Chapter 4

'Teachers'

A\N- anything in bold characters is a flashback sequence

"Would you stop breathing in my ear!" Leon snaps and Sheik takes a measured step back. He sits back in his chair in their shared room while Leon dives back to his book. Leon can feel Sheik's eyes on him.

Sheik sits on the edge of the table and can feel Leon's stare on the side of his face, like a small fire of hatred. It never ceased to amaze Sheik what nonsense the Hylians got excited over. He had asked Leon what put his long ears in a twist, the fact that Leon tried to punch his face was moot since in a blink Leon had found himself acquainted intimately with the floor.

An apology didn't help, and it seemed Sheik had earned his eternal annoyance. It was stupid, annoying, pointless and maddening. Leon was the only person who could help him learn, He thought that it was a good enough reason to take one of Leon's books, Hylians idealized intelligence, even worshiped it, no?

He had said as much a day ago, the glare he got could have melted the walls. Sheik hoped not all Hylians were as touchy, hot headed, prickly and easily annoyed as the man sitting on the chair at the other side of the room. He shouldn't have expected much of a race who subjugated a whole race to their service. He kept his face pleasantly blank, it gave him some measure of satisfaction to watch Leon squirm in his chair.

Maybe Leon thought that two could play this game when he squared his shoulders and began reading with determination, pretending the other man was not there. The thing was, Leon wasn't even a player, Sheik could do this all day, and the day after it, and a whole month more of ' suffering; the silent treatment the other man inflicted without batting his eye. His whole town didn't talk to him the first year of his training, it was a test, it drove Sheik crazy, shattering him and building him up from scratch when his own family stopped talking, wouldn't even look at him. His mother had cried when he left to live with his teacher, as was custom, but she didn't say a word.

Two excruciating hours passed and Leon could feel sweat sliding down the back of his neck. Sheik's gaze had been on his the whole time. He didn't budge or twitch, didn't move or sniff, just standing there, leaning on the wall, arms crossed on his chest, his face infuriatingly blank, watching him read his book.

"By the three, Just stop!" Leon finally snapped, "What do you want from me?" Leon was on his feet, exasperation pouring off him. Sheik didn't look impressed, but yet again, he didn't look like anything but mildly interested right now. Sheik moved away from the wall, with one graceful movement, like he hadn't stood motionless for two hours, driving the other man crazy, stepped to his desk and picked up a fat book.

"Help me with this." He said in a voice as mild as his expression. Leon was stupefied, in his hands, bound in aging leather and inlaid with gold was a book he had read years ago.

"Are you serious?" Leon asked incredulously," This is a beginners book! How could you be here if you have never read that?" a muscle in Sheik's jaw jumped as he snatched the book from Leon's hands.

Sheik said something quietly and Leon's ears twitched with apprehension. "Can you even read High script?"

Sheik didn't move a muscle, but it was all Leon needed to know.

"WHAT?!"

"I never had the time." Sheik stated flippantly .

"But you speak just fine! You barely have an accent! How did you conjure all the runes up until now? How do you control your shadow?"

Sheik pulled his shoulders, putting the book on his desk and touched the red tattoo that had been inked on his face years ago, that red drop of blood, the eye of truth. He could see Leon blanching, his rugged breath was the only thing that he could hear as he crept closer to him, wonder and terror etched into every line of his face.

"Is it really..?"

"Do you think my people take this lightly? Do you think they would let me parade it if it wasn't true?" Sheik hissed angrily, Leon looked at him again, surprised. "Sheik, I didn't mean-"

"Hylian's don't mean anything, you'd rather stay ignorant of a culture that frightens you." He seethed. Leon's chin lifted, his shoulders taken back, the perfect picture of Hyilian elite.

"Do not presume you know everything about me." Leon said angrily, looking into Sheik's eyes. Sheik held his gaze, his cool red eyes unblinking. After a minute of silence, Leon looked away reluctantly. He pulled his chair and dragged it to Sheik's desk, sitting down stiffly, looking at the standing man.

