Time's Moving Faster Than I Can Count

A Sinking Feeling

At the resounding no, Time gestured for Twilight to show the way to his house. The rancher began speedwalking away from the villagers and led the group to his home, Time followed last like a shepherd herding his sheep. The villagers shared a slightly amused look while the kids laughed.

"Never thought I'd see that." Sera cackled. "Link runnin' like that."

An hour later, once lunch was over, the group of nine reappeared. Immediately, they jumped into helping people. Time stood in a place he could clearly see all of them, and watched. At some point, there seemed to be a commotion at the small lake in the village, and Time scowled. Rusl and Bo watched as the man silently moved over to where whoever was doing something they shouldn't, and stood far enough away for his shout to be heard.

"Sailor! Champion! Knock it off, the pair of you!"

Immediately, the commotion stopped, and Time walked away, back to his spot. Rusl and Bo shared a look, then nodded. The two men walked up to where Time was standing, catching his eye.

"Is everything alright?" Bo asked, he was quite nervous to talk to him.
"I think I should be asking you that." The man raised an eyebrow. "Have I frightened you?"
"Wh- no, no! I assure you, I'm okay."
"Mhm." The eyebrow remained raised, clearly this guy didn't believe him.
"What Mayor Bo means," Rusl stepped in. "Is, what happened over there?"
"Wind and Wild were being nuisances. I've resolved it, they were being ridiculous in the water. Throwing it at each other. I made sure they stopped before they caught one of you."
"Thank you, life is usually quite peaceful here."
"I can imagine, so I won't let them ruin it for you."

Silence sat between them for a while, the two of them just watching as the strange man kept watch over the eight other Links (how weird was that?) for a few minutes. They shared a look again, neither of them could tell what this man was thinking, but they did want to know more about what this odd situation was.

"So, this is an odd situation, isn't it?" Bo awkwardly tried to fill the dead air, shrugging when Rusl silently asked what the hell he was doing.
"Indeed," Time turned his attention to the mayor. "To make a long story short, all nine of us are heroes from different eras across time. We're chasing a dangerous shadow being through portals, and we don't get to choose to where we land." He spared a quick glance to the group, making sure they weren't getting up to any more trouble, before returning his attention to the mayor and Rusl. "As I told you, we all have the same name, and it is no coincidence unfortunately."
"You know what this being is?" Rusl couldn't hide his concern, and looked over to his family. He didn't see the way Time's eyes almost betrayed how he was feeling.
"Yes, we do. And we will stop it. You don't need to worry. Your Link will be returned to you safely, not a single one of these boys will die on my watch. You have my word."