Hello. This is my first time posting anything I've written anywhere, so it'll be interesting to see if anyone likes it or if everyone thinks it's bollocks. It takes me a long time to write because I'm a perfectionist, it seems. A bit of good and a lot of bad from that approach, I think.

Anyway, all I can do is explain what I'm trying here a little bit. This is all very, very loosely based on the Ocarina of Time, using the same people and places, but with people and places added, and people and places that have nothing to do with the Ocarina of Time added because if Hyrule were as small as it is in the game, you'd figure there'd be other countries out there somewhere. Some of the names were monkeyed with, but enough to still have a trace of the old names in there. Lennyk is Link, Maylaan is Malon, and Taelann is Talon. Most of the other names of people are the same, though. Have the general idea of where I want to go, it's just the writing part that makes it take so darn long. Reviews come on their own accord, but even if it's only to tell me something about the story that sucks, that's just as welcome too. Trying to get better at this stuff, and thanks to anyone that reads this thing!


I almost can't believe he's here. Him. Watching the clouds, like me. Zelda froze. She hadn't seen Lennyk since they cast Ganon down, and she stopped hoping for him to come seek her out months ago. The immense weight of her responsibilities as Queen were enough to merit lost hopes for any personal thing, but she feared he was lost to her because of that last day they had been together alone. With the calm of victory came a lot of pain, pain she still felt when she thought about him. For a few moments, she closed her eyes and tried to remember him standing so close to her that day, that last smile he'd given before she drove him away.

"It has been done," Zelda sighed, slumping limply against Lennyk as her legs gave way. "Hold me up, please, I can't stand now. Too tired." He was tired too, but he could tell that she was worse off. Without saying a word, he sat on the broken stone next to them, setting her down with him and holding her against his chest.

Everything they strove for the last seven years was done. Ganon was dead, lying prostrate and motionless on the ground, and both the Hero and the Princess he'd fought for sat side by side, silent. The thunderous clouds that covered the sky these last seven years slowly billowed apart to reveal a setting sun. No more thunder, no rain. The quiet had come so suddenly. For the first time since they were children starting on this path, Lennyk and Zelda had time to reflect on the things that there had never been time for. The Triforce pieces reflected the hearts of their owners, and through that divine artifact, they could finally think of what their hearts were made of.

Zelda truly was wise for such a young woman. Even as a child, she'd always sought knowledge. She was studied in Hyrule's history and the responsibilities of the Royal Family, and because she was a princess so exposed to people, she knew what they loved, hated and feared, and how to treat them justly. Her mother had been dying slowly from a chest sickness for as long as she could remember, and with the troubling appearance of Ganon at her father's court, her wisdom availed her nothing against the fear of her father's intrigues with an enemy people, and the fear for her mother that she'd always had.

It wasn't until Ganon usurped the throne and captured the capital city that her fears became real things. The Hylian people were forced into slavery or imprisonment under the Gerudo, and those who could flee ran into exile. Her father had been forced to abdicate his throne. He was slowly tortured and killed as a token of what Ganon had called "vengeance for the old King," and her mother died as her guardian, Impa, desperately fled with both of them on horseback. If not for Ganon, she would've ruled after her father Harkenaan had died. She was the only heir. Most of her wisdom had knowingly been forged in preparation for the day the crown was hers. The Triforce showed to her now that she lacked true understanding for the citizens her father had ruled. She pitied them for their oppression under Ganon, and she feared for them, but she never understood them. A true Queen would need to.

Ganon had always been strong, but his strength was that of a man who used it for his own ends. Being the only Gerudo man in his generation guaranteed him the throne that had been vacant since before he'd been born. The last King to sit in that throne had been killed when the just-crowned King Harkenaan returned from his famous defeat in Dardanus, a neighboring country. His conquered legions passed through the Gerudo desert to speed their return, but were denied passage through the Gerudo city because the Gerudo and the Hylians had never been allies.

