The Missing Goddess

Heading to Anilya

Link looked back at Yuki as they headed down the path leading to his fathers house. He let out a heavy sigh, yesterday was perfect, they finally had that long over do talk, established some form of a relationship, and got to catch up with each other. To him it was like they had never parted. Yet today Yuki was all business, she wanted to speak with her father. He would be fine with this if it was just a casual visit but no, of course not nothing with Yuki was that simple. She wanted to ask him about the ruins and the village called Anilya. He looked over at her and his frown only deepened. Instead of letting her long hair flow free she had it pinned up in a bun, and instead of showing her face, she had it covered with that mask. The same mask she wore the day they had reunited.
"Why do you wear that?" He asked as the silence between the two of them had finally gotten on his nerves. "The mask?" "Yes!" He groaned as she answered his question with a question "it's part of my clans traditional fighting outfit." He blinked, he did not expect that answer "I see. God damn it Yuki let your hair down" "no." "Please!" "No." "Ugh." Yuki laughed it was so easy to rile him up. "Stop laughing at me." He groaned which only made her laugh more "I'm sorry but you're so cute." He growled "I am not cute!" She laughed as she looked over at him "right, but anyway I won't take it down. It gets in the way, especially when I need to fight." He let out an unidentifiable noise and Yuki raised an eyebrow "the hell was that?" He rolled his eyes "nothing Yuki. But you can relax we are in a town. I promise nothing will happen to you."
She sighed as she reached behind her head and pulled out the ribbon letting her long black hair fall around her in waves. Link smiled as he had won the fight only to sigh as she pulled it into a high ponytail. "Don't you sigh at me, it's hot." Link nodded at least she was letting it stay down, somewhat. As they got closer to his fathers did he notice that it was unusually silent. "Something feels wrong." Yuki frowned, not that anyone could tell, not with that mask covering her face. She reached into her pocket and gripped a dagger as she dismounted Eien. Link not to far behind her. They didn't bother tying them to a tree, they had almost no idea as to what they were gonna find.
Slowly she crept towards the house and motioned for him to be silent. He frowned, as he felt like he should be protecting her not the other way around. She waited a second before she opened the door, only to sigh in relief as she saw her siblings asleep on the makeshift bed. "Yuki?" She looked over at saw her father coming out of the other room and she nodded "I've never seen you wear that...is everything okay?" Yuki slowly lowered her mask revealing her face and Link stepped in behind her closing the door "everything is fine. I just have some questions before Link and I go looking for something." Her father raised an eyebrow "remember our homelands sacred ruins?"
Hiro raises an eyebrow at such  an unusual question "of course I do. Why do you do wanna no?" "Because I've been there. I've been in those very ruins. I've seen the temple." At this Hiro became angry "you know you were not to enter there!" Link frowned and stepped in front of Yuki. "Stand down link. He won't touch me. He can't." She turned her attention to her father and crossed her arms "actually father, I had every right to enter there and there is nothing you can do about it. Anything that can help the princess must be found." Hiro sighed as his anger was deflated and Link finally stepped to the side. He was glad the kids were heavy sleepers. "Did you find anything?" Yuki shifted and had a far away look in her grey eyes.
"Oh I found something alright. I found a stone monument, dating back to almost 10,000 years ago." Her fathers eyes widened "you...you could read it?" "I could." Link was confused at this "you couldn't read it Hiro?" "No, I couldn't read it at all. I could make out some words but the language is so old I'm surprised Yuki could read it." He looked at his daughter and had a sinking feeling in his gut. If she could read it, then what did she find? What did she read to cause such a far away look in her eyes? And how? How could she read something that old? Just what was she? What was her mother? He was confused. But he finally spoke "what did it say." Yuki took a bit this time before she spoke. "It spoke of a village that was once the heart of time. A village formerly known as Anilya."
Hiro was shocked, yet did his best to mask it. "Go on." Yuki looked at him, but again like it was with Link, it was like she didn't even see him. It gave him shivers, he hadn't seen a look like that since she was 8. It reminded him of that day.
*flashback*
Yuki was sitting outside of the house swinging her legs back and forth as she hummed. She had finally been allowed to return home and instead of Link staying like he had last time it was decided that they would train by themselves for a while. It was also after gai's formal trial. The boy was exiled. It was a bitter sweet day, Yuki honestly didn't care. However it saddened her that his family had to leave because of him. However they couldn't just let a child roam on his own.
