LOZ:Twilight Princess:Ch.12 FINAL

----Chapter 12: Reunions


The hunt for the remaining dark insects progressed quickly, or at least, this was how it felt for Link, whose mind still hung on the conversation he had overheard between the people of Kakariko and the Ordonian children.  Having lost track of time in the real world, absentmindedly attacking the last of the light thieves, Midna’s voice jolted him awake when she ordered him to return to the spirit spring.  The search at an end, he heeded her command, though not for the fear of not obeying her, but for the understanding that once he returned to Eldin the spirit’s light would smite the twilight surrounding the town and force it away forever.

His steps grew weary as he cantered down the slope that led into the main road of town.  He remembered resting on the field of Hyrule, but he could not calculate just how long ago that had been.  Tiredness began to creep into his eyes, and they narrowed, wishing for a break.  But Link shook his head to reawaken his nerves and plowed ahead into the thoroughfare.

In a normal town, he would have looked across the path to find a part in the coming and going folk, yet the village of Kakariko had been swept into a desolate plain.  Walking through the middle of town, the only things for which he searched were the signs of any shadow beings.

When his paws touched the water’s edge of the spring, his fur floated about his crunched legs gently.  The coolness soothed him.  It was a simple thing, water.  He remembered the days when he would sit at the Ordon spring and just watch and listen to the trickle of the water.  No matter the obstacle--a rock, shell, or root--water found a way to pass on by.  Something about that had always put his mind at ease.

All at once the vessel in Midna’s hands stirred and glowed brightly, as if the lost offspring within it could feel the undulating of the light circling about the great orb now before them.  It was then that Midna slid down Link’s side to place the vessel below what was left of the spirit.  In a flutter of whispering chimes, the tears rose up from their host and connected with the ball of light.

Then it happened, most likely because he had been expecting it this time.  The pain that twisted through his bones was almost like the sting and rough numbness set on by frostbite.  His body quaked, convulsing so terribly that by the time all the fur had receded from his skin--his clothes returned to normal--he had fallen over onto his side.  As he lay there, deep agony transformed into a hand that thrashed through his insides, gripping his stomach, twisting his intestines, squeezing his lungs, setting everything in its proper order.  Link choked on a scream when the fingers reached his heart and clutched it tight, pressing it back to its original form.

He did not know whether it was his tears or the droplets from the spring that had been cast upon his face during his spasms, yet whatever the case, he detested the presence of the dripping wetness searing his eyes.  Breathing hard, he wiped his face clean and looked up at Midna, who had quickly washed her own face--though, hers had been dirty with a sympathetic glance that she never wanted her companion to see.

“Why--?  I never felt the pain when Faron’s light....  But now....  I don’t understand.”  Link had raised himself up only partway, a hand holding his body steady as he remained lying on his side, legs curled up against him still.

“And don’t expect me to,” snarled Midna.  “How am I supposed to even think of a guess to your question when you can’t even ask it right?”  She folded her arms.

Link, regretting he had even let the words of his befuddlement slip out, turned away from her.  He noticed that the wounds he had previously sustained--the bite from the baba serpent and the scratches on his nose from the shadow--had faded.  Only the tear in his sleeve and the stain of blood were left on his forearm.  

He looked up to where the spirit’s light had once gleamed, pulling himself upright, though careful to avoid bringing more tenderness to his body, which pulsated with the flow of human blood once more.  The water had begun the glow a brilliant yellow as the essence of the spirit splattered the surrounding rocks of the mountain village with green designs.  A single drop of water rose from the spring at the middle of the base of the waterfall, and it fell again in the same fluid motion.  In its place a second sparkle ascended from the water, but not a droplet.  The complete orb of light.  The spirit’s light.  It rose high above the spring until it hovered high above their heads. Its great light burst outward, whirling arms of great luminescence bouncing around its presence.  Finally, the brightness taking on the shades of greens and blues, a form began to take shape around the radiating sphere.  Blinding, smooth wings lifted from the topmost hemisphere and flapped downward with a swoop that Link not only felt in wind but also in warmth.  The wings continued to move, bringing themselves up and in, curling toward a body that had not yet been formed.

