Winds of Change

Chapter One: A New Adventure


Gah! I need hurry, I'm already gonna be late as it is! If only I could have woken up earlier.

Today was the day I would be transferring to a school in Hyrule Castle Town, now that might not seem like much to most folk, but I didn't exactly live near Castle Town, so this was kind of a big step for me.

I pulled on my boots, buckled my belt around my tunic, snugly fitted my pointed cap onto my head, and threw on my traveling cloak. I grabbed my pack, filled with everything I owned, and bolted out the door.

It was a warm summer day outside. The sun was high in the sky, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and there was a cool breeze rustling through the trees. I always loved the wind; there was just something about it that made me feel peaceful and at ease. But now wasn't the time for being relaxed, I need to move quickly if I wanted to make it to the school in time for the welcome ceremony.


I couldn't help but sigh in relief as I slipped in through the backdoor of the school. I figured if I came in through the backdoor, I might be able to avoid them knowing that I was late, I mean, this was a fairly large school, I doubt they'd be able to keep track of everyone that came through the front door.

I started to walk away, when I heard the backdoor creak open behind me. I panicked and flattened myself against the wall next to the door. The door stopped and a figure walked in, I was relieved to see that it was a blonde girl in a pink dress around my age holding a pack of her own; she must be a student getting here late as well. A mischievous smirk made its way onto my face; perhaps I could play a little prank on her.

"Young lady! What do you think you're doing back here during the welcoming ceremonies?" I said in my most authoritative tone.

The girl visibly jumped and made a small squeak as she slowly turned to face me, a nervous smile plastered on her face. I thought the prank would end as soon as she saw me and realized I was just a student, but I guess she actually thought I was a teacher.

"I-I was j-just…uh…looking for my, um, dad?" She said it like she was asking me. I suppose I could keep this up for a little while.

I put on the sternest face I could muster and folded my arms across my chest. "Now tell me, if your father is in fact in this building, wouldn't he be in the grand hall at the ceremonies and not at the very back of the building where no one should be right now?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"O-oh, y-yeah, I guess he would be, huh?" She said as she scratched the back of her head nervously. "I'll just be on my way then, I guess."

She started to back up slowly and I merely kept up my angry teacher façade. "Oh no you don't! You are going to come with me and we are going to see the headmaster as soon as the ceremonies are over." I grabbed her by the wrist, noting the audible squeak she made once again, and started down the nearest hallway with the girl in tow.

Now that she couldn't see my face, I couldn't help but smile to myself. It was too perfect! She actually thought I was a teacher! I wasn't quite sure how far I was going to take this joke, but you can bet I would take it as far as I could!

I put my angry face back on and glanced back at her. "By the way, I'll need to know your name, just in case." I said.

"Oh, um, it's Zelda." She answered.

Huh, interesting name, and if I recalled correctly, the princess's name was Zelda as well.

"So were you named after the princess then?" I asked. She looked surprised at this question.

"No, I wasn't named after her. I am the Princess." She stated.

My eyes went as wide as they could and I let go of her wrist like lightning. I got down on my knees and bowed my head.

"I-I'm so sorry, your highness! I was just playing a harmless prank! I didn't really intend to take you to the headmaster. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I didn't mean it!"

She breathed a heavy sigh. "Please don't do that. I hate when people treat me like this. Besides, I did come in late, so you were just doing your job as a teacher, right?" She offered a smile.

"U-um, yeah, about that, I'm not actually a teacher. Like I said earlier, I was just playing a prank. I'm a student, and I got here late just like you." I didn't dare look her in the eye. Not only was she the princess, but she was a woman and women were something that even the manliest of men should be afraid of.

I heard nothing but silence for the next few minutes. Finally, I heard something, a whimper. I looked up at Zelda and saw her eyes filling with tears.

"W-wait! What's wrong?! Why are you crying?" I asked. It was never a good thing when a girl cried, or at least that's what I heard.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm fine, I was just really scared for a minute. I thought I was actually gonna get in trouble with the headmaster on the first day."

Dang it! Now she's making me feel bad!

"Well, um, should we head to the ceremony?" I asked awkwardly.

"Y-yeah, I guess we should." She said through sniffles.

I gave her a smile and started walking again, but before I could get far, I heard a new voice.

"Well, well, what have we here? A couple of students who thought they could sneak out of the ceremony, or perhaps they were late and thought they could slip in through the back and hope no one would notice?" This new voice was low, but it held a hint of mischief.

Zelda and I turned around, knowing as soon as we laid eyes on the man, that this was definitely not a prank or anything of the sort. Before us stood the tallest man I had ever seen, he stood at least a head taller than most people I had seen. His skin seemed to be a very dark shade of green which just made his flaming, red hair and beard stand out that much more. And to add to his intimidation factor, he was currently wearing a full set of armor with a sword strapped to his side.

"Uh hah, hi there…" I gave a weak wave of my hand. Zelda merely stood there, rooted to the floor, eyes fearful.