Yuki continued humming as her father watched a bit worried. She had shown almost no emotion and he wasn't sure what he should do. "Yuki? Why don't we go for a walk?" She stopped humming and looked at him, but she didn't see him, she was looking through him. He shuddered "alright." Even her voice was detached. He watched her stand up and dust herself off. He nodded and started heading to the village gates. They would stroll around the forest, something he knew always made his daughter happy.
As they walked he noticed how much his daughter was changing. She was keeping her hair up, she always seemed more serious. And there was an air of loneliness to her. Something he couldn't understand. She was always around people. He didn't think that it was related to link though, i mean she had just been with the boy for over three months. Surely she didn't miss him. But he alas, was wrong. Yuki missed link terribly. It was like a part of her had vanished and she didn't know how to handle it.
"So what's on your mind?" He tried asking not enjoying the silence at all "what is Anilya?" Hiro chokes on his own breath as she asked "what?!" She looked at him "what is Anilya?" He groaned "how do you know that word?" She frowned "stop answering my question with a question." Hiro was shocked at this "I'm not sure what it is Yuki. But how do you know?" Yuki groaned "I don't know. I keep having these weird dreams of a place that I don't know, a place that feels very strange yet familiar." Hiro frowned he was really confused now. "What do you mean?" "It's weird. But it's like I know the place. It feels so real. All I can usually remember is the name Anilya." He frowned "I don't know Yuki, I really don't."
    He waited a bit before he spoke again "can you describe it?" She shook her head no "I can't, I hardly remember it when I wake up." "You've tried?" "Yes, and it gives me a terrible headache." She sighed and looked ahead taking in the scenery around her. They were deep into the forest at this point. "We should go back." Hiro nodded, he didn't even mean to come this far. Especially since neither one had anyway to defend themselves. Besides he had hit his goal, he got Yuki to talk. Just as they turned to leave did they realize they were surrounded by men dressed in red and black clothes. He froze, the Yiga Clan. Sudden panic and dread filled his eyes and Yuki looked startled.
   "Hand over the girl and no one gets hurt." One of them said "you expect me to hand over my daughter? That's not happening." The man who spoke laughed "guess we'll have to take her by force." Yuki's grey eyes widened in horror as she realized they intended to kill her father. "No!" Suddenly the entire area glowed bright white and once grey eyes appeared to be icy blue. Hiro closed his eyes waiting for the killing blow only to realize nothing was happening. He looked around and saw the men were frozen, and Yuki was unconscious on the grass. He was confused what just happened? Who did it? He didn't stick around to find out though. He grabbed his daughter and ran, not noticing how the bodies behind him were now aging rapidly until they turned to ash.
     When Yuki woke up from her sleep she had no memory of the event. She didn't even remember the men, so Hiro decided it was best to not tell her and just let her live her life out normally.
   *end of flashback*
   Yuki was watching Hiro with a worried expression and he rubbed the back of his head "sorry, i spaced out." She sighed suddenly relieved that he was talking again. "Anyway, you might wanna sit this is a long story." Hiro nodded and sat down, and for the second time in her life she told the story of Anilya. By the time it was over Hiro was stunned into silence he had no idea about any of that. "I'm sorry Yuki, but i am of no help here. I know nothing about it. However I hope you are able to find it. I hope you can get the answers you seek." Yuki signed "it's alright. Thanks though." She hugged her father goodbye and Link nodded before they went back to their horses.
    Link carefully helped her up onto Eien and mounted his own horse and soon they were off. Along the way they grabbed supplies not knowing what they would need, hell they didn't even know what they would find. As they traveled he realized that Yuki was getting tired and so were the horses. "Let's make camp." She looked at him and wanted to disagree but knew that it was now to late to keep traveling and they really needed a rest and to eat. So they settled down and set up camp. Yuki made a simple fish dish and he thanked her before they both ate. Once done they cleaned up and she laid down for the night. He was gonna take first watch. He looked down at her before brushing the hair out of her face and then looked out into the distance. Wondering what was gonna happen on this trip and he wondered even more on what they would find.