Chapter 2

It had been two months since the mysterious forest boy, Link as he had called himself, had vanished in the morning hew. The disappearance had been unsettling to the king, queen, and nursemaid, for they had all suspected that there was more to this boy than what met the eye. But to the young princess who hadn't a single care in the world, she only felt like the disappearance of Link was the disappearance of one more friend she wouldn't get back.

In the time he had disappeared, very little had happened in the castle. The month of April had come and passed and the only significant thing to happen in this time had been the public announcement of the union of the Gerudo tribe of the desert and the kingdom of Hyrule. Then May had come which had meant Zelda was now another year older. They had held a grand party and invited many guests from all over the kingdom to celebrate. As per her mother's request, she was to stand at the door to greet every guest who would be attending that night. Many people came and all bowed before the king and queen. Some came up to her and shook her hand and she curtsied in response; however, there were many that simply ignored her altogether. She found this quite rude as after all, this party was for her, but knew better than to voice herself, because as Impa had stated many times to her, "a princess does not do that." And even though this was her party, her say on the guest list was non-existent. In fact, of all of the politicians, millionaires, and royalty that showed up, she only knew one of the families that did end up showing.

"Malon!" the tiny princess squeaked. She ran up and hugged her friend, the redhead hugging her back. The two talked for a short while but Talon eventually broke the girls up and told Malon to follow him inside. Zelda waived bye to her with a big smile and went back to her mother's side to once again proceed to greet guests.

Every time a carriage pulled up, her heart would leap for a second in hopes that the mystery boy would step out of it, but she eventually gave up hope. Coach after carriage would come and go but the only people to ever step out of them were large, busty men followed by pretentious looking women. In fact, there were hardly any children her age at this party. By the time the sun had parted ways with the land and had sunken below the western lands, the final carriage had pulled up and she was finally allowed to go inside.

The first thing the now seven year old princess did was sit down. She had been standing for a couple of hours greeting the guests and she had to do this all while in heels. Small ones nonetheless, but still, they were not comfy on her feet. She sat down in her chair, which was facing the rest of the guests in front of her. They all stood, most of them chatting in small circles of about four or five people and most of them holding some sort of alcoholic beverage. One of the servants had come and offered her a glass of water served on a tray, and she took the glass eagerly from him as if this was the first time in weeks she had drank. She put it down on a small table next to her, she began people watching and stared out into the crowd. The first thing that caught her eye was Malon standing at her father's side… but by the look on her face, she did not look like she was enjoying talking to the man her father had forced her to converse with. Zelda giggled and continued scanning the crowd. There were many faces she did not know, many people she did not wish to have with her, celebrating her birthday, but there was nothing she could do about this. After finishing off her glass of water about five minutes later, her mother and father walked over to her side and stood on their feet facing the crowd. Her mother gave her a quick sideways glance which she knew meant she wanted her to stand up next to her. She quickly jumped to her feet and flattened out her dress, making sure to look pristine and pure like a princess should, before picking her head up and forcing a smile on her face. The murmurs and chattering of the crowd quickly died down as all eyes focused on her and her parents.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for coming to the castle today to celebrate this special occasion, our daughter, the princess of Hyrule's, seventh birthday," her father spoke out and the reaction was a small round of applause which Zelda responded to by smiling and curtsying.

"Now, one more thing we would like to say before we feast for tonight is what does this have to do with Link?"

Zelda cocked her head curiously at her father, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"I said-"


"What does this have to do with Link?"

I looked at her with a straight face, at first annoyed that she once again interrupted my story, but my face lightened up and I smiled and chuckled a little.

"I guess you're right… for once." I added in the last part under my breath.

"What'd you say?" her perky self asked me.

"Nothing," I quickly responded. "But I guess I can skip ahead a little."

"Yeah, because right now, this story is beginning to put me to sleep."

I opened my mouth to respond but was quickly shut down.

"No, I want you to keep going with it still. I'm not actually that tired."

She had clearly known what I was about to say. 'Smart girl,' I thought to myself.

"Well, since you so badly want to hear this thing out, I guess I'll keep going… though I'd rather not."

"Well, too bad! You started it already, you can't just stop in the middle!"

I rolled my eyes, half expecting this action to emit a reaction from her but to my surprise, it didn't.

"By the way, how do you know all of this stuff?"

I took a swig out of the glass in front of me. With all of the questions she had already asked, I knew that by the time I walked out of this pub, I'd be drunk.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you weren't in this part of the story, the party part of it. This is all through Zelda's perspective and Zelda's eyes. How do you know all of this if you weren't there?"

