The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Queen

Gifts of Twilight

"What did you do after I... left? Did you stay with Princess Zelda in the castle? Or return to your small village life?" Midna asked into a silence that had fallen between her and Link a few corridors back.

"She offered me a place in the castle." Link shrugged. "But I returned to Ordon after the hero's ceremony," he said in a quiet tone. Midna could have shrieked, she was so happy. He hadn't been with the other princess the year they had spent parted!

"A hero's ceremony?" Asking a follow up question was a much better response than freaking out.

"I think the princess might have made it up on the spot... But I'm Light's Champion now, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Light's Champion? Not a bad title, I suppose. Not a bad title at all, if you had managed to successfully battle the Light Spirit Gerudo. Now it's just a lie!" Link looked downcast, shadows filled his eyes and a slight blush colored his cheeks. "Is the chosen hero embarrassed about his inability to deal with a little light?" she teased him lightly, trying to right her misstep.

"I failed them, Midna... Talo and Jaggle, they trusted me to protect them. I don't even know if they are safe." The blush was gone, replaced with disappointment and regret.

"Come on! You know that's a lie! That lie is even worse than Light's Champion!"

"I'm a hero, I can't be caught off guard like that. I can't... I won't fail them again."

"Okay then... You realize that it isn't your fault that this Light Spirit chose now to cause chaos?"

"If I hadn't been stupid, it wouldn't still be causing chaos now."

"You can be really thick sometimes, you know that?"

Link shrugged in response, looking away. He refused to meet Midna's gaze as they continued walking. Their surroundings seemed to blur together, she hardly knew where they were. Luckly, she knew the destination and her feet knew the way.

The soft trickle of twilight through crystal clear windows was one of the few things that dared to fight the gray this deep in the palace. Midna wished she'd thought to grab a torch, not for her sake but for Link's. There was another light source, a faint blue. It came from the teal tears that occasionally were splattered across the walls. There was no rhyme or reason to their pattern, none that Midna had ever been able to discern. She'd spent hours staring at them before, but never the answer came to her. Always it eluded her, taunting her with its closeness. Someday, she'd figure it out. But that day was not today.

"Link, the hero of twilight..." she whispered, thinking it over. That wasn't a lie, not like Light's Champion. He was the hero of twilight. He had saved the Twilight Realm, saved her people. He would always be the hero of twilight, no matter what had happened or would happen in the Light Realm.

"I give up! Please say something! Literally anything! This is just like that time that nasty skeleton spelled your lips closed. Please don't make me relive that! I like it better when you talk... So say something!" she said when she'd gotten bored of her musing.

"Very little time has passed, right? And already you are comparing this to that cursed month?"

"Yes, I am! You have no idea what it's like travelling with a mute hero for so long. It was so boring!! I mean, at first it was kinda fun, but after a while all the jokes got old! And then you'd run off without saying anything! I wasn't even sure you were listening half the time."

"I was listening. Like that one time you said..."

"See! You've proved my point. You didn't listen ever." Link looked like he was about to respond, but he stayed silent. Midna stared at him, watching. He seemed a little hurt that she'd made the accusation of him not listening. Had he not realized she was simply continuing his joke?