With no other choice, the Hylians desperately fought to get through the city and back home. Hundreds were killed on both sides, including the Gerudo king. By the time Ganon was born, then, the Gerudo's old distrust for Hylians was now hatred. He grew up indoctrinated with this hatred. It was one with his rule as King and his lust for more power, making the Triforce the only suitable weapon to slake his avarice and lay the Hylians low. He found the Triforce of Power by following in the Hero's shadow and through his greed, making his power as unstable and wild as greed makes all men. This new power of his is what eventually led to his death by the Hero.

It was Lennyk who killed him with the Sword. Lennyk really did have courage. Genuine courage. It allows for no arrogance, because the arrogant will always fear something, whether it is the reproach of others, the loss of pride, or death. He faced all of Hyrule's dangers without hesitation or fear. He never fled from the darkness he fought against, no matter how close death followed him as the Hero of Time that was forseen long ago. He'd done it all for the safety of the kingdom's people, and never hesitated to help those in need.

But even with all the bravery and kindness he possessed, his weakness was the self-doubt that his trials had morphed into self-hatred. Self-hatred is a sickness. It floats over the heart, always there, over the heart. Those who are remembered as their own worst enemies all express this feeling that weighs on the chest, felt like any other physical sensation. Most do not remember when it started, or if it could ever end, but they all remember it being there. The only time that Lennyk remembered having true peace was during the Seven Years, when he slumbered in the Sacred Realm. That peace never returned but in short bursts.

After a long time spent in silence, Lennyk looked down at Zelda, who still lay on his chest. Neither of them had noticed their hands had clasped together, and neither of them felt odd about it, or felt the need to say anything. With her other hand, she traced over his collarbone, exposed by the torn tunic. All his muscles hurt, but the light tickle of her fingers relaxed him enough that he smiled. "Nothing to say, innit," he chuckled, pressing a gentle kiss against her cheek. For those couple seconds, he truly felt a bit of peace. These times, rare as they were, were the only times his true, honest spirit showed. "I've always loved you, and you know that."

In a sudden jerk, Zelda stood up. Lennyk didn't expect such quick movement from someone twice as fatigued as he. With a sudden gap where she was just sitting, he fell onto the ground with a dull thud, cursing. He fought with his burning muscles and slowly stood up, thinking that he had somehow crossed a hidden line with her. His face showed this fear clearly to Zelda, and for a few moments all she could do was shake her head.

"Lennyk, my brave, dear Lennyk," she sighed, "I too have loved you for longer than I can tell. I wish we could stay there on that rock for days, just you and me. But just because we finished our task here doesn't mean it's all over." Her lips curled into a mournful sort of smile, and her eyes looked aside. She'd always hoped that this end would allow her to be with the man she'd come to love, but she knew that the responsibilities before her now would leave no time for something as simple and peaceful as that.

Lennyk understood. The Hylians were no longer servants to the dark King who crowned himself by force. "Our countrymen are free, but they don't know that," he started, "their shackles and their servitude will hold their bodies and their minds until we bring the message that Ganon lives no more." He knew the full meaning of Zelda's words, and his voice brought her relief. She nodded. "When we have freed them all, we can begin to rebuild the cleft in this kingdom. Your true place will soon be on the throne, with free men at your absolute service." He knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands and kissing them softly. "I'm unworthy of the love of a queen."

She bid him stand and kissed him gently. "You are the only man I could ever love." Her eyes glittered with kindness, seeming to stare right through him. "Our names have been bound together since years beyond count, when our people still lived in the sky. That time has been forgotten, and we are mere specks in that line. But we are destined to heal Hyrule's stains until our souls are brought back into new bodies, when these bodies standing here now have long been returned into the soil of the land."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Lennyk cocked his head in puzzlement, his eyebrows raised. "I never heard anything about any of that!" Zelda couldn't help laughing at the confused way he looked at her. "You didn't get Wisdom for nothing, it seems. So you're saying we're going to do this over, and over, and over again until Goddesses know when?"

"Yes."

He began to look troubled. "That seems a bit cruel of the Goddesses, truly. All I will ever know is war?"

