Next chapter. Well, I might start updating this on a weekly basis, as certain school activities -coughresearchpapersthatareduenextweekandIhaven'tstartedcough- will keep me busy for a bit. The weekend will be spent entirely devoted to um... the product of my procrastination. That and if I get writer's block, I still have a little bit of time to try and come up with something. So let's say... Thursdays? I like Thursdays. So, it depends. I might update tomorrw and start the weekly thing then. Or I'll simply wait till next Thursday... We'll see. Here's hoping for tomorrow!

Within the next week, recovery from the storm was still going underway. In a few more weeks, Castle Town and the surrounding area would be somewhat back to normal. For the most part, civilians were not let into the castle, but Link and his grandfather were exceptions as they trained at the castle.

Link was glad to see that the guard had spoken true the day before. Zelda was fine, if not looking a bit concerned. She seemed to be in her own world which hindered her own training. After her training had finished that day, Kendo went on to do his classes for the guards and Link thought it the perfect time to figure out what was going on in Zelda's head.

"I've just been thinking…" She said distantly. She wasn't even looking at Link while she spoke.

"You've been thinking a lot more than you usually do then. You're acting weird, Zelda." Link told her.

She gave a small fake smile. "You really are always honest…" She paused for a moment. "I have a question for you Link…"

"Okay."

"Answer honestly, like you always do." She stressed.

"Okay…" he was confused.

"If something bad ever happened to me… Would you try to help me? I mean, like really come try and save me?" She asked, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks but still looking serious. Link felt a bit of his own face flush as well.

He was fumbling for words. At first, a few inaudible noises came out but the noises finally formed to words, "Yeah, um… of course I would! Definitely!"

She smiled again, a smile that was more real than her last but not completely. The blush on her face, however, was real. "That's good." She said, her voice shaking a little.

Weird… her voice was shaking… Link then noticed her whole body was shaking, as if she was frightened.

He was afraid to ask. "Zelda what's wrong?" he finally managed.

"Link…" She said, her face staring at the floor, trying to hide it. "That storm the other day…" Her voice was shaking tremendously. She hugged herself a little and managed to bring her frightened face up so she was making eye contact with Link. "It wasn't natural…"

"What?" He was even more confused now. A storm that wasn't natural? The only time he had ever heard of that was in stories. Those stories that old people were always telling kids like him. Where if they behaved badly a warlock would curse the weather or something like that…

Zelda then stared back at the floor and then she finally turned away completely. "I have to go." She said quickly. Then she ran off just as fast before Link could say anything to stop her.

Link spent most of the night wondering what Zelda meant in their conversation earlier. She was obviously scared to death; of that much he was certain. But what did she mean by an unnatural storm? Was she really implying magic or sorcerery by that? He'd never really seen magic himself, so he was never much of a believer. He never disbelieved it, though. He was sure it was a dead art. But if it was magic, who could use it? He didn't know about anyone in the castle who could (although, Zelda claimed she knew a little). No in the castle…

The man from the desert? He certainly didn't look like the type that could use magic, but Link knew that things were not always as they appeared. Still, appearances did strongly influence opinions…

Somewhere in his train of thought, sleep crept up on him. He didn't dream that night.

The next day he knew something wasn't right. Something didn't feel right when he awoke, something didn't feel right when he put on his tunic, something didn't feel right when he left the house. The boy came to the conclusion that something was definitely not right.

This notion was only fueled when he arrived to see the town in great disarray. Soldiers and guards were everywhere, scouring each and every market, house, alleyway, even crates. He asked around, but the soldiers didn't seem to want to have anything to do with him and the townspeople just plain didn't know.

Feeling a lump in the back of his throat, he swiftly walked over to the castle trying to remain calm. The gate had no guards today. The lump felt bigger now and he ran to the nearest person he could see, a linen maid by the name of Rayeh. He asked her what was going on and she bit her thumb and looked around nervously.

"We should talk about this in a less… conspicuous place. Follow me." She said. Link nodded and followed, noticing that she wasn't the only one who seemed disturbed. Everyone they passed seemed uneasy. Rayeh then opened a door and gestured for tge boy to follow her inside. It was the linen closet.

"This should be good for now… Most of the other linen maids don't come until a little later…" She said. She plopped down on a stack of sheets, rubbing her temples with her fingers.

"What's going on?" Link asked again.

She sighed. "No one's really supposed to know, but somehow the whole castle found out. I'm begging you not to tell anyone this and I know it might be a little difficult for you to handle…"

"What's going to be difficult for me to handle?" He asked hesitantly.

