Elia looked down.

            She quickly looked up.

            It took a few minutes for the girl to catch her breath.  After being up there every single day for who knew how long, Elia would have been expected to get use to the height.  But she wasn't.  Not yet.

            Still, it was her favorite place in all of Hyrule.  The secret door in the upper part of Kakariko Village's famous windmill.  She liked to sit like she was doing now: leaning against one side, legs dangling freely, long, brown hair blown back by the wind.  It was peaceful.  Quite peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of Kakariko!

            Since that day ten years ago, when the Hero of Time defeated Ganondorf, everything had flourished in all parts of Hyrule.  Kakariko expanded, the Castle Town was rebuilt, Zora's Domain opened to the public, Goron City grew—there were simply too many things to name.

            People came from neighboring nations, seeking peace and friendship after being isolated for so long.  Many of these countries had simply been groups of Hylians who had been lost or something.  They'd stayed where they were, and a few generations later they were self-sustaining towns.  But not anymore.  Those places were all but abandoned, and the Hylians flooded into Hyrule like nobody's business.

            Elia was one of those people.  When she was ten years old, her family had joined the craze.  They packed up and started a new life in Kakariko Village.  Their home was part of a series of buildings carved into the mountains themselves; the structures were stable, and only one wall actually had to be built.  That meant they were cheaper, especially since holes could be effectively made with a batch of carefully placed dynamite.  Elia remembered first coming to Kakariko and being frightened of the loud explosions going on.  She was even more frightened when her parents informed her that that was the sound of their house being made.

            Elia smiled at the memory.  She looked down at the front door now, and saw a man emerge.  It wasn't her father!  Oh, yes.  It was that man.  That man who had been coming often now that Elia's real father had left suddenly on a 'business trip'.

            Things weren't good at home.  The whole reason Elia had discovered this place was to avoid the fighting her parents constantly engaged in.  It was worse when Elia's sister, Millie, had gotten married and moved to Hyrule Castle Town.  Being alone with all that yelling and screaming day in and day out…that was something the fifteen year old Elia just couldn't stand any more.

            Elia glared at the man from her high perch.  She had never met him face to face, but she would surely recognize him up close!  Those black eyes…the shaggy hair…  She shuddered just thinking about him.  She was upset; she loved her father, and he loved her back.  She loved her mother.  And, in their hearts, they loved each other two, Mother and Father.

            Father often left on trips when things got really bad.  But he would always come back, apologetic and quiet, and Mother and him would kiss and smile and talk like nothing was the matter.  This time was different, though.  That man…that shaggy man who acted like he was king of the world…he had barged into their lives.

            Elia hardly bothered going home now.  Mother would give her a habitual 'take care' and then continue adding paints to her face and giggling at the mirror.  A bit after Elia left, Mother would go out and then come back.  Then that man would come.  If they were trying to hide their relationship, it wasn't working.  Elia would hear gossip left and right as she fought her way through the mess of people in Kakariko's market place.

            Tears that had long been submerged suddenly overfilled from Elia's deep brown eyes.  The memories were too much, and she sobbed quietly, allowing the wind to blow away her tears.

            "A trip?" Elia asked.

            "Yes, a trip.  I don't know how long I'll be—not more than a week or two?"  Elia's mother was hurriedly packing her leather satchel.  "You're fifteen now, eh?  Can't you take yourself?  Besides, there's plenty of people around here would be happy to have you stay with them…"

            Elia frowned.  Sure, she could take care of herself.  She was practically a woman!  But…there was something about that added security of mother being there.  Mother had changed ever since she met that man.

            "So?  Aren't you going to say anything?" prompted the woman as she stood impatiently at the door.

            Elia hesitated, but she walked over and endured a hasty kiss on her forehead.  She looked at her mother for a long moment, thinking that although they shared the same features of light skin and brown hair and eyes, inside they were different.

            A knock came at the door, and Elia's mother stepped into the night.  The door shut, and Elia heard giggling from outdoors.  She heard a deep voice laughing, and imagined an arm being placed about Mother's shoulders.

            Elia shut her eyes and walked away.  She was numb.  How could Mother just have left so quickly, with little heed to Elia's feelings?  Had the woman stopped loving her daughter?

