An: To all who actually read this . . .which is like . . .two people. Sorry 'bout the wait. You thought I had stipped, didn't you? HA! I've been working on my other story's. People seem to like them more. I really don't know why. Probably becasue this one's too long. Oh well. I don't care. I'll keep it as long as I want it because that's the way my brain wanted it. It's not like I have contole of this sort of thing. (rolls eyes)

Hahahaha! Has it come to anyones attention that the Prince is 27, married to a beautiful wife and still a virgin? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!! (sorry Case. But I can't help it.) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Chapter 7

Secret

"Nabooru! You ditched your responsibilities yesterday!" Yazzman scolded. She glared down at her daughter, pleased that she still had several inches over her.

Nabooru shrugged. "My friends–" she shot a dirty look at them; they looked away and pretended they weren't listening "–distracted me, and started talking about . . . stuff . . . that's NOT TRUE!" She screamed the last part in their general direction. Laughing, they turned and ran.

Yazzman sighed. "That's no excuse."

"Sure it is! I hate mucking out the stalls, anyway. Why'd Ganondorf make me do that? Stupid King, everyone has to do what he says." It thoroughly bothered her, and she crossed her arms over her chest in defiance.

"Well, the King will just have to assign you a new punishment, then."

"WHAT?!" Nabooru stared at her mother incredulously. "Did you not hear what Krea and the others were TALKING ABOUT?! Isn't that enough punishment?"

"Nope," Ganondorf replied over her shoulder. She almost gasped, but bit her tongue. No way was this jerk going to have the satisfaction of knowing that he surprised her. What now, stupid Y chromosome!

She turned her head a fraction to give him a sultry look, or what she thought was a sultry look. "You're not really gonna punish me even more than you already have, right?" she asked, batting her eyelashes..

Apparently she was not skilled in the ways of seduction, because Ganondorf just laughed. "Well, I've decided that instead of mucking out stalls . . ."

Yes! Nabooru mentally cheered.

"I'll be nice, since I'm such a wonderful King . . ."

Yes!

"You can go out and bring the dead Moblins in to Koume and Kotake."

No!

"What!" Nabooru shouted.

Yazzman glanced from Ganondorf to Nabooru and back, then excused herself and left.

"You have a cruel, twisted mind," Nabooru said.

"Well, Koume and Kotake wanted me to do it, and you disobeyed orders, so this way everyone wins, and I don't have to do anything."

"Lazy," she told him.

"How do you know I don't have important kingly duties?"

"I can't even lift one Moblin! How am I gonna do all 12!"

"Take one of the horses with you."

"But! . . . The horses . . . aren't . . .strong enough either. Don't you want to give them a rest?"

"Nabooru," he said in a warning tone

She opened her mouth, then closed it. "I hate you. Know that I . . . hate . . . you."

"Nabooru go, before the carrion birds get them."

She stomped out the door. Before leaving she screamed, "And I've always hated you and I always will!"

"Maybe I'm being too hard on her," murmured Ganondorf to Yazzman who actually never left.

"Hard? Hell no! Driving horses and mucking stalls is not hard. I know hard. Nabooru is so undisciplined that she's a shame to the whole Gerudo race. I guess that's my fault. . ."

Ganondorf gave Yazzman a sympathetic look. "I think there might be something else that's bothering Nabooru that's making her act worst then usual though."

"Hmm?"

"Ah . . ." I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH GANONDORF!!! "Nothing."


Nabooru used all her strength to drag the heavy body to the two horses. She barely got two feet before having to take a rest. "AAGH!" She dropped the body and kicked it. She bit back another cry of pain and slumped unto the ground. The horses turned their heads at her and stared. Stupid horses. Stupid Moblins. Stupid Ganondorf. Stupid Goddess damn desert! She was upset. She knew she was upset and it ticked her off further more. She hated Ganondorf. He was making her do this because he knew she'd have a hard time! Well maybe that was why it was called punishment. But still, she hated doing things she couldn't do. It made her feel small and useless. Ganondorf couldn't understand that. He was huge, powerful and the King. He was on top. She'd always only be second best.

"Unless he died." Nabooru mused. "I bet Ganondorf's fat head is going to cause him to fall over and off the edge of a cliff." One of the horses snorted in answer. "That's right, and you know who take over once that happens? Me. I'll be on top." Like that would ever happen. Nothing could kill Ganondorf. He was so strong. Nabooru wanted to be strong like that. Strong like Ganondorf. Ganondorf probably could lift this Moblin with one arm. She'd show him. She'd bring all the moblins back, one at a time, if it took all day. She was strong too.


Yazzman sighed. She hated telling Ganondorf bad news. She reluctantly made her way to the throne room. She was greeted by the two guards and then she entered. The room was dark, the only light coming from the torches that lined the wall. The overhanging light wasn't lit. It was difficult to light and only Ganondorf ever did it. Today he must not have cared. He sat on his stone throne, sideways, so that one leg was draped over the armrest, his fingers fiddling with a small knife, deep in thought. Yazzman realized with a pang of guilt just how young her King really was.

"Your Majesty," Your Majesty? When did she start calling him that? What did she used to call him? Kid? She hadn't called him that since he was small.

Ganondorf looked up.

"Well . . ."

"How's the food supply?"

"We've caught like two Guay and 10 Leevers today–"

"That's it?"

"Ah, yeah and-"

"Yazzman, I want more people on hunting patrol. Have most of the guards go. We should stop worrying about our defenses so much. Food is more important now anyway--"

"Your Majesty, we have another problem."

"What?"

"We haven't found water in a long time."

"How much do we have left?"

"'Bout enough to last us 5 more weeks."

