A red-cloaked man is leaning on a wooden staff next to the seashore. His hood covers his head as he faces away from the setting sun, and out towards the sea. The wind whips his cloak around him,and kicks up some sand. The man raises a metal hand up towards the water, and starts to sing

I walked alone in foggy dew
Just me and my memories
A voice out seaward beckons thru
A whistle of love for me, for me
A whistle of love for me.

T'was two moons 'go her father stole
My love away from me
Arranged to wed a soldier red
My love's gone 'cross the sea, the sea
My love's gone 'cross the sea.

For ten days long our love grew strong
She swore her "love to thee"
Each night up high on mountainside
She'd whistle her love for me, for me
She'd whistle her love for me.

Late one night, my fire alight
Awaiting for her to see
My wait was long, o' what could be wrong
Where could my true love be, love be
Where could my true love be

A light 'cross waters latern glow
Was all mine eyes could see
And from below noise drifted slow
Like a 'gull come back from sea, from sea
Like a 'gull come back from sea.

Her song it haunts me still this day
Notes of uncertainty
If heaven laughs at prayers of mine
Then it never was to be, to be
Then it never was to be.

The words of an old ballad ring out over the sandy shoreline of Tantari Desert. The man simply stands they, and lets his raised hand fall limp to his side.

"Didn't know you could sing, Sovelis. What other talents do you have?" Arrika said cheerfully, appearing at his side. "So I guess even the old Tempest fell in love once?" The wind blew off her hood, and she sheilded her eyes against the blowing sand. "This is the one thing I don't like about the beach. I like wind, but this sand is so annoying!"

Sovelis turned to his student in surprise. "Oh! Arrika! I didn't hear you sneak up on me." he said, smiling at the young girl next to him. "It does get in my boots sometimes, the sand. And it gets in the joints of my fingers, and that takes a while to clean out." Sovelis raised his automail hand and flexed the metal fingers in response.

"You'll learn that I'm full of surprises if you stick around" he said as he looked back out to sea. "You remind me of her some..."

Arrika laughed. "Do I? And I'm probably stuck to you for life now... well, that's what Seth said. Hey, what was she like? And what do you do if your automail breaks? There's no Winry Rockbell here you can go home to..." The Sheikah wondered what it would be like to have a fake arm. If she touched his automail without him realizing, would he feel it? And it looked so heavy... The Tempest must be a very strong person.

Then Arrika closed her eyes and began to sing back to him.

"Was it something I said that made you angry with me.
Made you dig a deep river to keep you from me.
Oh, the water is rushing, come to sweep me away
'Less I die of sorrow, I will cross it today.

I would build me a bridge a hundred meters long
To see the other side of what I did wrong
Well you say you don't hate me, but I guess that I'm scared
That with a river between us, you'll no longer care.

I would build a boat, and paddle agaist all sorrow.
And if I sail down the river, then I'll be back again tomorrow.
I would face cold death, run and leap to your side.
And if I fall in the river, I'll be warmed by your sight.

I would beg your forgiveness for the pain I've fed
And I'd find the source of the river you've bled.
Then I'd close the gates of the dam I built there.
And never again will you have anything to fear.

Well I never knew that your tears ran so deep.
But when I'ved dammed those tears, I will kiss your sweet cheek.
I will hold you close 'till your tears finally cease.
And I'll sing you a lullaby to bring you peace."

"You sing like an angel, Arrika. And I have several extras laying around the house...I kinda forgot which room their in though, so I'd be in a little trouble if my arm did break." Sovelis said, looking down at her face. "My long dead love was almost like you. Darkn hair, fairly easy on the eyes...a little taller than you though. She died in my arms all those years ago...as the madness took hold. I cried out as my heart shattered, and threw myself into the darkness."

Sovelis wiped a stray tear from his eyes. It fell to the sand, like a single, shining diamond as it hit the ground. "The curse I carry is indeed a heavy burden. I have to be strong to survive. Not just physically. But mentally and emotionally as well. Otherwise, I'd go mad and everything I have learned to cherish here in your world would be wiped away...turned to ash in the eternal fires of darkness..."

Arrika blushed at Sovelis's praise but said more seriously, "Would you destroy me too then, if you ever reached that breaking point? Have you ever gotten close to it?"