"Well, sit down and let's get started."

The lemon cakes were sour, the tea bland and the air stifling. Sheik was poised, face cool in his heavy robes, listening to every word that came out of the queen's mouth. He wished for her to finish her words quickly, had he been another man he'd fidget and bounce his leg impatiently, fortunately he wasn't.

High Lady Evelyn , queen of Hyrule, fanned herself with a small silken fan. It was a beautiful mastery of needle work, she had said so when his eyes landed on the the small wooden frame. It was also engraved with cooling runes that shone dimly in Sheik's eyes, more then the shine the thing that had captured his eye was the small clever engraves that his the runes. He could read them, praise Hylia, he could!

He won't show Leon his eagerness when he'd sit him down to continue his lessons, although the small darting looks he received from the man every time he could successfully decipher a written word was indication he could feel it pouring of Sheik in waves.

He looked at High Lady Evelyn, straining to maintain the concentration needed to look at her runes with the eye of truth, while pretending to maintain attentiveness to her every word. Court gossip was a drag, but if the queen though it necessary to talk about it at length with the man intend to be her bodyguard, then he shall sit and listen to every word of it.

Or so Lady Ginevra had said. On every other day Sheik wouldn't have minded it, but two days have passed since Leon had started tutoring him and he couldn't wait to get back to their shared room and read until his candle turned into a puddle. He almost shivered, a few months ago, even a few weeks ago he'd be appealed with the notion of reading. A man reading was not natural, like the three moons rising during the day. Knowing how to read a Sheikah book was shame enough at the time, but this new excitement made him itch.

High Lady Evelyn put down her cup of cool tea in its saucer, and stared into Sheik's eyes.

"I am not going to get your full attention today, am I?" She said blandly.

"My lady, I assure you, you have my full attention." Sheik retorted politely, inclining his hed slightly in apology. High Lady Evelyn raised one elegant eyebrow, resting her hands on her knees. Had she not been a queen he was sure she'd be raising her voice and crossing her arms.

"Repeat what I have said just now."

Sheik took a deep breath and recited, " Lord Benjamin was caught lifting the maid's skirts, while his Lady wife embraced gambling once more. Rumor around his household say he had grown rather fond of her. As high seat of his house another scandal could topple him and the sharks are already gathering, smelling his blood."

Lady Evelyn's lips quirked slightly, "No need to sound so dramatic, Sheik, 'smelling his blood' really."

"The rumors are rising within the academy too, since he is he of the main benefactors, the upper management are wringing their hands." Sheik added, Seeing The High Lady's eyebrow quirk higher, she was mildly surprised he knew that.

"You'd be good eyes and ears wherever you'll be, won't you?" She said.

"My Lady is too kind." He mumbled humbly. He could see no laughter in her eyes when he rose from a small .

"Timidity does not suit you, Sheik," She stated, taking another sip from her tea. She looked at the small tray of lemon cakes for a moment, deciding she had had enough, waving a waving servant to take them away. She waited with regal silence until the servant was out of ear shot, back in line next to the further wall. "As of next month I expect you to be fluent in High script, and I expect to be notified of any drawback such as this in the future." Sheik started, looking at her with as much bewilderment his training could let slip: His eyes widened slightly and his muscles gave an involuntary jerk.

"Yes Majesty."

"Would you feel more comfortable with a Sheikah teacher instead of the boy you are currently learning with?" She inquired. Sheik's head whirled, they have been secretive, he had certainly told no one, could Leon be the leak? It was expected the queen to have a set of eyes and ears in the land, especially a pair of eyes to watch her bodyguard in training, but it sill startled him. They had been alone, cooped in their room!

"I think it will be favorable if I could keep my teacher, my Lady." He stated, it was bad enough some of the Hylian student's knew of him, but a Sheikah would be too shaming!

