Back in the Mario World, peace had been restored. Peach invited Mario to a picnic in an attempt to make up for the destroyed party, and she let Luigi tag along. They were chatting with each other, mainly about how greatly Varren had helped them. Peach was drinking her tea quietly while Mario was enjoying his spaghetti. Luigi, on the other hand, was simply taking this time to vent out his emotions about how he felt in Mario’s shadow all the time. “I just-a feel so emotionally small compared to you, Mario… You’re always so much-a better than me.”

Mario was a bit too busy scarfing down his spaghetti to say much, so Peach spoke for him. “Don’t worry, Luigi, you’re just as good as Mario is. Sure, you’re a little different, but you’re special in your own ways. You’ve just got to find your talents.”

Luigi sighed, looking down. “Yeah, I guess you’re-a right… I just hate being left in the dark when Mario goes on an adventure and leaves me behind to do laundry.” As if reality were reacting on Luigi’s words, a massive shadow cast around the area. Luigi plopped his head on the table, moaning in complaint.

Slowly, Mario began to notice the shadow. He stopped his eating to look up at the sky. “That’s-a strange… there aren’t any clouds. Why is it getting dark in the middle of-a the day?” To answer his question was a loud screech echoing above the sky. The screech could be heard throughout the entirety of the Mario World. Peach covered her ears, cringing at how loud it was. Mario cringed as well, but continued to stare upwards. In place of the sun, a massive ball of blackness formed. It was sucking the sky in! “Mama mia!” Mario cried, staring at the horrifying sight.

Luigi looked at the disappearing sky as well. “Wah!” he shouted. The green plumber hid under the picnic table in fear. That did no good though. A massive gust of wind surged through the area. Trees were ripping from their roots, flying high in the sky, into the black ball of darkness. It took the table as well; Luigi held onto the grass, panicking more than he’d ever in his entire life. The top of the castle ripped from its shingles, ruining the work of art that was the massive building.

Mario gripped tightly onto his hat, trying to hold his ground. Peach, however, was helpless before the overwhelming power of the blackness. She was sent spiraling through the air, headed towards the suction. “Peach!” Mario cried. He jumped high in the air, aware of the risks, and grabbed the Princess’s ankle. He quickly held onto a fraction of the castle’s wall that hadn’t broken off.

The ground ripped away from Luigi’s grasp; he flew up into the air as well. “Mama miaaaaaa!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the air.

Mario began to feel tears flow down his face as he watched his younger brother get taken away by some unknown force. “Luigi! No!” He looked back and forth from Peach to Luigi. He desperately wanted to save them both, but he knew that he could only save one of them. Did he save his girlfriend who he loved with all his heart, or did he save his beloved baby brother? Mario never got to choose. The walls that remained of the castle ripped off, and he, too, was sent flying upwards. “Whaaaaaaow!” he shouted. He flew high up into the suction force in the sky… Luigi, as well as Peach, were next to follow him.

A voice echoed from the black hole in the sky. “Where is Varren!?” it bellowed. The blackness took in the trees, the castles, the kingdoms, the seas—everything. In a matter of seconds, nothing was left of the Super Mario World. All that was there… was blackness.

Meanwhile...


The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN came to a sudden halt. Once again, seemingly no time at all had passed. Varren looked outside through the main screen. He saw that there was a fence in front of the ship, and behind the fence was a mass of trees. “Where are we this time?” he thought aloud.

The guide’s projection popped up in front of Varren out of nowhere, startling him. It responded to his question, unable to recognize it as rhetorical. “Answer: we have arrived at our next destination, master Varren. We are in Hyrule.”

Varren blinked. He looked back outside to the trees. “Yet another planet with life… Tell me about this place, guide. What’s Hyrule’s history?”