When the appendages finally splayed out around the orb, they unveiled the great white and yellow body of a giant bird, luminescent tints of jade coursing like veins throughout its smooth golden feathers.  Its sharp talons clutched its most prized light; at the end of a long, craning neck, an almost human face stared down at Link.  Covering and surrounding its nose and eyes was a heart-shaped design--almost like a mask--of black splotches on yellow.  Its lips were human, oddly pink, and dangling from its bottom lip were two tufts of white feathers like a wise man’s beard.

“Eldin....” muttered Link, awed by this creature more so than by any other being of the light he had before encountered.

As its wings--decorated quite elaborately in natural black swirls entwined with gold--flapped lightly in an involuntary manner, the human lips spoke.  “Yes.  I am one of the Light Spirits of Hyrule.  I am the spirit that guards these lands.”  Its voice matched the elegance Link had heard in the tones of Ordona and Faron, and yet there was a new sense of wonder at hearing this being’s singsong voice.

“O great hero chosen by the gods, the dark power you seek lies in the sacred ground of the proud mountain dwellers,” it said, raising its head to look at one of the more precarious mountains of the range.  Fire sizzled at its peak.  “But already those grounds have been defiled, draped in shadow and seeded with evil.  You must go to those sacred grounds and cleanse them.”

With just those words, Eldin stretched its wings and body out fully.  Then its wings collapsed inward to swallow itself and burst into thousands of trickles of light.  They faded again into nothingness, returning to their watery home with a silent splash.

Eldin’s swift departure left Link in a deep and awkward silence, whose awed and bewildered stare stole Midna’s gaze as she tried to determine what he now thought.  Truthfully, Link felt as though he was simply a means to an end.  Midna’s attitude toward him had never truly bothered him, never really gotten under his skin--whether human or lupine.  He knew that she only wanted his skill in retrieving the Fused Shadows, but it seemed to him in that moment that Eldin was simply exploiting his talents to fight for Hyrule, when it--as a spirit protecting Hyrule--should have been.  Perhaps it was this way with the others as well, and they had only gone about approaching Link and speaking to him in a gentler manner.  The other spirits had even given him advice and bestowed upon him knowledge of his friends’ whereabouts.  He had come to greatly respect--even admire--the great Light Spirits, but after his conversation with Eldin, he just felt slighted.  Perhaps it was only that his thoughts still dwelled on Ilia, since he had not seen her with the others, and maybe it was that he had hoped Eldin would have helped him in his search for Ilia as Faron had for the children.

Yet, after these thoughts had passed through him, he only became disgusted in himself.  He had been chosen by the gods, and he had a duty to uphold.  He had even told himself after the battle with the Diababa plant that rescuing Ilia, Epona, and the children would have to be his second priority and that if he was to find them out in the wide lands of Hyrule, it would be during his journey to save all the peoples of Princess Zelda’s darkened kingdom.  It was his honor to maintain the mantle of the Old Hero, his responsibility to wear the leather boots of that soul with strength and courage, discarding his own desires and his own selfish pride … even if it meant … never finding Ilia....

Thoughts broke into shards in that moment, realizing he had taken several steps into town as a nearby door creaked open.  He quickly looked back to see where Midna had gone, but she no longer stood at the spring, and with a furtive glance downward he saw her one eye wink up at him.  He shook off his wearied contemplation and looked up to the door of the sanctuary, the half-demolished building that had housed the Ordonian children and the three Kakarikans.

There, standing in the doorway, stood Rusl’s son.  

Link stopped dead.  He wanted to smile, to acknowledge the boy in some gesture, but speech and movement seemed impossible in his disbelief.  A flood of relief washed over him completely yet mixed with the inability to grasp that the young boy finally stood before him, safe and free of the nightmare in which he had seen him shrouded.

Colin stood there, as if the same immobility had rained over him as well.  But soon, as Talo, Beth, and Malo peeked out from behind him, Colin was able to put his astonishment to words, calling out his name.  He started to run toward Link, but in that moment, the other children grasped what was happening and Talo and Beth bolted for the lone figure standing near the water’s edge.  They paid no attention to Colin and jostled past him, either unintentionally or forcibly, launching him facedown into the dirt.  Malo exited the building at a slower pace, idly walking around Colin’s fallen figure and looking at him as if he were merely another grain of sand in the path between him and Link.

When Malo arrived at Link’s side, Talo and Beth were already celebrating, leaping up and down, dancing back and forth on the balls of their feet.  “You see, Beth?” Talo was boasting.  “I told you Link would come to save us!”  Link only passed them quick glances.

