A/N: Hello again! Long time no see. Anyway, I've finally found the time, willpower and inspiration to bash out what I think is a halfway-decent story (that's pretty impressive, considering I usually have at most one of those things). Do let me know if you like the style of this story - my writing's changed style I think, so I want to see if it works. Any reviews will make my day, week, and quite possibly my year. Enjoy!

'Mommy? Where are you going?' the small blonde girl asks, rubbing her eyes drowsily. The tall woman by the door replies, but her answer is hard to make out. 'What if you don't come back?' the girl asks. The woman starts to reply, to comfort her daughter, when suddenly everything vanishes.

Sheik sat upright in bed, breathing heavily. Just another dream, she told herself. She sighed wearily, getting out of bed. She had thought the dreams had been better recently, but she had dreamt the same thing for the last three nights, so maybe they were getting worse again. She hoped they weren't; she really couldn't afford to lose any more sleep.

She dragged herself upright in front of a small mirror, and sighed again. A few days ago she had woken up with dark bags under her eyes, and since then they had progressed to full sacks. It looked as though someone had punched her vigorously in the face, and she frowned before remembering that no-one would be seeing her face. The sun was nearly up, so she decided to give up on further sleep and get ready for the day.

She dressed quickly in a tight bodysuit and braided her long blonde hair carefully. Then she picked up a pile of white rags on the floor and started wrapping her entire head in the bandages, tucking her braid in so that only a few strands of golden hair were hanging out. She checked her appearance to make sure, but only her red eyes were visible. Perfect. Then she picked up a large pouch and left, pulling the door closed behind her. She didn't bother to lock it; it wasn't as though anyone would come all the way out here to break into a tiny, derelict house, not when there were so many tempting targets in the nearby city.

She set off towards the city, and before long she joined the stream of people heading across the massive drawbridge. As she moved through the crowd, entirely unnoticed, her quick fingers grabbed jewellery, purses, anything small and valuable. She tucked these away in her own pouch, which was velvet-lined to muffle the clinking of Rupees. She was alert constantly for anyone who looked twice at her or seemed to be paying special attention, but nobody did. That was the good thing about Castle Town: it was so full of weird and wonderful people (with, if she was honest, an abundance of weird and a scarcity of wonderful) that no-one would notice one more stranger. In her bodysuit and bandages it was hard enough to tell whether she was a man or a woman, let alone any other details about her, which suited her fine.

Of course, her bandages were distinctive, but that could be very useful. When someone realised that their purse had gone missing, if they happened to remember the heavily-bandaged individual who had crashed into them earlier that day, Sheik could be sure that the bandages would be all they would remember. So all she had to do to avoid detection was nip round a corner, take off the bandages, and paint an expression of injured innocence onto her face. It wasn't hard. Sheik had been born with a naturally angelic expression, and could do an excellent "little girl lost and alone" impression when required. It had gotten her out of more than one scrape in the past, and she knew it would continue to get her out of trouble for the rest of her life, or however long she continued to live as a thief, which was more or less the same thing.

Some part of her long-buried conscience objected to her criminal acts, but her brain quickly shoved that part off into the corner before she could take any notice of it. She was a thief out of necessity, not choice, although she had to admit there were days when stealing from the rich and stupid held a certain charm. It was certainly better than getting a proper job, especially since jobs for young women in a big city were extremely limited, and Sheik had no desire to involve herself in that side of things, thank you very much.

And besides, as she told herself often, there were plenty of criminals out there who threatened, or injured, or murdered, all things she had never done. Compared to crimes like that, a little redistribution of wealth was no problem. It wasn't as though those rich people were going to use their money anyway. No, far better for it to fall into the hands of someone like her, who would put it to good use. When she looked at it that way, she was practically performing a civic duty. It was a pity that the soldiers in the town didn't see it the same way.

A while later she strolled down the wide market street in the west side of the city, feeling pleased with herself. She had spied a group of tourists in the square earlier, tourists being the thief's equivalent of a free lunch. These particular ones were from some tiny little town way out in the sticks, where the crime rate was essentially zero and everyone left their doors unlocked at night. People like that were a goddesssend for someone like Sheik, who was ready to take full advantage of their unguarded attitudes. After all, as far as they were concerned, there were no thieves in their hometown, so why would there be any in the big city?