“Scanning planet history—please wait…” Varren nodded. He was beginning to develop tolerance for the guide’s constant loading time. He had to, after all, as this was going to be a reoccurring event. The guide spoke once again. “Hyrule has been alive for centuries. Most of the time, it has lived in peace. However, there have come many times when the King of Darkness rises from his grave. He is known as Ganondorf. Ganondorf has many reincarnations of himself. But when a villain rises, a hero does as well. The Hero of Time, Link, also has multiple reincarnations. Ganondorf has been defeated time and time again by the Hero of Time, and his plots to gain all three pieces of the Triforce have also been stopped repeatedly.”

Varren tilted his head to the side. “Triforce?” he echoed. “Guide, could you please tell me about this… ‘Triforce’? What is it?”

To Varren’s surprise, the guide answered in an instant. “Answer: The Triforce is a mystical source of light energy which contains three portions: wisdom, power, and courage. The villainous Ganondorf has the power fragment, the princess who has also been reincarnated repeatedly, Zelda, has the fragment of wisdom, and the Hero of Time, Link, has the fragment of courage. Ganondorf has longed to have all three pieces of the Triforce to himself in order to gain the power of the gods, but as stated, Link has always stopped Ganondorf in his tracks.”

“The Triforce,” the guide continued, “has chosen only two of the three wielders of it: Zelda and Link. Ganondorf, however, stole the fragment of power from the Triforce long ago, and claimed it for himself, forcing it to choose him. Thus, the three have been stuck in time for generations, yet very rarely do they appear.”

Varren was awestruck. ‘This tale seems much more adventurous than the one I heard in the Super Mario World… How magnificent!’ he thought, grinning in pure delight. “Thank you for the information, guide. I’ll be sure to take note of it.”

Varren opened the door which led outside the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. What he saw was absolutely unexpected for him. He was facing the back of a hut. He turned around to see the fence from before. “Where on earth…?” He looked around the area once again. There was light green, freshly cut grass. In the gates he was within, there were red flowers placed randomly. Varren blinked. “It… seems as if I’m in someone’s backyard.”

He looked back to the hut again to observe it. There was a door… should he go in? No, he didn’t want to break inside or intrude.

Suddenly, the back door opened, as if to satisfy his curiosity. To come outside was a young woman with bright blonde hair. Her ears were rather pointy; they reminded Varren of elves’ ears. Her eyes had the colors of a calming blue, but they were filled with the emotion of shock and confusion. She stared at Varren in alarm. “Wh-Who are you?” she asked.

Varren could tell that he’d intimidated her. There was a massive black saucer behind him and he’d just ‘magically’ appeared into her backyard. Of course she’d be afraid. Varren smiled at her. He put his hat on his chest as he gave a polite bow in an attempt to calm the woman. “You needn’t fear me, ma’am. My name is Varren. I’m a traveler. I’m terribly sorry for… well, randomly stopping in your backyard. It must be horrifying for you.”

Varren could see the young woman’s eyes lighten down, the alarm and fear leaving her. She began to smile at him, sighing a bit in relief. “Oh, well, hello there Varren. Don’t worry about startling me, it’s okay. I hadn’t expected it, that’s all.” She held her arm behind her back. “My name’s Zelda. Pleasure to meet you.”

Varren froze. ‘Zelda?’ he thought. ‘Princess Zelda? What’s she doing here? Why is she living in a simple hut? Is this incarnation of her a princess at all? What’s… What’s going on?’ The gentleman cleared his throat, trying to dismiss the confusion, and to act casually. “Zelda. Ah, that’s a fine name…” Varren looked down momentarily before saying, “I-I don’t suppose you have anything to eat, do you? I don’t mean to bother you, but, I haven’t eaten a thing all day; I’m starving.”

Zelda nodded, walking to the back door she’d just come from. “No, no, it’s okay. I’ll gladly feed you. Come inside!” She opened the door for him, smiling. Varren couldn’t help but dislike the fact that she was opening the door for him, but he simply had to put that thought away. He tipped his hat to her in respect and then walked inside. Zelda came inside behind him, closing the door. “So,” she said, “you said you’re a traveler. Where have you traveled?”