Colin looked up and watched as the other children rejoiced around Link.

Link looked through the children at Colin with the smallest of smiles, yet one that said everything that needed to be said.  What the boy did not know, however, as he returned the gesture and stood to race to him, was that Link knew that however much the others wanted to mask it, they had not really believed Colin when he had been the one--not Talo--to declare he would come to their rescue.  Link remembered the snort of disgust and disbelief that Talo had expressed at the mention of his name.  But Link would never punish any of them for it, for he understood that they were children after all.  Most children had the peculiar habit of getting into trouble and being so susceptible to the fear of their predicament unless they were coddled by the soft embrace of a parent.

By this time, the children all circled about him, and the three other figures he had met without their knowledge came forth to greet him.  It did not surprise Link that Barnes was the last out of the sanctuary, taking cautious, fearful steps toward him.  He nearly laughed aloud at him, remembering his ridiculous behavior within the house.

The tallest figure, Renado, and the black-haired girl stepped up to Link, the children shifting aside a little to allow them room to talk.  Both wore leather garments and weathered sleeves of tough fabric covering their tanned skin.  Their style of dress told Link everything about what this town had once been: rough but full of warmth.

“So, you are the one from Ordon whom these children spoke of?” asked Renado.

Link had to look up to return his gaze.  The man was nearly a head taller.  He offered his name; although, Link had already learnt this from overhearing Colin.

“We are well met.  I am Renado, shaman of this town,” he replied, the short, masked man settling to stand between the shaman and the girl.  “And this” --Barnes giggled nervously, upturning the metal and saluting Link-- “is my daughter, Luda.”  Barnes took his arm down quickly, and hid his face, trying to disguise the fact that he thought he had been honored with an introduction.

The girl with short-cropped black locks looked to be a few years older than Colin, perhaps fourteen or fifteen.  She smiled and nodded at Link in greeting as Barnes flung his arms in quieted anger and started walking off.

To center his attention once again on the conversation and away from his amusement with Barnes, Link offered out his hand in greeting.  “I am Link of Ordon.”  Renado and Luda extended their hands in turn, but where Link shook the shaman’s, he merely grasped Luda’s firmly in respect for her gender and youth.  “Thank you for taking care of them.”

Renado gave a slight bow, a faint smile taking his lips in recognition of Link’s honorable manner.

Link looked to the children.  “What happened to you?”

“The beasts took us and left us to die,” said Colin, his voice grave.  But then he smiled.  “Mr. Renado found us.”

The shaman looked to the boy but spoke to Link, “At first, I couldn’t believe that they had come from so distant a place as the Ordona Province....”

Colin shifted, trying to make sense of his thoughts and what had happened.  “Yeah, I….  We don’t remember much.  All of a sudden everyone was captured, and then … until now it’s been like....”  He struggled for a definition.

“A nightmare,” Malo’s tiny voice offered.

“Yeah, it was like a terrible dream,” finished Colin, a flash of fright returning momentarily to his pupils, “and we couldn’t wake up....”

As Link began to ask of Ilia, where she was, why she was not with them, Renado’s words took his place before any of them noticed the questions burning within his eyes.

“Nightmares are everywhere these days, it seems.  This village has certainly seen its share of recent hardships.”  Weariness weighed on his voice; perhaps internal affliction had ironed his soul in seeing the townspeople attacked and the village left in shambles.  “The dark beasts attacked, but even worse was the sudden and inexplicable change in the mountain-dwelling Goron tribe.  They had long been our friends,” he said, and seemed to slip into a reverie of those earlier times, “but suddenly, they began treating us as foes.  They refuse to permit us entry into their mines.  So you see … even before the attacks, our greatest source of commerce began to suffer deeply.”

Renado sighed, frustrated, defeated by the ravages of the twilight.  “It strains the limits of belief … to think that such a gentle and proud tribe could change so suddenly....  It makes me wonder if something in those mines,” he pondered, looking toward the peak, “is the cause of this change....”

The shaman broke free of his thoughts after a few seconds and again looked toward Link, dismissing the words he had just spoken.  “In any case, you must take these children and flee this village before more nightmares descend.  I, of course, cannot leave my village in such a time.  There is no telling what may happen to us here.  I will try to coax the Gorons back from their recent change of heart.”