After relieving several of them of large money-pouches, Sheik was beginning to feel weighed down, always a pleasant feeling for a hungry thief. So she had come straight to the market, where she could buy something to eat and also lose herself in the crowds, just in case one of the tourists happened to have seen her. She had removed her bandages now, tucking them safely away, so she knew there was very little chance of being recognised. Which is why her heart stopped beating when she suddenly heard the two worst words in any thief's language:

'Hey, you!' She half-turned, aware that it was a stupid thing to do, and her eyes widened as she saw one of the tourists from before, striding towards her with guards in tow. Not good, she thought frantically. Really not good.

Despite her panic, she forced herself to walk away slowly. Even though they had seen her, she could still lose herself in the crowd if she acted like everyone else. But the moment she started running, she could be seen easily. Running was also regarded (quite unfairly, in her opinion) by the city guards as an admission of guilt, because after all, why run if you're innocent? Because the guards carry spears and they know how to use them, Sheik thought, but given that she had never been innocent of anything in her life, she wasn't in a position to take it up with the guards. So she shouldered her way through the crowd, keeping her head down. No such luck.

'That's him! Over there, with the bandages.' Right, well that hadn't worked. Time for plan B. Sheik broke into a sprint, her brain switching into pursuit mode while a small part rankled at the word "him". The crowd parted ahead of her and she shot through, keeping an eye out for any concealed alleys, always a thief's friend. As she ran past a fruit stall she grabbed a box and tossed it behind her, grinning at the satisfying thump as one of the guards slipped.

Up ahead she saw the large shape of a Goron and ducked, running straight between its legs without slowing. The Goron was far too slow to catch her, and looked around in confusion while the remaining guard tried to get past it. She skidded around a corner, racing down Castle Town's wide main street. She knew she was fast, and in the open she could probably outrun the guard, weighed down as he was by his armour. But as she heard a whistle blowing behind her, she started to doubt that. Soon there were more pounding feet, and a quick glance back showed that she was being chased by many more guards, some of whom were gaining. Do you lot have nothing better to do than chase me all day? she thought angrily.

She spotted a small street on the left and shot down it, having no idea where it went. Please don't be a dead end, she prayed. Clearly the goddesses either didn't like thieves or had a sense of humour, because the street abruptly ended in a solid wall. She looked around frantically, searching for any way out, but there was nothing and the guards were catching up. She glared at the wall, took a few steps back, then dashed up it and managed to catch the top with her fingertips.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her boot, trying to pull her down, but she kicked back hard and the resulting crack suggested she'd broken someone's nose. Immediately the hand released her and she scrambled over the wall, collapsing on the other side. She was in a large garden of some sort, clearly well-tended, but looking around she could see no entrances. The wall she had scaled surrounded the garden, sealing her in, but also keeping the guards out. She sighed in relief, safe for the moment.

As she relaxed and caught her breath, she started to wonder whose garden she had tumbled into. Something caught her eye, a building on the other side of the garden. She looked up and kept looking, higher and higher until she could see the very tops of the spires. She recognised it instantly: Hyrule Castle. Which means she'd landed in… She glared up at the sky, cursing the goddesses with every profanity she could think of, which took quite a while.

A high-pitched gasp attracted her attention, and her view snapped back down. A blonde-haired girl of about her age was standing there, looking rightly shocked at her language. Sheik looked her up and down, taking in the elegant dress, neat appearance, and – the crown on her head. Damn.

'Um… sorry about this, your Majesty,' she said as brightly as she could manage, getting to her feet and preparing to run. 'Just a little… er… training exercise, for the guards out there. I'll be gone in a minute, if you'd care to point me out of the garden…'

'You know, if I scream right now every soldier in the castle will come running,' the Princess said conversationally. Sheik's eyes narrowed. I do not like her, she decided, scanning the garden behind her for a way out. 'You're a thief, aren't you? You know what happens to thieves, right?' Sheik rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, yeah, I'll rot in a dungeon for a thousand years, I know. But only if I get caught, and on that note…' Still no way out. And the Princess was right, one scream and Sheik would be hauled off to a room with no sunlight where she would have an unmatched opportunity to really get to know the castle rats. Before they ate her alive.