Varren looked around the room for a table, but he managed to answer Zelda’s question in the act of doing so. “Well, I have a feeling you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, ma’am,” he simply stated. Varren sat down in the chair which was placed in front of a small, circular table.

Zelda chuckled lightly, walking to a chest. “I’ve been through my fair share of strange things, Varren; you can tell me anything you want.” She opened the chest and bent over, gathering cooking ingredients.

“Well,” Varren said, “if you truly are sure that you’ll believe me, I’ll tell you. I’ve traveled from my own world, to the Super Mario World, and now to this world known as ‘Hyrule.’ I’m traveling in search of an evil overlord known as Darmaque, who seeks to enslave the universe, as I’ve been told.”

Zelda put a slab of meat on a stone plate above a pile of logs. “Oh really?” she said. “Sounds like you’re doing something huge! That’s bigger than anything Link’s ever done… he’s only saved our world from Ganondorf. Ganon’s dead now, though, so there’s no need to worry.” She collected two rocks from the chest and began to scrape them together over the logs, attempting to start a flame.

“Ah, so Ganondorf has already been slain, has he…?” Varren thought aloud, looking up to the ceiling.

Zelda turned half way around to Varren, a questioning gaze in her eyes. “What do you mean, ‘Already been slain’?” she suspiciously inquired.

Varren shook his head quickly, snapping himself back into the conversation. He returned Zelda’s look with an honest smile. “Nothing, nothing. I simply know a lot about your past history, that’s all,” he told her.

Zelda gazed at Varren distrustfully for a moment longer before turning back to the logs. At last, a spark cracked from the rocks. Slowly, a fire grew in the logs, consuming them hungrily. The slab of meat on the stone plate began to sizzle. “Whatever…”

Varren didn’t know how to react to that statement, so he simply didn’t say anything at all. He looked back up at the ceiling again, preparing to think about something… well, important, just as he always thought. He knew that what he was going to think about was going to be important. The only thing was he didn’t know what to think about, so he simply ended up staring at the ceiling thinking about—what to think about. All was quiet in the room, except for the meat crackling in the background… Varren thought he could hear a voice, just barely above the racket the slab of meat was making. It was as if it was in the back of his head. That was strange… it had never happened to him before. It was the voice of a female… the same familiar voice that had told him about the danger. “Varren…” the voice whispered, “your kin is searching for you…” Varren stared up into the ceiling. He tried to make sense of what had just been spoken in his mind. It said again, “Your kin is searching for you…”

Varren tilted his head to the side. ‘My kin is searching for me?’ he thought. ‘But my sister is dead! She couldn’t be searching for me if she’s dead! So then… what does this mean!?’ Varren sighed in frustration, resting his head against the small table.

Zelda noticed Varren’s sigh. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Nothing, nothing, it’s just… I’m trying to make sense of who could be looking for me,” he replied with honesty.

Zelda turned half way to Varren, smiling at him friendlily. “Don’t worry, Varren. I’m sure that it’s nothing.” She turned back to the now-cooked meat to take the plate away from the fire. She placed it in front of Varren. “Be careful now,” she warned, “it’s hot.”

Varren returned Zelda’s smile. He tipped his fedora hat to her politely. “Thank you for your generosity, ma’am,” he said. Zelda quickly gave Varren a fork and a knife to eat the meat with. The gentleman took the silver wear and began to eat his food.

Just as he did so, he heard the front door opening. “Zelda...?” he heard someone say. It was the voice of a man. Rather soft spoken though…

Zelda’s eyes lit up as though she’d recognized the voice immediately. “Link!” she shouted excitedly. Varren’s eyes widened. That was the name of the Hero of Time! My… how lucky he was to meet both Zelda and Link in a single day! Zelda quickly ran over to the front door to greet her friend.

Varren could hear gentle laughter from Link, and from Zelda as well. The two of them seemed so… sweet together. Varren had to resist envious thoughts. He went back to thinking about what the voice had said recently. ‘My kin is looking for me…’ he thought to himself. ‘What could that mean? Well, Megan’s dead, so it couldn’t be her… Wait a minute, my energy is somehow scattered across the universe. Could it be that the voice was talking about my energy searching for me? But it’s energy… it doesn’t have a consciousness! So then how could it be searching for me…?’