"It's our destiny. We have been blessed by the Goddesses with this duty, to be the defenders of Hyrule until the day evil is no longer an aspect of Men." She knew this conversation would be long, and she felt quite tired, but she knew Lennyk's mind, and answering his concerns would be simple, for he was a simple man. "We don't remember our last reincarnations, nor will we remember this life in the next one. The only thing our ancestors and us have in common is courage and wisdom, and the regard of Farore and Nayru. All else is given only to the life at hand, and in the next, you will not be you," she said, pressing a finger into his chest.

"A force of nature we are, it seems," he groaned, bringing Zelda the relief that this subject needed no more of their thought. "You put it in a way that I understand full well. Rain is necessary. So is wind, because it brings the rain. The soil brings us the grass, the trees, the crops. At least we seem to be somewhere in there, and not as shit in the cesspool, which I feel is where Ganon's nature puts him, if his evil is what follows us from this life to the next."

She couldn't help but laugh again. "A reasonable man. Wise in your own way, although maybe it bled from me."

She knew what had to come next.

Nervousness filled her stomach and her smile disappeared. Besides her mother and father, Lennyk was the only person she'd ever pitied with pain in her heart. She'd seen him slash his way through this war, and she saw the damage that it had thrust on his heart and mind. Most soldiers live the rest of their days silently despising their role as a bringer of death - even if that death is against an enemy - but Lennyk had begun to despise both the role and himself as its bearer. "The man who uses his sword justly has no guilt to fear," she blurted out.

Lennyk was confused. A moment ago she'd been laughing; after a few seconds of silence, her sudden words surprised him. He wasn't sure what to say, but spoke as honestly as he could. "I wish I felt that way about all this. I do. In truth, I do." He gazed at his feet, his brow furrowed. "All I've done has been for the people, even those who treated me ill. The Hylians were the first people to see me as a person, you know. Most of the Kokiri never did. Besides Saria and a few others, most of them were blasted cunts. Ironic that my true parents were Hylian. For all I know, they're both dead now."

"I have seen the conflict you fight with your own self, Lennyk," Zelda said, tears threatening to come. "I never saw a good man hate himself. Not deeply like you. It comes and goes in waves, doesn't it?"

"Long waves. It rarely leaves, but I've gotten accustomed to it," he said with resignation, slumping and shaking his head. "Now is to fight against it. I have conquered Hyrule's demon, and now it's time for my own. A lot of work ahead, and I'm not sure where to start."

Zelda began to cry, kneeling down to hide her face from him. "My heart feels the fiery strain of those waves when they...overtake you. I don't know if it's the Golden Power that's tied us together, a form of communication, but it's...a feeling of warning that lets me know when you're suffering." She shuddered in the throes of her tears, and when they stopped, Lennyk lifted her up. He gently held her face in his hands and brushed the tears out of her eyes.

Quietly, he pressed his lips against her forehead, her cheek, her lips. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in as hard as she could. It was during times like these, when others suffered, that he could temporarily dispel his self-loathing and worry much more about them. Her suffering was through his suffering, and his was self-inflicted. He knew how to heal hers, and to do that he could only tell her what he did to fight against his.

"You feel my heart because I've thought about you since the day we met in that courtyard," he whispered, brushing his hand through her hair. "I will win this fight of mine. It's something I've had for years. But it wasn't until I saw true darkness inside another man," he said, pointing to the corpse of Ganon, "that I began to fight against my own hate. Hate like his kills, maims, corrupts. Hundreds of our countrymen are dead by his hand. It is partially from his darkness that I have my own. He hated an entire people, and I hate only myself. But I am not corrupt. I killed because the Goddesses willed it so. My days of darkness dispel my hope for peace, but that peace will come when I begin to fight even when hope is completely out of reach. These words I say I do not yet mean, that is the problem," he mourned, "but when I truly learn these things as an irreputable fact, I will be free."

She was so tired, so beaten, so mindful of the weight of the tasks ahead. Now that she knew Lennyk was still whole, a weight lifted off of her chest. She began to cry again. All he could do was hold her close, rocking slowly back and forth as she cried. They stayed there for a long time; the sun had long set before she stopped. She looked up at him. Her eyes were bloodshot, and there were red, swollen circles around them. "Thank you, Lennyk. I love you."