"Good question. Now, if you'd be so kind to allow me to finish-"

"But you didn't answer my question!"

"And you didn't allow me time to answer it. You know, sometimes it takes more than a single sentence to answer questions. Sometimes the answer needs an explanation."

She didn't say anything back.

"Anyway, I'll fast-forward a couple of hours."


"You're awfully quiet tonight. You usually give me such a headache trying to get you to go to sleep after one of your parties."

Zelda quietly walked behind her nursemaid in her pretty, pink, silky dress she had worn for the celebration.

"Did you not have fun?"

"I did." She lied. But, to be fair, it was hard for a seven year old girl to have fun at a party where the average age was in the mid-forties but she was used to this. Most of the parties she had had in her life were usuall like this. In fact, she could not remember having fun at a single one.

The two walked slowly down the many corridors and hallways until they finally made it to her room.

"Impa, since it is my birthday, can I stay up just a bit longer? I just want to sit on the balcony for a little is all."

"I suppose I'll let you, but only because it's your birthday," she said winking at her.

Zelda smiled and thanked her before walking in to her room. Impa closed the door and walked away, allowing the little princess to have some alone time on her special day. Zelda kicked off her shoes and walked towards her vanity and took out the miscellaneous things stuffed in her hair to make it hold in place. Once her hair was free from its imprisonment, she walked over to the door that led to the small balcony just outside of room and sat down on the small bench placed right next to the railing. She folded her arms over themselves on the railing and rested her head on them as she gazed out at the Castle Town lights. The entire city seemed to be celebrating her birthday and the noise emitting from the town's square below was evidence for this. Her gaze then wandered out past the city walls, out into the open fields of Hyrule. How she would love to go run amok in those fields one day and explore the land she would soon rule. The only place she had ever been outside of Castle Town was Kakariko Village, which they visited once or twice a year. She loved those trips because it gave her an opportunity to get out of the royal walls. Her favorite part of those trips was the small hikes she would be allowed to take on the Death Mountain Trail. She had been told that the trail could get to be very dangerous if she ever ventured too far from the village so she only walked about a quarter mile on it before being forced back. One day, when she was fully grown and an adult, she would walk all the way to the top and look down at all of Hyrule. She wanted to see the forests to the south, she wanted to watch the sun rise over Lake Hylia in the crisp mornings and watch the purple hews being paint over the sky as she watched the sun set in the cool desert evenings, that's what she wanted more than anything else.

A smile began to grow on her lips as she closed her eyes and imagined what it would look like from the top of the mountain. She would probably be able to see everything from up there and no one would-CLANK!

Her eyes bolted open when she heard the sudden sound next to her. She looked down to see what had made that sound and found a small deku seed. She bent down to pick it up and examined it then looked up into the sky. It was clear as far as she could see but maybe a bird had dropped it and- CLANK!

Another seed had slammed into the stone railings of the balcony and this really began frightening her. Her eyes frantically searched all over for origin of these mysterious seeds and it wasn't until she finally heard the clattering of footsteps on the roof that she began to really grow nervous.

"Like your gift?"

"L… Link? Is that you?"

"Yup!" he slid down the roof of the castle like he was surfing some sort of wave and jumped into the dark spot of the balcony, where the shadow created from the dim light coming from her room hid him.

"You really should have the security at the castle relooked at. This is the second time I've snuck in. But anyways, happy birthday my fair princess!"

He bowed and held out his hands to display to her a piece of wood that split into two about two thirds of the ways up. Connecting the two ends that were apart from each other was a piece of string with a small leather square in the middle of it.

"A slingshot?"

"I know it's not, you know, something great and grand that you'd give to royalty but-"

Zelda pulled him out of the shadow and into a hug. She then retreated back and snatched the slingshot out of his hands.

"It's perfect! I've always wanted one! Every year all I get are a bunch of things I don't even know how to use and sometimes, I don't even know they even some of the things are supposed to be! Sometimes, I wonder if the gifts are really for me or my parents. But for once, someone actually thought about pleasing me and not them! Thank you so much Link!"

She gave him another quick hug and then began examining the toy.

"Hey Link, can I ask you a question?"

He sat down on the bench and began staring outwards.

"Sure. You know, you are a lot more talkative than last time."

She replied to this comment by stick her tongue out at him.

"That's because I was only six years old back then. I'm older now!" He chuckled slightly at that comment. "Anyways, Link, the question I wanted to ask you is… why did you leave?"