'On the other hand…' the Princess said thoughtfully, and suddenly Sheik was all ears. The other girl looked at her for a few moments, as if sizing her up, then nodded in satisfaction. 'You'll do, I suppose. Come with me.' She grabbed Sheik's wrist in a grip of iron, but the thief didn't try to escape anyway. She didn't like the Princess' tone, but if it would keep her out of the dungeon she was willing to play along. For now, at least. After all, she thought, how bad can it be? She sighed as she immediately answered herself. She's the Princess. Very bad indeed. This really isn't going to end well, she thought morosely.

The Princess led Sheik straight towards the castle, which was no surprise, but she seemed anxious to avoid the guards they encountered, which was surprising. Still, it gave Sheik hope. If the other girl intended to go back on her word and have Sheik arrested, it wouldn't matter if the guards saw them. The fact that she was being so secretive probably meant that she had something else in mind. Although what that was, Sheik didn't want to imagine.

Once inside Sheik was dragged along several long corridors, until the Princess paused outside a room, looked around, and shoved her inside before following her in. Sheik was uncomfortably aware of the click of the lock, but she was even more uncomfortably aware of the tall woman standing in front of her. Sheik had never seen her before, but instantly she could work out one thing about her. The eye symbols on her clothes and face were a dead giveaway, even before Sheik saw her real eyes. Blood red, just like hers. This woman was a Sheikah.

'Oh, that's Impa,' the Princess said casually, as if having a highly-trained warrior in your bedroom was a matter of course. Then again, she was royalty. Maybe it was a matter of course for her. Sheik was vaguely aware, via some long-ignored ancestral memory, that Sheikah warriors traditionally served the Royal Family. Her mother had served them, although indirectly. Despite, or more likely because of that, Sheik had never had the slightest desire to spend her life serving someone else, especially not a spoilt brat like the Princess. To be fair, she had never met the girl before, but "spoilt brat" was a reasonably safe guess.

'Don't worry, she's not here to kill you or anything,' the Princess reassured Sheik.

'You know, the though hadn't even crossed my mind until you said that,' she replied dryly, earning her a glare from Impa.

'I'm here in case you get any foolish ideas about escaping,' she informed her.

'Oh, you don't need to worry about that,' Sheik muttered, glancing around the room. It was true, before she had seen Impa escape was the first thing on her mind, and the large and more importantly open windows in the room were very inviting, even if there was probably a long drop below. But as soon as she had seen Impa, any thoughts of escape had evaporated. Sheik might be able to outsmart and outmanoeuvre the Princess, but a Sheikah warrior was another matter entirely.

'Your Majesty,' Impa said reverentially, turning to the Princess. 'Are you sure? I mean… really, her?' Sheik raised her eyebrows, offended. She had no idea what they were talking about, and she was pretty sure that whatever the Princess wanted her for was something she didn't want to do anyway, but she was still offended. It was the principle of the thing. But the Princess nodded, turning to Impa.

'Yes, I'm sure. She looks reasonably similar to me already, so you won't need much magic. She's also a thief, which – yes, I know you disapprove,' she said, raising a hand to stall the other woman's objections. 'But she must be reasonably smart to do that, so she should cope with this. And besides, we need someone we can effectively blackmail into doing this. A thief fits the bill.'

'Um…' Sheik said, raising a hand. She still didn't have the first clue what they were saying, but she had heard worrying words such as "blackmail". More worryingly, she knew that she was a prime target for something like that. She would do an awful lot to avoid being thrown in a dungeon, so the Princess had a lot of leverage.

'We don't have much time,' the other girl said in a brisk manner. 'Do you know who I am?'

'Yes,' Sheik said sulkily.

'Good. You may call me Zelda. What may we call you?'

'Sheik. But before you get any ideas, I'm not planning on being here long enough to get on a first name basis.'

'You will be here as long as we say, unless you would rather spend an extremely long time in the dungeons,' Impa said sharply. Sheik grumbled to herself, but said nothing.

'Fine then. Sheik. I need you to do something for me.'

'No,' Sheik said automatically, sighing when Impa glared at her. 'Sorry, reflex. I'm not used to being around royalty.'

'Clearly,' Impa sneered, and Sheik glared back once she was sure Impa wasn't looking.

'I need to go away for a while,' Zelda continued. 'It doesn't matter where, or why. Even if I trusted you more than an inch, which I really don't, I still couldn't tell you. Suffice it to say that this is a matter of national, and even international importance.'

'Yeah, that's nice, but I really couldn't care less,' Sheik said truthfully. She had about the same understanding of international affairs as a fish does of mountain climbing, and about the same inclination to learn more about it. Zelda folded her arms.

