"Should I have made him stay?" The young woman groaned and massaged her temples to ease her headache. When she wasn't given an answer, she just cursed under her breath and dug her thumbs harder into the sides of her head. There was a hooded woman across the room who she kept a dull gaze with. She had never seen this person in her castle before, and the gates were closed to the public at this time of night. This hooded woman stressed her and aroused her suspicions.

She had closed her eyes and broke gaze with the hooded woman. She heard footsteps and felt a hand gently rest on her shoulder. She looked up and tried to cover up her pained expression on her face. The hooded woman's eyes couldn't be seen. The poorly lit room only allowed her to see the tip of the woman's nose and her smiling lips.

"Princess Zelda," the hooded woman whispered with a soft and inviting voice, "He is The Hero of Twilight. I am quite sure he can handle a ride in the night back to Ordon."

Zelda sighed. She brushed away the woman's hands from her shoulders. "It is not his ride home that stresses me." She stood, walked to the other side of the room, and removed her crown from her head. "He has just lost a friend who he connected with over the past few months. I cannot even fathom the pain he must be going through, losing a friend like that. It's hard for me to believe he'll have all of his sanity after that."

The hooded woman crossed her arms. "Princess Zel-"

"Just call me Zelda," she stated.

The hooded woman's lips stopped moving while partly open, and even though only half of her face could be seen, her expression just showed how confused she was. "I do not want to be rude, but excuse me? You are the princess and ruler of Hyrule, you protected us from Zant and Ganondorf. I do not feel worthy to call you just by your name."

Zelda turned her head away from the woman and gazed out the open window. "I don't like to be referred to as 'Princess'. It makes me feel that I am above everybody else, but I am not. I feel we are equals." She took a deep breath and looked back at the hooded woman. "Now, I am worried for Link and his safety, and you were opposing?"

The hooded woman sighed in defeat. "Zelda, the goddesses chose him for a reason. If they knew he couldn't handle the aftermath of it all, they wouldn't have chosen him. If he couldn't handle it they wouldn't have let the part of the triforce that holds courage reside in him."

Zelda began to twist her hair in her tense hands. She was getting a bit flustered with the whole conversation and wanted to ease her tension without yelling. "But people change. Yes, he handled it all up until now. But human nature is a pain when it comes to feelings of grief. Although he was chosen by the goddesses themselves, he is a human, and humans are susceptible to feelings, change, and mental decay. I am worried for him." She gave the hooded woman a stare into where her eyes would be. "I will be visiting him in a week. Could you let the stable master know to prepare my horse for then?" She knew asking that would determine whether she knew this woman or not. After what had just happened with Ganondorf and Zant, she found it hard to trust people she hadn't seen before.

The hooded woman shook her head, and a long tendril of tightly woven platinum blonde hair slipped out from inside the hood. Zelda was right, she didn't know this woman. Zelda's heart began to beat faster and irregularly. She was curious as to how the woman got in; the gates had been closed all day. Unless she climbed in the window, she couldn't think of any other way this suspicious woman could have gotten him. She just hoped it wasn't a servant of Ganon that was still alive.

"Maybe if I worked for you, I could tell the stable master." The hooded woman smirked. "You should probably tell somebody else besides me.

Zelda tried to hide the emotions from forming on her face, but she was growing scared. This woman seemed to be plotting something, in Zelda's eyes at least. She felt threatened. She didn't want to show it. She raised one brow, widened her eyes, and gritted her teeth. "If you don't work here, then who the hell are you? The gates have been closed all day," she practically hissed, "so how did you get in?" Her eyes flooded with fear, it was the only reason she acted this way. She didn't know who this woman was and what her motive was. All she knew is that she didn't want something like what Zant did to happen again.

"Don't feel threatened," she whispered. The hooded woman reached her hands up to her hood to pull it back.

Zelda cursed under her breath, "Why shouldn't I feel threatened? You have come in without proper permission. The last time this happened Hyrule was taken from me by that tyrant, Zant." Her gaze flickered to her right, where her sheathed sword was. She began to inch her arm over to grab it.

"Because I was sent here to look over you, not hurt you," the hooded woman grunted. She flipped back her hood this time, revealing her face. Her skin was deeply tanned, a lot darker than her own skin. Besides the one long tendril of hair, her platinum blonde hair was cut short, close to her skull. Underneath her left eye was a tattoo of a teardrop. The hooded woman's clothes were of dark color, and over top her chest was a cloth with the mark of the Sheikah tribe; Zelda recognized it from her many studies.

"H-how am I supposed to know that?" Her voice faltered and stuttered. She felt her face lose all color and flood with horror.

The woman turned her head and locked a gaze with Zelda. "My name is Impa. I was sent by the goddesses to protect you. I was only able to come to you now due to the circumstances that Hyrule was in these past few months. Please forgive me for my absences, and that I came to you today to try to relieve you of your stressed, but only flustered you and filled you with fear."

Zelda's face turned white and her mouth gaped open. "W-why couldn't you help me during the invasion of the Twilight?"

"I couldn't enter the Twilight unless I wanted to become a spirit like the rest of your people – Link was the only one who became a beast." Impa deepened her stare into Zelda's eyes. "Even if I could have entered the Twilight, I wouldn't have been able to enter the castle. Ganon had set up a reflector that prevented anybody from entering."

Zelda regained some control over her expressions. She closed her mouth and rubbed her eyes. "Oh, I am sorry," she sighed, "I didn't know. I was scared. I didn't want anything to happen to Hyrule again."

Impa crouched down and laid her hand on Zelda's shoulder and smiled warmly at her. "It is fine, My Grace. I could understand your reason to fear me. "

Zelda looked back up at Impa and smiled slightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

Impa just nodded. She stood from her crouched position and walked towards the window. "If you can excuse me, but I need to go find a place to sleep tonight," she stated firmly while looking back at Zelda. She chuckled at herself for a second, "I may have to do more mental check-ups with you than you feel you must do to Link; you seem like a lost puppy."

Zelda smiled back. And before she knew it Impa had left. Zelda was left there somewhat confused at everything that just happened. She felt as if she was flooded with information and she couldn't take it all in at once. She felt as if it was a dream.

But she knew that everything that happened was all too real to ever be dreamed of.