Officer Menendez was walking down the hall to the balcony overlooking the Great Hall. He was going to welcome the hundreds, perhaps thousands of potential new castle guards. Each step he took seemed to last an eternity. He had looked forward to this day ever since he had been promoted to his rank of Chief Petty Officer nearly four months ago. That day had coincided with the day when over 500 guards had lost their lives in an attempt to quell a mercenary rebellion in the desert to the west. Menendez had been on that particular assignment, and the nightmares he still had to this day were proof of that. The rebels were amazingly well organized, and had no trouble ambushing and massacring their men. Somehow, Menendez had survived the battles, but he felt guilty for being alive while so many of his men had been killed. So when they needed someone to train the new recruits for the guard, He had volunteered without hesitation.

But now that that day had come, he had suddenly become nervous. He was suddenly afraid that he wouldn't be able to sufficiently fulfill his duties for his students, and would fail them like he failed those who had died in the western desert. He took off his favorite military hat and wiped his brow. He went everywhere with that hat. It seemed to give him comfort. Worried though he was, he knew that he couldn't let that stop him. He was already signed up for the job, and this was the first day of training. If he stopped now, he would fail these young recruits more than if he never tried at all. He replaced his hat, continued on his way, and didn't give it another thought.

He reached the hallway where he was supposed to greet the guard recruits. A woman in military uniform was standing in front of the curtain waiting for him.

"Good morning Officer Menendez." the woman said.

"Second Lieutenant Maria Ross. What brings you here?" he asked.

"I'm just here to give you a quick briefing for the meeting. We have gathered over one thousand new recruits for training. We've also insured of an even number of recruits as per your request. The sorting will be handled by Madame Firenze as planned, although she has refused to comply with your request, claiming she cannot control how the cards choose the teams."

"Well, I still think that's a load of bull crap," Menendez said, "but I suppose it can't be helped. She's about as bull-headed as they come. Well, is everything else ready?"

"Yes sir. I've just been informed that Firenze is coming down the hall now as we speak. She should be here momentarily. The recruits are waiting for your welcome, sir. Please step this way."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Ross." And with that, Menendez walked through the curtain and toward his new students.

The castle guard recruits were patiently (and I use the term loosely) waiting for their first military briefing. Among these trainees was a young man by the name of Link. Appearance wise, he was what some would call handsome, though he didn't really see it. He had sandy-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and had a relatively good figure. He wore a green tunic and cap. And, like the others, he was starting to get restless. They had been waiting for nearly four hours for someone to sort them into teams for their training. Suddenly, a man came onto the balcony overlooking the room. Link couldn't see his features from far away, but he recognized the uniform of a high-ranking military man.

"Welcome to the Castle guard." the man said, "I am Chief Petty Officer Menendez, and I will be your teacher for the next several months. I am honored to be In front of you all today. Looking at all of you today, I see many of potential heroes of the military. I've even been told that the princess Zelda has volunteered to join this group."

Link seemed surprised at this. He had never heard of anything like this before. The princess was joining the castle guard? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the guard? Link seemed to be the only one worried about this however, as everyone else was only concerned about meeting her. Chief Menendez continued his speech.

"The first thing we need to do is to pair you up into teams of two. Joining me for this task is the marvelous and mysterious Madame Firenze."

And with that, a woman came out onto the balcony. She was colorfully dressed to say the least. Her violently red dress was adorned with enough jewelry to open a store with. The headband was larger than her actual head and adjourned with more jewels than Link had ever expected possible. The wide glasses she wore had so many jewels encrusted in them that it was nearly impossible to look directly at her. And on top of that, she was wearing about fourteen hoop earrings to add to the ensemble.

"Greetings children." she said, "I am Madame Sybil Firenze: Seer, prophet, channeler and fortune-teller. It is my pleasure to be allowed to partake in this sorting ceremony. So without further ado, let us begin. My assistants are now passing special cards to each and every one of you. These cards are my special patented Aura-Reading Tarot Cards. When you have been given these cards, they will change their appearance to show a graphic representation of the holder's aura. And the more alike two cards are, the more compatible the holders are with each other."

By now, Link had received the cards that Firenze was talking about. Looking at the card, however, he could not see anything special about it. There was no image on it, only a solid black color. He was starting to believe that Firenze was out of her mind.

"I will allow all of you two hours to find your predetermined partners." Firenze said, "I trust that that will be more than enough time to locate the most compatible person in this room for you. Do not worry. We have made sure that there is an even number of you here, so no one will be left out. And so, with all that said, your time starts now."