'Then it's a good thing you don't need to know! All you need to know is that I'm going away for… a few days, let's say. And I can't tell anyone that I'm going, for the reasons I just said. Obviously if anyone found out that the Princess herself had suddenly gone missing, everyone would panic and start looking everywhere for me. It would be pandemonium, and I can't have that. So the obvious solution is to have an imposter. Someone who looks like me, acts like me, carries out my duties and fools everyone into thinking they're me until I can come back and take over again.'

'Ah,' Sheik said, holding up a finger. 'Let me stop you right there. I think I can see where you're going with this. Well, I hate to ruin such a well-thought out plan, but there's a flaw.'

'And that is?' Impa said with a hint of a growl. Sheik swallowed hard, and looked at Zelda instead.

'I'm not doing this! What if I get caught? Yes, I don't want to be punished for stealing, but I'm pretty sure the punishment for impersonating the Princess is worse! That's treason! I'd be executed for that! At least if I'm caught as a thief, I get a nice cosy dungeon and all the mould I can scrape off the walls!' Zelda smiled humourlessly.

'Oh? Well, as you may, or probably don't know, I can decide the sentences for criminals. You're right, normally the punishment for theft is a nice long prison sentence, but if I'm so inclined I can have that upgraded. Plus, you broke into the castle, into my room no less.'

'I didn't-' Sheik began, but faltered. There was nothing she could do here against the superior authority of the Princess, and she knew it. Tyranny was a terrible thing to be on the receiving end of.

'I would say that's punishable by execution, wouldn't you?' Zelda continued, turning to Impa, who nodded with what Sheik considered to be an unnecessary amount of glee. 'So whether you're tried for treason or theft, the punishment is going to be the same. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what crime is on the death warrant. It's all the same to you.'

'Alright, alright!' Sheik said hastily, rubbing her neck. 'You're a complete bitch, I get it. So either I pretend to be you for an indeterminate amount of time, and in doing so I would put the person I care most about - me - in considerable danger, or I refuse and I'm dead this time tomorrow.' Zelda stared up at the ceiling for a moment, her lips moving slightly as she considered this.

'Yes, I think that about covers it,' she said brightly.

'But, but,' Sheik stuttered, trying to find a loophole. 'How do I even know I can trust you? How do I know you won't use me for your plan, then arrest me as a thief when you don't need me anymore?'

'You don't know. That's the fun of it,' Impa said with a smile. Zelda sighed, looking at Impa and shaking her head slightly.

'You have my word. That's the deal. If you do this, when I come back we'll just forget you ever stole anything and you can go free. Of course, if you go back to your criminal ways once this is over I won't protect you if you're caught, but that's your problem.' Sheik sighed, defeated, and Zelda took advantage of this. 'So, we have a deal?' Sheik muttered something under her breath, too low for Zelda to hear. However, Impa's superior hearing picked it up, and her face darkened.

'How dare you use such language in the presence of royalty!' she said, glaring at Sheik.

'The fact that you're offended only proves that you know what that word means,' Sheik pointed out, making Impa blush slightly and not improving her temper.

'What word?' Zelda asked, confused. Sheik repeated it, to Impa's horror, but Zelda's expression didn't change from polite puzzlement. 'What does it mean?' she asked, and again Sheik told her. Zelda's face went through an interesting array of shades, from green through red and finally ending up purple with horror and embarrassment.

'Where did you even learn something like that?' she gasped, and Sheik grinned but said nothing. The look on Impa's face clearly told her that she had said quite enough.

'Ahem,' Impa said politely, trying to bring Zelda's attention back to the situation at hand. 'So it looks like the… criminal will agree to this task.'

'The criminal has a name,' Sheik muttered, but this time she was careful to make sure that even Impa's keen hearing couldn't detect it.

'From that kind of language, I'm not sure what she's agreeing to!' Zelda said, still blushing heavily. She took a few breaths, and composed herself. 'Yes, I think we're sorted then. You should cast the magic, and then I'll go.'

'Wait, isn't Impa going with you?' Sheik asked, her heart sinking. What could possibly make her situation worse? An irascible, grumpy Sheikah warrior who just happened to hate her guts hanging around her the whole time.