"We've still got time--"

"Ganondorf, there isn't water anywhere. We've looked everywhere. We have never gone so deep into the desert as we have now. It hasn't rained since Goddess knows when. What are we going to do?"

"We could go the other way," Ganondorf said, not looking at her but deep in thought.

"In Hylian territory?" Yazzman raised an eyebrow. "If a Hylian sees us, they won't let it go."

Ganondorf groaned. He didn't want to get mixed up with the Hylians. He wasn't too worried about the Hylians starting something--they wanted to stay away from them as they possibly could--it was his Gerudo. The Gerudo were angry that the Hylians hated them and would most likely start a fight, which would get the Hylians angry and probably cause a war. The Gerudo wanted a war. He could tell. They wanted to do something about their hopeless situation, but their numbers were few. He didn't think they could survive a war. Could he fight in a war?

"Your Majesty . . . Ganondorf? What do you want us to do?"

"What do you think we should do?"

Yazzman looked slightly taken aback. She shrugged.

Ganondorf sighed. "The girls are restless and edgy. They want to fight. They blame the Hylians for not helping us."

"Do you blame the Hylians?"

Ganondorf squeezed the wooden handle of the knife so hard that it snapped. Hylians were what killed Giselle, Hylians were the ones too selfish to help them, Hylians were the ones who banished them to the desert. "I . . . don't want to go to war," he said finally. "We'd kill ourselves if we went to war."

"We'll kill ourselves if we stay here," was all Yazzman said.


"Hey, Nabooru, what have you been doing all day?" Krea asked smugly. Nabooru didn't answer but just rammed her shoulder into Krea's as she past her into her room. It had taken 5 and a half hours to bring all the Moblins back home. She needed rest. She went to her room where she shared with all the other girls of her age group, and collapsed onto her bed. Unfortunately, Krea followed. "Where's the King?"

Oh for the love of . . . "I haven't seen him since this morning," she mumbled into her bed. She swore if Krea said one more word about Ganondorf, she would personally slice off her head.

"Oh," Krea said in a voice that irritated the hell out of Nabooru. "What were you doing with him this morning?"

Nabooru shot up from the bed. "Ok! You know what!? If you want to fight let's take this outside so I can whoop your pretty little ass and you leave me alone!"

"Someone's not in a happy mood," she said, but she had a smile on her face. She'd been practicing hard this week. She'd finally beat Nabooru this time. "Sure, though."

"Perfect. Don't disappoint me." A smile slowly spread across Nabooru's face too. "Again," she added. This is what she lived for, Beating the crap out of Krea, fighting, sword fighting.

Krea glared at her, then left to go outside.

They went out to the Archery Course. Some of the younger Gerudo came to watch. As fast as lightning, Krea drew her scimitars, spinning them around so fast that for a second, they were invisible. Nabooru drew hers out slowly, enjoying the sound it made as it cleared the sheath. Twirling it around her fingers, she stretched out her arms. They were a little sore from the Moblins. Her arms, fingers and scimitars, moving together like water. Their eyes met for spilt second before–CLASH!--Nabooru pushed a sword away immediately meeting the other one, then the other one then the other one. The speed gradually increased, keeping time with Nabooru's heart. She took a step to the right then another so they started to circle each other, while still striking with their swords. Suddenly Krea thrust upward; Nabooru did a back bend and the swords barely missed her nose. To keep her balance, Nabooru spun around on her toe, bringing her scimitars with her, crashing into Krea's side, but Krea was able to save herself with a block. They continued on, spinning and twirling, like a dance.

Ganondorf squinted in the sun as he left the Fortress. He made his way to the stables so that he could get Shadow and the other horses and go off hunting for water. He'd take it easy today. Shadow was limping since the Moblin accident. At the Archery Course, he saw Nabooru and Krea fighting. He sighed. He hoped they didn't hurt each other.

He stopped to watch them. Nabooru seemed to be over him . . . Well at the moment anyway. There was a smile on her face, and a healthy flush in her cheeks. She was obviously having fun. Krea . . . had a frown on her face. Krea always had a frown on her face. He was a little worried about her. Of course he was always worried about Nabooru. He was constantly worried about Nabooru. Nabooru, don't do that! Nabooru, listen to me! Nabooru, get out of there! Nabooru, Nabooru, Nabooru. He never thought about any Gerudo more than Nabooru. As he watched the two girls fight, he realized how startlingly pretty Nabooru was. Her long red hair whipping around her every time she turned, her bronze skin shining under the sun, her golden eyes. Even the way she moved, so graceful like water. Water. He needed to find water. He shook his head and continued to head for the barn. He'd find water out there. The others simply didn't look hard enough. There was water out there. The Moblins were still living out there. There must be water someplace.

There was a startled cry and Ganondorf looked up. Krea was on her back, one of Nabooru's curved swords at each side of her neck.

Nabooru sighed. "I win . . .again." She stepped back to let Krea get up. "When are you going to learn that I'll always be better then you?"

Krea was glowering. She had noticed Ganondorf too. "Shut up. Why don't you go run off with your lover," she said nodding her head towards Ganondorf.

Nabooru rammed her fist into Krea's jaw and when she went down, Nabooru was on top of her. The other Gerudo who were watching soon joined the pile as they tried to separate the two.

Ganondorf put a hand over his eyes. He hadn't heard what was said, but he definitely did not have time to deal with it now. He had to find water, because they needed water! He was the King, he had to do what they needed, like find water. Not stop stupid fights. Water, water, water.


". . .The secret of the Triforce has been a Mystery since the dawn of time. If it truly exists, one must seek in the Lost Woods but shouldn't because The Lost Woods is in the country of Hyrule, that doesn't exist . . ."