He smiled peacefully, kissing her again. "And I love you."

"Now there is something that I must do," she said in an sudden authoritative tone becoming a Queen. She took a step back and closed her eyes. The mark of Wisdom on the outside of her left hand began to shine lightly, and they waited. When she opened her eyes, she looked sure, as if she'd asked the Goddess a question that had been satisfactorily answered. Lennyk knew not to compromise her, so he waited for her to tell him what she meant.

"Are you ready?"

Lennyk nodded. "Yes. But for what?"

She gestured towards the Ocarina that he kept in the satchel near his baldric. "Our task has been completed. The Ocarina belongs to the stewards of the kingdom. We have always guarded it, and as Queen, I must do that duty. Hero of Time, I ask of you the Ocarina."

Her words were spoken almost coldly, but Lennyk gladly brought it out of the satchel, handing it to her. "It is through my naïveté that Ganon saw you the day we met. Because of my carelessness, he followed you on the mission that I was ignorant enough to give a person he'd seen. I was a child, but I had seen enough of the greed of men to recognize it in his eyes." Her eyes glimmered with tears. "You suffered seven years of limbo because of me. And now, I will do right by you and give you those years back, never to use the song again." She raised the Ocarina to her lips, and Lennyk knew what she would play.

It would be the first and last time he spoke to her in anger. "The Song of Time was only meant as a weapon against Ganon, Zelda. He is gone now. What happens when we use it again is something neither of us knows. Who knows what darkness would lie in wait then?" he growled, pushing the Ocarina in her hands away from her mouth. His voice calmed, but was still hard as stone. "I know you would do this out of love, to spare me the suffering that this war has caused, but it is not your right. The Golden Power is not ours to use as we will, when we will, either."

"So I must live with the guilt of imprisoning you?" Zelda spat back, pointing at the Temple of Time. "You are not the only one who hates your own deeds."

"Don't dare to use that as a weapon against me!" Lennyk yelled. "I trusted you enough to tell you of my struggle with that. For me to forgive you for the Seven Years, you would have to have done wrong! If my imprisonment in the Realm was because of a traitorous windfall from your mouth to the ears of Ganon himself, then your words would have some weight!" He turned and began to walk towards the ruins of the capital. "I have only you to thank for those seven years. The only true peace I have ever known. Don't take that away from me, Queen."

Zelda's heart felt like it was being crushed. She ran after him, and began to walk with him. Neither of them said a word until they came into the capital proper, where they would start liberating the people. But the stinging words they had shared put a weight on their hearts. At first there been relief and hope. Now a cloud lay over it.

The Hylians deserved to be freed by their saviours, but it would not go well to give them this gift while weighed down with sullen personal injury, and both Zelda and Lennyk knew it. She was the first to speak. Turning slightly towards him, burning with shame, afraid to look in his eyes, she struggled for a moment. "I am sorry. I only wanted to help, so badly. I never wanted to hurt you. I love you."

"I understand," Lennyk acknowledged stoically. "We have loved and hurt each other both." Placing his hands on her shoulders, he nodded, the brave look that made him so handsome returning to him. "We have been given this time as a reward for our victory, and I will help you rebuild this country into what it used to be."

They spent the next week liberating the conquered Hylians in the capital. The Hero and the new Queen were met with resounding cheers and happiness from all that they freed, for all they had done, and most of all, for the heir of Harkenaan taking the crown. Those that were freed helped liberate the areas of the capital not yet reached. After the capital had been fully secured, there was a short, improvised coronation, attended by every man, woman and child. As Queen, Zelda promised to help the people restore the kingdom that had been taken from them. She did not mention a husband who would be King, nor a suitor whom she considered. Her heart still yearned for Lennyk, but his concern was now for the free.

Until he left the capital for good, he spent all of his time with the people. He led search parties all across Hyrule to find any who had been in exile. During these searches many Hylians were found, praised the new Queen, and pledged loyalty to his efforts. He charged certain able men to continue the searches while he helped in the quarries that the Queen supplied with workers. These quarries would give back the missing bones of broken buildings in the capital, and rebuild in places that were destroyed. When not hauling stones with the quarrymen, he would return to the capital and assist in the reconstruction of the buildings. We was always treated with highest regard, and found that the people loved him.