            Elia's reservoir of tears was as dried up as the well used to be.  She couldn't cry any longer.  She just…sat.  Sat and stared at the cold, stone wall.

            "A job?  You decided to get one, eh?" said the woman behind the counter.  She was as burly as any warrior, and probably as dirty as one too.  Still, Elia needed to work or she wouldn't eat.

            "Yes.  I heard you have a waitress position available?"  The girl tried to smile politely, but she couldn't help thinking about how long it'd been since her mother had left.  It had to be over a month by now…

            "Sure, sure.  Good thing you're here!  You can start right away!"  She grinned goodheartedly.  Her name was Dain, and she had established the first tavern of Kakariko.  The place was a moderately sized building that stretched inside the rock face near the graveyard, with the other half protruding outwards.  It was popular with townsfolk and travelers alike.

            Dain rummaged up a white hood and a matching apron.  "I grew out this apron a long time ago," she explained.  They were just a bit big on Elia's extremely thin body, but the hood slipped easily over her brown, wavy hair.

            Elia went with Dain around the place, listening carefully with her pointed ears about her responsibilities.  Basically she was to go around and get orders, deliver them, and then refill any drinks necessary.  Not too difficult, right?

            "You work from ten till six, five or six days a week," grunted Dain.  "And I pay you based on how well you do.  And then you get tips to boot!"

            Elia nodded.  "Yes, ma'am."  The sign had said something about ten rupees per hour, and she hoped to at least meet that standard.  The girl went over and memorized the different pitchers.  She picked up a small pad of greasy yellowed paper and a quill, tucking them into her pouch and behind her Hylian ear respectively.

            "Oh yeah, and one other thing: if anyone bothers you bad, just tell me."  She flexed her muscles to show what she would do with unruly customers.  "I don't want you to feel like harassment is part of the job.  It isn't.  Just work hard and I'll take care of the rest."

            Elia thanked her.  Dain had always seemed like such a scary person, but in reality she wasn't, was she?  Elia had been a loner for most of her life, and didn't really know people very well.  She knew their habits, their body language, though, because she watched the town so frequently.

            Maybe things would change now…

            "Hey, waitress!"

            Elia rushed over and poured some more beer into the man's mug.  "Is that all, sir?  Or would you like some desert?"

            The full-bellied man chuckled.  "I think I've eaten enough deserts in my day, thank you."  He held out his hand and dropped five rupees into her palm.

            "Thank you, sir.  Have a good day!" she said to his retreating form.    The door swung shut behind him, but then quickly swung open again with a new group of patrons.  She pocketed the money and went on to the new customers.

            "Good evening," Elia told them warmly, poising her quill to write.  "Welcome to Dain's Tavern.  May I take your order?"

            The group was composed of young men a bit older than her.  They looked to be bounty hunters of some sort: swords and axes hung ready at their belts, and the tunics on their backs were stained with blood or torn.

            "You certainly can, miss," said one, a male sporting a ragged gray outfit.  His hair was black, and his eyes were a sparkling blue, gazing at the young woman through tousled bangs.

            Elia blushed as she noticed how handsome the man was.  She smiled sweetly at him and his friends.

            "We'd like some of the house special," a different one informed her.  "Right, boys?"

            "And what to drink?"

            "Whiskey," said one.

            "Beer," murmured the others.

            "Okay, that's five house specials, one whiskey, and four beers?" she asked to double check.  When this order was confirmed, she went to the kitchen, quickly emerging with mugs of foaming beer and a bottle of whiskey.

            "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait a few minutes.  Dain's frying up your dinners as we speak," Elia said.

            "We'd like to speak longer," said the man Elia had been gazing at before, and his friends laughed, agreeing.  The man spoke up again.  "So what is a damsel like yourself doing stuck in a noisy, greasy, smelly place like this?"

            Elia smiled.  "I don't think of it that way…People are constantly coming here, and the majority of them are so happy.  I get to hear about what's going on all around the world."

            He looked thoughtful, coming up with a reply.  For a moment, the endless chatter melted away and it was just him and Elia.  He broke the illusion of silence.  "Why hear about the world when you could be traveling it with people like us?"