But Link grew reluctant.  “Wait.  I cannot let you go alone.  The children are safe here now.”

“For the moment.  But what might tomorrow bring?”  The shaman looked at Link gravely, truly torn between sheltering them further or sending them on their way.

“We could run into more trouble on the long road back, and looking after four children on the return trip would be difficult,” reasoned Link.  “I feel it is my place to help you.”  He was careful not to say anything of the spirits, for they seemed to be quite ignorant of the fact that he had just spoken to one just minutes ago.  The less he revealed to his friends about his destiny, the less his enemies would find out about him and the true threat he had become to their cause.

“Link, there is no telling what may happen to this village.  I cannot ensure their safety forever,” the shaman replied.

Renado would not relent.  Link could see that.

“Please, the night is upon us,” he said in compromise.  “I shall offer you a place in my house to sleep, but upon the morning, you must return with the children to your village.”

Link again realized how tired he was, and he accepted the invitation … only with the camouflage of concession.

Sleep would have to wait.

===============

The house Renado offered Link as shelter was the very same in which he had killed two shadow beings.  In his time as the wolf, he had thought the great house an inn of some kind, what with the variety of bedrooms and the spacious downstairs filled with tables, chairs, and a bar and kitchen.  The writing on the signs and boards outside would have given away its true identity, but the words were left unreadable from splintering and dirt.  He could only assume that the humble shaman had taken refuge here only now that the shadow beasts had been driven away.  It would, after all, be much more comfortable for the children here than in the small sanctuary in which they had taken shelter.  

As Renado ushered the children upstairs, Link paused a moment and remembered the words of Barnes and his theory of how the villagers had somehow transformed into beasts themselves upon being attacked.  The conjecture had some merit, to be certain, since the twilight was able to transfigure him into another form.  The high probability of it only made it harder to accept … that he had killed what had once been innocent folk of Kakariko.  Link’s head slumped and his shoulders slouched as he stood there, eyeing the spot where he had taken the lives of a beast.  Had that been the storekeeper?  One of the others that had gone in vain to save her?

“Link!”

A shudder ran through him as he gasped and looked up to see Talo leaning over the balcony.  “Are you coming?”

The boy retreated from view, and Link breathed in and gathered his wits.  He could not let the children see the discomfort in his eyes … the pain.  Like Malo had said, his journey to save Hyrule was becoming all too real of a nightmare.

When Link came to the open door of the large upstairs bedroom, Renado had just finished seeing Luda to bed.  There were three big beds that dwarfed the children, a screen shielding the third and further partially from view of the others.  It was in that bed where Luda slept alongside Beth.  The brothers were settling into another while Colin removed his shoes at the side of the last.  Upon seeing Link the brothers bolted upright and began quizzing him on his journey and what had happened in Ordon.  He answered their questions of home in full, easing their minds, but he left the details of his travels to vague answers.  He would tell them more another day … when all was again at peace.

He had to reassure himself that he would live to see that day, live to tell them about his exciting yet challenging voyage, and as he tucked them all in, the distant smile he used to coax them into a sense calm turned into one of true happiness in seeing them all together and unharmed.  

Downstairs he met Renado.  The shaman silently showed him to a room on the bottom floor of the house.  “You may sleep here for the night,” he offered.

Link protested in realizing this was the only bed left in the building, and after a hushed, friendly argument, Renado allowed the youth to refuse his hospitality and gave him a blanket and a patched pillow.  The shaman looked on as Link fluffed up a makeshift bed on the floor of the main room with the attached bar.  He lay the pillow down in a corner, and tossed out the folds in the blanket, waving it twice before letting it settle to the floorboards.

Link felt the eyes of the shaman plunging into the back of his skull, knowing that he was not seeing him to bed, but perhaps making sure he would indeed settle in for the night and not sneak off into the mountains at night.  Link tried to prolong his preparation for bed as long as he could without making Renado suspicious of his intentions, but the shaman was patient and persistent, which no doubt came from his years as a father and as the shaman to so many.  Link therefore resigned himself to truly disrobe his accessories.

He unlatched his belt and all items attached--the scabbard, shield, lantern, boomerang … everything--and laid them to rest to the side of his bed, making it only seem that he wanted to be ready in case any mishap were to break out while he “slept.”  He then removed his cap and donned it on the hilt of his sword and curled into bed under his cover.