The man gave a hearty laugh. "I suppose I should escort you to the ceremonies then, shouldn't I? Come along, children. We wouldn't want the headmaster to know that you were missing from the grand hall, now would we?" He flashed us a smile and motioned for us to follow him as he began walking the opposite way down the hall.

Wow! What a nice guy, I thought he was gonna kill us for sure! Okay, maybe not kill, but I thought he was at least gonna get us in huge trouble.

I breathed a sigh of relief and followed him, but soon noticed that Zelda hadn't moved.

"Zelda! Come on! He's helping us not get into trouble!" I said.

She snapped out of her trance and looked at me. "O-oh, right, sorry."

She ran a little to catch up with me and we continued following the tall man. I was about to ask what had been wrong, but quickly decided it wasn't my place to pry.

As we walked, I finally took the time to look at the school itself. It seemed to be pretty well maintained; the stone floors were in good condition, the wooden walls and ceiling looked freshly polished, and there were windows placed periodically along the outer wall, allowing for a soft breeze to find its way in.

Ahhh, no matter how many times I felt the wind, it was always new and refreshing.

"We're here." The man stated. "Try to be as quiet as possible and the staff won't even notice you came in late, alright?"

"M'kay, thank you so much for helping us out mister...uh...what's your name?" I asked.

"Ganondorf, my name is Ganondorf. I look forward to seeing you in my class this year." He said. "Especially you." He added towards Zelda.

She froze up again and he merely chuckled at the reaction. Now I knew something was up between them. Did they know each other from somewhere? I'd have to ask later.

We opened the door to the grand hall slowly and quietly, slipping through as soon as the crack in the door was large enough to allow us to. Zelda and I blended into the crowd quite easily, but Ganondorf stood at almost double the height of any of the students as he waded through the crowd up to the stage where he stood between a stern looking woman and a man who, judging from his clothing, was a seasoned sea captain.

"Zelda!" Someone whispered nearby. "You made it without getting caught, to be honest, I'm really surprised." The source of said voice was someone in a skintight blue jumpsuit with a white scarf covering the bottom half of their face, and to be honest, it was making it really hard to tell if this person was a dude or a girl.

"Thanks, Sheik, but I didn't do it totally unaided." Zelda responded. "He helped me." She threw me a smile.

And what a beautiful smile it is.

The androgynous human being looked me over, squinting their eyes with suspicion. "Nice to meet you, I suppose." He offered his hand for me to shake. I shook his hand, giving Zelda a questioning look in the process.

"Sorry, Sheik always acts this way when I introduce him to new guys that I've met. It's a little annoying, to be honest." Zelda explained.

Ahah! So it was a dude after all!

"It's for your own good, Zelda! Who knows what this guy might try to pull as soon as he's alone with you!" Sheik exclaimed.

At that, Zelda's face went red. "Sheik, that's enough! I've judged him to be of pure intent. And besides, we've already been alone once and he didn't try to do anything."

"That's how they get ya, they lure you into a false sense of security first, and then when they get you alone they'll try to-"

I cleared my throat. "Shouldn't we be listening to the speech that they're giving?" I asked, purposefully cutting Sheik off.

Zelda threw me a thankful smile. "You're right, we probably should."

"Fine, but all I'm saying is that you need to be careful, Zelda. I don't want anything happening to my little sister." Sheik said, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

Little sister? So that means…great, I've gotten on the bad side of the prince of Hyrule. What else could go wrong with this day?

"-And that concludes this year's welcoming ceremony! I wish you all the best of luck this year!" Said the man who was currently at the front of the stage.

Looks like I spoke too soon. Well, good for us, we just missed everything that we probably needed to know to get along in the coming year at this school. I might as well start packing my bags now, not like I unpacked them in the first place.

Zelda must have seen the worried look on my face, as she offered me some consolation. "Don't worry about it too much, you'll probably be fine." When my worried look didn't go away, Sheik offered some advice.

"If you're that distressed about it, just ask one of the teachers to fill you in on what you need to know."

Hm, I suppose I could do that. Hopefully they wouldn't be too mad.

"Alright, I guess I'll do that, Sheik."

As I walked away, I got the distinct feeling that Sheik was grinning under that stupid scarf. Whatever, I couldn't turn back now that I had said I was gonna do it. I headed up to the stage, which most of the teachers had vacated, and was relieved to see Ganondorf still there. He had been nice before, surely he wouldn't mind. As I walked up to him, he gestured for me to wait until he was done talking. He was talking to the stern looking woman he had been standing next to during the ceremony. From afar, I had thought her to be older due to her white hair and stern face, but she actually seemed to be quite young, perhaps in her early thirties at the latest. Similar to Ganondorf, she was also wearing armor, however, hers was just light armor that covered her arms and legs and a breastplate bearing a symbol on it that looked like an eye with a teardrop below it. Other than that, she wore a simple light blue, sleeveless jumpsuit and a black scarf around her neck. Another notable part of her appearance was her deep red eyes, I had only known of a few other people with such a hue to their eyes.

Their conversation ended with the woman stomping off in frustration and Ganondorf looking amused as he turned to me.