"You shall have both." She said with an air of finality, her eyes shifted behind him for a glimpse, half a heart beat; every single hair on Sheik's body stood on an end. In the remaining half of that heart beat Sheik had already grabbed his chair, whirling himself on an axis, his heavy robes flapping as he let his tea cup's saucer fly from between his fingers. It sliced through the air with a whistle, as he let his legs vault him off the still spinning chair and onto the figure that coalesced from thin air behind him.

The figure caught the saucer in mid flight, redirecting it with an easy slap of the hand while advancing toward him with speed. Shadows washed off the figure as it advanced toward him. Sheik was still airborne when the shadows pooled to the floor like thick molasses, he couldn't even blink before they shot up, like hounds after his blood, turning into razor sharp poles. The shadows pierced his robes, but his hands slid along it as he grabbed on pole and pushed himself down onto the figure, who meanwhile sprouted a face, and a long brown braid.

Another heartbeat passed, the queen rose behind them, the servant's were starting to cry out.

The figure looked at him with alarm as he came crashing on her, his hand grabbing the braid, crushing a small silver bell in his hand as he pulled her head down to the floor with fierce brutality. Another heart beat passed, he felt her bend under him, a flexible leg latching with surprising agility to his throat, pulling his head back, starting to crush his windpipe in the crook of her knee. The shadow came pouring down on him, but he kept pressing her head down, he could feel hair coming free from the braid, he heard sounds in the background but paid them no mind as he started muttering his runes, this time in High script. The rune was almost complete with his hurried murmuring, starting to gather the light around it, like a black hole.

"I said stop!" The high, clear voice of High Lady Evelyn cut the air like a knife, and with sudden clarity Sheik fully realized what he was grabbing and what he had started muttering. He Let go as if burned, the small shape of a crushed bell imprinted in the palm of his hand, his rune snuffing out like a weak candle's light. The person whose head he let go of let a small grunt of pain, reluctantly untangling her leg from the choke hold she had him in.

He rose up, standing in front of the High Lady, his hand itching to sooth away the pain in his neck and throat, instead it stayed still at his side. His head felt heavy, but he remained in alerted focus as the woman rose from the floor.

She stood with ease that spoke of training, and the silver chime of small bells in her long, dark brown hair affirmed it to be true. The long fabric of a red Jibal looped over her shoulders, it must have come off when he had knocked her down. Her arms lay at her sides, mirroring his, as she looked at him with startling golden eyes. It was like looking into his sister's eyes, or his father's eyes, the gold he had missed so much looking at him coldly from an aggravated face. She was Sheikah to the core of her stance.

"You have your mother's eyes." She said in an accented voice like his own, the slow deliberate drawl of his culture wasn't surprising. He saw her rubbing her thigh lightly and gave her a deliberate look. She must have been four years his senior, but she still blushed and returned her hand to her side.

He didn't answer her remark. He gave her a good look, she must have stayed at the palace for a long time to forget the custom. To an outsider's knowledge he had no mother, nor any family. He wasn't wearing his own Jibal but it was considered rude to mention such things in the face of a warrior. She knew who is mother once, therefore she must know who she was insulting.

His lips thinned a fraction and her face turned a shade redder, but she still held her head high.

"Sheik, this is Nandera, she will train you to use your shadow and your magic from now on." High Lady Evelyn said, motioning Nandera forward. Sheik took the cue and bowed respectful to Nandera before she could bow to him. An insult for an insult. She thought herself higher then him, asking about his family like a teacher would a student, he bowed as one, mocking her. Her eyes widened a fraction, but she bowed after him without a word.

"You will make good use of your teachers," Lady Evelyn said, waving startled men of the silken glove back to their places along the walls, "You will be joining her as my guard when your training is done, "She looked between them, measuring icy glances and hypothetically ruffled feathers, " you shall work as my protectors as agreed with the Sheikah council of seven." She said, and they both stood up straighter. The council of seven were the high power in Sheikah society, their word was often law. Sheik had been picked specially by them when the eye of truth manifested in him as a small child

They nodded reluctantly, High Lady Evelyn's word was not to be questioned. She seemed satisfied, giving a satisfactory nod, she brush invisible wrinkles from her beautiful gown of pale pink and pearls. Sitting down on her chair High Lady Evelyn eyed her female protector and her protector to be and stifled a sigh, she may be youngest at the table, but surely she had the most sense.

