Sleep eluded Link, well not so much eluded as teased him with little snippets of rest only to be jolted awake when any slight movement would cause the pain in his chest to flare up. He'd given up trying to lie on his back. It had felt like someone was sitting on his chest squeezing the air out of his lungs whenever he did. The chair had been comfortable for all of ten minutes so now he was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall. When he'd moved Zelda had kindly suggested that maybe he should stop being so stubborn and take the rest of the Healing potion so he could maybe get some sleep. Typical man that he was he'd told her he was going to keep watch and make sure no one tried to ambush them in their sleep and that him moving to the floor had nothing to do with his ribs.

Ya, she hadn't believed him. Lying comfortably on her bedroll by the fire she had given him another dead-pan look with a raised eyebrow. "If you get too tired to stay awake take the stupid potion Link. I left it on the table."

Link had decided not to dignify that with a reply. Rolling her eyes Zelda had promptly gone to sleep which suited him just fine, he didn't need her telling him what to do anyways. His eyes went from her sleeping form to the little pile by his side. When he'd decided to relocate to the floor he'd grabbed his chain mail off the table with the intent of fixing it. Now was a good a time as any. Searching through the armor he made sure all the links were still complete and closed. For the most part they were except for where the Bulblin had managed to slice through. Studying the break he frowned and ran a thumb over the sliced links. Exactly what kind of sword were the Bulblins carrying if they could slice through the chain mail? Luckily he only had to press the rings closed and make sure they were still holding their 'knitted' pattern look. None of the iron rings needed to be replaced.

With the chain mail repaired he set it aside and glanced over at the sleeping form of the Princess. She looked peaceful and he was a little envious she was able to sleep. Her last words came to him and Link's eyes drifted to the table. Should he risk drinking the potion again? The thought weighed heavily on his mind. He needed his rest, what he didn't need though were the feelings that overcame him when he tried to drink the whole thing. A few years ago before the Bulblins had become such a nuisance he'd been injured on the Field. He'd been jumped by bandits but he'd managed to dispatch them before succumbing to his own injuries.

Malon and Ingo had found him. From what he had been told by Malon Ingo had wanted to leave him, saying he wasn't worth the hassle of carrying back to the ranch. Malon of course wouldn't hear of it. Brow beating Ingo into helping her take Link back it wasn't until he was bandaged and lying in bed that he'd come around. He'd woken feeling strange, like he was underwater. Looking around he found his eyes were fuzzy and unable to focus.

He had remembered Malon saying something about them giving him a healing potion to speed up the recovery process and that was when weird things started to happen...

"Link we had to give you a healing potion. You were in so much pain..."

He had heard Malon but couldn't see her. His vision had been foggy which was unusual. Struggling to focus he'd opened his mouth to reply to her but was unable to speak when the floor had dropped out from beneath him. Free falling he'd stopped when he'd hit the ground. Only the ground was white and...and bouncy?

Struggling to his feet he'd looked around, trying to see where he was. His footfalls had made light tapping sounds as he walked to what looked like to be the center of a very big circle. Everything was dark, the only light coming from the ground beneath his feet when suddenly a red eye looked at him. Fear gripped him as the eye moved forward revealing a long sinuous body with disembodied hands. Grabbing his sword he'd tried to wrestle the fear down to make his feet move but all he'd been able to do was watch as the large hands started to tap out a haunting beat. Bouncing around what apparently was a very large drum one of the hands had swung out and grabbed Link, squeezing and crushing him in its palm, the pain was unbearable and the sound of breaking bones was all he could hear...

Screaming Link had fallen out of bed, Malon had knelt by him asking what was wrong. Since then he had been too scared to take more than a few sips of the potion.

Now though he was considering breaking his rule. Looking at Zelda he sighed then grunted and gripped his side when the pain flared in his ribs. Blue eyes settled on the bottle but fear immobilized him. What if it happened again? What if he saw that thing with those, those floating hands? What if he felt his bones crushing again, the blood oozing from the number of places his bones had pierced his skin? He couldn't do it; he couldn't live through that feeling of complete helplessness as he was crushed alive before being thrown like a rag doll.

He looked away from the table. Grabbing his sword he removed the sheath and set it aside. Picking up his whetstone he ran it along the edge, working on smoothing out any chips the blade might have gotten from the day's fights; resolutely putting the thought of the potion out of his mind.

