"Almost. Try again. Put your feet like this."

I plant my feet on the ground the way she is showing me and throw the blade in my hand. The handle hits the right edge of the target and sends the knife spinning. I throw my hands up and cry out in frustration.

"Bulbins, Impa, how do you expect me to do something so hard?!"

"Just try again. You're getting close."

"No, I'm not," I mumble, but I take the next knife from her hand anyway. I try again, this time throwing a little further to the left. The handle bounces off of the center of the target. Impa smiles.

"See? You have perfect aim. Now you just need to learn how to make it stick." She stands next to me and throws a knife, and the blade smacks into the center of the target, quivering. "Like that. First, figure out how hard you need to throw it, then the rest will come to you."

Another knife appears in her hand out of nowhere, and she holds it out to me. "Try one last time."

I sigh and take it. I plant my feet, size up the target, and throw. The knife sticks into the target just off of the bulls-eye mark. I grin and look over to Impa, who grins back at me.

Maybe I can do this after all.

Over the course of the day we train with throwing knives, long knives, and tiny poison needles, as well as smoke bombs and flash bombs; and by the time the sun begins to set, I am frustrated and exhausted.

I slouch, letting my left hand hang at my side, and hold my aching head in my right.

"Come on, Sheik. Don't give up. Try one last time."

You have got to be kidding me. That is just about the billionth time she has said that all day. I'm bruised all over from sparring for twelve straight hours, and my stomach groans loudly.

"Fine. One last time, and then can we please get something to eat?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Are you sure you want to stop?" I glare daggers at her, and she laughs out loud. "Alright, alright. This time give it your all, and maybe, just maybe, I'll let you go."

I back up a little, and we both get into a fighting stance. I make the first move,lunging at her side with my right fist. She slides to the left and pokes me hard in the arm with two fingers. I feel it go numb. Bulbins! I turn and throw a kick at her legs, hoping to catch her off balance, but she quickly grabs my foot and swings it around, flipping me over so that I land on the ground face down.

I hit the ground hard, and my breath is knocked out of my lungs. I lay on my stomach and gasp for breath for a moment, and when I find it, I roll over and spread my arms on the ground, closing my eyes.

I hear Impa's heavy footsteps approaching me, and I open my eyes to see her standing over me with her hands on her hips. "Well, you've got the right idea at least." She reaches out her hand and I take it, letting her pull me up off of the ground. "You've just got to be much faster. You don't have to be stronger than your opponent to bring them down. You only have to be quick enough to evade their attacks, and be able to recognize and take advantage of their weak points. I didn't even have to strike you this time; all I had to do was find your weak point, which when you kicked was your balance, and use it against you."

"I'm trying, Impa, I really am-"

"And you're getting it. You're learning much faster than anyone else I have ever taught. The things that you have learned in one day would take a Hylian soldier months to learn and perfect."

My stomach growls again, threatening to tear itself out of my body and find its own food. Impa laughs. "We had better get that Wolfos of yours to a dinner table, quick!"

I giggle. "Hurry, before it eats a hole in me!"

"Run! I don't think it'll wait much longer!"

She starts to sprint to the inn, and I follow her, laughing, ignoring the pain in my limbs and actually enjoying myself for once.

Inside the building is a temple, with an enormous chunk of some strange stone right in the middle. An old woman sits cross-legged in front of me, her face drooping with age, and a single, wound-up braid swings back and forth from her head.

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

The woman chuckles. "I know quite a few things, dear. Soon, you will, too." She leans forward. "I've been waiting a long time for you to arrive, Zelda. The entire world is in danger, and you are going to help save it."

This blows me away. "What?! Just a few minutes ago, I was home, riding around the sky with Link, and now-" Link. I just can't get my mind off of him. Is he alright? What is he doing now? Is he looking for me? What will father do when he finds out I'm gone?

...How am I going to get back?

The woman stands slowly and takes my hand. She is only about half as tall as I am, but the red cloak she wears has a spire on it that makes her seem taller. "Come, child," she says, "We have work to do."

She leads me out to the place where I landed, a green patch of grass right outside the temple. The soft grass still has an imprint where I fell. The woman points to a gate that I hadn't noticed before.

"That path leads into the forest. You must go to the Skyview Temple, which resides deep in the heart of the Faron Woods, and purify yourself in the waters of the spring. There, you will gain knowledge about your quest, and your purpose in being here."

What? This woman is talking in riddles! "What are you talking about? I just got here! I don't even know how I got here, or why-"

"If you do this, you will understand. Now, once you go into the forest, find Bucha, and he will show you the way to the temple."

I relent. Perhaps I will make sense of all of this if I just do as she says. "Fine, all right." I start toward the open gate, and the woman calls after me.

"You have a very important role to play in the saving of this world. Be careful."

This woman must be crazy.

But I have nowhere else to go, so I enter what must be the forest, curious as to what exactly a forest is, and begin my quest.