For a long time, there was nothing. There was just the endless floating, two masses of atoms floating along and intermingling, spreading out slowly to fill that space between stars.

But in that great expanse of nothing, there was sudden light, and a brilliant form in a glowing golden sphere split into three, then grew into columns. From the rightmost column stepped Nayru, her hair rolling over her shoulders like a wave, her eyes wide and brilliant blue, her skin the faintest pink under alabaster. From the leftmost column came Farore, her skin a brilliant yellowish gold, her eyes narrow and sparking emerald, and her hair sticking up from her head like wild blades of grass. Din stepped from the third column, her hair licking up and trailing behind her like a tongue of flame, her eyes tilted up, almond-shaped and a deep, deep coppery red, her skin dark olive-gold.

Together, the three goddesses raised their left hands, then each of them went into different hand movements. Nayru swept and rolled her hand. Farore made sharp, cutting movements. Din held hers straightforward, and when her sisters finished, she drew her hand from right to left across the two forms that had been slowly rebuilt before them.

WAKE UP, the three of them commanded aloud.

Link opened his eyes; or was it that he could now see? He stared directly ahead at the goddesses, and he knew that somewhere to his right was Zelda, floating as aimlessly as he.

OUR CHILDREN, the three said in unison, warming smiles coming across their faces.

Zelda felt tears rolling down her face at the sight of them. They were incredibly beautiful. Tears were also dripping off Link's chin.

Din stepped forward and nodded to both of them.

YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.

"Yes," they said together.

WE CAN ANSWER.

"Thank You."

Din bowed her head, her eyes closed.

WHEN WE CREATED THE UNIVERSE, THERE WERE SOME… WRINKLES. PLACES WHERE THE LAYERS DIDN'T QUITE MESH. THAT CAVE WAS ONE SUCH PLACE.

A brief pause.

WE DID NOT INTEND FOR IT TO BE USED; YOUR DISCOVERY WAS AN ACCIDENT. WE WERE WATCHING YOU BOTH, EVEN IF YOU DID NOT FEEL OUR PRESENCE. EACH NEW MEMORY WAS THE WILL OF THE UNIVERSE PRESSING ITSELF UPON YOU, MAKING YOU FIT. WE ARE GLAD YOU FIGURED OUT TO REPRESS THE MEMORIES. YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO FIT THERE. BY DENYING IT, THE UNIVERSE HAD ONLY ONE CHOICE; TO DESTROY YOU BOTH, BY CASTING YOU OUT.

She smiled at them, though Link idly wondered how one could smile while discussing being erased by a universe.

WE WERE NOT PERMITTED TO SIMPLY PLUCK YOU FROM THE LAND. PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU, DAUGHTER, WERE SO DEEPLY ROOTED IN ITS PRESENCE. DO NOT APOLOGIZE, she added, cutting Zelda off before she even opened her mouth.

"Where—"Link started.

THE SACRED REALM.

"Of course."

AND NOW, HERE YOU ARE, REBORN. WE WILL SEND YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE NEEDED, TO BALANCE OUT OUR FIRST SON. YOUR TRUE TIME. THESE ARE FIGURATIVE TERMS, NOT LITERAL, SECOND SON, she said suddenly, looking at Link. Even fairly immaterial, he managed to look embarrassed.

"What about the mark we left on that universe?" Zelda asked.

THEY ARE BEING UNDONE AS WE SPEAK. YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR OTHER SELVES, EVERYONE YOU INTERACTED WITH, WILL REMEMBER NOTHING OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT WERE HAD. THEY WILL NOT EVEN REMEMBER YOU BEING HERE.

"Will we remember?"

FOR A TIME. EVENTUALLY YOU WILL NOT; YOUR UNIVERSE WILL TAKE YOU BACK INTO ITS FOLD.

"My… I had things that I wanted given to…"

AS WE SAID. THE PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER NOTHING OF YOU. IT IS BETTER THIS WAY FOR THEM.

Din sighed heavily.

WE MUST SEND YOU HOME, OUR CHILDREN. BEFORE YOU BECOME ONE WITH THIS, THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS.

Din waved her hands forward. Nayru approached Zelda, and Farore approached Link.

AND PLEASE… Din added. TAKE CARE OF OUR FIRST SON. She smiled again.

Farore and Nayru both took deep breaths, and leaned forward. They placed their mouths over Link and Zelda's, blowing the warm wind into their sigil-holder's mouth. Link felt an incredible heat overtaking him, spreading from his chest outwards, and when it reached the tips of his fingers and toes he felt an incredible weight. His arms were wrenched backwards suddenly, painfully, and, in something he hoped would not become habitual, all went black.