Arrika looked towards the sea, her hair billowing back from her face. So was it this woman's fault Sovelis is cursed? That he's become some sort of demon? I bet she cries for him now though, far away in the Sacred Realm or the Underworld. She must have made him happy... When I see people in town, couples, I feel stabs of envy sometimes. They have someone they love and can rely on without question.

"No...it is my own fault that I am cursed, mine and mine alone." the Tempest said, smiling at Arrika. "And If that day ever comes, where my mind is overwhelmed by the darkness, no one is safe." The words seemed to echo across the shoreline, along with the sound of the waves and the wind. "But don't worry Arrika, I'm still in control and your safe."

"For now," Arrika said softly, looking towards the waves again, their crash soothing her. "Sometimes I wonder whether I should have asked you to train me at all. But I'll follow you, for better or for worse. You can rely on me if you ever need to. I'll help you in any way I can... your desires and goals are mine was well, and I'll fight for you, I'll lie for you, steal for you, kill for you if you ever need it." Arrika then laughed. "I don't know why I'm saying all this. Usually I keep it bottled up, like with Kobas. We never said anything about the bond between us; it was just there and I knew my place in life. Because don't we all need reasons to truly live? When he was gone I wasn't sure what to do anymore. But now..."

"You see me in his place now, don't you?" Sovelis said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I don't mind filling some hole you have in your heart, Arrika. Its people like you that make me want to stay in Hyrule" his smile was warm as he looked down at her. "I was told that I would wander endlessly, as the last of my kind. Maybe I won't....perhaps I'll just fade back into the darkness after a long, filling life."

Maybe I do.

"You're a lot like him... do you want to get away too? I do sometimes. Well, if you wander, or stay, or fade, I'll follow you," she said, leaning into his arm. "Have you ever wanted to go back to your world? Earth? What's it like there? Seth said there isn't any magic, and no darkness because there are lamps without flames that never die out. Is that true? When he said that I thought that Earth must be a lot better than Hyrule, but then he added that people there have constant wars and are never content. Millions of people kill and die every day, and the crime rate only increases. A lot of other people die of hunger, but we have that here too, don't we? But that world seems so prosperous, so you'd think their king would do something about their problems."

"Thats how my earth was...until I destroyed it." Sovelis said, closing his eyes. "The war, the crime, the constant ebb and flow of death and life was what held it all together. Starvation, poverty, droughts, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis...all of it was ended when I wiped the face of the earth clean...Left it all smooth and blank. Like a giant bead of glass. Nothing will ever grow there again."

Sovelis pulled his arm free and flipped his hood up. "But that is only one version o earth. Their are many more I could live on...The places are the same, but the people will never be..."

Arrika stared at Sovelis with amazement. "You killed them all? Just like that? So what is it now, a desert? An empty glass desert. You could go back, and be the king of a whole new empire, you know? A whole dynasty of Tempests. Have you been to the other Earths?" She said excitedly, the idea of so many new dimensions interesting her. "Someone could go back and start over, make a whole new utopia without starvation or crime or wars!" Arrika was disappointed he had moved his arm; his weight had been reassuring.

Sovelis pulled Arrika close, and put his arms on her shoulders. "Time travel is a very fickle thing. One cannot just go back and change something. That creates alternate time lines, and messes with the flow of power in the cosmos. I have tried to go back, but the waves that radiate from Earth at the time of its destruction are almost to great to ride out. I just get tossed back and away from it all."

The Tempest leaned on Arrika, and sighed. "Almost every other Alternate universe or world is some sort of world where magic, and sometimes both magic and technology, have made that world well protected. And we Tempests aren't trying to carve out an empire...just hold the peace between worlds...."

"Which makes perfect sense that you went out and completely destroyed your world," Arrika said, but leaned back into the Tempest anyway. He was warmer than she had expected, although his metal arm was lifeless and cold. He smelled like steel due to his arm, but he also carried a scent of... rain? Autumn rain, cool and light, but holding back dark emotions like chilling wind. "Is that why you're trapped here in Hyrule? Because the flow of the other dimensions is keeping you back?"

"No. Their is a barrier that your goddesses created, along with your world. It was meant to keep the outsiders out . I tried to push my way through....and lost most of my power." Sovelis said, wrapping his cloak around the two of them. "Over time, I gained my power back, but I don't have anywhere else to go. Thats why I stay here."