He continued staring out at first, but eventually hung his head in front of him.

"It's because I… I was just scared. I had a lot going on in my head and I was just scared."

"What were you scared of? My parents let you stay here. They weren't mad at you at all! And if you were scared of monsters or something, well you shouldn't be because this is the safest place in the entire Hyrule! Nothing can attack us here."

Link smirked and chuckled.

'If only you knew what a madman could be capable of' was what he thought.

"Zelda, it's not that… it was something else. I don't think you'll understand."

She finally stopped examining the slingshot and went to go sit down next to him.

"Was it… because of me?"

Zelda looked into the eyes of the boy, waiting for a response, but it never came. The small smile on her face began to falter slightly as she drew her eyes off of his and slowly moved her gaze downward, creating an awkward silence between the two.

"It's not because of you, it's because of…" Link trailed off, unsure how to improve the situation. "Hey Zelda, you want to try out your new present? I can teach you how to use it."

The young princess's expression changed almost instantly as she jumped to her feet and grabbed the slingshot from next to her.

"Oh yes!" she almost shouted, completely forgetting about the previous situation.

"Okay, let me see it for a sec."

She passed him the weapon and grabbed it from her.

"Okay, see that fat man getting into the carriage down there?"

Zelda giggled and peered out over the railing, nodding her head when she spotted him.

"Watch this."

Link pulled back on the string and let it go, sending a deku seed he had placed in there flying at the man fast. It hit him in the belly and bounced off of him. The man suddenly shouted out and began looking all over the place for what could've hit him. He suddenly jerked his head up and looked right at the balcony. He would've seen Zelda laughing if it wasn't for Link grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her down behind the pillars to hide from him, all the while trying to keeping their laughing at a low volume by covering their mouths.

"Okay, now your turn. This is good target practice."

Zelda eagerly grabbed the slingshot out of his hand and instantaneously drew back on the slingshot. She closed one eye and aimed carefully down at another one of the partygoers exiting the castle. She immediately let go of the toy and watched as the seed flew directly into the folds of skin adorning the neck of the man. He flinched and turned around to see what had hit him and where it had come from, but Link and Zelda had already ducked out of site, both laughing uncontrollably as he handed her a handful of seeds and waited for their next target.


"So we sat there on her balcony for a good half hour shooting these fat millionaires in the belly. I'm fairly certain that she ended up hitting a couple in the head. I tried not to but I may or may not have accidently purposely hit a few in the behind too."

"Oh I totally believe you! You would never do something like that," she said winking at me. I laughed at her and for the first time that evening, found myself enjoying her company. "That's really cute though Link… what happened afterwards? Did you end up staying at the castle?"


"I should get going. Impa said she would be back in a half hour and I don't want her catching me here."

Zelda flung one last seed from the slingshot and jumped down from the bench after successfully seeing another bullseye in the belly.

"Yeah, after what happened last time too. Impa is a sweet lady, she's just really protective of me. You're going to stay though, right Link?"

"I don't know if I can Zelda."

"Why not? Is it because of the thing you wouldn't tell me about earlier?"

"Yes… and no. I just… I need to be out there."

Zelda looked at Link, her large, beautiful eyes, filled with the innocence of childhood.

"Please Link? Since it's my birthday, you have to listen to me!"

Link looked at her then turned his head away from her.

"I'm sorry Zelda. I just can't right now."

To her surprise, he immediately jumped onto the bench, then onto the railing, before finally jumping back onto the roof.

"Zelda, I'm sorry but I can't stay here just yet."

She looked down, feeling sadness, feeling bitterness, feeling… hatred.

"Zelda, I-"

"Just go away Link!" she screamed at him. "Last time, I didn't get to even say good bye to you, and then you don't show up for another two months and now you can only spend a couple of minutes with me before you have to go?! What kind of friend does that on someone's birthday?! Just go away Link! I hate you!" she yelled at him and threw the slingshot at him. It hit him in the leg and landed with a thud on the castle's roof.

He looked out at her in disbelief, shocked to see her acting this way. He finally shook his head slightly and looked at her one more time.

"I'm sorry Zelda. I'll explain it all to you one day. I just can't right now. I'll be back in less than a month though, I promise." He turned around and took a step forward, only to pause. "Goodbye Zelda. Happy birthday." He then proceeded to walk forward again before finally disappearing from Zelda's view, leaving her standing on her balcony in a pool of tears.


"Wow, that's pretty low of you."

I just glared at this girl after her comment.

"I was pretty young, keep that in mind."