He closed his eyes, but his wolf-like senses were still attuned, still burning in him, and he could feel the eyes still watching, could smell the body of the shaman still standing in the doorway.  Link was slightly embarrassed with himself when he felt that his body had involuntarily coiled into a position much like that of a four-legged animal when trying to fall into dreams.  But he did not move.

Minutes ticked away before Link could no longer pick up the man’s scent, and he forced himself to remain alert for another many minutes, keeping his eyes tightly shut.

When at last he decided that everyone had to be asleep, Link’s arm bolted out from under the covers and latched onto the sheath of his sword.

===============

The mountain pass proved quite treacherous in the dead of night, but Link trudged on.  He had no other choice but to face the danger given Renado’s clear rejection in allowing him to accompany him to seek an audience with the Gorons.  Even if he could not find a way to meet with the Gorons tonight, he at least needed to scout ahead to understand what threats may lie in waiting.  It seemed that the troubles in Goron territory were at the epicenter of the twilit activity surrounding the province.

Link avoided many steaming geysers along the route he had chosen, nearly being singed by one that had been hidden by a jagged wall of rock.  But he did not relent.  This was Eldin’s wish, the wish of all the spirits and that of the goddesses.  He had been given great power, and it was his destiny to use it to help the people of Hyrule.  He would not allow a stubborn and proud shaman to halt his journey.

When he at last reached an outcropping overlooking the base of the mountain that both Eldin and Renado had indicated, Link stopped and hunkered down onto the rough stones.  From here he had a clear vantage point, even in the eerie darkness.  Link had never seen a Goron before, and the many hulking masses of yellow-orange rock that lined the levels of the mountain below astounded him as they hustled about, working and talking in gruff voices.  They were just like boulders to the naked eye, and he found it remarkable.

As his fascination began to wear off, Link burned through one possible route after another in order to strategize a way to bypass them all.  He needed to find an opening into the mountain, the volcano that housed the mines of the Gorons.

He squinted through the night air and, after some minutes, found a path that wound up and up, ending near the summit of the mountain, and what was more, a small slope to Link’s right seemed stable enough to hold his weight without crumbling, a tiny path that would lead him down to the base and then back up once more.  He would deal with evading the eyes of the Gorons when he completed his descent.

And maybe … he might have time to trek down and up the rocks before dawn, time to talk with the leaders of their tribe … before Renado woke to find him gone.

Link gathered himself up and placed his left foot down on the top of the slope, testing it, and found that it would hold his weight, but just before he could step his other foot onto the path … he was jerked backward and stumbled down the outcrop.  His worst fear was that a Goron had ensnared him, that he would be going to see the leader the hard way, but instead....

“How fortunate you are in one piece!”  Steadying himself in the man’s iron grip, Link was face-to-face with the shaman.  “If the Gorons had seen you....”  But a gleam in Link’s eye reformed his anger into a question, one that Link did not need to answer.  “You are trying to reach the Gorons of Death Mountain, aren’t you?  It is too dangerous up here!”

“I have to do something!” argued Link, but at a tone that would not carry to the Gorons below.

“They recognize only strength.  A normal person could never persuade them!” spat Renado.

“Oh, so you can?” returned Link, ripping his arm free of the man’s hard grip.  “Teach me then.”  There was an absolute sparkle of rebellion within Link’s eyes, but not against Renado.  His rising anger at the shaman only proclaimed his need to do something, to help the village of Kakariko, the help the people of every village.

Renado could deny it no longer.  “You truly wish to set yourself in possible danger to help us and the Gorons?”

“Yes.”

Renado looked hard at Link, and after a moment, he nodded.  “Then I help you reluctantly.”

Link could sense that hesitance, and encouraged him with a hand on his shoulder.  “I can help these people.  I can help you.  But only if you let me.”

It was a moment before Renado spoke again, and when he did, he steered Link back down the mountain pass.  “I know one person who was able to best them and earn their trust.”

“Who?  Where can I find this person?”

“I believe you already know him,” he said as they walked quietly under the guidance of the moon.  “He is the mayor of your home village.  Bo.”  Renado felt some guilt in telling him this, for Link was still a child in his eyes.  Knowingly sending him into danger was painful for him to accept.  “Go to him.  And please, while you are there, if you do not wish to risk taking the children, please let everyone know that they are safe.  We will take them back when we can get hold of a horse and carriage.  For now, they are welcome in my home.”