Varren’s thoughts were interrupted by a presence of another person in the room. He turned his head to see if it was Link or Zelda… he found that it was both. What surprised Varren the most was how Link was dressed. He was wearing a baggy, green shirt, along with a green sock hat to match it. He wore brown pants as well, which were equally baggy… Link didn’t say a word. He simply stared at Varren questioningly. The look in his eyes wasn’t one of betrayal or hurt feelings, but simply one of curiosity. Zelda nudged Link’s shoulder. “This is Varren,” she told him. “He appeared in my backyard. Don’t worry though, he’s friendly.” Link simply looked to Zelda, his eyes full of concern for her. Zelda smiled at the hero reassuringly. “My heart tells me he’s a good man.”

There was a moment of pause. Link turned to Varren with reluctance. He had a suspicious gaze. Slowly though, he held out his hand to the gentleman. Varren sighed in frustration internally. He was rubbish at hand gestures! Still though… this was the Hero of Time’s way of expressing himself as a friend—Varren couldn’t simply ignore that! Deciding to accept the social cue, he took Link’s hand, then gave him a friendly handshake. Link smiled, feeling a bit more comfortable with Varren.

Varren pulled his hand back, letting go of Link’s. He looked at Zelda. “Link doesn’t seem to be saying much. He’s only said a single word since he’s stepped foot in this house! Is he quite alright?”

Zelda smiled, nodding. “Yes, yes, he’s always been like this. It usually takes a while before you can get on his good side, then he’ll talk to you.” Link growled in frustration. He hated being talked about like he was a new pet in the house. He folded his arms grumpily. Zelda noticed Link’s minor anger; she held his hand gently in an attempt to sooth him. “Hey, don’t be like that. I’m just telling what I think is the truth.” Link looked to Zelda with a startled gaze at the fact that she was holding his hand. He blushed darkly, looking down to his feet.

Once more, Varren couldn’t help but envy those two. He sighed, trying to change the topic in his mind. “So Link, Zelda, would you two like to sit down with me and enjoy a meal? I could cut this steak—even though it’s not much of one—into three, and we could all have a small snack, if you’d like.”

“Yeah, sure!” said Zelda, smiling brightly. The young woman put two more plates on the table for all of them. She sat down on the seat opposite of Varren. Link simply nodded his head, sitting down on the seat next to Zelda.

Varren stuck the fork in the steak, then cut it into three with the knife. He placed one of the thirds on Zelda’s plate. “One for you—“ he placed the other third on Link’s plate, “—one for you—“ then Varren looked down at his own slice of the share. “—and one for me.”

With that, the three of them began to eat their small meals. It tasted rather hard on one side, but perfectly cooked on the other side; it was obvious that Zelda forgot to flip the steak over. Varren looked to Link as he ate his share. “So, Hero of Time, what have you been up to?”

Link looked at Varren, pausing from his eating. His gaze traveled to the side as he scratched the back of his head. “Ehhh…” A blush began to crawl up his face once more for some unknown reason; Varren tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Zelda giggled slightly at Link’s reaction. “Well,” she answered for him, “he’s recently helped out the farmers from the other side of the village. Their goats had gotten loose, so he had to scare them back into the bin of the farm.” Link slowly nodded at Zelda’s statement as if he knew it was the truth, but somehow Varren could tell that the hero’s mind was elsewhere.

Varren didn’t know where Link’s mind was, but he wasn’t exactly bothered by being oblivious to that situation. He simply smiled at Link, trying to snap his mind out of where it was. “Well, that’s very generous of you, if I do say so myself. To do such minor errands for your neighbors is truly an honorable act. I’m glad that you could be such a good person, Link. You truly are the Hero of Time.”

Varren’s plan in getting Link out of his fantasies was successful. Link smiled, a somewhat prideful look in his eyes. “Heheh.”