"Well, technically you weren't since you had already grown up to be an eighteen year old in the other world, so technically, you were-"

"Okay I get it! It was wrong of me to do that but give me a break. That happened ten years ago! The past is in the past. Just, let it go."

She looked extremely surprised at my sudden outburst and kind of slunk back in her chair. Great, now I was the bad guy!

"Look, I'm sorry. Its just..."

"Hey," she looked at me with kind of a twinkle in her eyes and with a smile so sweet, it could cause a heart attack, "you don't need to explain yourself. I shouldn't have pushed you so far so I apologize for that."

What could I say after that? Well, I didn't say anything; I just smiled at her instead as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. Gosh, why are women so hard to understand?

"Well, would you like to get on with the story then or what, Mr. Smiley Man?"

"Yeah, I guess I can. Well-"

"Wait a second, I have a quick question for you. You said you were gone for two months. Where'd you go? You said you just skipped town and left but where to and what were you doing? You know, you kind of suck at telling stories."

See, this is why I think girls are so crazy. One moment you feel like they actually understand you, then the next, they throw a curve ball at you and you begin to wonder why you even began talking to them in the first place.

"I'll get to it, I'll get to it. Just give me a chance." I went to scratch the tip of my nose and slightly shook my head at her. "Great, now I forgot where I was."

"You had just said goodbye to the princess the night of her seventh birthday party, promising to be back in a month's time."

"Oh yeah… well, about that…"


Zelda hated him for what he had done the night of her birthday. She had hated him for leaving her the first time around, she had hated him even more when he disappeared into the night sky on her birthday; so naturally, she kept a keen eye on the calendar, waiting for the days of the month to pass by so she could see him again. One week passed, then the second, then the third, and finally the end of the month brought on a new one and… nothing. So she decided to wait a little longer and keep her hopes up but before she knew it, the summer months came to a close and a chill began to take its place. September turned into October, Halloween passed by and soon, the snow began to fall. The days grew shorter and with it, her memories of Link. By the New Year's beginning, she had almost forgotten about him entirely.


"Zelda, what have I told you about leaving the door to your balcony open in the winter times?"

Impa walked briskly over to the girl lying gloomily on the bed in her room. Her feet lay a half a foot from her pillow, her head hanging off the end of the bed.

"I'm sorry Impa. I just like to go outside once in a while. The castle gets so boring in the winter times."

"I understand that princess, but that doesn't mean you leave the door wide open! Your room is freezing!"

Zelda only glanced at her momentarily before returning her gaze downwards towards the floor boards.

"You're only seven and you're already getting an attitude. I expect this to change missy. A princess does not act like this."

Zelda rolled her eyes at that comment. If she had had a rupee for every time she had been told that…

"I'll be back in one hour to help you get to ready to sleep." Impa said, suddenly walking out of the room, shutting the door gently behind her.

Zelda listened as her footsteps gradually grew quieter and quieter until they were no longer audible. She quickly jumped off of her bed and walked briskly to the corner of her room. She bent down and lifted a loose floorboard up only to reveal the slingshot she had received on her last birthday. She had already forgotten who had given it to her. In fact, she had only found it a couple of weeks ago laying dormant on the roof. Impa and her parents were not too fond of her having, as they called it, "dangerous toys" and therefore did not want to risk having it taken away from her; so she decided to put it in the only spot in the entire castle that only she knew about. This floorboard not only was the hiding spot for the slingshot, but also for other treasures such as her personal diary she wrote in almost daily or one of the only pictograph pictures taken of the great dragon that lived on Death Mountain: Volvagia. But most importantly, it held one of the oldest and most cherished possessions of the Royal Family: the Ocarina of Time.

The item of which she possessed held powers very few knew of. Even the young princess did not know of what it was possible of. She had been told to keep it safe and hidden in a spot only she knew of. When first told this, less than a year ago, she did not know why she had to keep it hidden or what the strange instrument even was but throughout the last couple of months, she had only been told that very bad men would try and steal it and that she was to give it to no one and she couldn't tell anyone about it.

But she didn't care about any of that at the moment. The seven-year-old only had one thing on her mind and that was how many soldiers she'd be able to hit from the balcony.

When Impa had reappeared in her room unannounced, Zelda immediately spun around and hid the slingshot behind her. Luckily for her, Impa didn't seem notice her toy. The girl quickly walked back into her room, making an especially big scene when she shut the door behind her which caused Impa to smile.

"Zelda, do you remember that boy from last spring by the name of Link?"

