I opened my eyes and started coughing. My head hurt, and the pain stabbed harder every time I coughed, making my whole body convulse. I swallowed hard, took a shallow breath, and started coughing again. I was wet and dirty, I could still taste swamp water, and I hurt all over.

I'd never been happier in my life.

It was a strange thing. I'd never really been happy at all, but this was about the worst condition I'd ever been in. When I'd been worn ragged by training, I'd been better than this. When I'd been so miserable I'd starved myself half to death, I'd been better. But I hadn't ever really been happy before, and now I was.

I don't know what it was, looking back. Relief, I suppose. But some excitement, too. After who knew how long of doing nothing, something was happening to me. And if that something involved nearly drowning because of a marshlight, if it meant being sick because I was full of swamp, so be it. It was something, at the least, and I liked it a whole lot better than nothing.

"So," said a voice behind me. I jumped. "You're awake."

"Took long enough," said another voice. I turned to see the speakers. I blinked at them. It was the boy in green and the blue fairy. I scowled at them then.

"Took you two long enough to get out here," I replied. "Nearly drowned, didn't I?" I spat out a mouthful of muddy water and glared at them. Especially the fairy. Why did he get a fairy, and I didn't? Shouldn't I have a fairy, too? It wasn't fair.

"That you did," replied Link, and then did a double take. "You knew I was coming?"

"I knew you were supposed to be coming," I corrected him. "If I thought you actually were, I'd have stayed put and not been sucked into the mud!"

"Oh," said Link. He had a slight lilt in his voice, not enough to be called an accent, but enough that I could hear it. I wondered if my voice sounded like that, too. He cocked his head and bit his lip, thinking hard.

"He's trying to blame us for his near drowning!" exploded the fairy. "How dare you, when we're the ones who saved you? I told you, didn't I, Link? I told you he'd be ungrateful, I was against the idea! I told you it was just a waste of time! Link, why in the names of the Goddesses don't you ever listen to me, honestly, I'm always giving you perfectly good advice and you never pay the slightest attention, I don't know why I bother..."

I had to laugh. I could see, in a way, why Link didn't listen to her. But I had to like this little sphere of light that was his fairy. And I had to be angry at Link for...what? I wasn't sure. I just knew that I was furious at him, furious for no reason that I could name.

"Navi, calm down," said Link in mild alarm. I smirked at his startled face. The fairy flew up and into a tree, and stayed there. I could imagine her face, if she had one: turned away from Link, nose in the air, eyes closed and mouth tight. I didn't know why I imagined her that way. I just did.

Link cocked his head again, looking at me with an expression of uncertainty. "Don't hurt yourself," said Navi from the tree. "You might if you think too hard."

"What's your name?" asked Link. I shrugged. His looked at me for a long minute and then turned towards Navi. "Will you please come down from that tree?"

Navi made a noise like "Hm!" and did not move. Link looked at her, open-mouthed, then shrugged and turned away. He began walking away.

"Hey, little fairy," I called to Navi. "Can you tell me which way to get out of the swamp?"

"See those funny crooked trees, that are sort of leaning against each other?" She flew in the direction of the trees, and I nodded. "Go through them and keep going straight, till you reach Hyrule Field."

"Thanks," I called after her as she flew away. Then I turned in the direction she'd indicated and walked on.

It was turning into evening again as Hyrule Field came into sight. I grinned and started running. The mud still pulled at my boots, but I didn't care. Twenty feet until freedom. I was fast, but the mud slowed me down. I'd be faster when I reached the field. Ten feet. I think I went faster in anticipation. Five. One. I was out of the swamp. I ran a few more feet before I slowed down. For the first time, I was free.

"No one telling me what to do now," I said. "No one's in charge of me. I'm in charge now!" It was the best feeling I'd ever had, to be my own master.

Dusk was coming again, which increased my sense of freedom. I walked boldly across the field, in no particular direction and towards no particular destination. It was enough that I was free at last of the swamp and the temple. I wandered aimlessly, save for the aim of never returning to the swamp. There was a river nearby, with a bridge across it. The water moved slowly, and I paused. I could see myself clearly in the gently rippling water. I knew myself, but it was as someone else's that I recognized my face. I closed my eyes and saw the same picture, save for a tiny difference. A fairy.

I crossed the bridge and shook my head, clearing it of the haunting sight of my own reflection.

As night fell, a creature began to climb out of the dirt before me. I stepped back, alarmed. It was a skeletal thing, with no lower jaw and its bones simply hanging together. A Stalfos! I walked slowly backwards, my eyes locked on its empty sockets. It advanced on me slowly, arms extended like a sleepwalker's. I retreated farther. It seemed to grin as it pushed me back. I touched something with my foot, and it moved. Pushing my foot forwards. I whirled and saw a second Stalfos.

I looked from one Stalfos to the other. More were raising themselves up from the earth. I ran. They gave chase, slowly, but with determination. Running was easy for me, and I was fast, but I wasn't tireless. Not so for the Stalfos. They were incredibly slow, but they were everywhere, and they didn't ever need to stop and rest.

There was a wall nearby. I made a mad dash for the entrance. More Stalfos clambered up and got in my way. I ran around them, unable to fight. I could hardly breathe with the effort of escaping.

I was through the wall, running up a sort of alley. There were Stalfos here, too! This whole field was infested with the skeletons. I ran. I hit something and fell back. The Stalfos were nowhere to be seen.

I looked up to see what I'd slammed into. Sitting opposite me was a girl. Her red hair glinted in the light of the lanterns hanging on the walls. She smiled, her dark eyes gleaming. "Oh! I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

I tried to reply, but I couldn't. My breath had stopped. For a moment, time seemed frozen. The girl sat there, still smiling, suspended in motion. My heart had stopped breathing. The flames stopped dancing. I didn't know if it was more than half a second that time had stopped. It felt like an eternity. An eternity of trying to say something, of looking at the girl. But whether it was the blink of an eye or a hundred years, a second later the world picked up where it had left off. "I'm fine."

She stood up and held her hand down to me. "Here." I reached out and took her extended hand. It seemed so small, so fragile. Her slender fingers curled around my bigger hand and she pulled me to my feet. She was stronger than she looked.

"I'm Malon," she said, taking her dress in her hand and curtsying. I bowed awkwardly, my sword getting in the way. She laughed, her sweet smile lighting up her face.

"Come on," she said. "You need somewhere to stay for the night, don't you? It's dangerous in Hyrule Field."

"Yeah," I said. "A bit."

Her eyes widened and her hands came up to her mouth. "Were you attacked by Stalfos?"

"Yeah." I felt stupid, saying that, but I had no other response. She grabbed my sleeve and led me farther into her home. She was shorter than me by an inch, maybe two. No more. I could see her smiling as she led me to the house. And in the warm light of the lamps, I smiled too.