And with that, she and Menendez left the room. Immediately, the majority of the people swarmed to an area in the center of the room. Link didn't need to be a genius to guess that they were all trying to partner up with Zelda. But this was crazy! How was he supposed to find a compatible partner using these cards when they can't even…? Wait! There is a picture on the card! It depicted a golden Triforce on a background of a rosebush. A white ribbon weaved its way around the border. Now, he understood just what he was supposed to do. He started asking some of the people who didn't rush to try and be Zelda's partner. The cards that they showed him, however, had nothing in common with his; a silver stag between two green trees with a yellow star border, a red sword engulfed in purple flames, with a green skull border, an orange fish surrounded by blue bubbles with a pink jellyfish border… nothing worked!

An hour and forty-five minutes later, Link had still not found even a slightly compatible partner to work with. And if he didn't find one soon, he would be the only one without a partner. Suddenly, he accidently bumped into someone when he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Two cards fell to the floor.

"Oh god, I am so sorry!" Link said as he kneeled down to pick up the cards.

He looked at who he had bumped into, and his heart skipped a beat. She was a beautiful girl with autumn-brown hair, sky-blue eyes and a slender figure. She wore a well-ornamented light-purple dress cut to just above her knees and a gold circlet on her head. Link knew that he was looking at Princess Zelda, who had apparently snuck off from the crowd that had hounded her.

"I-I'm sorry." she said, "I should have been watching where I was going."

"Oh, no it's my fault." Link protested, "I was the one not paying attention."

An awkward silence fell between them, which was broken by Zelda saying, "So, you haven't had any luck finding a partner either?"

His breath had become still as he remembered where he was. "Well, not really." he admitted, "Though, I thought you would have better luck finding someone than I would. Didn't you find someone in that mess over there?"

"No. I couldn't find anyone with a card that had anything at all in common with mine."

"I couldn't get anything either. Not so much as a similar color. Well should we check each other's, just to be sure?"

"Yeah, we should, just in case."

They showed each other their cards, and were taken aback by what they saw. When they placed them side-by-side, there was no mistaking it. The two tarot cards showed the exact same Triforce, rosebush and ribbon pattern as the other. Every minute detail was a precise copy of the one next to it. Link and Zelda looked at each other, too stunned to speak.

"Times up everyone!" a voice behind them said. "I trust that you have all found your partners?

Madame Firenze and Officer Menendez had returned through the main entrance. Firenze located the nearest pair to her, which just so happened to be Link and Zelda.

"So how are we doing over here?" she asked. She looked at their cards, and jumped back as if she had just been punched in the face.

"Ay Dios mio! I can't believe it! It's a perfect match! In all my years, I've never seen anything like this!"

Menendez, who didn't seem like he understood, added in, "So what does that mean?"

Firenze looked at him as if he had just dropped from outer space. "Why isn't it obvious?" she asked, "Make them the first team! I can guarantee you won't find a better match here than these two."

And with that, the two of them departed to check the other teams. Link and Zelda had just gotten over their shock, when they decided to get to know each other better. They were so busy talking, they almost didn't notice Officer Menendez's announcement.

"All right everyone, settle down!" he called, "Now that you all have your partners, we've come across one small problem. There are exactly 687 teams here, all but one of the same sexes."

He shot an accusing glare at Madame Firenze, who responded with a look that showed that she was seriously offended.

"Nevertheless," he continued, "there are a total of one-thousand, three-hundred seventy-four of you here. We can only accommodate five-hundred. This means that only two-hundred and fifty teams will be admitted. To whittle that number down, we've prepared an obstacle course to determine how well you work with your partner. The objective is to ring the bell at the end and return to the starting line. The two-hundred and fifty teams with the best combined times will be accepted into the guard, while the rest will go home and wait for the next time. Now everyone follow me!"

We followed Menendez out to the obstacle course he had mentioned. The course was essentially a wooden tower with a bell at the top. There were several different ways of getting up to the top, but it seemed that only one would take them up fastest.

"Alright, I've got a plan." Zelda whispered.

"What do you have?" Link replied.

"You all know the rules!" Menendez called over them.

"Do you see that wooden elevator over there?"

Link looked to where she indicated. Sure enough, at the base of the tower, there was a wooden box that was connected to the top of the tower on a double-pulley system. It appeared that this elevator was the most direct way to the top.

"Start at the count of three!" Menendez shouted. "One..."

"I'll run over there and hold the elevator." Zelda started.

"Two…"

"Then we'll pull up there together."

"THREE!"

And with that, they were all off to the top. As she said, Zelda sprinted for the elevator. She was much faster than Link had expected, and got there in a matter of seconds. Link soon caught up with her, and the two of them started their ascent. It was pretty slow going, but they soon reached the top, the first pair to ring the bell. They slid down the pole to the bottom, and raced together across the finish line. Menendez and Firenze were waiting for them.

"Well, what did I tell you?" Firenze told Menendez, "The first pair to complete the course! I told you that you wouldn't find a better match."

"Alright, alright." Menendez said, "I suppose I can't argue with those results. Well then I'll be expecting a lot more from you two."

And, with that, Link and Zelda's adventure begins.