“Thank you,” nodded Link.

===============

By the time they reached the periphery of the village, dawn had emerged from shadow.  Renado and Link headed for the house where the children still slept soundly, but all at once, Link halted abruptly in his tracks.  Renado stopped and looked to him questioningly.  They both stood in the center of the road.  

“I hear something,” was Link’s solid reply, as he unsheathed his blade, peering with narrowed eyes into the distance.

Squeals rattled through the canyon walls behind them, and Link turned to face the northern end.  Heavy footfalls echoed through the mountainside village.  Sensing grave danger, Link took up a defensive stance in front of Renado, who had remained to discover the source of the commotion.

Just then white hair came screaming into the village, and at the sound of a neigh, Link realized it was Epona who now came galloping at full speed through the town, two green-skinned bulblins riding in her saddle.  Clearly, they had lost control of her long before their entrance into the town, for they shrieked as Epona’s wicked dance tossed them about.  Link lowered his sword and watched as a bulblin slid off and held on to the back of the saddle.  Then--either completely frightened or very angry--Epona reared violently, tossing herself about and kicking up a whirl of sand.  The foot soldiers flew off her back, and Link could tell by their loud thuds against the rocky walls that they had been killed on impact.

Link sheathed his weapon and started for Epona, but he stopped short when she cantered forward again, unaware where she was and afraid beyond measure of how many more creatures would try to harness her.

She did not stop when she saw Link.  She did not stop when there were only meters left between her and her true master.

Link jumped out of her path and pulled Renado with him.

Epona skidded to a halt at the edge of the spirit spring and tossed her head once more, white hair flailing about her magnificent form.  Link left a startled Renado and leapt up onto his horse’s saddle from the back.  She was immediately riled, however, and tried to toss Link from her back in the same motions she had used to rid herself of the other two creatures.  She had sunken into such a state of panic that she could comprehend no concept except escape.

Link clutched one hand to her reins and the other to the front of the saddle, and his frightened horse pulled him into an intense exercise of simply trying to stay seated.  She took off into the spirit spring, and before they crashed, turned quickly about, nearly flinging Link from her backside.  Unsuccessful, she lost no steps in continuing her rampage up and down and around the town.

“Epona!  Calm down!  It’s me!  I’m not going to hurt you!” Link repeated over and over, until finally, after being flung left and right constantly, her hooves began to slow.  

She at last came to rest at the edge of the spring once more.  This time however, she did not toss her head nor try to dislodge her master from her saddle.  Quick breaths snorted from her nostrils, and she neighed a sigh of surrender, a sigh of relief.  Link leaned forward a moment, listening to the intense beating of her heart as he stroked a hand through her mane.  Hushing her gently, he buried his face in her hair.  As he heard her huffs come in longer intervals, he pressed a light kiss into her mane and slid off her saddle.  “That’s my girl,” he smiled, approaching her front.  “You remember my face, don’t you, Epona?” he calmed, patting her mane.  He took her head in his hands and leaned his forehead against her cheek, closing his eyes.  “I thought I’d lost you,” he admitted in a soft, almost ashamed voice, and Epona’s reassurance came in a playful nudge of her cheek, which made him smile.

“Your horse?” he heard Renado ask from behind him.

Link looked up and nodded.  He explained how he had lost her, Ilia, and Colin to the raid in Ordon and how the other children had been taken when he had been left unconscious.  He mentioned nothing of his fall into twilight.  

“If they were taken from their homes so violently, then it is best you were off,” advised Renado.  “They need to know their children are safe.”

Link nodded and mounted a now tranquil Epona.  He pressed his legs gently into her sides and they took off at a slow trot.  When they reached the gate leading back into the fields of Hyrule, Link looked back.  Satisfaction rose up within him.  To see the faces of the children … to have Epona, his most faithful friend, underneath him once more....

“You’re not too shabby a wrangler after all!” said the familiar voice of Midna.

He turned to her--knowing that she had obviously ascended from his shadow--and found her with arms folded and a sly smile written across her face.  He looked away and said plainly, “No, not at all.”

With a strange glance back at him, she disappeared into his shadow once more, and Link threw Epona into a gallop, pleased that he had, for once, caused Midna a loss for words.