Zelda nudged Link’s shoulder gently. “Don’t let all of those compliments get to your head now,” she playfully warned him.

The hero only chuckled softly as he resumed to eat his share of the food. Varren honestly didn’t like how quiet Link was. He gave him little to know, and the less he knew the harder it was to keep up the conversation. It’s obvious that the Hero of Time had a problem of expressing himself… He needed Link’s input if he was to properly continue the conversation. “You know, Link,” said the gentleman, “I think that you should express yourself better.”

Zelda looked at Varren with a gaze of warning. “Don’t be rude now, Varren,” she seriously advised.

“No, no, I’m not being rude, I’m being legitimate.” Varren looked at Link, leaning forward on the table. “Listen, Link, I know that you have a heart of gold. You helped your neighbors, you’ve slain the evil King of Darkness, you’ve rescued the Triforce from evil—you’ve done so many good things in the past to prove that you’re a holy man. However, your weakness is properly expressing yourself.  Since you don’t talk much, it would be easy for one to believe that you’re emotionally soft, and a rather delicate thing.” Varren put his fork on the table, in front of Link’s plate. “Listen to me. I want you to tell me about yourself. What was it like defeating Ganondorf?”

Zelda began to grow angry with Varren and how he was pushing Link to do things. “You’re walking on thin ice, Varren…” Link placed his hand on Zelda’s shoulder, giving her a reassuring look. Zelda returned Link’s watchfulness, her own look filled with concern. There was a pause. Zelda wanted to make sure that Link was comfortable in talking to someone he’d just met. The reassuring look in the hero’s eyes, though… it proved to Zelda that he could handle it. The young woman nodded. “If you’re sure…”

Link smiled, then turned his gaze to Varren. He took in a deep breath, then let it out. “Ganondorf was, and is, the strongest opponent that I’ve ever fought...” he said softly. “His skills in combat were unbelievable, and his amount of raw power was incredible... I was barely able to hold my own… I managed to defeat him in swordsmanship though, despite his greatly overpowering fighting style, and his superior strength and speed…”

Varren smiled as he began to lean back in his chair. “It sounds rather interesting! You’re doing a wonderful job, Link… Keep going! I’d like to hear more about this battle of yours.”

The Hero of Time smiled at Varren. He loved telling these stories to people, but he never told anyone but Zelda, simply because she was the only one he would ever dare to speak to. Talking to someone else about his adventures really did make him feel better. “Before I fought him on the ground, though, I had to first battle him on a horse…” he quietly continued. “It was exhausting… He had unimaginable strength and speed on his own, so if you combine his strength with the speed of his horse…”

“Ah, I see,” Varren said, drawing an assumed conclusion. “So, this was before you fought him on the ground. Did anything ever happen after?”

Link nodded, leaning forward. The look in his eyes showed Varren that he was really enjoying telling his tales. “Yes…! After I’d defeated him in swordsmanship, I honestly thought that it was the end of the battle… I didn’t know that he could transform himself… Ganondorf turned into a beast of some kind… Both his strength and his speed were increased by at least tenfold…! All I had to defend myself with was a sword and a shield, but still, I managed to fight him off, and defeat him…”

Varren smiled. He leaned forward as well, meeting Link’s gaze equally. “So then, it seems as if you’re quite good at wielding the sword, correct?” Not wanting to say much more, Link simply nodded as a response. Varren was willing to accept that, considering the fact that Link had already expressed himself quite enough. The gentleman chuckled as he looked up to the wooden ceiling. “The last thing that I fought was a strange thing called a ‘Koopa.’ I barely did anything in that fight… The only legitimate fight with a creature that I’ve ever had would be one with an undead Koopa, called a Dry Bones, and even then it wasn’t a true fight. Instead of directly combatting him, I tricked him into falling to his own demise. Sure, I can fight averagely well in martial arts combat, but… well, I don’t really think that I’d stand a chance against a serious opponent. I probably wouldn’t be able to defend myself against someone like Ganondorf.”