'Of course I'm staying!' Impa snapped. 'Unlike you, Zelda can take care of herself. You'll need my help if you're going to fool Zelda's court. And besides, you don't really think we trust you, do you? We all know that the moment I turn my back you're going to try to escape!' Sheik brought out her "injured innocent" expression, but her heart wasn't in it, since that was exactly what she had been planning. Counting on, in fact.

How can I possibly impersonate the Princess? I'm me and she's…. that! We're nothing like each other! Even if Impa uses some hocus pocus to make me look like her - and can we just discuss the ethical issues with that - and even if she coaches me on how to act, no-one's going to be fooled by me in a million years! But it was too late. Impa was advancing towards Sheik with a mad gleam in her eye, and before the thief could react there was a bright flash of white light.

'Whatever that was, I will not be going through it again,' Zelda's voice said. Suddenly there was a gasp in the same voice, as Sheik realised that the voice had come out of her mouth. She looked down at herself, and groaned. She was now an exact replica of Zelda, except that she was still in her bodysuit, which didn't fit her anywhere near as well anymore.

'You look…' the real Zelda said, wondering whether a compliment was the right way to go. '…accurate,' she finished, deciding to go with honesty. Sheik just muttered another unrepeatable word under her breath, earning her a hard glare from Impa. 'Well, I'd better get going then,' Zelda said, hugging Impa. 'The sooner I leave, the sooner I return and you can go back to your criminal ways,' she said with a sniff, shuddering slightly as she looked at Sheik. The other girl couldn't tell if the shudder was because Zelda now had a doppelganger, or if it was due to Zelda's loathing of her. Either way, she didn't really care. She was stuck looking like Zelda now, and that hammered the final nail into the coffin of escape plans. Now she just wanted to get this over and done with. Zelda had said it would be a few days, right? 'Try to be careful,' Zelda said in a despairing voice as she left, knowing full well that she was being ignored. As soon as Zelda was out the door, Sheik collapsed onto a nearby couch, stretching out and closing her eyes.

'What do you think you're doing?' Impa asked, raising an impressively arched eyebrow. Ah yes. I forgot about her.

'I'm tired, therefore I am resting,' Sheik said, obeying one of what she thought of as the Three Laws of Sheik, the other two being: "I am hungry, therefore I am eating," and, "You are rich and annoying, therefore I am stealing from you".

'You don't have any idea what it means to be a princess, do you?' Impa asked.

'Why would I? Ow!' Sheik said angrily as Impa dragged her up from the couch.

'First you need to get changed. Zelda would never wear anything like that.'

'Then what does she wear?' Sheik asked with rising dread, vaguely recalling Zelda wearing something pink and frilly. She shuddered at the thought. She objected to dresses on general principle, and anything you couldn't run in she considered to be less an item of clothing and more an item of decoration. Pink and frilly was just the dog turd on top of the whole unappetising cake. But when Impa pulled her into Zelda's bedroom and started rummaging in a closet, Sheik sighed. Something told her she was going to end up wearing a dress.

Impa finally found a suitable one, which to Sheik's relief was blue with a minimum of frills. It was long though, and she knew she'd trip up before she even made it down the corridor. Maybe this was part of Impa's plan to stop her escaping? Sheik took off her bodysuit, not bothering to ask Impa to leave. She wasn't bashful and she doubted if Impa would do as she asked anyway. Finally she looked sufficiently regal, and even Impa had to nod in reluctant approval.

'I suppose you look the part. Now you need to start acting it.'

'Meaning?' Sheik asked as she was towed back out into the other room. Impa led her over to a desk piled high with papers and sat her down firmly in a chair.

'You're in charge of an entire kingdom now. That means a lot of paperwork.' Sheik lifted a few documents without enthusiasm.

'Do I need to sign all of these?'

'Read then sign. You can read, I presume?' Sheik glared at the older Sheikah.

'Yes!' she said defiantly. Her mother had made sure that Sheik had gotten the best education she could provide, alone in their little house, which meant that Sheik had been reading her mother's old books for as long as she could remember. But the fact that she could read did not in any way mean that she wanted to trawl through the heaps of paper. 'Hey, where are you going with that?' she asked suddenly as Impa picked up her bodysuit.

'Relax, I'm putting it away. It'll be useful to have something which fits you when you change back,' she said, going into the bedroom.

'What do you mean?' Sheik asked, following her.