"Sorry for making you wait. Impa and I needed to discuss some things for the upcoming year." He said.

"Impa?"

"Yes, that's the name of the woman who was just here. She'll be one of your teachers while you're here as well." He explained. "But enough about that; what can I do for you?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, right. I…kinda missed all of the speeches, and I was wondering if you might be able to, um, fill me in on what I need to know?" I put on a nervous smile at the end.

He let out a laugh that sounded more like a roar. "HAHA! First off, there wasn't anything you needed to know from those speeches, they were simply welcomes from the staff. Second, I'm gonna bet that Sheik told you to ask a teacher, didn't he?" Ganondorf looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded in confirmation.

"That boy is a handful." Ganondorf sighed.

Wait a minute, isn't this Sheik's first year here? Then again I guess no one really said that, did they? But that does remind me, I was gonna ask about Zelda.

"I have one more question if that's alright, Mr. Ganondorf."

"Of course, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have! And don't be so formal, calling me mister makes me feel old."

"Oh, okay then. I was just wondering if you and Zelda already knew each other, I just kinda got the feeling that you did from how she acted around you."

"Oh, that. Yes, I've known Zelda since the day she was born. Her father and I have been close friends for a long time, but for some reason, she doesn't seem to like me very much, but oh well, you can't win them all."

Ahh, now things are making sense.

"Oh! We should be on our way to the mess hall about now; they're serving a light lunch for everyone that's here. I hear they've got fried leever, a delicacy from my home town." I could see Ganondorf getting excited at the thought of…whatever a leever was. "Why don't you accompany me? I get the feeling we'll get along quite well during the coming year, don't you?"

Yeah, I do kinda get that feeling, but who couldn't get along with someone like him, surely he was the most popular teacher here, at least among the students.

"Sure, that'd be great." I said with a smile.

We made our way into the hallway, but were soon stopped by the overflowing amount of students going to exactly the same place we were. I guess Ganondorf figured this was a good time for conversation.

"If I may ask, what exactly is your relationship with Zelda? I merely ask as an overprotective godfather." He said.

"Oh, we only met today in the hallway just before you found us. So there's not really a relationship of any kind." I answered.

"That's good. Not that I think you're a bad kid or anything, but she is royalty, and you, quite frankly, are not. I hope that doesn't come off as rude."

"Oh no, you're fine." I responded. "I understand perfectly well; the royals should keep to their own."

"Thank you for understanding that." He said it with a level of sincerity I had never heard. "Now, about that fried leever!"

I suddenly noticed that during our conversation, we had advanced into the mess hall and to the front of the line for food.

"What can I get for ya?" Asked the man with the large mustache behind the counter.

"I'll have fried leever, I guess." I glanced at Ganondorf, he was giving me the biggest thumbs up I'd ever seen. The man however was giving me a look of pity and wonder.

"You're a braver man than I." Said the man.

I'm not sure what to think of that.

Ganondorf ordered the same thing and we scouted for a place to sit.

"Ah! How about over there?" He asked. I looked at where he was pointing and saw a table with only two occupants; Zelda and Sheik. Without waiting for my answer, Ganondorf started over to the table, and since I didn't really have choice, I followed him.

As soon as Ganondorf took his seat, I could see Zelda shifting in her seat uncomfortably and Sheik giving both of us a glare.

"I see how it is. You were buddies with Ganon all along, weren't you?" Sheik said accusingly.

"Maybe I was. What's it to you?" Sheik was really starting to rub me the wrong way.

"Now, now you two, this is neither the time nor the place for a fight, you can settle your problems another time, perhaps when you're not in a room full of other people." Ganondorf said. It was only a mild scolding, but I could feel that if we took it any further, the outcome would not be pretty.

"Yes, sir." I responded meekly.

"Tch, sniveling coward, giving in to his demands." Sheik muttered to himself.

"Hey, guys, mind if I sit with you?" We all looked over to see another student; he didn't look familiar to me, so I assumed he must be a friend of Zelda's and Sheik's. The guy had blonde hair and blue eyes, he wore simple brown boots and tan pants along with a green tunic and a pointed hat like mine, only his was green instead of purple.

"Link! I thought you weren't coming today." Zelda said.

"No, I said I wasn't coming to the welcoming ceremony, I never said anything about after that." Link responded.

Sheik didn't say anything and instead simply gave Link a high five. Link then turned to our side of the table, he gave Ganondorf a glare and then turned his attention to me.

"I'm afraid I don't know you. Are you friends with Zelda?" He asked.

"Oh yeah! We met this morning because we were both late, this is…um…" Zelda looked confused.

"Go on, who is it Zel?" Link asked.

"Well, this is embarrassing, but I never got your name." Zelda said to me.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. My name is Vaati, I came from over on the Cloud Tops. Nice to meet you!"


A/N: First chapter of a new story. Let me know what you think of it. This is my first story (Someone gave me their account.) So I'd love to hear some feedback on how I did.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing if you did so, or if you are going to do so in the near future.