Wait, yes it does.

" . . . The Triforce does not exist. It is only a legend . . ."

"Finding the Triforce is easy! Just hold a chicken upside down for 20 minutes under a full moon in the country of Termina . . ."

Daphnes slammed the book shut. Who wrote these books? Deranged people!? When Daphnes thought about it he realized the answer was yes. Yes, deranged people. Only deranged people ever did anything Triforce related. He was deranged.

"Prince Daphnes, your wife has come to see you," said one of the servants by the door of the Library.

Daphnes' back straightened. Zelda! "Come in."

Zelda walked in as beautiful as always. She had told her ladies in waiting to stay behind. Her dressed dragged on the floor and there was a small smile on her face. "Daphnes."

"Hi Zelda." She sat in the chair across from him, arranging her skirts around her.

"What are you doing in the Library?" she asked, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands.

"Well . . . nothing! Nothing at all. I'm sitting here."

Zelda's eyes looked sad at that so he added, "It's stupid."

"It can't be so bad you couldn't tell me," she said craning her neck as she tried to see the tittle of the books he had.

"Ok, but you're going to think I'm crazy. Yesterday when I was out hunting–"

"You were out hunting?"

Daphnes winced. That didn't sound good. "Yeah. I didn't mention that? It was this thing I had to do with Frederick . . . I DIDN'T KILL ANYTHING!"

Zelda bit her lip and tried to hide a smile. "Anyway, when you were out hunting . . . and not killing anything . . ." she prompted.

"Oh, right! I met this talking owl–"

"A talking owl?"

"Yes. I hit my head. On the horse. It kicked me. So this owl told me about the Triforce. He wants me to go look for it. I know he does because he kept denying that he knew where it is but I didn't believe him and . . . and then I did. . . and . . . and. He wanted me to find the Triforce . . . but I don't know why . . ." Daphnes eyes were far away and he was more talking to himself then he was to her.

"Daphnes?" It came out in a whisper.

Daphnes blinked. "I'm deranged. You think I deranged don't you! But let me tell you that I was hit in the head by a horse! So I have a right to be deranged!"

"Daphnes! Daphnes . . ." She took his hands. "Calm down. Is it possible that the Goddesses have sent you a vision?" she said as she looked into his eyes. She was honest to Din serious.

"Possibly. . .I'm just so confused."

"It's ok. If anyone can find the Triforce you can. The Goddesses mean you to find it."

Daphnes smiled. "Thank you." Daphnes was so totally in love with this girl. She believed him when no one else would. He suddenly remembered that Zelda must've wanted to speak with him for a reason, and here he was ranting about his problems. He took his hands back. "Zelda, was there another reason you came to see me then just to say hi?"

Zelda sat back and looked away, playing with her fingers. "Yes, it's absurd that I feel this way. I mean really, I'm not old at all, only 23, but we've been married for two years and usually others have at least one by now, and your mother is being horrid on the subject!"

Daphnes was idly playing with his pencil. Was Zelda ranting? She never ranted. "Zelda, what are you saying?"

"When do you think we should start thinking about an heir?"

Daphnes starting choking on nothing, and then coughing. He pounded his chest to try to get it under control.

"Daphnes, are you ok?"

He nodded as he composed himself. "Just some dust," he said in a high voice. He folded his hands together. "What were you saying?"

"It's just . . ." Her voice went into a whisper. "We haven't even tried yet."

He nodded stupidly, not really comprehending what she was saying.

"I'm–I'm a little scared."

"Of what?"

"I'm . . . afraid of having a baby. I'm so thin . . . what if I'm not built to deliver a baby? What if there's a problem? My body has always been sickly. I'm pathetic."

Daphnes looked at her. "If you're not ready. We don't have to. We can wait a year. We can wait 10 years! We can wait 20! Heir?! We don't need an heir!" What the hell am I saying!?

Zelda smiled. "Yes, we do, Daphnes. Of course, if I died, it's not the end of the world. You could always remarry."

She threw it out so casually that Daphnes heart broke. "Zelda." He got up from his chair and moved to the chair next to Zelda. Their knees touching, he took her hands. "You are . . . a great princess." That didn't sound stupid. "Zelda, I lo–"

"Your Highness! The King has requested you presence!"

"You are busy," Zelda said. "We will finish this conversation later." She gracefully rose to her feet and left.

His head hit the table with a thunk. He just sat there, not thinking.

"Um, Your Highness. The King . . ."

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed and made his way to the throne room, where his father was waiting.

"Son," the King said as Daphnes entered. "There is a concern that your mother and I have."

"What?" he asked, sitting down in his throne.

His father looked immensely uncomfortable. "Well, you see, it's about an heir . . ."

Daphnes' head hit the armrest of his throne with a thunk.


Zelda was sitting up reading when Daphnes entered. Or, at least, she thought it was Daphnes. He was buried under a towering pile of books.

Her expression was confused as she watched him throw books down onto the bed. "What are these for?" she asked politely.

"The Triforce."

"You're not planning on sleeping with all those books, are you?"

Daphnes raised a finger and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Are you planning on coming to bed at all?"

"I don't know yet."

Zelda suppressed a sigh.

"But Zelda, I think I'm getting somewhere!" He pulled out a notebook and to Zelda's surprise, crawled onto the bed next to her, holding out the notebook in front of her. "You know of the seven Temples?"

"Yes."

"Temples are used for worshiping,"

"I'm aware of that Daphnes," Zelda said with a smile.

"Temples are shrines to . . .holy stuff. . .and the Triforce is holy! So therefore, the Triforce is in the Temples!"