By this time Hyrule Castle had been completely restored, and workers were busy adding to the new structure. Lennyk knew it was only right to help there as well, but he was uneasy being there because he had not been able to be alone with Zelda since the day Ganon was killed. At first he'd held resentment towards her. As the restoration of the country, the capital, and its people went on, though, his desire was only to reconcile. He would sometimes think that perhaps she had forsaken him, but little did he know she yearned for healing as much as he did. But her duties as Queen and the political intrigues involved kept her away from him, and by the time she sent for him, he'd already left the capital because of the discovery of his father with the latest search party.

These memories passed through Zelda's mind within a matter of moments. Part of her wanted to just run up to Lennyk, beg for his return to the capital, and offer to reconcile with him. She still loved him, hardened as her heart could be at a time when she ruled a country still rebuilding. He was the only man she could ever consider for a husband. That would make him King. The people were saved by both of them, and they thus saw him as the only one worthy of the Queen's hand. The sky continued to flash violently, and before she could find the courage to walk to him, he'd already begun to approach her.

Countless thoughts about what to say to him poured through her as his small image got larger and larger. Well, it will be one of two things. Either we can sort this out, or this is a bad idea and one more pain on top of last time. She knew things happen as they will, but her heart still jumped with hope that they would no longer feel wronged by each other. She felt it right to let him speak first.

The look in his eyes was not one of hate or sadness. For a time all they could do was look at each other. Lennyk had long since cast away the green tunic and hat that he'd always worn, and wore a farmer's cloth leggings and leather boots. A linen shirt lay over his chest, untied to combat the heat the storm had brought with it. She saw on his exposed chest the marks that the war had left on his flesh, and noticed the well-kept beard he'd grown that became him well. Her change was not in the clothes covering her body. She looked a bit different from the last time he'd seen her during the liberation, but the true change was in her presence that was more solemn than before.

He knelt before her. "Zelda." All he could find to say was her name.

"Come, Lennyk," Zelda breathed, kneeling down beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know that you don't need to kneel before me. I didn't think to see you here."

Nodding, he stood up with her and pointed skyward. "I've always loved lightstorms, and this is one I've never seen act so." He looked up. "The lightning comes so fast, so quickly." He looked at her, something like concern in his eyes. "I knew that you would be out here, somehow," he said. "I remember all of those times we'd sit on that hill beside the castle when we'd hear that a storm was coming our way."

Zelda's lips curled in a gentle smile. "I remember that," she said, uncertain what to say. "Lennyk, I've wanted to see you so badly since you left the capital, but I know that you found your father, so I let it be. Your father is a farmer it seems, judging by the clothes you wear."

"Yes, he is. Or rather, he was," Lennyk said, gesturing West. "It seems as though his ancestors came hundreds of years ago from Dardanus, across the way, and because of the slight unrest they've caused on our border, he's gone with some other men to plead with Dardan lords and try to draw a truce of some kind. He hopes that his Dardanian name of Anders, a name of one of their old kings, will convince them to listen to him as a descendent of the country."

"Dardanus still feels ill about my father's old campaigns there," Zelda advised, concerned. "From what my messengers tell me, they're testing the waters with us as a way of showing that I must hold talks with them. I intend to enter that conversation in order to remind them that my father's misdeeds aren't my own, and that we have our own interests to sort out before interfering with another country's interests." She made a frustrated wave of the hand. "Your father served in my father's guard years ago, and no doubt has some of the old soldier left in him, but I fear his plea will be a danger he will pay for."

"I'm no fool to politics and their dangers," Lennyk acknowledged, in a tone of deference. "I intend to follow him there, to bring him back. That's why I came out here, to find a bit of peace amidst this beauty above before I must leave. That and I somehow felt as though I'd see you here too."

