chaos."

"Oh, and they certainly won't be expecting you yet." She said, bringing a leather pouch out from under her red robes.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sending you back to their world thirteen years in the past, so only two years would have passed for them. I can't be more accurate than that under the circumstances, but it should be close enough for them to still recognize you, and remember us." She explained.

She then untied the string which bound the leather pouch, exposing a silvery powder and flung the powdery contents into the open portal.

"What was that?" Link asked.

"That was to make sure you emerged in one piece on the other side." Impa replied. "They have some protection from uninvited guests."

Link nodded, then tucked the paper into a pouch on his belt. Without looking back, he went up the steps and stepped through the shimmering blue light.

*Quotation by Impa is from The Hyrulean Pantheon by Jennie Smith (The Wolfess) and published at the-hyrulian-pantheon/