"All of them?"

"Yes! . . .No, but it's safe to assume that if the Triforce is anywhere, it is in a holy place and the holiest places I can think of are the Temples. I decided to go about this in a process of elimination method." On the notebook were written the seven different temples in order, one Light, two Forest, three Fire, four Water, five Shadow, six Spirit, and seven Time. He circled the Light temple. "The Light Temple seems to have a very big chance of being the one. It's the first to be mentioned in every history book, and it is associated with Light. The Triforce being associated with light too. Light symbolizes divine and purity. So one would think that the Triforce was in the first temple, the light Temple. But that's saying the Goddesses are purely good . . . and they're not. They're neutral."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not just making this harder then it already is?"

"But Zelda, nobody knows where the Light Temple is!"

"Wouldn't that make it the perfect place to hide the Triforce?"

"That's what I thought at first . . . but that owl wants me to find the Triforce. The Goddesses want me to find the Triforce. If they want me to find it, they wouldn't put it in some place that is impossible for me to get to. So that rules out the Light Temple."

"Ok . . ."

"Then there's the Forest Temple. It's a place that I could get to . . . well maybe not without help, but nobody would go to the Forest on their own, making it a good place to hide it. The same goes with the Fire and Water Temple. One's in a volcano, the other in a lake. All extremely dangerous places for me to got to, but if I had divine help, I could. . ."

"Daphnes, you're not going to hurt yourself with this Triforce thing, thinking the Goddesses will protect you, are you?"

"Wait, I'm not done. All those Temples have to be ruled out though, too. You know why? Because Forest represents green which represents Farore, while Fire represents red, which represents Din and Water represents blue which represents Nayru. Each Goddess is equal to the other, and not only one place would have the Triforce so none of those places would be the one!"

"Daphnes . . ."

"And the Spirit Temple is with the Gerudo and there is no way in Hell am I going to get there, so we'll just skip that one. That leaves me with Shadow and Time. Shadow is with the Sheikah, and Sheikah know tons about the legends! I think it's the perfect place to start my investigation! And the Temple of Time . . . well I've been there hundreds of times and there's nothing there."

"So basically, you're going to question the Sheikah about the Triforce."

"Um . . .yeah?"

"Good."

"It's not good, is it? It's horrible! It's a stupid plan!"

"I didn't say that."

"The Sheikah will probably hate me and try to kill me or something!"

"No they can't. They are loyal to the Royal Family."

"But that doesn't mean that they won't hate me!"

"No."

"Aagh! Why am I such a moron!?"

"You're not a moron Daphnes, you're just a prince worried about his kingdom and getting a tad obsessive. Why don't you think about something else right now."

"Something else, Something else, Something . . . else. . ."

Zelda closed her book and put on the bed stand. She looked at Daphnes in the eye.

"Oh! That! I talked to my Father about it and everything is ok. We're young, we can wait. My mother won't harass you on the subject further."

"Oh. Ok."

Daphnes yawned. "I guess I should go to bed and let you sleep now."

"Yeah."

As Zelda laid there in the dark, she felt partly relieved and partly frustrated with Daphnes. Yes, she was nervous about giving birth, but yet she still wanted to. She wanted to have something that she could love with all her heart. Something that would need her. All Daphnes could think of was of the Triforce. He probably cared about that more than he cared for her. It shouldn't have bothered her. She wasn't expecting him to be in love with her. It had nothing to do with love. It was all about politics. Yet still it did. She wished Daphnes would kiss her as if he meant it. She wished she could go to him to cry her eyes out. She wished he would tell her he loved her. She knew those were foolish girl thoughts but still she dreamed. She dreamed that someone would love her.


"Father, I want to visit the Sheikah!"

The King began to choke on his omelet. "What?!"

"Dear," began his mother. "Why don't you invite the Sheikah here, instead of going to that . . . outrageous place?"

"But . . . I don't want to make them come all the way here. It'll be annoying for them . . . Don't you think?"

"I think what Daphnes is trying to say is that he wants to get out of the Castle," said Zelda, not looking up from her breakfast.

"Hmm. That's strange. You just went on that hunting trip. You seemed to tire yourself out very well after that. Would like me to plan you another one?" asked the King.

Daphnes' face turned red. "No. No more hunting trips, please. But I would like to visit the Sheikah . . . out of curiosity. I mean they did pledge their lives to serve the King. It's not like they can hurt me. Right?"

"Hmm . . ." the King thought. "Curiosity is the key to wisdom."

"Nohanson! I don't want my son going to . . .there!"

"Now, Maria, Daphnes is 20 now–"

"27," Daphnes muttered.

"Right, 27. He's quite capable of himself. Remember the hunting trip?"

"Can we stop talking about the hunting trip?!"

"Fine, but not without bodyguards," said the Queen.

"Mother, the Sheikah are bodyguards."

"Yes, but still . . . I don't trust them."


It was decided for Daphnes to have 20 bodyguards to travel with. He didn't argue; he wanted to get there as soon as possible. The Sheikah lived in the town of Kakariko. Kakariko was surrounded by a natural wall at the foot of Death Mountain. On the trip there . . . nothing happened. The guards were for really no purpose but to look showy.

The entrance was barricaded by a set of huge doors. Eerily painted on the doors in red was an eye. Daphnes thought the paint looked disturbingly like blood.

After staring at the painted eye for awhile, one of the braver men stepped forward and knocked on the doors. "Here is Prince Daphnes of–" Before he could finish his announcement, the doors creaked open. "Ahh . . ." The man poked his head inside and looked around. "There's no one there," he said.