A sympathetic gaze formed in Link’s eyes. He didn’t want Varren, a traveler of the universe, to go without any means of legitimate defense. “If you’d like, I could teach you everything there is to know about swordsmanship…” he offered quietly.

Varren looked at the hero in shock. “What? Would you honestly be willing to do that for me? My, that would be splendid if you did so! Thank you very much, Link. You’ve truly done me a marvelous favor!” Link smiled in a response, nodding his head.

Zelda looked at Link. “Be cautious, Link,” she told him. “I don’t want you training him too hardly. Remember, he’s a beginner; go easy on him.” Link nodded once again, only this time it was directed to Zelda. He stood up from his chair, then walked out of the hut.

Varren blinked. Link didn’t say anything that implied that he should follow him… but, perhaps Link simply assumed that he would do so? Unsure of what to do, the gentleman reluctantly got up from his seat as well, then turned around to walk out of the hut, into the open. Link was there waiting for him. Varren looked around the area to see that there were a fair number of small huts located in this village. They had a lot of space in between them, so that way each hut could have its own bit of privacy, or so Varren assumed was the purpose behind it. Link began to walk into Zelda’s backyard, gesturing with his hand for Varren to follow. Having proper instructions this time, Varren immediately followed Link into the backyard.

Meanwhile, in an unknown destination...

An extremely pale figure sat in his seat. He stroked his paper white hair away from the single eye it was covering. His long, red cape made him feel comfortable in his stone chair, and his white jumpsuit made him feel rather warm. The massive, red diamond on his yellow leather belt shined brightly in the darkened area. His long, white gloves covered his arms cozily. He magically summoned a small mirror to gaze at himself in order to pass the time. His pointed ears remained uncovered by his white hair… He smirked, dispelling the mirror. He held up his hand to the skies. He looked up at his hand to gaze at the ring on his finger, pulsing with a constant flow of energy. “Such power…” he said to himself, marveling over the energetic flow within the ring. “Truly an incredible thing to behold,” he said, chuckling at his own power. “If anyone were to attack me now… I believe that they would fail miserably; victory would be mine in the end. It’s almost as if the gods brought this energy source to me… I’m certainly glad that I found this in the wilderness.”

The man smiled as he looked at the ceiling, past his ring. “But I can’t do anything with this newfound power yet, not while the Hero of Time still has his youth… His past reincarnation has already caused me quite enough problems centuries ago. Now that he’s reincarnated once again… I’ve got to wait until he dies naturally before I can make my move of enslaving the population of Hyrule.”

Suddenly, the ring began to glow brightly. The pale figure tilted his head to the side, staring at it in confusion. “What on earth…?” The bright light intensified, temporarily blinding him. Soon though, it concentrated itself into a straight line, pointing north. “Hmm?” He studied the line of light. “Where do you want me to go, little ring…?” Out of curiosity, the man stood from his throne, letting his red cape drop down to the side. In an instant, he magically teleported away from his stone fortress.

After a day's worth of training with Link...


Varren was panting, completely exhausted. The sun had gone down, and the moon had risen. Crickets were chirping. It was because of the moonlight that he could still see Link standing in front of him. The gentleman let his new, steel sword droop down on the ground. Link, however, was perfectly fine. The hero rested his sword on his shoulder. He smirked playfully at Varren. The gentleman could sense why. “Oh stop that,” he said, defending himself.  “I know what you’re thinking, and I already know it myself. I’ve got little to no stamina. I keep telling myself that I need to work out more, but it’s a bit hard to do that when you’re in the middle of potentially saving the universe, alright!?”

Link chuckled softly, sheathing his sword. “Saving people means that you have to take on evildoers who threaten them… Doing so is quite the workout itself, don’t you think…?” he quietly asked, smiling.

Irritable due to exhaustion, it was rather hard for Varren to contain himself. However, he managed to pull it off anyways. This was the Hero of Time he was talking to. Still panting, he gave a nod of his head as he replied, “Yes, yes, I suppose you’re right about that…” He sheathed the sword of his own, the sheath located across his back, just where Link had taught him to put it.