The second his name left Impa's lips, memories of her birthday night came into her mind, immediately reminding her of the origins of the slingshot she grasped now tighter in her hands behind her.

"Last night he was found lying in the courtyard and was taken to the castle infirmary. He is still hurt but he-"

Zelda's little body flew past the nursemaid and turned the corner outside her room, leaving the always alert Sheikah for once, a little surprised. Zelda ran through the castle, twisting and turning around many corners and only once running into one of the castle workers by accident. She felt bad for her actions as she heard the dishes clatter to the ground behind her but right now she had only one thing on her mind. She pushed against the doors to the infirmary with all her might. That was one thing she never understood about the castle, all of the doors were so heavy and she always had to put all of her weight against them to open them. But for once, she didn't mind because when she finally got the door to swing wide enough for her to turn her body sideways and squeeze through the crack she had created, she was immediately greeted with the site of one of her friends.

"Link!"

She ran over to the bed he was laying in and the big smile she had on her face suddenly faded and instead quickly took on a look of concern. The boy was covered in bruises and splotches of dried blood along his arms and had a big gash on his forehead above his right eye covered by clothe. However, despite the many injuries that decorated his body, he smiled at the site of the young princess at his bedside.

"Zelda…" he whispered to her, beckoning her closer to him.

"Yes Link?"

"I have something to tell you."

He motioned for her to come closer to him and when she leaned over him, her ear poised right above his mouth, believing he was going to be telling her a secret, he poked her in the side causing her to flinch.

"Tag, you're it."

And just like that, the concern that had adorned her vanished and she was back to her cute, happy go lucky, seven year old self.

"Hey that's not fair! You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Link only responded by sticking out his tongue at her to which the princess responded in the exact same fashion. The two giggled until eventually, only silence filled the room again.

"You said you were only going to be gone for a month, but it's already been like…" She paused, starting to count the number of months of his absence on her fingers but gave up and threw her arms back down to her side. "Well it's been a really long time, where were you?"

Link didn't answer but instead looked up at the cute, little, blonde girl above him and stared into her big, blue eyes, causing the young princess to blush and look away.

"Come on Link, tell me why you were gone! And what happened to you? Why are you all… hurt and covered in scrapes and bruises?"

"Oh its not that bad really. Just a couple of Stalchildren in the field-"

"Stalchildren?!" She brought her hands over her mouth and her eyes went wide in shock. "You mean the scary skeleton thingies that are in the field at night?!"

"Yeah but Zelda calm down, it was just a couple of them! I can fight them off! Plus, I had to get something they took from me."

Link sat up in the bed and reached into his small pack next to the bed. With one hand still inside of it, he quietly whispered, "Close your eyes." Zelda instantly shut them tight, her nose wrinkling a bit from her over dramatization of the act which only caused Link to chuckle. As he was beginning to bring his hand out, she opened her right eye just enough to see something extremely shiny being pulled out.

"Hey no peaking!" Link chided her.

She immediately shut her eyes tight but couldn't help and smile after having been caught.

Link picked up the object and placed it in his lap. He was about to ask her to hold out her hands but instead closed his mouth almost immediately and just looked up at the young princess standing next to him. She looked just the way she had all those years ago when they had first met. Her blonde hair draped down her back, her silky white, summer dress flowing just past her feet. She looked beautiful and innocent and pure, almost ethereal. She looked just like the angel he saw standing in front of that window all those years ago.

"Come on Link! I'm behaving! Are you gonna give me my present or not?!" she impatiently asked.

He simply smiled and looked down at the object he was holding in his hands. He couldn't give it to her yet though. He simply wasn't ready.

"Hey Zelda it looks like… I might've lost it."

She opened her eyes and pouted just as he was putting something back in his bag.

"I'm sorry, I hope you're not mad at me."

"Mad at you? Link you're one of the only friends I have! I can't be mad at a friend!"

Without hesitation, she sat down on the bed in front of him, cross legged and gave him a small but tight hug causing Link to turn slightly red in the face but nonetheless he returned the gesture.

"You'll be my friend forever, right Link? You'll never forget about me will you?"

Link only responded by pulling her in closer and hugging her tighter.

"I could never forget about you."


"Well what was it?"

"What was what?" I asked her confused.

"The item that you were going to give to her!"

I chuckled and took a small sip out of the bottle in front of me.

"I'll get to it later."

"Man talk about a cliffhanger. A really bad one at that."

I put the jar back on the table and barely twisted my head towards her.

