"Sometimes I just wonder if you're ever going to slow down…" a female said to Link, green eyes fixed on him with a haze of sadness. "I really am sorry about everything that's happened to you, but drifting around won't help. You've been doing that for five years!"

"Saria," Link sighed, looking down then closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've only been going about for so long because I got too damn big to live here. This place is for Kokiri anyway, and I'm obviously not. Look at me." He gestured his hands up and down his body.

"I know, I know…"

"Then stop bringing that up! Every time we speak, you must guilt me for leaving." He knelt down and took a seat in the grass beside the tree stump Saria was sitting on. "I just don't have a place to be at the moment. I couldn't live with Malon since we weren't yet married, but that plan has gone to Hell anyway. Can't stay here because I'm too old. I've looked for a place of my own everywhere else, but there still isn't a home for sale." He sighed once more, flicking a blade of grass from his arm. "Maybe this war coming is a good thing. It'll give me something to do, somewhere to be…"

"Don't say that! You know how I feel about fighting. I'd hate to think you actually believe that such a battle is where you belong. You're better than that, Link. I really wish you hadn't enlisted." She frowned at him, pouting a bit with her words.

"I didn't have a choice, Saria. Every man in the land has been ordered by the King to join. Although, I would have signed up anyway, even if it wasn't mandatory. Defending Hyrule…I've been doing it since I was young. I like it. I feel that I'm good at it. Probably because I'm more fit for the job. No wife, no children, no real job…no responsibilities. I needed a responsibility, I think. Maybe that's what Hyrule is."

As the sun faded into the horizon, Link made his way out of the Lost Woods and began to head out of Kokiri. Sometimes it was difficult seeing all the Kokiri's and thinking of how he couldn't stay. It was his first home and he missed these people from time to time, his old neighbors. He gave them one last wave before stepping out on to Hyrule field, his truer home. The fresh air of the valley and distant mountains filled his lungs, giving him a pleasant smile as he yawned, stretching his arms out a little. Now to brace himself for the over-night ride to the castle. Luckily this falling out with Malon didn't mean losing Epona. Although soon he would give the horse back to Lon Lon anyway. Someone needed to watch her while Link was in battle. There's no need for a horse like her in the middle of on-foot warfare.

The journey to Hyrule Castle Town wasn't too harsh, aside from the wind and slight rain. Not bad. He'd seen worse. Epona had pulled up to the drawbridge with perfect timing just as it was being lowered for sunrise. Link could already hear the clucking of chickens and soft laughter from children running about. Welcome to Castle Town.

The smell of fresh baked goods and soft petals filled the air past the pastry stalls and floral stands. Everything was just opening up to start off the day. Hyrule had a vast free market economy, concentrated particularly in this area where there was a new family-owned shop or diner nearly every square-foot. It was that of a small town, but of big size and fair population. There were lots of people and so much land, but every one knew everyone else.

Link stopped beside a large wooden pillar beside an inn. He dismounted Epona and pulled out a rope that was in one of the bags hanging from her saddle. He tied her up nice and tight, petting her a last time before entering the inn.

Just in front of the door was a counter, a small old man was sitting behind. The man looked Link up and down as a smile formed. He stood up and shook Link's hand, even giving him a pat on the back.

"Well, look at that." He said rather cheerfully. "The 'boy' in green is back. I haven't seen you around here in months. What brings you back to Castle Town? I'd think you'd be too busy with your fiancé at the ranch to stop by this old place. But it's great seeing you! So how are things? The travel, the work, that pretty little number you're getting ready to marry?"

At first, Link smiled. And just as the man patted him on the back, he went in for a quick hug and nodded at his initial response to Link's appearance. But as his words began to speak of Malon, Link's smile turned to a shrug. And with that, a small frown. "We, uh…we're not together anymore, Aleistor." Link saw the immediate surprise in the man's eyes, continuing before even being asked. "She just lost interest, I believe. The wedding's off. I really don't want to speak much of it if you don't mind."

Aleistor shook his head, "Not at all. So you're here for a room then?" He moved back towards the counter, picking up a large book which Link assumed to be the inn's check-in/check-out book.

"Yes. I'm not sure how long. Probably a few days, maybe until I'm sent out. But I'm to meet the royal family in a few hours so I'll need a bath soon. Is there any water available?" He replied with a little contentment that the subject had moved away entirely from his old lover.