'Oh, did I forget to mention that? My magic doesn't work at night. From the moment the sun sets at night until the moment it rises again the next morning, you'll be back in your own body.'

Sheik sat at the desk, trying to concentrate, but she was too busy thinking about what Impa had told her earlier. While it was comforting to know that she wasn't going to be stuck looking like Zelda the entire time (and her brain had already filed this information away under E for Escape), she also couldn't help but imagine a thousand scenarios where things went wrong. If one of the maids came in too early one morning, or if she had to be at an official banquet after sunset…

Impa had assured her that things would work out, that she would adjust the royal schedule so that Sheik only had to see other people during daylight hours, but she was still worried. She was mildly surprised that she was so anxious about keeping up this ruse, but reminded herself that if things went wrong Zelda got a slap on the wrist, but she would most likely be executed for treason. She shuddered just thinking about it.

'I hope you're working over there,' Impa said, looking up from her book. Sheik rolled her eyes, trying to get comfortable in the hard, wooden chair, but it was impossible. She had already tried putting her feet up on the desk, but Impa had told her off because apparently it wasn't "ladylike". She had to be "ladylike" now. Ugh. Instead of her discomfort, she tried to focus on the document she had been trying to read without much success.

Apparently this was Zelda's only job for the day, read and sign, read and sign. This particular document was about… turnip imports, she decided after a while. Not because she was reading particularly thoroughly, but because the word "turnip" came up an otherwise unreasonable number of times. Did she know about turnip imports? No. Did she want to know about turnip imports? Absolutely not. But was she going to be forced to learn about turnip imports? It looked that way. She sighed.

'How does Zelda manage to do this?' she wondered aloud.

'She doesn't waste so much energy complaining,' Impa replied snidely. Sheik turned around to glare at her, but the other Sheikah was still looking at her book. She sighed again, heavily. She couldn't do this, not without her brain turning to treacle and dripping out her ears, which she wanted to avoid if at all possible. She glanced at Impa out of the corner of her eye, but she still wasn't looking. So Sheik quickly grabbed a pen, copied Zelda's flourishing signature onto the bottom of the page, and moved onto the next document. Something about crop rotation. Who knew this kingdom was so big on agriculture? Sheik wondered as she scanned it briskly then signed and put it on the "finished" pile. She didn't even bother to skim the next sheet, or the one after that, and soon the pile to her right was growing steadily.

'You'd better be reading all of those,' Impa said without looking up.

'It's called skim-reading,' Sheik replied, signing off another sheet. But before she could place it on the pile Impa snatched it from her hand.

'Really? Because you just signed the menu from last week's banquet.' Sheik glared and took the piece of paper back, crumpling it up and turning away so Impa wouldn't see her embarrassment. 'Some princess you are,' Impa said with a sniff.

'I'm sorry, I didn't realise being a princess meant doing the filing!' Sheik replied. 'I thought there'd be more, you know, curtseying, having my hand kissed, meeting foreign princes! The fun stuff!'

'If you ever do grow up, which I doubt, you will learn that life, in general, contains very little fun stuff and an awful lot of filing,' Impa said, but her tone was absentminded, as if her insults were reflexive rather than a targeted attack. They probably were, Sheik realised. She just insults me automatically.

'You know, I'm sure it wouldn't kill you to be a little bit nicer to me,' she said as she made a great show of reading the next document before signing. 'After all, from the sound of it we're going to be spending a lot of time together for the next few days. So fewer insults would be nice. After all, a girl could really take offence to that sort of thing.'

'Girl? Hah!' Impa snorted derisively. 'Looking at you, you'd never know.'

'Funny you should say that, since I look exactly like Zelda,' Sheik commented without looking up. Impa was silent for a moment.

'You know what I mean,' she said grumpily. Sheik looked down at the next sheet, trying to read it, but it was so full of complicated legal jargon that it might as well be in a different language. She gave up and signed anyway, but again Impa took the sheet from her. She sighed wearily. 'Look, do you have any idea what any of these documents mean?'

'No clue!' Sheik said cheerfully, signing another sheet. Impa sighed, and moved over to the pile of documents which had yet to be signed.

'Sign. Here. Now,' she said, gesturing to the bottom of a sheet.

'Why?' Sheik asked, although she did it anyway. She had already decided that the path to a long life did not include disobeying Impa.