Link crashed into the hard ground of the cave, his arms pinned painfully under his body. After barely a second, Zelda fell on top of him, knocking the wind from both of them in a little cloud of steam. The cloud floated up, and when it brushed against the roof of the cave, it crumbled inward, falling onto them in dust and dirt. Link hacked and coughed when some got in his mouth, and Zelda carefully rolled off him, sitting up.

"Your Majesty!" shouted one of the quicker-witted soldiers. The little troupe ran to their queen, stopping a few feet short when they saw the conservative suit that she was still wearing, because it was unlike anything they'd ever seen.

"Your… Majesty?"

Zelda slowly stood, dusting herself off and taking in small gasps of air. Link followed her in standing, and reached into one of his belt pouches. He smiled a little when he found he now had access to the myriad of items.

Zelda looked round at the soldiers and nodded. "I'm surprised there's still so many of you here. Is everything alright at the castle? Has anyone gone to the king and queen of Rilchek and given them my apologies?"

"No, Your Majesty. We were waiting for your return."

"Well, then. Quick. One of you ride on and let them know that I will meet with them at another time of their choosing, and give them my sincerest apologies. For now, I wish to return home."

She climbed up into her carriage with some assistance. Link went to Epona, who sniffed him curiously but permitted him to climb up.

"How long have I been gone?" he asked one of the soldiers in a low voice.

"Only an hour or two, Sir."

"You're kidding."

"No, Sir."

They rode back to Hyrule in silence.

When they arrived at the castle, Zelda ignored the blatant stares at her costume. For Link, it was a little harder; he didn't have any power to order people beheaded for impertinence.

At first they tried to challenge her, the guards not exactly getting in her way but edging close to her, and the dukes left in charge in her absence stopping her to ask her what had happened. Zelda had been through a great deal of stress; traveling between universes, being destroyed and rebuilt, took a great deal out of a person.

"I wish to not talk about it at this moment. Please take me to my rooms," she ordered. Her Ladies-in-Waiting rushed forward and accompanied her to her chambers, using it as an excuse to carefully study her clothes.

A week or so later, similar styling began to crop up in women's fashion. Not so bold as to yet wear breeches as Her Majesty had done, they consisted of overdresses in all manners of fabrics, usually crisp, bright taffetas, with lapels around the neckline and held closed in the front by either ribbons or hooks. The long trailing skirt from the waist of the dress split open in the front over underskirts in sober colors, pleated in narrow knife pleats all the way around. The shoulders went out, sleeves tightened to the wrist, and the hip of the skirt came in closer, trailing along the body to create a sleek silhouette.

Link was also badgered, for a time, by the other soldiers, who wanted to know where he got his fancy duds. He would just shrug and not answer, and soon even he didn't know. Eventually, both his and Zelda's futuristic clothes were forgotten, and thrown out.

Saria was having a shit day. She'd discovered that a few weeks ago, she'd withdrawn almost $300 from her checking account that she could not find any trace of, besides a money order made out to the County Clerk's office at the jail. But when she called to ask them who the hell she'd paid to have taken out of court, they could not say. She had also apparently fallen asleep while driving and hit the fountain, and the city was trying to seek reparations. But she couldn't place why anything had happened. There was also a bag of men's clothing from one of the upscale boutiques nearby in a bag with a receipt, and she planned to return it at first opportunity, but what the hell was it doing there? It was like she'd been sleeping and woke up to find the house had been broken into, but who broke in to leave stuff?

She finally had a day off from classes and work, and she was working on getting off the couch to do all the errands she had to take care of, but she couldn't find any reason to, until her buzzer went off. She groaned and rolled over, curling up. More problems coming after her, and her rent was due soon, too. The buzzer went off again, and she swore and got up, going and pressing the call button.

"Who is it?" she shouted down.

"It's… Dr. Ivanova. I have some papers for a Saria Greenleaf. Can I come in?"

Saria was puzzled. She'd never met a Dr. Ivanova. She made sure her door was locked and hesitantly called back.

"What kind of papers?"

"Um, a sublease agreement, bank account information, a transfer of title for a car…"

Saria waited a few minutes. "Are you messing with me?"

"No, I am not. Please let me up."

Saria sighed and admitted her.

Impa knocked on the door ten minutes later, while Saria was brushing her hair. When she opened the door, she also saw a cop holding a parcel, and she immediately started to shut the door again. Impa shoved her boot between the door and its frame.

"He followed me up, you're not in trouble."

