"You must flee, Princess," Impa had said, grabbing her hand. "He must never find you." She handed the princess a sack full of clothing and rupees.

Zelda's took the sack from Impa and her eyes filled with tears.

"You remember what I've taught you? You'll need it now more than ever. Good luck to you, Sheik." Impa turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?!" Zelda half cried, half screamed at her oldest friend.

Impa stopped, and turned to Zelda, smiling. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a Deku Nut and dropped it to the floor, causing a flash before she disappeared.

Zelda sat up in her dark tent, sweating from her memory. It had been almost a month since Ganondorf's return. She wiped the tears away in the darkness.

'Now is as good a time as any to start the day', she thought, gathering her wraps. She carefully set her long blonde hair into a braid and finished by wrapping her lower face. After adjusting her head wrap to cover one eye, she glamoured the other to change from blue to red.

Quietly she placed her tent and blanket into her sack and set off towards the forest.

The sun was slowly rising as she finally started her way through Faron Woods. The forest was dense with green trees. Roots were popping out of the ground at almost every step she took, causing her to almost trip several times. Birds chirped softly, and forest creatures ran away from her lumbering. If she hadn't been at the castle the night of His return, she would have had a hard time believing that the world was in any danger.

She had been traveling for hours when she decided to stop. Making camp near a creek, Sheik found her fishing pole and cast it, hoping dinner would be a quick find. She started to doze off while waiting for something to bite.

A twig snapped behind her, causing her to jump into a defensive position.

"Who is there?" She demanded, reaching for her kunai. A man with golden hair and blue eyes stepped from behind a tree holding his hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry to startle you, my name is Link," he slowly moved towards her lowering one of his hands and outstretching it in her direction.

Zelda eyed him cautiously, removing her hand from her kunai and extending it in his direction. His hand was rough and calloused like that of a man who worked hard labor. He pulled his hand out of hers, looking her over with his blue eyes.

"What's your name? I don't recall ever seeing you around these woods before." He stood back, crossing his arms across his chest, waiting for an answer.

" My name is Ze-Sheik. I am one of the last surviving members of the Sheikah tribe, and if you don't mind, I'm hungry, and I would like to get back to finding lunch." She turned away, hoping that he would do the same and leave her to her mission. The last thing she needed was a tag-a-long.

"You're not going to catch anything there," the man stated.

"And why is that?" She turned to face him once again to find his lips pressed into a hard line.

"Well, we haven't had fish in that creek in a month. That's not the only thing either. A lot of the bigger animals here in the forest have disappeared as well. With winter approaching, my village is in a panic." He sat down on the forest floor. "I was actually headed to the castle to plead with the king and princess to help when I... started folowing you." He seemed a little embarrassed at that last part, rubbing his shoulder and blushing slightly.

Sheik laughed. "Have you not heard? The King and his daughter have gone missing." It felt weird for her to talk about herself that way, but she had to ensure she wasn't found out. "The castle has fallen to a dark force." She looked down at her feet.

"What?" Sheik looked back at the Hylian man and saw his blue eyes looking at her incredulously. "That can't be true," he whispered.

"I'm sorry, I thought you would have heard by now. I didn't know those living in these woods were that out of touch," Sheik said softly.

His eyes hardened as he stood up, " I'm going to need you to follow me, and speak to my village's elder. Please." He added when Sheik's gaze grew cold. She was not used to being bossed around, but she reluctanly agreed. She had started her journey in the forest for a reason, she was hoping she'd find out why soon.