"Well they must be all further inside," said Daphnes. "Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of." They urged their horses forward.

Inside the town, were small houses, lining the streets. Each house was normal enough, as in they all had roofs, windows and a door, but all of them looked like they were empty. The streets were all deserted. The wind swept by them, causing Daphnes to shiver. Directly ahead of them was a well. As they got closer to it, Daphnes realized there was someone standing in front it.

"See there's someone over there. We can ask where we can talk to the leader here," said Daphnes.

The person appeared to be an old woman in a long cloak, her cowl covering her face. She was leaning on an old staff.

"Excuse me Ma'am, do you know where everyone has gone off to?" asked Daphnes.

"All that were here have now fled, for fear if they don't, they'd all be dead."

"Ah . . . really? Are you one of the Sheikah?"

"What I'm not, and what I am, I do not scream across the land."

"Er . . . could we speak to the one in charge around here?"

"Oh! Yes, yes! I know! You wish to speak to Orayo!"

" . . .Yes?"

"Follow me! Then you'll see!" The old woman started to move at an unusual fast pace.

"Wait!" It was sad to say that Daphnes had to run to keep up. The bodyguards trampled behind him.

The old woman stopped at a building. It didn't look different then any of the other houses except for the fact that it had no windows. The old woman knocked once on one part of the door, then once on another part of the door and so on. When she was done she murmured, "Nioly si," and then she turned back to them. "Enter only he and I. Do not worry, he won't die." she said pointing at Daphnes.

"Hey listen lady–" started one of the guards.

"Argue mustn't we, or will come great tragedy!"

"It's ok," said Daphnes. "I'll be fine. Besides, you guys can't all fit in there anyway."

There was a crafty glint in the old woman's, red eyes before she grabbed Daphnes' arm. "Hurry, we must. Don't just stand there, collecting dust!" She pulled him in.

Once inside, the door closed behind them, making everything pitch black. Daphnes froze with panic.

"Naya, would you light the torches for his Majesty? I think you're scaring him." The voice was soft and low. Oddly comforting in a frightening way.

"Boy is not bright. Does he know the difference of dark and light?"

"Naya, just light the torches."

She muttered something darkly in Sheikan and one by one the torches that lined the wall were lit.

When Daphnes could see, he found a man on his knees at Daphnes' feet, the man's face close the ground.

"Hi there," Daphnes said awkwardly.

"I apologize for Naya's somewhat disturbing introduction. You get used to it after a while," the man said. Then he stood in one graceful motion. He was a lot taller then Daphnes, taller then even Will. What was more alarming was the fact that he was blind, bandages covering what once were his eyes. Dark hair hung over the bandages. He was lanky and wore a skintight suit that had the same eye that they'd seen before painted on his chest. "My name is Orayo. I am in charge of the Sheikah. Sit." Orayo sat on the floor crossed legged. Daphnes did the same. "If I had known the Prince would be visiting, I would've made sure there were chairs. I am sorry."

"That's ok. Where is everyone?" Daphnes asked.

"Everyone?" Orayo asked in his quiet voice.

"Outside. There's nobody there."

Orayo put a hand to his head. "Sa Sussika, Jinna . . ." He sighed. "There seems to be a misunderstanding," he told Daphnes. He suddenly sat more upright. "Don't be alarmed, but Jinna is entering."

Daphnes looked behind him were he had entered, thinking Jinna would be coming from there. There was a loud BANG and the air was filled with smoke. Daphnes fell over backwards with a startled cry.

He heard an angry voice of a woman.

"Yah ni Sunkihah se–" She looked at him for a second, her long black hair trailing behind her and her red eyes widened. "Sa Sussika, nayay ie!" She bowed in the same matter as Orayo did before. "Forgive me your Highness! I did not realize it was you!" She was also tall, though not as tall as Orayo, and very beautiful.

"So oon kun so oon siek na mo no auden anikay," muttered Naya.

"Kooli so?" Jinna replied cooly.

"Shanado," Orayo sighed. "I'm sure the Prince is not offended."

Daphnes shook his head rather nervously. "Of course not."

"Sheikse kooen," Jinna said not looking at Orayo, yet Daphnes knew she was talking to him.

"Yah?" Orayo turned his head to her. She looked at him. They seem to have an entire conversation with just their eyes . . . except Orayo didn't have eyes. Daphnes must have missed something. Finally Orayo sighed. "Naya, will you bring Sheik in here before he harms any of Daphnes' men?"

"What?!"

"I assure you that no one is hurt," said Orayo. "Naya, Sheik?"

"Yes, yes! Oh what a mess!" said Naya as she left.

Outside shouts and cursing could be heard; the voices sounded a lot like Daphnes' men. Naya came back in, dragging by the ear a young Sheikah. This one had blond hair and was wearing a uniform similar to Orayo's. "Ow-ok Kay! Yah ni Sunkihah!? Meinag ie doh, so einick niess!" His voice was much louder than Orayo, Jinna or Naya's. Then again, Orayo, Jinna and Naya's voices were unusually quiet. The young Sheikah rubbed his ear with a frown on his face. He looked at Orayo. "Yah, ni Sunkihahse ni ing!? Si fus ist koolien yah Jinna sosaid!"

"Sheik?"

Sheik turned to Daphnes with a confused expression on his face. "Who the Hell are you!?"

"Sheik!"

Jinna and Sheik started to argue in Sheikan until Sheik started to realize something and his voice slowly died down. " . . . Ah, shit."

"Sheik!"

"I mean, sorry your Majesty!" He gave a short bow that he didn't seem to mean before he sat down next to Jinna.