"Oh yes, I just had my wife visit the well this morning. We have plenty of buckets. I'll be sure to put a couple in your room, towels as well." He nodded.

"Thank you, sir."

"It is my job." He smiled then penciled Link's name down on the check-in side of the book, adding the amenities to a list on a separate sheet of small paper. "Since you're not sure of the length of your stay, we'll just ring up the bill when you check out. Will you need someone to watch the horse while you're gone?"

Link glanced behind his shoulder through the inn window. Epona was still tied up, but now more children were coming out and starting to play around the area. They were kicking chickens and running about with rubber swords.

He turned back to Aleistor and nodded. "Please."

"She looks absolutely stunning." Townspeople whispered, keeping their eyes set on the Princess. She moved gracefully around the dance floor in a gorgeous one-of-a-kind gown. It was a pale-blue with white lace, and lovely gold accents to match her jewelry and the strings that tied up the corset part of the dress. Her bright blonde hair was tied up with small gold clips embroidered throughout as soft curls fell from the up-do beautifully around the sides of her face and behind her neck.

She was dancing with a potential suitor. That is what the ball was for. The King had realized his age and Zelda's. It wouldn't be long before he was too old to continue ruling. Especially with the war coming up, he knew the possibilities of getting killed. And when he thought of this while declaring war, he thought of the heiress to the throne, Princess Zelda. That's when he was reminded of his daughter's age and that he had already waited too long to begin searching for her husband-to-be.

Tons of wealthy young men and Princes from other lands had come all this way just to get one dance with Zelda. She was the most beautiful, radiant young woman in Hyrule and the lands surrounding. She was also the most difficult to win the affection of. She hadn't even had a single boyfriend in all her life, not that they weren't after her. They all were, every last one of them.

The one she was currently dancing with was a prosperous and attractive male from the Far East. Her father favored him dearly, mostly due to his wealth. As they danced along with the classical piano music being played by the band in the corner, the 'hero' was just arriving. He walked through the main doors of the ballroom, immediately being greeted by friendly townsfolk. Although, they were quite surprised to see he was not attending with Malon. Instead, he came alone and for reasons they weren't sure, made his way right to the Princess.

He cleaned up nicely, wearing the special occasion outfit of most men his age. It looked rather intricate and expensive for someone that was not a Prince, but he pulled it off perfectly in colors of black and blood red that combined nicely with his sandy blond hair. He moved through the dancing couples until standing behind the Princess. He tapped on her shoulder lightly and as she turned to look at him, the Prince did as well, looking as if he were attempting to hide a look of anger.

"Excuse me, may I?" Link spoke charmingly, looking mainly at Zelda.

Before the Prince even had a chance to speak, Zelda answered for him and nodded her head. "Yes, you may." She said sweetly and smiled at him.

The Prince backed away and with a slight look of disappointment, walked away from the two. Link took one hand and placed it on the small of her back, the other hand he held up beside his shoulder and grasped on to hers.

"I am rather bewildered to see you here, Link. I can imagine Malon will be quite displeased that you are here dancing with me at such an occasion." Zelda looked him up and down. He almost felt it was a look of 'shame on you'.

"Rest assured, I am not being unfaithful to my fiancé, for I have one no longer." He said, trying to sound as sophisticated as she. Although he would never compare. He was not a rich member of any royal family.

She smiled at his words. Not at what was being said, but they way he said it. She knew speaking like that was quite a stretch for Link. She could tell he was trying to be formal for her. "I am sorry to hear that, but I will not ask what happened. I assume you are much too tired of discussing it."

"Thank you, highness." He grinned, then spinning her around before taking her closer once more. "Have you found anyone you like?" He looked upon her with curiosity.

It took the Princess a moment to answer, as she gave it a quick thought, then shook her head. "I am still not sure. After all, choosing a husband is not something I will take lightly." However, even she may not have gotten the final decision. If a man was chosen, she was almost positive the King's choice would overrule hers. For a second, she thought of asking Link how long it took for him to decide he should purpose marriage to Malon, until she remembered it was something he didn't want to be brought up at the moment.

Link simply nodded his head, "I understand. I would not dare to take something so important lightly either."

With that, he had just answered Zelda's question without even knowing it. So it seemed, it was something he gave a lot of thought before doing. She liked that about him. If she were going to be purposed to, she wouldn't want it to be a spur of the moment decision that could jeopardize the marriage it created.