The familiar sound of his voice, and the gleam of the eyes that she adored in him, gave her the courage to speak her mind clearly and freely. "Thank the Goddesses that you were here," she began, laying a hand on his arm. "I had need to speak with you for this entire year that you have been out of my sight. Those cold words we shared were from the heightened passions of our war-torn spirits. I remember them like they were spoken a moment ago, but I also remember and treasure the small time I had with you before that, sitting on that rock." She smiled. "You didn't have a beard then. You looked strapping without one, and strapping with one now. A kingly looking beard."

Lennyk could sense the meaning behind those words, and steeled himself for what he meant to tell her. "Thank you. Those things were the same things I wanted to tell you. You merely wanted to right what you thought you caused, and I did you wrong with my callous refusal and the abuse of my words."

Bowing his head before her, he took her hand. "The love that is in my heart for you was tarnished for a time by my anger towards you, but that anger faded. I love you still. But," he continued, a change in his voice like that of sadness, "I do not know when the time will come that I can give it. I leave for Dardanus as soon as I can find enough men, and Goddesses only know how long this journey will take. I used to believe I was unworthy of being a king, but I love my people, and the only worthy king is a man who does. I go for my father, and I go in respect of the kingdoms in our midst, in a hope that we can respect one another." He kissed Zelda's hand, and his noble words calmed her. "It is unfair to make promises until I return, if I return alive."

"I wasn't sure what words to expect from you, love," Zelda crooned, laying a hand on his chest. "In truth, I was expecting an angry stare and hard curses. I will help you in this task you have taken, and you will have no want of arms by me."

When he was younger and full of the pride that the young see as part and parcel of honorable purpose, he would have refused what she offered. War, reconciliation, and restoration of the country had changed him since then, so he thankfully agreed. Before he could speak again, Zelda pulled him towards her and kissed him, relief, thankfulness and passion in equal measure. He held her around her waist strongly, and her arms wrapped around his neck. They lost count of time before they parted, the light still flashing in the clouds around them.

They didn't speak for a long time. They sat down on the hill they stood on, just like they would have as children, and watched the clouds slowly swirl and the lightning dart out. Eventually Zelda stirred; she must have been gone from the castle for nearly two hours now, and even though the lightstorm dispelled the expectation of anyone being outside, it would be unbecoming of the Queen to remain away for any longer. With a smile, she bade Lennyk stand.

"You have made me happy again, Lennyk," she said, kissing him again quickly.

"And me," he replied. "Once this thing is done, I will return. I will find you, and we can stop pretending that love is something that has to be avoided."

"Before you leave," Zelda instructed, "come to the castle within the next three days. I will be leaving to give counsel to the Sages in the Gorons' city by then. Come to the castle; you know the respect of the guards for you. You ask for me, I will get you, and we will make sure you're not lacking in money with which to procure arms from the smithy."

"I appreciate this more than you can know."

"It's the least I can do," she replied. "Let me know the number of men you plan on taking, and we'll come to a total." It wasn't until now that it started to rain. It was light and slow at first, but in a matter of minutes Zelda and Lennyk were soaked to the bone. With a giggle, she kissed him one last time. "I have to go," she yelled. "Come as soon as you can!" Using Wisdom to get her back to her chambers, she disappeared.

Lennyk sighed in satisfaction. This meeting was something he'd somehow expected, but it went much better than he thought possible. He'd spent the last year thinking that Zelda had forgotten about him willingly, or hated him, or couldn't forgive him. Those fears filled his chest with that heavy weight that came and went; since the last time he saw her, however, he'd fought very well against this self-hate and had eventually tamed it into something that became much less troubling. It was only when he let the past be the past that this could happen.

Now, his only concerns were for the time he had. He began to walk towards Maylaan and Taelann's farm, which would take nearly four hours to reach on foot. The land they had sold his father Anders was connected to theirs, so he was keeper of this new land and helped Maylaan and her father attend to theirs. Unfortunately for him on this day, it was a gigantic lightstorm, so taking Epona out would not have worked. Thunderstorms made her uncomfortable, but there was something about the sacred elements of its superior, the lightstorm, that scared her to death. I will sleep well tonight at least, he thought, still mystified by the swirling clouds and the lightning. A good day, and a good sleep to reward it.