'Partly because I know what this means and you don't, partly because unlike you I actually care that you sign the right things rather than just random sheets of paper, but mostly because I said so.' Sheik shrugged, signing the next proffered paper. You couldn't argue with logic like that.

'Finally!' Sheik said with a groan, falling off her chair and onto the soft carpet. She would have been quite happy to lie there for at least a day and a half, but Impa, as ever, had other plans.

'Do you know how long it would have taken Zelda to finish that pile, without help?' she asked, raising an eyebrow.

'No,' Sheik said fervently, but she was ignored. As usual.

'An hour. At most.'

'Good for her.' Sheik glanced up at the clock, squinting in the fading light. It had taken the two of them almost four hours to finish the paperwork, although admittedly her complaining hadn't helped things along. 'Who knew being princess was so much work?' she asked the world at large. Impa thought about this.

'Well, Zelda obviously, me, most of her advisors, in fact practically everyone in the castle, and now I think about it probably everyone in the town too.'

'So, everyone except me,' Sheik translated.

'Pretty much,' Impa agreed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Sheik sat upright.

'Your Majesty?' a polite voice asked outside. Impa looked up, alarmed, then marched over to Sheik and hauled her upright.

'Hey! Watch it!' she grumbled but Impa ignored her, straightening her dress.

'There. Now you look halfway presentable, which is more than you've done all day.' Sheik folded her arms and prepared a retort, but the effect was somewhat spoiled when Impa walked straight past her, pausing by the door. 'It's the maid, bringing your dinner. She brings Zelda every meal, every day, so she knows what the Princess is like. If you act out of character she'll notice, so play along!' Sheik opened her mouth, about to protest that she had no idea what in character was for Zelda, never mind out of character, when Impa flung open the door.

'Thank you. The Princess is very busy at the moment, but please leave the tray there,' she said, gesturing to the table. Realising that she should probably act busy, Sheik hurriedly sat back down at the desk and grabbed one of the sheets she had just finished signing, pretending to reread it. She held her breath as the maid came over, placing a heavy tray on the edge of the desk.

But to Sheik's surprise and horror she stayed there, staring straight ahead with her hands behind her back. Is she expecting me to say something? Does Zelda usually say something? What am I supposed to do? She looked frantically over at Impa, who stood behind the maid. The Sheikah contorted her face into an exaggerated smile, and Sheik did the same before realising that her expression was a pained grimace, and quickly adjusted it.

'Thank you,' she told the maid as regally as she could manage. The maid smiled back and bobbed a curtsey before scurrying out.

'There, that wasn't so hard, was it?' Impa said as she closed the door.

'You didn't tell me I'd have to talk to her!' Sheik replied, getting up. 'I thought you said you'd tell me what to do?' Impa rolled her eyes.

'All you did was smile and say thank you. Surely that shouldn't have been too hard a concept to grasp, even for someone of your extremely limited intellectual and social ability.' Sheik stood there, mouth open, as she tried to scrape together enough brain cells to come up with a suitably scathing response. Impa waited, looking sympathetic. 'Nothing?' she asked after a minute or two.

'No,' Sheik muttered.

'Well, if you come up with a halfway-decent insult in the middle of the night, please do not hesitate to wake me,' Impa told her in a tone dripping with sarcasm. She turned towards the door, and Sheik's heart leapt.

'You're going?' she asked, trying to keep the eagerness from her voice.

'Yes. But I wouldn't try to escape, if I were you.'

'What, me? Escape? Pfft. As if,' Sheik said scornfully, cursing internally. As soon as she had seen Impa leaving her thief's instincts had instantly gone back online. Now was her best chance to get out of here.

'I'm glad you're not planning anything, because believe me, it will not end well for you.'

'Yeah, like anyone's going to arrest Zelda,' Sheik said with a laugh.

'You're right,' Impa told her, and the confidence in her tone made Sheik narrow her eyes. 'They wouldn't arrest Zelda. But you're not going to look like Zelda for much longer.' Sheik turned, and glared at the setting sun. She had forgotten about that. 'I will return before sunrise tomorrow, to help you prepare for the day,' Impa informed her. 'In the meantime… well, I don't really care what you do. As long as you're still in this room tomorrow morning.'

We'll see about that, Sheik thought deviously as Impa left, locking the door behind her. We'll just wait and see.

A/N: That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed that. Next chapter will be up tomorrow! And, as ever, any reviews are greatly appreciated.