Link smiled, turning away from Varren. “Goodbye, Varren… We’ll train again tomorrow, so please, stay at Zelda’s house for the night so I'll know where to find you... Of course, make sure that it’s okay with her… If she tells you that you can’t stay at her house, come to mine… You’ll find it in the front of the village…” he quietly informed him, pointing towards the first house to the left that could be seen.

Varren nodded, waving a farewell to the hero dressed in green. “Right, right—I’ll see you tomorrow for the next round of training!” As Varren watched Link return to his own home, a moment of silence fell over him. While it was true that training and improving his swordsmanship was important for his adventures, he couldn’t simply stay in one place for a long amount of time! He was an active man. Besides, that voice told him that his ‘kin’ was searching for him. That meant that he would have to hit the road once again as soon as possible… Varren walked to the front of Zelda’s house, dismissing the thought that he’d lied to the Hero of Time.

He knocked on her door. Within seconds, the young, blonde-haired woman opened up the door. She smiled friendlily at Varren. “Hello again, Varren,” she said. “You must be exhausted! You spent all day training with Link!”

‘At last, someone who doesn’t think I’m a complete weakling,’ Varren disdainfully thought. He scratched the back of his head, unsure as to how Zelda would take what he was about to say. “Well… While it’s true that I am indeed exhausted… I actually came here to talk to you about something else. You see, Link told me to spend the night over here with you, so that way he would know where to find me. He’s going to continue training me tomorrow, if you’re wondering why he would want to know my whereabouts.”

Zelda paused momentarily. She was unsure if she wanted to let someone she just met stay the night at her house… but if Link said that he wanted him to stay, then it must be okay. If Link trusted him, then surely he was trustworthy? She nodded, moving back as she opened the door wider. “Make yourself at home,” she said, welcoming him entirely.

Varren smiled at her acceptance. “Thank you very much for inviting me to stay the night, ma’am,” he politely replied. “I can assure you that you won’t be able to tell a difference between me being present compared to before you even met me.” The gentleman walked into the house, looking around the area. He saw that there was a small, leather couch in the center of the room.

Zelda returned Varren’s smile. “Alright, you can sleep on the couch while I sleep in my bed. I know it may seem unfair, but this house isn’t meant for more than one person.” The young woman looked to the side momentarily as a blush crawled across her face for some unknown reason. “Well, I… I mean, another person could live with me, since my bed is big enough for two people, but… I’m… saving that spot for someone special…”

Varren’s gaze softened as he stared at Zelda. ‘Such love…’ he thought, amazed by how much those two obviously adored one another. Trying his best to be happy for them, and not envious, he quickly changed the tender subject. “Thank you once again for letting me stay the night, Zelda.”

The young blonde shook her head, dismissing her thoughts. She smiled at him again. “R-Right, it’s no problem at all, Varren. Like I said, make yourself at home… Goodnight. Oh, and, I hope you meant what you said about me not being able to tell the difference between you being there and not being there at all. I’m actually an extremely light sleeper.”


Varren chuckled lightly. He put his hat on his chest as he gave a polite bow. “I’m a man of my word… Goodnight.” With that, Varren sat down on the couch, then relaxed his body after he laid down on it comfortably, sprawling himself across the leather sofa. Zelda walked off to her own room, then rested on her bed. In an instant, Varren could hear that she was breathing rather softly; she could easily tell that she’d instantly fallen asleep. ‘My,’ he thought, ‘for someone who’s a light sleeper, she most certainly isn’t difficult to get to sleep in the first place…’ Varren could feel his eyelids getting heavier. He stifled a yawn, giving a stretch. All of this adventuring was so exhausting… Slowly, he let his eyes close. He began to become oblivious to his surroundings as tiredness took over his senses. The couch felt soft and comfy… If this was merely the couch, then he could easily understand how Zelda fell asleep as quick as she did in her much comfier bed.  In a moment’s notice, Varren, too, had gently drifted into sleep...