"I am sorry," said Orayo. "Sheik is . . . young."

Sheik rolled his eyes.

"I promise that he will be dealt with for his behavior later."

Sheik made a gesture of them cutting his throat.

"Oh! You don't have do that! There is no need to punish him. I took no offense," said Daphnes.

"I like this guy," said Sheik.

"Sheik, you must work on your behavior around your superiors. There will be those who will take offense, and those with power who will take offense and will punish you much more severely then we have."

Sheik was moving his mouth to Orayo's words while making faces. He had obviously heard this before.

"Sheik, I may be blind, but I don't need Jinna to tell me that you are mocking me right now," Orayo said with a small smile.

"You're blind!?" Sheik gasped, his voice dripping sarcasm. "I never knew that. I guess ya learn something new every day!"

"Sheik?"

"Yeah?"

"Shanado."

"Got ya."

Orayo turned to Daphnes. "We must seem terribly rude, your Highness. It's just that you caught us in surprise. What is the reason for your visit?"

"Well it's kind of stupid . . ."

Sheik raised an eyebrow. The rest waited patiently for him to continue.

"Ok," Daphnes closed his eyes as he tried to put things into words. "I think I had this hallucination of a talking owl that wanted me to find the Triforce." Sheik's eyebrows went even higher up his head. Orayo and Jinna's expressions did not change. "I thought that, since the Sheikah know so much about the old legends they . . . might . . . be . . . able to help me." Their expressionless faces were getting to him. The only one who seemed human was Sheik, and Daphnes knew that he thought he was crazy anyway. "I was thinking that the Shadow Temple–"

"You shouldn't go to the Shadow Temple," interrupted Orayo.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It's too holy a place for you guys. I was asking for too much."

"No, it's not that. The Shadow Temple is a very dangerous place. It is crawling with unpleasant creatures and . . ."

"Bongo Bongo," Sheik finished, looking solemn.

"Yes. We have been trying to cleanse the area, but haven't been able to yet. We have lost many already."

"I'm sorry."

"But we do know a lot of the old legends. Would you like to visit the library?"

"Thank you."

"Most of our books are written in Sheikan, but a few are written in Hylian as well. I will send someone with you to help you translate anything you would want to know."

"I'll go," offered Sheik.

"Nay!" both Orayo and Jinna said at the same time.

"Fine." Sheik put his hands up in defense.

Orayo sighed. "I'll go with you."

"You don't have to take the trouble," said Daphnes.

"It'll be my honor to escort the Prince. Jinna can take care things well I'm gone."

Jinna gave a little sigh.

They all went outside, Orayo picking up a lantern on the way out. Daphnes squinted at the sun. One of Daphnes' bodyguards had a bloody nose. "What happened?"

"Something attacked me out of nowhere!" said the man. He looked at the group of Sheikah and suddenly pointed at a very guilty looking Sheik. "It was that guy! He showed up from nowhere and rammed my face in!" Sheik darted back inside before anyone could even blink.

"I'm sorry. Would you like one of our doctors to look at your nose?" asked Orayo softly. The man looked at him and was unable to speak for a moment.

"No, I'm f-fine."

"Very well, I'm taking the Prince to the library."

They walked down the deserted street. Though no one was there, Daphnes had a strange sense that they weren't alone. "Ah . . ."

"Hmm?"

"I have a question . . ."

"I hope I have an answer," Orayo said with a smile.

"Well, I'm sure you get around all right, and stuff. . .'cause you live here. . .but . . . how are you going to translate things for me?"

"Do you doubt my ability to read?"

"No!" Just your ability to see.

They went into another small building and Daphnes wondered how much information he would get from such a small place. They walked into the first room and Daphnes saw . . . an empty room, exactly like the one they'd been in previously. Was this some kind of trap?

Orayo smiled at Daphnes' confused expression, though he couldn't see it. Daphnes was beginning to learn that Orayo could sense a lot more than most people.

"This way." He stepped toward the wall, which was perfectly bare. There were no distinguishing features besides its blankness. Orayo began running his fingers along the wall, murmuring to himself in Sheikan.

Daphnes was just beginning to doubt Orayo's sanity when he disappeared. "Orayo?" he called desperately. This was looking more and more like a trap. Weren't the Sheikah supposed to be on the Royal Family's side?

"Come, Your Highness," Orayo called. Daphnes slowly walked across the dim room, lit only by a few small windows. Half-hidden in shadows was a door. He forced himself through the door, fighting uneasiness and the need to run, into a black passageway. The second he was inside, the door closed shut with a bang that made Daphnes jump. As his eyes adjusted, he saw Orayo standing a few feet away, looking patiently amused. He gently crooked his finger at Daphnes, and began walking down the hall.

"Whoa!" Daphnes stumbled as there was suddenly no floor beneath his foot.

"The stairs are quite steep, Your Highness," Orayo continued. "Watch your step."

'Steep' was perfectly accurate. Each stair was about three feet tall, and Daphnes had to practically jump from one step to another. It only got darker as they went farther underground, until Orayo was merely a shadowy blob in front of him.

When the stairs ended, Orayo opened a door. Beautiful–though admittedly dim–golden light poured into the passage, and Daphnes had to fight to keep himself from shoving past Orayo into the room. When he entered, his jaw dropped. His eyes grew wide.

It was HUGE! Floor to ceiling bookshelves, each filled with books of varying dustiness. They appeared to go on forever, but the light in the room was weaker than Daphnes had first thought, and the ceilings and far walls were hidden by darkness.

Orayo lit his lantern, and led Daphnes over to a table. He plucked a book off the shelf and handed it to Daphnes. "Here," he said. "I think you might find this interesting."