Saria hesitated, then slowly admitted them. Impa cleared her throat. "I received an interesting email yesterday, from a woman named Zelda who claimed she knew you."

"I know a Zelda, but she lives in Termina."

Impa was holding a manila folder, and Saria went to sit back down on the couch.

"Her email indicated I was to bring this stack of papers over to you in the event of her disappearance."

"What? Zelda's fine, I just talked to her last night."

"I talked to her this morning. She claims she has no idea what this is about. She hasn't lived in Termina for years. I also talked to the landlord this sublease form comes from; he claims that the apartment doesn't seem to have been occupied for six months, so he handed over a regular lease application in case you are interested in moving."

Saria took the form and paled. "I can't afford to live here."

"You might be surprised. These bank titles transfer all her funds to you. She named you as a benefactor." She handed over the new forms, and Saria screamed a little bit, her hand over her mouth as she boggled at the numbers on paper.

"And the transfer of title…" Impa muttered, handing over the car information.

"Oh come on, I can't afford to insure this thing beyond PLPD!" But she stopped and looked again at the bank accounts, and though her current situation would make it very tricky, if she saved carefully and maintained careful driving habits she would probably be able to afford it. After eight years.

She looked at the officer then, suddenly. "What can I do for you?"

"We had an item to return from Evidence."

"What?" she said in confusion.

The officer shrugged. "The owner of the item claimed he lived here. Link Nobel?"

"Link hasn't lived here in years," she said immediately.

"Well that's the address we had, so here." The officer held out the towel-wrapped parcel, and Saria stared at the sword that fell into her lap.

"The fuck?" she muttered in confusion.

"I just return the items, I don't know."

Saria looked over the papers again, then around at her tiny apartment, in its terrible neighborhood.

A few weeks later, Saria broke her lease, and moved into her new apartment, with Ruto and Denno's help.

When they first walked in, she was confused to see signs of someone having recently been there; the unmade bed with dirty sheets (she immediately threw them in the wash), and a closet full of clean clothes. There was a laptop on a table in the corner, along with neatly stacked law books and notes written in Zelda's hand, but not quite right.

There was also a bag and a box on the couch; the bag was from her lab, which gave her a start, and had a chainmail tunic, a wool shirt, breeches, and some solid gold pins (she tested their softness). The box had a heavy, handsewn cloak and a beautiful green dress with handmade embroidery. Ruto wrinkled her nose when she saw the dress. "Ugh, it's so Medieval. Gag." However, she went crazy over the closet; Saria reluctantly agreed to give her all the clothes that fit and donate the rest.

She piled up the box and bag of clothes with the sword on a table, looking around at the tasteful furniture, the huge television. She instantly felt stupid for renting the moving truck to bring over her dilapidated stuff, and decided she would donate everything in there as well.

"Pretty nice digs for having not been lived in for six months," muttered Ruto.

"There's even food in the fridge. It all looks fine," Denno called from the kitchen.

Saria was immensely puzzled, but she decided to accept it as the universe throwing her a bone after the hell she'd been through.

They moved in her clothes and books and a few other items and knick-knacks, but she discovered that most of her items were unnecessary.

Unfortunately, the car was impounded. She paid for it to be released, glad she managed to narrowly make it before auction, though it savaged her accounts.

She returned to her apartments and looked at the strange items from another time sitting innocuously on the table. She stood, then, and went to the laptop, opening it up. It was already connected wirelessly, and she immediately started a search; for appraisals and selling of historical items.

Three months went by.

Zelda eventually made it to Rilchek to see the king and queen there. She stayed for a week so that she could learn more about their son, a 20 year old named Arton. After that time, she made her offer, and she brought him back to Hyrule to begin the wedding preparations.

Now and again though, she would stop to say something or ask for something, and she would stop short. It was as if she had a special yearning but she couldn't remember what for.

There was a day where she was preparing for an engagement dinner, and one of the maids was digging into the closet, and she pulled out the pantsuit that had not yet been disposed of.

"My lady, what is…?" She offered the odd item to Zelda, who took it in her lap and looked it over in confusion. In one pocket was a slim, hard object, and a long plasticy string splitting off into two knobs.

"I have no idea," she said. Nonetheless, she offered the garments to the girl, but held onto the strange object.

She put it in a drawer in her dresser, and did not come across it again until the wedding celebration some time later. She had been looking for a pair of earrings, but now she stopped, holding the object in her hand and running a finger over the glass screen, then pressing in the little depression at the bottom. It came to life, and she felt a brief jolt of familiarity. A little frightened by this, she looked it over and figured out how to turn it off. She tucked it into one of the hidden pockets in her dress and headed back down to the party.