Her silence gave away to Link that she was somewhere lost in thought. He leaned down slightly and looked her in the eyes. They were a gorgeous aquamarine color that went in sync perfectly with her dress. "You look incredible, Princess." He spoke softly in her ear, almost a whisper.

The Princess blushed as she looked up at him smiling. She had heard that at least a thousand times that evening, but it came so sweetly from his lips. "Says the handsome young hero." She replied, batting her eyelashes in such a modest, yet adorable way.

With that, the song ended and a new suitor was on his way to try and sweep the woman of her feet, although he would surely fail as far as Link was concerned. He bowed kindly to the Princess and took her hand to kiss her fingers delicately. He thanked her for the dance and then left her for the next young man. People whispered of the two after he started to leave, but just then he saw a familiar face in the crowd. There she was in the corner of his eye, Malon. She was dressed marvelously as well, her hair done and everything. He almost gasped at her lovely appearance, but instead just laughed to himself. Even though she looked wonderful, he had just finished dancing with the most attractive female in Hyrule. Malon's eyes stared at him with a sadness, and then he realized she was probably watching him with that look during the whole dance. But how could he feel sorry? Yes, he ended things with her, but only because of her admitted detachment to their relationship. What else could he do, continue to wait up for her like a sad, little, lost puppy? He refused to be felt sorry for and rather than stopping to talk to her, he just left.

He slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked across the stone walkway of the castle. He looked up to the stars, shining so brightly in such a dark night sky. It had been a successful evening, despite the fact he wasn't there long. That few minutes was all he needed. But just as he reached the castle gates, he felt something pull him back so hard he almost fell backwards. "What the fu-" he began to shout, until a hand was placed over his mouth.

"Shh!" is all he heard against his ear, before being spun around to face the culprit. The face he saw left him shocked.

"Impa?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Quiet, I said!" She growled, then pulled him aside behind a few bushes. He assumed this was that no one would see them talking. Why the secret? He didn't quite know.

"What's going on? Why the hostility? Damn, you nearly dislocated my shoulder." He looked at her frustratingly, rubbing his arm.

"Listen!" She shouted.

"Okay Navi…" He replied bitterly.

"Just hush for one moment! Now, I don't have long to talk to you but I must quickly. And I don't want anyone to know we're having this discussion. So just stay quiet for a few seconds so I can say this to you, because I will only say it once."

He saw the seriousness in her eyes, and didn't say another word, just nodded.

"Now," she began, "listen up." You cannot see the Princess again. And I don't mean friendly visits, that's fine. But the dancing, the charming, the flirting, the trying to get her to fall for you. That needs to stop. I know what you're doing hear tonight and I've heard about you and Malon, but I think you may just be using that as an excuse for yourself to go after Zelda and I won't stand for it. You don't love her and you don't really care, you just may think you do, because right now you're so heartbroken you'll go after anyone. And right now you want to go after her because you think it'll look good. Because the only definite upgrade that absolutely anyone will say is amazing is Zelda. Because trying to do better than Malon with anyone else will be debatable. Zelda is not debatable. Marrying her, is not debatable. Because I will not let you even try. You are moving too fast for your own good, and hers. I will not let you come around her and try to sweet talk her like that. Because honestly, you may be the only man it will ever work with. And I won't see her hurt. She does not have the time to be hurt. With this war coming around, she will be so busy with learning to take over ruling the land that she will not have time to deal with any hardship you may bring. And if you haven't forgotten, you are about to be leaving in this war. You don't have the time for this either. One love letter from the Princess will be so distracting you'll forget what you're there for and have your bloody arms and legs blown off. Which that itself, will also hurt her and give her even more to be upset by during all this. Don't you see? Every possible scenario is a bad one. This cannot go well. If you actually care about her and want to see the both of you succeed, you will not bother with her. Please Link, man up, use your brain, and stay away."

Those words stung him. His jaw dropped and he began to verbally retaliate, but just then a puff of smoke appeared from Impa's fingers and all around until she was out of sight. Once it cleared up, she was gone.

"I can't believe she said all that." Link shook his head, sitting in the woods with a couple of the Kokiri, Saria and Mido. "I was so excited to get away from Malon. I was so pleased with the way things went at the ball. I dressed up real nice, I talked to her as smoothly as I could and I managed to dance with her without even tripping or stumbling around." He sighed, dropping his head down into the palms of his hands. "I just don't get it." His voice mumbled through his skin.

"Wow…" Saria frowned, rubbing Link's back a little in a comforting manner. "I've never seen you look so defeated."