The title was, to his immense relief, in Hylian. He opened it up, having to lean over the paper because the flickering light of the lantern was hard to read by.

Daphnes started to read the book. "I have never seen the Triforce, but there is no denying that it may exist. The Goddesses were said to have placed it in a holy place, perhaps a shrine. The only shrine, that I know of in Hyrule is currently the Temple of Time, which was said to have been created on the land where the Goddesses themselves have been seen." He skimmed the rest of page."But I know this already. I learned this in my lessons."

"What exactly do you want to learn about the Triforce?"

"Exactly where the Triforce is."

Orayo blew out a whistle. "That's some pretty high expectation."

Daphnes sighed. "I'm sorry." He paused. "Have you ever felt so sure of something that sounded so crazy before?"

Orayo smiled. "Does this have anything to do with that talking owl of yours?"

Daphnes groaned. "I am crazy."

Orayo chuckled. "Did this owl, by chance, give you his name?"

Daphnes rubbed his head trying to remember. "Kapa . . .Gappa . . . or something?"

"Ah! Kaepora Gaebora!"

"Wait! You know what I'm talking about?!"

"I've heard of him. Tricky little devil he it. Long winded too. Once you get him going, he won't shut up."

"So he's not some kind of demon or something?"

"Oh no, he's a messenger of the Goddesses."

"Yes!" With out thinking he flung his arms around Orayo. "This is good! That means finding the Triforce is my purpose in life!"

Orayo stiffened.

"Sorry!" Daphnes pulled away.

"That's ok."

"We'll just pretend that never happened."

"If you wish so."

"I wonder why Kaepora wants me to find the Triforce."

"It's a wondered why Kaepora does anything." Orayo flashed another one of his charming smiles. "Hey, the elders will probably skin me alive if I show you this, but you are the Prince. Let me take you to another part of the library." Orayo led Daphnes down the hall to a smaller book shelf. He pushed the book shelf away, revealing a small door. He slipped a small key out from one of his gloves and unlocked it. Daphnes walked in to see . . . an empty room . . . again . . . surprise. Daphnes waited for Orayo to close the door. Then Orayo walked to the middle of the room, and suddenly disappeared.

"Orayo!"

"Sorry. I forgot about that. It's an illusion," came Orayo's voice. Daphnes hesitantly walked though the wall. The room had three book shelves lined up against the wall. In the middle of the room was a stand with a single book on it. The room was also covered in white flowers that seemed to glow. Daphnes realized that they didn't really need a lantern down here because the flowers lit up the room.

"Whoa . . ."

"Oh the flowers . . ." Orayo seemed almost embarrassed, if that was even possible. "Jinna comes down here a lot. She likes flowers. These ones can survive with out light."

"What's this book of?" It was cover was purple with delicate picture carved into it. In the middle was a relief of the eye that he seemed to be seeing everywhere.

"That's our promise."

"Promise?"

Orayo turned to Daphnes. "Do you not even know of the promise we made to your family?"

Daphnes blushed. Even if Orayo couldn't see it he had feeling her knew. "Ah . . . no. My mom . . .doesn't . . . no," he finished lamely.

"Well," started Orayo. "A long time ago, the Sheikah did not live in Hyrule. We were nomads, traveling to place to place. We did not see many other people than our own. As our population grew, we knew that we should start to look for a place to settle in. The place we picked was close to a village of Hylians. This was before the King and even before Hyrule. The Hylians were basically in little clumps of themselves, trying to stick together for protection. They were very wary and not very educated. They were not fond of their new neighbors.

"We were strange to them, are culture was different, with are strange rituals, foreign clothes," He turned hie head slowly in Daphnes' direction. " . . . red eyes. They did not accept us. They did not understand us, they feared us.

"They started to blame us for unexplainable things. Why did a miscarriage happen? It was because that Sheikah looked at me. Why did all the livestock die? Because that Sheikah put a curse on them. They thought we were witches, demons, devils, anything they could come up with. Great mobs of them would attack us, hang us up and burn us." Daphnes' eyes widened. "We never fought back. We were a peaceful race back then."

"I'm sorry. I hadn't realized how awful are histories are. I understand if there is bitterness for our race."

"I feel no resentment."

"But the others?"

Orayo smiled. "Maybe a little, but it is nothing serious and it is talked about more as a joke that the younger generation enjoy to tell."

"What?"

"Please don't ask. I don't quite understand it myself."

"Still though . . . I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not done with my story. The leader of our tribe was a woman named Kisa. She was kidnaped one day, but before she was killed, a young man stopped them. That man was your ancestor, Daphnes. This was before he became a king. He did not think it was fair how they were treating the Sheikah. Unlike the Gerudo, we did not steal from them. We did not go around brandishing our weapons and screaming profanity. We just try to stay ourselves, whispering in to each other in our soft language.

"Your ancestor was a good man, the people liked him and he got them to listen to him. The Sheikah were no longer hunted, and Kisa was forever grateful." He paused for a second. "She pledged her services to him for life, as well as the other Sheikah. They trained themselves to fight for his sake only. The Sheikah played an important part to him gaining the throne over the rest of the Hylians, especially Kisa." He stopped and took a breath. "There is a part to the story that the Royal Family didn't record, for the simple fact that they don't know it."

"Won't the elders be mad for telling me something I'm not supposed to know?"

Orayo waved his hand. "Forget the elders. Besides, I want you to know."

"Ok."

"She loved him."

Kisa loved his great, great, great, great, great . . . ! Whatever! Could that mean he was part Sheikah? That would be so cool. He wouldn't be just Daphnes the boring prince, but Daphnes the boring prince that was part Sheikah.

