Sheik waits. Atop Death Mountain or deep within the temple in Kakariko, he waits. Seven long years filled with fear and uncertainty and death, he waits and he watches.

Zelda waits too, but Zelda dares to hope.

It is a long seven years, and Impa is only there for the first three. He learns to survive. He learns to kill. Sheik would not hesitate to slaughter an entire town if it meant Ganondorf's reign would be one day shorter.

Zelda cries over each death.

Sheik waits and he kills and he trains, preparing for the hero. His hero. The one he is sworn to protect. The one sworn to protect him. He wants only to fight at his side and teach him what he needs to know.

Zelda remembers the boy from the forest and his fairy, sneaking into the castle with the Kokiri Emerald. He stared at her with his wide blue eyes, like she had all the answers. Like she knew what to do. Those innocent trusting eyes... Zelda prays he will eventually forgive her.

Sheik races across the country, living on naught but stale bread and the gifts he receives from those he saves. He has gone without sleep when rushing medicine to a dying a girl. He often makes his bed on the ground as the heavens open and the goddesses pour out their tears. He has become an expert on removing bloodstains from his clothes. He runs until he body is about to break to defend the citizens of Hyrule. Sheik does all the things that Zelda wishes she could do as Hyrule's princess but can't for that very reason.

Rauru recalls him to the Temple of Time. The seven years have come to close, and it is time for the hero to awaken. Zelda slips into the skin of the Sheikah, more comfortable even than her own. Sheik doesn't dream. The thousands of Hylians screaming for a savior are not his children. He did not take seven years of the hero's life. Sheik stands before him as an equal, another man ready to sacrifice everything to defeat Ganondorf.

The warriors' eyes meet, and a bond is formed. Together, they are the light that will hold Ganondorf's evil at bay, until one day it is only an unpleasant memory.