Hey everyone! For those of you who have been following my stories, I've hit a writer's block on "Love Sees No Difference." I apologize for how long it's been since I've put up a new chapter on it. But I've had this story circling through my head for some time now, so I decided to work on it as a parallel project. First thing's first of course: The Legend of Zelda is the work of Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, and all the fine fellows of Nintendo. The picture I created as the thumbnail is based on the Hero's Shade's shields from Twilight Princess, so I'll tentatively call it Nintendo property as well. There will be original characters here, but they won't come until later; all the characters so far are also Nintendo's property. I'll let y'all know when the OCs appear. Now without further ado, here we go...

It was around five-thirty in the evening when the rider emerged from the eaves of the Lost Woods. Had any Hylians been near enough to mark his presence, they may have mistaken him for a Kokiri, for he was quite short of stature and wore a tunic and cap the same bright green color that they were rumored to wear.

But young as he was - scarcely through his tenth year - he was no innocent forest child. The gold-colored hair under his cap was rather unruly, bearing the signs of a long journey. His blue eyes bore a distant look, contemplative and a little sad. And if that wasn't convincing enough, the bow, arrows, and sword slung on his back would prove his experience, as would the two shields slung to either side of his saddle.

He checked his mount for a moment, pausing to survey the expanse of Hyrule Field. He took in the sights of Death Mountain, Lon-Lon Ranch, and Hyrule Castle in the distance. Then he leaned in towards the head of his young red mare and whispered, "There it is, Epona. Just a little further." As if in response, Epona shook her pale mane vigorously. And with that, the boy smiled, before lightly prodding Epona into a canter.

The boy and his mare moved over the plain for another hour without any pause. It was between the ranch and Castle Town - maybe five miles from the latter - that they stopped suddenly. The lad peered into the west, a puzzled look coming over his keen eyes. He was looking at a mass of canvas tents in the distance, columns of smoke rising from within it. He studied the sight for a time, wondering about its purpose.

"Eh, Zelda would know about it," he finally said with a shrug, before turning north, towards the Castle.

…

Twenty minutes later, he found himself facepalming at the ornately-armored honor guard who stood stubbornly between him and the seat of Hyrule's rulers. "Do you lot take some sort of sick pleasure from frustrating the Princess' friends?" he asked in exasperation.

"She has precious few of those," the guard answered. "If you can't prove you're one of them, then you may go no further."

Barely suppressing the urge to call down curses on the guard, the boy fished around in one of his saddlebags. After a few seconds, his hands grasped something. "She sent me out last year with this," he told the guard, pulling out a lovely ocarina carved from polished blue stone. "It's her personal instrument," he elaborated.

The guard looked skeptical, before his eyes settled on the brass Triforce insignia on the mouthpiece. He started for a moment, then recovered. "Best be returning it, then," he replied, stepping out of the young rider's way and ringing a bronze bell hanging from the inside of the gatehouse.

As the rider's horse walked slowly through the gate, another guard came trotting up. "Is your audience with the King or the Princess?" he inquired, devoid of emotion.

"The Princess, if she isn't too busy," the boy replied, dismounting and unstrapping his weapons.

This new guard raised an eyebrow slightly, a corner of his mouth twitching upwards. "If you'll follow me, then," he said, walking into the keep, the visitor not far behind.

Three minutes of walking and climbing stairs took them to a simple wooden door with a gilded Triforce inlaid into it. The guard knocked softly.

"It's open," a young female voice called from inside. Gently, the guard opened the door, admitting the traveller into the Princess' quarters.

"You have a visitor, Your Grace," he humbly explained to a small figure standing at the balcony outside the room. And at that, the figure turned around.

Princess Zelda of Hyrule resembled, in many ways, her visitor, with her small, slender frame, golden hair that fell to her shoulders, and wide sapphire eyes. But she didn't have the look of a jaded traveller as the boy in green did; her eyes still held the innocence of youth that could be expected from a ten-year-old princess. Right now, she was breaking into a wide smile.

"Link! You're back!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms open as she approached the boy. And for the first time that day, Link grinned. They came together, throwing their arms around each other.

"I see you finally ditched the head thing," Link said wryly as they pulled apart.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I figured I'd go with a new look," she explained, before turning to the amused-looking guard. "We're fine on our own," she said to the man, who gave a quick bow of the head before leaving the two children alone in the room.

Then Zelda took a good look at Link, beaming. "I think you've grown," she said happily, eliciting another grin as the boy gave a quick huff of laughter.

"It has been a year," Link replied. "You've grown too."

Zelda laughed a little and looked at her friend again, noticing something missing. "You didn't find her, did you?" she asked sadly.

Link's expression sobered as he shook his head. "I still don't get it," he mused. "Why did Navi have to leave? And why couldn't she let anyone know where she was going? None of the Great Fairies saw her, she never went back to the Kokiri, she wasn't even in Termina."

"You went to Termina?" Zelda asked, curious, to which Link nodded. "Funny...that shield I gave you - the one with the owl - that's a Terminian design."

Link's eyes widened at the irony. "Wow," he said drily, before they both broke into exhausted laughter. As it died down, Link finally asked, "So, how have things been since I left?"

It was Zelda's turn to sober up now as she looked forlornly towards the balcony. "Not so great," she answered. "When you told me about Ganondorf's plans, he somehow got wind of it and fled."

"That much I remember," Link interjected. "But I take it things got worse?"

"He declared war a week later," Zelda explained with a nod. "The Gerudo have invaded Hyrule. You probably saw their camp on your way here, a ways to the west. We have troops at Lon-Lon Ranch to keep them from going any further, but they've got the place under siege. Impa is there. I hope she's alright."

Link nodded, absorbing it all. It was some seconds before he said, "I guess it's time to get back in action. At least I know what Ganondorf's capable of now."

Zelda was shaking her head. "Not yet, Link," she said, concerned. "You may have been a teenager before, but it's only been a year since you returned to being nine years old again. You're still only ten. I know you can fight well, but a war isn't like fighting monsters. I want you safe."

Link gave a shallow smile. "Where would I go, then?" he asked.

Zelda sighed. "I really want to say that you should stay here with me. You could get more training from the guards, and we could catch up. But sometimes, I wonder if even this castle is safe. If the troops at the ranch are defeated, there's nothing stopping Ganondorf from attacking here."

"Another continent, maybe?" Link questioned.

The Princess grimaced. "It's not ideal, but it's safe. If you go past Lake Hylia and into Labrynna, there should be passenger ships that can take you someplace. You still have the Ocarina, right?"

"Oh, right!" Link replied, producing the Ocarina of Time and holding it out to his old friend. "I was going to give it back anyway."

"Keep it," Zelda said, closing Link's hands around the instrument. "It can't fall into Ganondorf's hands. We'll write to each other wherever you go, promise?"

Link hugged her. "I promise," he answered. They held their embrace for ten seconds before pulling away. "I'd better get started," he said then, making to stand up.

"It's night, and you're probably tired," Zelda said, forestalling him. "Stay here at least tonight." She got up, opening a drawer under her wardrobe and pulling out a thick, rolled-up mat. As Link watched, she unrolled the mat between her own bed and the archway leading to the balcony. "It'll be just like our sleepover last year," she said, her smile returning.

As much as Link wanted to get a head start on his journey, he decided, with a weary smile, that he couldn't pass up the offer. So he thanked Zelda. They gave each other one last embrace for the night, before the Princess climbed into bed, and Link curled up quite comfortably on the mat, both falling easily to sleep.