The morning sun filtered in through the window by the door to find Link still seated on the floor. His chain mail and tunic sat in a neat pile beside him. After sharpening his sword he had decided to mend his tunic and shirt as well; anything to keep him awake and his mind off the pain from his injuries. Using the thread and needle he kept in his saddle bags at all times it had taken him no time at all to mend his clothing. With that done he was left to watch the sun rise. He was grateful for the morning, it meant that soon they'd be on the move and he needed the distraction.

"Did you stay up the whole night?"

Zelda's question brought Link out of his little reverie. His gaze shifted from the window to where Zelda sat by the dwindling fire. "I grabbed cat-naps here and there."

"If you had just taken the healing potion you could have had more than a cat-nap you know."

"Really?" Grunting he got up and gingerly walked to the table to pick up the potion in question. "This stuff makes my vision funny and...And..." Unable to continue Link turned on his heel and did his best attempt at stomping out of the cabin that he could manage with bruised ribs. Zelda's mocking laughter floated out to him but he ignored it. He owed her no explanation and why she cared was beyond him.

Epona lifted her head when Link came outside, her ears flicking curiously as she watched him approach her. Whickering softly the horse nudged him gently and nipped at his pointed ear. Absently stroking the horse's neck Link stared at the little bottle in his hand. No, he owed her nothing and his reasons for not wanting to take more of the potion were his own.

Sighing he looked to Epona. "Riding is going to be a bitch today though isn't it?" Uncorking the bottle he swirled the liquid inside. "A couple more sips should be alright though." He slanted a look at Epona. "We won't tell Zelda though right? She wouldn't let me hear the end of it."

Tipping back his head Link took a couple more sips. As he felt the liquid slide down his throat he kept his eyes clenched shut as he waited with bated breath to see if taking more within twelve hours would cause anything bad to happen. Again the pain lessened and he found it easier to breath and the stitch in his side from the healing cut completely faded. Rolling his wrist he was pleased to note that it was completely healed. Counting to ten in his head he slowly opened his eyes and looked cautiously around. Everything seemed normal. Epona was still by his side, Zelda's horse was grazing a few feet away and from what he could tell Zelda was still fussing around inside the little cabin.

Letting the breath he was holding out slowly Link felt his shoulders slump in relief. "Well Epona, looks like I can handle a couple sips every twelve hours." With a laugh he once again patted her neck before heading back to the cabin with a bit more ease in his step.

They'd left the cabin a little over an hour ago. Already they could see the tree line in the distance that marked the Lost Woods. Link and Zelda were once again riding side by side only now Link kept trying to sneak looks at the Princess when he thought she wasn't looking. Every time he looked at her his thoughts couldn't help but turn to the events of yesterday. Why wasn't it known that the Princess had magic? And if she had magic he could understand now why she felt she could take on the Field unaided the only question was what had happened? She had basically taken on a Moblin by herself. So why couldn't she handle a few Bulblins? Was it the numbers? Was she better dealing with things one on one?

When he stared at her for the fifth time Zelda finally shot him an angry glare. "Why don't you just spit it out instead of staring at me?"

Link blinked in surprise. "Uh..."

The Princess sighed. "What?"

"Your...magic..."

"What about it?"

"Well...uh...hmm..."

"Eloquent today aren't we?"

"You caught me off guard!"

Zelda just blinked, leaving Link to find the words to his question. "Why did you need my help the other day on the Field? You took that Moblin on your own yesterday..."

Zelda smiled thoughtfully. "Oh that. Well," looking forward her smile turned wistful. "Magic takes both mind and will to conjure. It isn't easy. To conjure fire and ice is pretty simple but to shield oneself? Well that takes a lot out of me. I was lucky to be able to turn that Moblin away from you. I wouldn't have been able to maintain Nayru's love much longer."

"Nayru's love?"

"It's the name of the spell I used to shield you."

Link frowned. "Ya...I...I know."

Now it was Zelda's turn to stare at him. "You know? How could you possibly know? Magic isn't all that common..."

"You think I don't know that?" He growled back. "And why is that? Why don't people know their own Princess..."

"Can use magic?" Zelda finished with a wry smile. "Link...it's..."Sighing she looked away, a troubled look crossing her face.

"Ya, I get it." He bitterly finished for her. "It's for another's ears. You know I hope this person has a lot of time on his hands because it sounds like you have a ton of shit to unload onto him." A hurt expression filled Zelda's eyes when she looked to Link but he was already ahead of her, deciding to lead the rest of the way to the Lost Woods in silence.