Arton was a good man, she'd discovered so far. He had dark hair and eyes, and was a little young, but he had a youthful charm that she found refreshing, and their senses of humor got on very well. He was a little intimidated by her country's ways yet, though, so she still got to do much of the actual ruling, she just needed his signature as well. She met up with him at the main entrance to the great hall where the celebration was already underway, and he offered her his arm with a smile.

"Are you ready, my queen?" he asked in his low tone of voice.

"Of course." She smiled kindly at him, and they entered together, the people bowing at the announcement of their rulers.

Arton and Zelda bowed in response, and her eyes swept over her subjects, then at the few guards stationed around the room, briefly landing on Link; he was resplendent in newly-polished armor, his face stern as he stood nearest to the throne, the place of highest esteem, and just behind the wide wedding party's table.

The king and queen walked through the hall and sat down at their table to thunderous applause. Zelda squeezed Arton's arm and they smiled at each other as they took their seats, Link pulling out Zelda's chair and pushing her back in. She smiled at him, then turned to face her people, who were still applauding.

The food was delicious and in great quantities; a roast pig, roast venison, geese and pea hens. Fresh caught bass with the skin still on, crisped up from roasting and salt. Roasted potatos, carrots, onions, and asparagus, fresh-baked biscuits and loaves of bread, platters of puddings, barrels of aged brandy and rum, and gallons of wine, both white and red. There was also an elegant, five tier wedding cake on display to one side, decorated with candied fruits and marzipan flowers. And Zelda had ensured that whatever was left over would go to the poorhouses, divided by their need and occupancy.

Arton found that an admirable trait in his new wife. In his limited life as a prince, he'd known many people who said they would do as such when they had the money and means to (usually after their marriage to a higher-titled person), but rarely did they follow through. And though his responsibilities were more limited to hunting and occasionally attending events on behalf of his country, it still rubbed him the wrong way when he saw all the waste.

"I am impressed to see how deeply you truly care for all of your people, my lady," he said in her ear at the table as they ate their first meal as husband and wife.

Zelda smiled at him, taking her time over a sliced duck. "Well, shouldn't everyone? After all, the farmers have so many excellent weapons at their disposal, who wouldn't befriend them?" She laughed a little to show she was joking, then continued. "But to be honest here; they are every bit as much my people as everyone in this room. Why shouldn't I take care of them equally?"

After that, there was the cake cutting ceremony, and then began the true meat of the celebration, the dancing. There was the first formal dance as husband and wife, and they forewent the dance of the parents, as Zelda's were gone. After that they opened up the floor to all, and after some hours of laughing, spinning, and greeting her subjects on the floor, Zelda pleaded fresh air and, taking a glass of cold white wine, went out to the balcony. She nodded to the guard standing there, keeping watch over the town, and stood at the edge to take a sip.

"It's a little cold out tonight, isn't it?" she asked him, feeling a little awkward with just the two of them out there in silence.

"I find it quite tolerable," he replied. Zelda nodded.

"Well, you are wearing all that armor."

He turned and looked at her with a nod, and she gasped in surprise.

"Oh! Link! You should have said it was you."

"I thought you knew."

"Oh, no. Goddesses." She smiled at him, and looked back towards the sky with her drink.

"So…" she started. He looked at her again, and she frowned a little bit.

"I… do you still remember, a few months back? A little bit?"

"Somewhat," he confirmed.

Zelda set her glass down on the balcony railing and reached into her hidden skirt pocket, pulling out the slim object. "I found this… in my quarters. It must have come with us."

"Oh?" he approached her, keeping a respectful three or so feet away.

"Yes. I'm not… I mean, I think I know what it is, but…"

She stared at it in her hands, then looked to him.

"Do you miss it at all? Being there and being…" Her throat locked up.

Link sighed and stepped back a little. He did miss it, and he missed her like mad. Their brief time together had only made their slow parting, through fading memories and minimal interaction that much more painful. And now with her wedding, he knew he would never have a chance with her in any capacity again.

"We are meant to be here, and it is something we should accept," he replied.

She nodded and looked down again at the metal and glass item. Impulsively, she reached up and plugged one of the earbuds into his ear, then the other into her own.

"Your Majesty?"

She turned the device on and smiled a little; it didn't have much battery left.

"One song," she said, "then, if I remember right, you'd promised to dance with me."

She turned the volume up a little on the MP3 player, and pressed 'play'.

They edged a little bit closer to each other, and looked out at the stars.

-end-