Once you've met your soul-mate, you never look back. This story is dedicated to my soul-mates. I'm forever changed, and forever grateful.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. Zelda clearly owns me :P

Prelude

If Peace had a sound, this was it: surrounding him, filling his mind, fading and returning like a breath. The danger was gone, but so was the memory. Blinding light against his eyelids. Was he dead? No, for he felt pain, real and perfect slicing through his being. But where was he, and how could a sound this perfect exist in life?

The breath of sound nudged at his mind until memory began to return. Of course… the ocean. Waves, pounding, crashing… endless.

A shadow blocked the light from his eyes, and he chanced opening them. The image was blurred, outlined by a bright crown of sunlight. Long hair flowed down, almost touching his face.

"Zelda…"

Chapter One

Awakening

The days at first were little more than cascades of light, a dance of sun and clouds, rays of light sifting and changing through the window by Link's bed. Fever bloomed and breathed through him, a parasite- but the world outside was calm. Time regained clarity as his memory returned: Lightning had splintered his galleon and left it to sink, burning, into the waters. A thousand fearsome tides drove him farther and farther away from his beloved Hyrule, with no promise of land or life.

He hoped he was in Hyrule but had a deep feeling he wasn't. A girl had found him: not Zelda, he was now certain. He heard her speak to him one day as she laid a cool, damp cloth against his forehead. He must have said something first, for she said,

"I'm sorry- we've found no one else."

Link struggled through the fog to respond. His own voice sounded far away.

"How long have I been here?"

"A week, as the moon rises. You're on the mend."

As is sometimes the way with fever, a deep sense of peace overwhelmed him. Though he would not feel it again for a long time, he sensed that he was meant to be here. Sweet smells of unfamiliar flowers and the songs of strange birds wafted through the window, and his world, though confined to that small room, felt large. The girl studied him, and he spoke to her again.

"Where am I?"

She pressed a mug gently to his lips. He drank-it burned his throat- and she said, "Koholint, the Island of the Windfish. You are fortunate to have survived the storm. We saw it on our western horizon for three days. You must have curried favor with the gods, elsewhere in your travels." Her voice was soft but there was something dark in how she said it. She took the mug away. Link looked at her truly for the first time, taking in her features. In her eyes he could read nothing.

"What are you called?"

A smile touched her lips. "I'll return. Sleep, and dream." No sooner had the burning drought reached his chest, he fell into a deep sleep.

And he was back in the dungeon, and the rot from the bodies filled his senses once again- he knew he was dreaming, but he would never get away from that smell. Perfect dark, perfect silence, until he turned the corner. Moonlight shone through the barred window of the one cell with a living prisoner. A crumpled heap in the corner, dress ruined in dirt and filth. A creature- was it destroyed? Could it live again? It opened its eyes- wide grey eyes, huge and sunken. It was a girl, not older than he. She might live- the thought burrowed within him. That thought gave him the strength to kill Ganon.

Another dream, brighter, golden. Now he had spent years watching her face- was it destroyed? Could it live again?- and, gods, in this moment, she was radiant. Fragrant autumn leaves covered the ground. The abandoned orchard, their favorite place to rest and let the horses roam. Alone as anyone could be, with a princess. Out of view of the handmaidens and guards. What they did here varied from dream to dream. How many times had she kissed him, here, and he felt the heat of her mouth? Never in waking life, though, and no number of kisses could change what happened next.

This time, though- this dream, no kiss- She laughed and it echoed strangely into the clouds. "Let us read the bones, Link," and she drew out her leather pouch, spilled the contents between them with a fierce mischief in her eyes. A bird's bones, and the skull rose at once to his face and kissed his eyes, and they bled, and bled…

"Shhh, shhhh… wake up, wake up!" An urgent whisper, and the girl was shaking him awake. "What are you called? Tell me- I'll protect you." He was shaking uncontrollably, unable to answer. She spoke again. "I'm Marin, daughter of Tarin. Tell me your name. Speak. Find your strength again with words. You are alive- you are safe!"

"Link…" He forced out. What had he said, in his dreaming? "Link- I'm called Link. Of Hyrule."

"Your dreams have power here." After she spoke, quiet loomed. "I'll protect you," She repeated softly.

It was Marin's idea to write a letter. Send word that he was safe. "Promise you'll return, and it will come true. Now- who do you miss?"

"I don't understand…"

But she left him quill and ink and a small fold of paper. He willed his hand to stop trembling and penned a few sentences. When she returned, a beautiful gray-blue messenger-bird was perched on her arm. She wore a falconer's glove, the bird was so large.

"Do you have anything that belongs to her? A belonging will bind the bird to her and he will always be able to find her."

Link's head swam. This was happening too fast. The girl Marin spoke in terms of eternity. He didn't want to send a letter, he wanted to be on the next boat, well or no. Did she expect him to die? What kind of magic was this?

He remembered the galleon, and suddenly realized all of his belongings had been were now on the bottom of the ocean. His sword, his shield… all her letters from the past year…

"Anything, Link. A belonging of hers. That ring on your finger, perhaps?"

He looked at his hand. A gift from the king, with three triangle jewels, in the shape of the Triforce. But she had presented it to him- it had passed through her hands. She had placed it on his finger. That wry secret smile with which she had done it made his heart pound even now, remembering it. He pulled the ring from his finger. It was his best shot. Marin twined it to the bird's leg.

There was still so much he didn't understand- but in exhaustion, he yielded to sleep.

And, sleeping, he dreamed once more of Zelda.