            "You guys are travelers…what do you do?"

            "We're mercenaries.  We go all around Hyrule and do odd jobs, slaying monsters or spooking ghosts, or," he groaned, "sometimes we have to resort to menial labor to pay the bills."  It was a guy in a blue tunic, bulging with muscles and attitude.

            "That must be exciting!" Elia remarked excitedly.

            Another one chided in, this time it was somebody in blue.  He rolled his eyes before opening his mouth.  "That labor Jay mentioned…that's what we usually get stuck doing."

            Jay defended.  "But we do fight monsters and ghosts and all!  Cuffs, maybe we have to farm and lift boxes a lot, but we still have adventures!"

            "Waitress!"

            "Excuse me, but that's my cue," Elia told the men, turning and going to respond.  She assisted the woman, and then cleared off a recently vacated table.  A new crowd was already strolling in.

            The fuss went on for quite some time, and Elia forgot about the people she had been talking to soon.  She was too busy running all about the tavern to care really.  But she was reminded as soon as Dain finished pushing her out the door.

            "Good evening," someone said.

            Elia turned, startled.  "Good evening."  She smiled when she saw it was the blue-eyed, black-haired man from before.  He was leaning against the wall by the door.

            "Were you waiting for somebody, sir?"

            "Yeah.  You."

            Elia was a bit taken aback.  "Me?"

            "Why don't you show me around town?" he suggested, standing straight up.  Elia noticed that the man seemed much more intimidating at his full height.  His shadow swallowed her up.

            "I really have to get home—"

            "I'll walk you."  He took his arm and led her to the right, tightening his grip as they passed through a tunnel.  They were headed to the graveyard!

            "No, this isn't the right way—what are you doing?!" she cried as she fell to the ground.  He'd thrown her there!

            "That was great, Mandriel!" said a voice as four men emerged from around her.

            They all started laughing and closing in on her.  Before she knew it, Elia's clothes were being ripped from her body.  She shrieked as loudly as she could before a dirty hand clamped itself over her lips.  She wriggled and struggled, but they all were so strong!

            Everything happened so fast…the laughing, the ripping, the hitting…

            "Stop it!" exclaimed an unfamiliar voice.  There was the sound of unsheathing a sword, and suddenly, the five attackers were running for their lives, blood streaming from a few arms and legs.

            Elia groped for her clothes, only to find them in strips on the ground.  She gazed upwards, only to have her vision blocked quickly by a black cloak thrown over her head.

            "Put that on or you'll catch a cold," advised her savior.  He knelt down next to the girl.  "Are you okay?"

            Elia didn't know what to say.  Words were limits to the amount of gratitude she felt for this stranger, and her gratitude was infinite.  "Thank you," she gasped, pulling the cloak tightly around her naked body.

            The man was barely visible in the dimming moonlight.  He stood, then offered his hand and helped her up.  "What's a young lady doing going out at midnight alone?"  His voice was practically angry, but it was still brimming with concern.

            "Is it that late?" Elia gulped.  "Really, I usually only work to seven at the latest, but tonight was especially busy and Dain couldn't handle all the customers.  So I stayed, but when the really rowdy ones came in, she told me to go home.  I came outside, and he just dragged me…"  Her words died off as her courage to speak them did.

            He nodded.  "C'mon, let's go.  There's thugs prowling this place, and I don't want to dull my sword on their sorry behinds."  The man was obviously angry at these no goods, and protective of Elia at the same time.

            Elia studied him carefully, noting his cap, shield, and sword.  His profile was the only thing of his face visible in the dim firelight that trickled through as the two got closer and closer to the main part of Kakariko.

            And then she knew who he was.

            "Excuse me, but aren't you the Hero of Time?" she inquired timidly, wondering if she sounded stupid.

            "That's what some people call me, but I have a perfectly good name, and it's Link.  You are….?"

            "Elia.  Oh, Sir Link, I can't thank you enough for your kindness!"

            "I'm not going to let a girl get raped, okay?  Those jerks give swordsmen a bad name."  Link studied her scared face carefully.  "Elia, I'll take you home if you want."

            "That would be great!"