"More importantly," Mido added in, "I've never seen you just take it like that. Why aren't you fighting back? It's not like you to not fight back."

"Because I can't, Mido." Link lifted his head up and rested his jaw on his hands. "What's the point if even if I do fight for her, I won't end up with her anyway. I already told you what Impa said and all of it was true. We'll just have problems because she'll be too busy being in charge and I'll be too busy with war. Not to mention, I don't even know what she thinks of me." He frowned. "I just really liked it. I liked having her in my arms and dancing with her, knowing that everyone was watching. I liked that everyone was watching me be with her. I felt proud to even get to touch her. She's like a fragile, valuable, crystal that no one can have. Something you can't put a price on because all the rupees in the world can't pay for it. Something that everybody wants, but no one can have. A pure, untouched, beautiful body with a soul to match. Someone wise and deep and intricate. She's a treasure and I lost the key to the chest."

"More like Impa just took it away from you." Mido murmured.

"Mido!" Saria shouted.

"Oh, uh…sorry." Mido shrugged. "I just have this thing where I don't think before I speak. My apologies Link."

"Eh." Link shrugged, sighing once more. "I don't care. I just want a chance with her…"

"Don't you think it's a little soon though? I mean, you and Malon…that was only the other day." Saria said, questioning his sudden changed feelings.

"I still love Malon." Link admitted. "But I really don't think I'll ever completely fall out of love with her unless I fall in love with someone else. Besides, I knew she'd been wanting to end it for months. I used that time pretty wisely and moved on all throughout."

"So what you're saying is…" Saria placed a finger over her bottom lip as if she were trying hard to think about something. "…you already started to get these feelings for Zelda while you were with Malon, so it isn't a new-found affection?"

Link nodded. "I felt so guilty. I would be talking to Zelda, looking her in those beautiful eyes. I'd watch her long blonde hair bounce around when she moved her head even slightly. I'd watch her body move when she walked…I just thought she was so perfect. So alluring and seductive, yet so innocent and so pure. And I felt so bad about it because all the while, I was with another girl, and I felt guilty for thinking so highly of Zelda when I should have been doing that with Malon. And believe me, I did—at first. When Malon and I first got together, I did all those things I just described. I watched her every move and listened to every word she spoke, until one day I realized she wasn't who I thought she was. She's more cold-hearted and mean than most people think she is. She wasn't so innocent like I believed her to be. And while I was starting to think less of her…It's like Zelda got more and more beautiful every day. And now that I'm not tied down and with anyone else, I want her. And I want to go for it and just try to make it work now that I have the chance, but I can't. Because as usual, once I think everything is starting to fall into place, the Gods and Goddesses give me Hell all over again."

Link arrived back at the inn later that night. Instead of riding Epona, he used a shortcut this time and played the ocarina to get himself to the Temple of Time. Boom, there he was. Right in Castle Town again.

Everyone was asleep at the inn. It was so late that even Aleistor had dozed off at the check-in counter. Link laughed quietly and blew out the candle that was burning on the edge of the desk. "Night Aleistor." He said quietly before heading off to his room.

The next morning was an unexpected, and eventful awakening. There were people screaming and children crying outside Link's window. He jumped out of bed and threw his clothes on as fast as he could, but by the time he got outside, there was nothing he could do.

A cold sweat cut across his skin as he stared, terrified at what had become of this town.

Almost all of the buildings in Castle Town were set on fire. People were injured and running around looking for help, but there was no where to run to. Link overheard a castle guard being notified to put the castle on lockdown because seven people were captured. Three adults, four children. He almost felt bad at the fact that he wanted to forget those seven people and ride to the castle to make sure the Princess was okay. Luckily, it looked like all this didn't quite make it to the castle.

Remembering Epona, he turned to the pillar he left her on. She was alive, but she was greatly injured. There were a couple arrows going through her body and she was lying limp on the ground, just staring up at Link with those big eyes as if pleading for mercy. He felt his heart sink, immediately trying to remove the arrows without causing the horse further pain.

The only thing he could understand from all the destruction going on was that soldiers from Mindaria, the land Hyrule was at war with, had just attacked the town and ran off before any authorites had time to act. That's when they took the hostages. Some people were just leaving on their horses to check out the other regions of Hyrule and warn them in hope they had not been attacked yet. The worst part of it all that left Link shaking in his boots is that there were dozens of dead bodies laying on the ground. Aleistor's was one of them.