A year had passed since Link had gone on his adventure and gotten home. The days went by slowly as nothing much happened in the tiny fishing village. Link was meanwhile on the roof of his house trying to keep away from Aryll who absolutely drove him nuts; he needed peace and quiet and this was the only way he was going to get it.

"I miss sailing all over the world... I wish something good would happen." Link thought to himself.

"BIG BROTHER!!" an all too familiar voice cried out.

"Oh no..." Link thought. "Aryll"

"Come down here! I wanna go swimming!"

"Listen, you're old enough to go swimming by yourself."

"Awww! But I wanted to do it with you!"

"Tough."

Aryll pouted and left, and Link sighed in relief.

"I wish she'd just go away and never come back."

He jumped off the roof and went into the house.

"Oh Link! Good timing"

Link put on his "good boy" expression.

"What is it Grandma?"

"I want you to go to Windfall and pick up some items. Here's the list."

Grandma handed Link the list and he went to his boat.

"Finally something to do."

"BIG BROTHER!!"

"I'm doing some errands, Aryll, I can't play right now."

"Bring me something!"

Link said nothing and set sail to Windfall.

As he got out to sea he noticed that there were many sharks in the water. However, this was normal for this time of year so he thought nothing of it-- until they started attacking him. He didn't have too much trouble as he made quick work of them with his sword.

"Take that, scum!"

When he got to Windfall, he saw that annoying old man and his daughter Maggie. Out of habit, he avoided the guy because he remembered always being pestered by him when his daughter had been captive. He went to Zunari's shop and then played a few games. He ended up spending more time than he planned on and decided to get back, knowing that he'd probably be in trouble for being too late. He tried to come up with an excuse and he decided that the sharks would be a good reason. It was dark when he got home and he went in the house only to see Grandma with a morose look on her face.

"Sorry I'm late. The sharks were very aggressive for some reason."

Grandma looked up and had smiled through her tears.

"It doesn't matter... you're safe."

Link felt a little guilty worrying his grandmother to death and then telling a lie and yet she sounded as though there was something else on her mind. It was then that, he noticed the odd silence.

"Where's Aryll? I'm surprised she isn't all over me by now..."

Grandma sighed and there was once again a visible frown on her face.

"Link...the sharks that you ran into...they came very close to the island. Aryll was swimming and well...she was attacked by one of those sharks. She died about 20 minutes ago."

Link just couldn't believe his ears. He just stood there with his mouth wide open as grandma continued.

"I had been afraid that you'd suffered a similar fate...but you didn't...I guess I should be glad that I still have you."

Link said nothing. Now more than ever, his lie was tearing him up inside. However, he was afraid that telling the truth now would make things even worse. Maybe someday he'd summon up the courage to reveal why he had been late that day but for now...

"Yeah... here's the stuff you wanted."

Link handed Grandma the goods and sat down for his supper, which had grown stone cold.

(Orignally, I had it so that Aryll had been eaten by a shark rather than just attacked.  However I changed it for story reasons. You'll find out why later.)