Haylion walked the halls of the academy briskly, a sneer written on his handsome face, frustration close to driving him out of his mind. His hair brushed his shoulders, deep brown, like the bark of the trees back home... He wouldn't think of home now, this was not the right time for melancholy, this was time to settle grievances.

Damn Ferric and his caution! What sort of a friend threw away another so readily, and for mere rumors? The Sheikah boy is a problem. He was a problem from the moment he had set foot in a place he had no business to be in. Haylion's sneer was truly frighting now, but he fought it down. It would do him no good to scare the girls walking pass him in the corridors, the rumors will spread like wildfire. Leon could not really believe that they did not wish to see him anymore! They had been friends for almost ten years now, to think a few hasty words from Link could make Leon hide in his room for days...

With the thought of Link Haylion wanted to grab his ears and tare them off with frustration. That boy was as thick headed as the horses he loved!Link may be his age-mate, but so help him if he let Haylion put his hands on him, he'd box his ears!

"What's he commotion about, tree boy?" Said a jovial feminine voice from the general are of his elbow. Without him noticing, Dyna had caught up to his step and was walking hastily next to him, her white novice dress swishing bout her ankles. Her dress had been slightly modified to fit her curves better, or so was the gossip among the trainee mages. They had no love for her, they said she was partially Gerudo, a thing he'd never say to her face, even though her temper matched the gossip.

"Stupid boys." He growled.

"That's a universal problem, tree boy, take it from a lady." She said with a bounce to her step. She had always liked him, in a friendly way of course. He had wished differently once, but it was moot now, she strongly suggested otherwise.

"Link is being a stone-headed fool, Leon jumps at my shadow and Ferric 'doesn't want any part of it' that twice dammed fool."

"So the rumors are true?" Dyna asked mildly, she may have been asking about the lunch menu and not about his friend accused of being a mage. He stooped mid-stride and glared at her. She put her hands up and shrugged, "Hey, hey, I don't have a problem with the guy, even if he can read and carve runes." She eyed him, "Boys are so touchy over everything new, you'd think he killed someone by the way people have been avoiding him."

Haylion put a hand through his hair. Dyna had a special talent, she knew exactly how to frustrate him. "You don't get it? It's that Sheikah boy-"

"Oh please," she cut him, "The only thing we can accuse him of is being a heathen with a wonderful butt." Haylion's eyes bulged and he colored. "Dyna..." he growled when she cut him again, "Are all boys blind fools?" She said, exasperate.

"How many times have you even seen the boy?" She said, even though that Sheikah 'boy' was probably older then her. "If his is not studying he is not in the academy, and I doubt he is visiting a sweetheart down at the market. " She waited for Haylion to catch to her vibe, and when he failed she took him by his arm, re directing them out of the busy hall to a quieter one.

"He is being sent to the palace!" She hissed, "Haven't you seen his tattoo? He has the eye of truth, and please tell me you know what that is!"

Haylion crossed his arms at his chest indignantly, of course he knew! Everyone new the hero's companion was a truth seer. Although the companion was a girl, or so he remembered, he didn't have much interest in old histories and myths.

"Boys," Dyna spoke slowly, "Don't usually have the eye of truth and his head wrap is white. Have you ever seen a white on someone?" He hadn't. They both probably haven't, they saw blue head wraps when emissary from the Sheikah passed in the capitol and red on rare occasions, but white was new, and tales of the boys feat in the ring had traveled. They said he looked bored. They both stared at each others eyes, Haylion wondering how Dyna managed to direct all his anger on her. He was almost thankful for that, his urge to strangle Link was stil there but less murderous now.

"Thank you." He said, releasing a breath he did not know he had held. She eyed him, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet her flaming red hair framing a lovely heart shaped face. She scowled at him lightly before smiling, as if reading his thought.