She sighed again, looked up at the ceiling and then at Link. She opened her mouth to say something, shut it, and then opened it again. "The princess has disappeared Link." She finally said.

"D-disappeared?!" He practically shouted.

The maid shushed him quickly. "Yes, disappeared. Gone from the night without a trace. No one knows what happened… But I think it was a kidnapping."

"Kidnapping?" Link said faintly. This had to be a really bad dream. Had to be.

"That man from the desert…" Rayeh started. "He's gone too. You and the princess were right about him."

Link remembered to the day when they had crossed paths with Ganondorf the evening of the hurricane. He remembered how the man had looked at them, more specifically Zelda. Link knew it, it had to have been Ganondorf! "So why haven't they gone after him?!" He flared.

Rayeh bit her lip. "Because nothing proves it…" She mumbled.

"What do you mean nothing proves it! Zelda would've fought back right?! And someone must've seen the guy, he's huge! He's not really that hard to miss!" Link snapped.

The linen maid looked at him seriously and little taken aback. She continued, "The thing is… there wasn't any sign of a struggle and no one saw him last night. Everyone seems to think it's just coincidence that they've gone at the same time."

At a loss for words and just an overall feeling of numbness, he dropped down onto the stack of sheets that Rayeh was on. In just one night, something like that happened so fast. No one expected it… except maybe Zelda herself. But he hadn't thought of that yet, he hadn't thought of anything. He couldn't bring himself to think about anything. And then, one little thought crept into his head. He glanced blankly at the young woman sitting next to him, looking off into no-one-knows-where and looking concerned.

"Why do you think it was the guy from the desert?"

"Huh?" She said, snapping out of her daze. "Oh… the princess told me about him."

Link managed to bring a little bit of expression to his face. A look of slight puzzlement. Rayeh just gave a small, sad smile. "The princess has been very kind to me, a simple linen maid. The least I can do to repay that kindness is believe what she says."

Everything after that conversation became a blur. He just walked around aimlessly, thinking. He remembered the day before, to the conversation with Zelda. She was so distressed, so frightened… Did she know what was going on? She had to if she hadn't fight back. But what had happened that she would just let herself be taken away like that? With each question he asked himself, more questions flooded his mind. Questions he honestly didn't know the answer to and that frustrated him. Zelda was his best friend… the thought of her in danger, the thought of her possibly being…

Don't think about that. A voice in his head told him.

After that, he'd found himself back in reality's hands again. He was in the marketplace and the sun was starting to lower into late afternoon. Had he really been so distracted that so much time had passed? Frowning, he decided it best to go back home. He debated whether or not he should tell his grandfather when something caught his eye.

He was passing by the stall of Lenzo, a pictographer who was very proud of his pictographs. Most of the pictures were just there so he could show off, but occasionally he did sell prints. However, one of the pictures that caught his attention was one of the pictures not for sale. It was a picture of an island. On the island was a strangely familiar large, old, and deserted looking house. It looked exactly like the one that appeared when his nightmares had calmed themselves during the hurricane.

"Interested in that particular pictograph, lad?" Lenzo asked. The man's eyes were shining brightly, as they always did when anybody was paying so much attention to his pictographs. Before Link could respond, the man went on. "That pictograph I took while on my travels many years ago! I had found it just recently and I couldn't help but admire the spectacular mansion! It may look deserted, but I assure you, it is definitely inhabited! I remember catching glances of its tenants when the wind pushed the curtains by! Strangely, though, a mysterious wind came and pushed my sails away so quickly, the mansion was soon out of view. It was almost as if I was not welcomed there…"

The boy had, for the most part, tried to ignore the man's ramblings. In his opinion, Lenzo spoke too much. Still, he couldn't help but find it strange that the mansion he saw in his dream was a real place.

"Hey! Hey Link!" A voice cried out. Link's attention turned to the voice.

It belonged to the guard that followed Zelda around whenever she went out of the castle. Why was he out? Link went to meet with the guard, who slowed a panted a little.

"I-I've been... I've been looking… for you." He panted. He was holding himself up by grabbing his knees, taking deep breaths. "I ran all the way to your house… you weren't there so I ran… back to the castle… you weren't there so… so I ran out here… and now I found you…"

"Um, sorry?" Link shrugged.

The guard merely scowled and managed to stand up straight again. He reached into a bag he was carrying and took out an envelope. A pretty envelope that looked like it came from a woman's stationary. Link was about to question the guard's taste in stationary when he noticed Zelda's curly handwriting on it.

"The princess before… She gave it to me to give to you before she… well, you know…" The guard said, careful to watch his words in public. He held it out and Link took it. On the back of the envelope it said:

Link

Read this when you're alone

He ran back home.