"Well I thought that it would make this story more… enticing."

"Enticing?" she said lifting one eyebrow. "What is this, some story you're trying to market off to the public?"

I chuckled a bit at her response.

"Guess I deserved that." I said softly, much to her satisfaction. "Anyways, I promise, I'll get to it later…"


As much as he hated being stuck inside the dark infirmary, Impa forbid Link from getting out of bed for the next two days as his wounds needed time to heal. He wasn't allowed to put any pressure on his legs either meaning he was simply confined to the boundaries of his bed. And though one might usually find the list of things to do in this situation short, Zelda gave it her best attempt in making sure her new friend was anything but bored. As soon as she finished getting ready both days, the princess would rush to the infirmary and entertain Link to her heart's content until the sun would set over the land. Even though the young girl was the one trying to entertain him, she sometimes found it to be quite the opposite as she found herself enchanted by the stories he began to tell her. They were mostly about his life in the forest growing up. She found it odd that he would sometimes use strange rhetoric in the way he told the story, saying out of place things like "the first time" and "again" but she refused to think anything more of it. She was more interested in the stories anyways as to a princess who had lived most of her life within the walls of the castle, the thought of growing up without any expectations and being able to play all day in the wide open forest sounded like a fantasy to her.

On the third day, Zelda rushed over to the infirmary just as she had done so the previous two days but upon entering, all that was on the bed was a simple note.

I'm sorry I had to leave this place so suddenly again, but I will see you soon

~Link

She put down the note in disbelief. He couldn't just disappear again without even saying goodbye could he? After spending the previous two days with him, he couldn't just leave her shattered and heartbroken again could he?

She refused to think he would, but the proof was now crumpled up in her hand. Defeated, she began making her way out towards the courtyard. She wanted nothing but to be alone right now, and even after passing Impa who asked her if she was alright after noticing her glum state, she simply walked on and made her way to the courtyard. She was mad and sad and just didn't want to be near anyone right now.

As soon as she stepped foot on the grassy ground, she fell to the ground and began crying; she just couldn't hold it in anymore. Why did it feel like every time she made a friend, they would always leave her behind and make fer feel unwanted and worthless?

Eventually her eyes dried out, but she remained curled up in defeat on the grass for a little while. It wasn't until she felt a hand tap her on the shoulder that she finally wiped away the remnants of the tears that remained attached to her cheek, that she finally got up off of the ground.

Expecting it to be the gardener or a royal guard, she stood with her back to them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here and-"

"Why're you crying?"

Her eyes lit up. That voice… it couldn't possibly be… She turned around and open her mouth in shock, for staring right back at her was a boy about her age, clad in a green tunic with a funny, pointy hat on top.

"But I thought… the note said you…"

"Yeah the note said I would be back soon! I felt bad for losing your present so I went into town early this morning to get you something! Let me see your hand."

But the princess stood still. She couldn't believe he was there standing in front of him. She simply stayed standing there, still in slight disbelief.

Link kept staring at her but finally grabbed her soft hand after seeing she wasn't going to offer it to him. Zelda's attention turned from the face of Link to her wrist where she felt the sensation of something being tied around it.

"I thought about what you said about us being friends and realized, you need something that will always remind you of me." Link finished tying a simple beaded bracelet around her fragile wrist, "and hopefully, whenever you feel lonely, all you'll have to do is look down and be reminded that I'll always be there for you, no matter how far apart we may be."

Zelda lifted her hand and looked at the object now tied loosely around her wrist.

"I know its not much but-"

He was immediately silenced by Zelda's arms wrapping around his back.

"Its perfect Link. Absolutely perfect."

The two children, after their brief moment of solidarity, proceeded to spend the day just like any other child would, playing games and letting all of the worries of life slip away from them. And that night as the dark sky fell over Hyrule, the land's young princess fell asleep with a smile on her face, for an outsider like Link had made her feel on top of the world.


Author's Note: Well, its been a while for me and it feels good to be back. I haven't really written anything in over a year and a half and after my crazy life took a couple wild turns, it seems like its finally calming down and life seems to be returning to normal. Now I know my writing skills have probably regressed slightly in this long hiatus and I know this chapter wasn't perfect but I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. I hope to be returning to my fanfic life a little more and the odds of that happening are looking good. As always, I appreciate any and all feedback, positive or negative, as I truly value hearing how I could further improve my writing. This chapter was a little slow but hey, this story does fall under the romance genre so I guess that's my excuse! Anyways, I hope to see you all soon and thanks for reading!

~PenguinForce