"You are very welcome, Haylion."

"What, no 'tree boy'?"

"Even tree boys like you deserves a break." She laughed and sauntered away from him, waving a hasty goodbye and calling a passing friend to wait for her, vanishing from his sight.

He walked back to the main corridor, after all, he had a long eared, blond idiot to catch and maybe strangle. Haylion had slightly grim thought, but the smile stayed on his face for a while longer.

With the glares sent his way that day, Link was surprised he hadn't turned a smoldering pile of ash. He passed a hand through his sweaty blond hair, trying to give himself a semblance of order. He put a hand to his forehead, trying to quench the nausea that took him and the headache that clutched him in a vice like grip.

First came Laral, her nose up in the clouds, surrounded by a bunch of other accepted mages, their light blue dresses swishing about their ankles, pretending not to see him spar even though she and her little clique had no business in the training rings. She washed her eyes over every man present, shouting encouragements at them, smiling and batting her eyes at them like a young girl, leaning forward a few degrees out of propriety, the upper laces of her dress unlaced. He could have been horse manure for all she cared. When he looked at her, trying to make eye connection, she concentrated acutely on another man that he had no choice to leave the training ring with a frustrated sigh.

The other boys didn't sweat too much over his departure and continued to show off to an uninterested audience. They wold probably apologize later, coming back with smiles to coax him for another spar, they had no care for mage politics, let the girls do as they wish as long as it didn't interfere with their teachings.

Link hoisted his pack over his shoulder and walked grimly to another training room in the western wing of the school, he hoped the room would be vacant since lunch was being served right now. The looks he received in the corridors told him the rumors were already spreading rapidly. The peculiar look he got from the passing Dyna should have warned him about the chewing out he was about to receive by none other then Haylion.

Haylion! That long eared stumblebum never spoke two whole sentences without rolling his eyes first or having Dyna coax him or poke at his dignity. Now he had pulled off a full manifest, Link grumbled. He needed his friends to support him, especially now that Leon was... 'indisposed' was not the right word. A mage! He thought he knew Leon, they have been friends for almost six years! Have all the times Leon told them he had been sick, all the absences were his...his magic lessons? His reading lessons?

The thought made him shudder, a man reading was unnatural, it made the weight of the purple hilt sword in his pack weigh a mountain.

They were friends, why did he have to find out he had been lied to by vile rumors?

His legs led him away from Haylion and Laral while his mind darted away from thought of Leon like a burned man from a hot pan. He itched to grab his practice sword and put it to use. His friend, Malon, used to tell him idle hands led to no good. He agreed. Malon was the one that had taught him to love horses shortly before he was sent to the academy. He could barely remember her face, she had probably changed, but even the face of the child he had known started fading.

His headache increased and a grimace etched itself onto his face, making his blue eyes seem darker.

He entered the western wing of the academy, it was close to the girl's dormitory and to some of the boy's dormitories that were put out of use. The walls were pale marble, with fain pink veins running through the stone like lace work. It was calming, familiar and beautiful. There was little decoration here beside the occasional tapestry, Link already knew all the tapestries by heart. Most of them depicted the ancient hero, his companion and their travels.

He was a sucker for old histories and myths, Laral had read him countless books on the matter, he'd beg her for more, and she'd usually smile and nod and they'd go find a new one.

Laral brought the grimace back to his face, and that was how he entered the spare training ring, only to find out it was occupied by none other then the person he had wished to avoid.

Leon was sitting with his back to the door, resting easily on the railings that enclosed the ring. He was unmistakeable with that easy grace, the long blue coat he favored even though Link had spilled oil on it by accident, the stain was still there. His head was tilted slightly to the right, his long ears twitched slightly and Link was sure he was making that peculiar face again, biting his lip. In the center of the ring stood the Sheikah boy. The natural light the filtered through the small oval window in the ceiling illuminated his face, the red tear tattoo coming down from his eye stood out starkly against his tanned skin, his hair shone gold, like he had caught up in flame.

The boy wore the standard blue pants of and accepted, like Link and Leon were wearing, but his blue coat was discarded on the ground next to Leon while he managed to balance himself at the tip of his rigid, academy issued, leather boots. His other leg was pulled tight against his chest, his arms were spread at his sides, giving him balance. The boy barely moved.

They hairs on Link's hands stood on end wen the air suddenly charged with electricity. The air around the Sheikah lit up as words, runes, lit up around him in a circle.

"Now, Sheik, dispel them." Leon instructed from his perch. Link was not sure what had happened, but in a heartbeat the air was filled with light popping noises, like someone had stepped on glass shards, then the Sheikah exploded.

Link started, taking a worried step forward before stopping abruptly.

Laughter. Leon was laughing and from the dispersing smoke the Sheikah boy emerged, patting down his soot stained arms and pants, he seemed to have no qualms about a soot stained face as he assumed his position.

"And you wanted me to throw knives at you! Knives!" Leon laughed, "'I am ready you long eared Hylian', yea, Sheik, good job!" He almost doubled over as he mimicked the silent boy. The Sheikah- Sheik- didn't even frown, he thought he saw his lips moving.

"What?" Leon asked, trying to control his bouts with painfully familiar methods.

"I said," Began Sheik with a surprisingly short-tempered gait, " It's stupid the rune for 'blast' and 'light' are so similar in high script." He spoke as if accusing Leon. Link stood there, dumb-struck.

"They have at least three different line placements, they aren't even pronounced the same!" Leon chided.

They were practicing magic, out in the open, just like that. They even joked!
Heat crawled up his neck as he felt his headache march on with fury. Suddenly they eerie feeling Link harbored intensified tenfold, it was like being doused with icy water. The Sheikah boy's eyes were on him, sharp like an eagle's. The leg hat had been touching his chest lowered slowly until he had gained his footing. Everything about him radiated danger. He bet the boy could lounge and still look alert. Leon turned, his eyes widening, he whispered his name.

Something in his chest chimed eerily, Link had seen him before, he knew him somehow, he was sure of it. His headache reached a crescendo, and before he could breath out in pain his vision turned white.

The air smelled fresh, like cut grass and the deep woods. Sunlight filtered between the tree's canopy, coloring the bright green grass with large golden pools, it was comfortably warm. A familiar horse stood in the tall grass, munching idly on small purple flowers. He felt relaxed, he had no time to just sit that way for a long while. His ribs were still tender and his arm was healing slowly, three months has passed, but the loss of the limb still shocked him sometimes, the pain was very real. He felt pleasantly sleepy. "Link?" He rested against the bark of an old tree, the mere idea of it filled him with giddy happiness. Gentle hands lowered him to the ground, coming from behind him, holding him close, the familiarity of the gesture warmed him, easing the pesky pain away. "Something is wrong! Link?" The happiness was replaced by bliss, and love, overwhelming love. "Don't just stand there! What is wrong with you?" He turned his head, his eyelids closing slowly as he relished the feeling of simply being held. "Sheik, go call for help. What? goddammit, Sheik!" He reached up, his hand brushing golden strands of hair away from a tanned face, "You are freaking me out, snap out of it!" red eyes looked at him, "Sheik, what are-" their eyelashes almost touched. Hylia, he could stare at those eyes forever! "Don't!" When the blond man kissed him softly he murmured his name.

"Sheik."

The slap brought him back with terrifying clarity, red eyes stared at him, fear, fury and bewilderment staring at him, and all turned black.

Link hit the floor.

A\N- Long time no see! I will apologize and say that I had the entire thing ready and my computer thought it'd be funny to erase the whole thing. So I re-wrote with vigor!

I am almost done with my mandatory service, and will be finally free away from the army in about two months! (God, let it come already, it has been two WHOLE years!)

Please review- tell me if you liked it up until now, suggestions will be happily reviewed.

Please R&R, it makes my day!

The plot will soon get in motion! I was thinking about removing the sex scene from the first chapter... thoughts?

-Trogmorten.