"No, they did not marry or have a child," Orayo said like he was reading Daphnes' mind. "She never told him, and he never noticed. He had a wife, raised a family. Kisa was always at his side, doing everything for him."

"That's kind of depressing."

Orayo smiled. "Amazingly she was happy. Just seeing him happy made her happy. She loved him so much that she didn't care. The rest of the Sheikah followed her suit. We protect out of love. I just want you to know that you will never be in danger as long as we are there."

Daphnes didn't know what to say about that so he went to the purple book. "May I look at it?"

Orayo nodded. "Of course."

Inside, was written in Sheikan. After what Daphnes assumed was the promise was an extremely long list of names. Next to each signature was a small dot of blood.

"Once a Skeikah comes of age, they sign their name in, promising with blood to serve the Royal Family."

Daphnes flipped all the way back to the very large book. "It goes all the way back to–"

"Kisa? Yes it does."

"Boy, you guys keep track of your records pretty well."

"That we do. Go on, look around. I don't need to bore you with our history any longer."

Daphnes skimmed though the titles of the books. Everything was in Sheikan. "Um . . . Everything's in Sheikan."

"Pick something and I'll read it to you."

Daphnes wanted tp say, "but you're blind!" but he refrained, and handed Orayo a random book.

Orayo opened it and pulled off his glove. Pushing the tips of his fingers in on the page he said, "Ah . . . this one. Day of 206, 5th moon. It has come apparent that we have awoken something with the building of the well. An ancient, invisible being has been responsible for the mysteries of the accidents that have been recently occurring."

"How do you do that?"

Orayo turned his head to the sound of Daphnes voice.

"What?"

"Read. How can you see the words?"

Orayo smiled. "I don't see them. I can feel the ink on the page, and the pen usually leaves an indentation."

Daphnes rubbed his hand across the paper. It felt perfectly smooth to him. He decided to ask a new question. "Orayo?"

"Hmm?"

"How . . .how did you lose your eyes? Sorry!" Daphnes added quickly. He didn't want to ask anything that Orayo didn't want to answer.

"It's ok. It happened a long time ago." He laid a hand across where his eyes used to be. "When I was still young, I was foolish enough to try to defeat Bongo Bongo myself. He is the invisible being mentioned in the book. He can only be seen though a lens made by an extremely rare rock. The only rock known to our people was made into a relic called the Lens of Truth. I took this down to the well with me. I failed to defeat Bongo Bongo. I wasn't nearly experienced enough to handle such an enemy. I was cocky and overconfident. Two qualities that I fear are strong in Sheik too. Anyway, the relic was in the shape of an eye, one like the Sheikan symbol. It had three spikes on top of it to represent eyelashes. When Bongo Bongo slammed the Lens of Truth into my face, the spikes ran into my eyes."

Daphnes gaped at Orayo, horrified.

"Wound up losing the Lens of Truth down there too. Most embarrassing mistake I ever made," Orayo said with a smile. "You don't 'lose' a sacred relic."

Daphnes sighed. It sounded like something he'd do.

"Let's not speak of our depressing history anymore, shall we? You said you were looking for the Triforce?"

Daphnes laughed nervously. "Yeah, sounds stupid I know . . .but I feel like I have to."

"Then let's get started."

Orayo read book after book to Daphnes, who was entranced by Orayo's quiet comforting voice. Daphnes lost all trace of time.

"Your Majesty? How long are you planning on staying her?"

Daphnes was brought back to reality. "W-what?! What time is it?!"

"18:00."

Daphnes winced and looked at the door. He didn't want to leave yet. "I didn't find out anything about where the Triforce is! Zelda said the Goddesses meant for me to find it! Why are they making this so hard? Could Zelda be wrong?"

"Well, the Goddesses are female."

"So?"

"That's the reason why life is a living hell."

Daphnes burst out laughing.

Orayo smiled. "I'm glad you find that funny. Jinna never did. I can't understand why."

Daphnes sobered up a bit.

"Prince, the best place to hide something is always right under your nose."

Where had he heard that before? Didn't the owl say something like that? "I need to get going."

Orayo nodded. "I'll show you out."

AN: You knoe how the sheikah speak a different language? I was already to translate on what they say down here (I made it up, but it all has meaning) but I lost half my words!!! AHH!!! I need that index card . . .Maybe, if I find it, I'll be able to do that, but it's gone! (crys in arms) WHY!! Well this is a pickle . . . huh.

OMG! I found it! What are the chances it would be at my feet with all my school stuff from last year! Ok . . . Here we go.

Orayo said: "Sa Sussika, Jinna . . ." "Oh Godesses, Jinna . . ."

Jinna said:"Yah ni Sunkihah se–" "What the Hell is-" and "Sa Sussika, nayay ie!" "Oh Godesses, forgive me!"

Naya said: "So oon kun so oon siek na mo no auden anikay," "You would think you would notice with all those gaurds there."

Jinna said: "Kooli so?" "Do you?"

Orayo said: "Shanado," "Peace,"

Jinna said: "Sheikse kooen," "Sheik's coming,"

Orayo said:"Yah?" "What?"

Sheik said:"Ow-ok Kay! Yah ni Sunkihah!? Meinag ie doh, so einick niess!" "Ow-ok Stop! What the Hell!? Let me go, you old women!" and "Yah ni Sunkihahse ni ing!? Si fus ist koolien yah Jinna sosaid!" "What the Hell's the!?I was just doing what Jinna said!" (Well . . .this being very difficult for me(I dropped out of German), I lost some of my words . . .I filled in some of the missinf pieces, but see that blank, that's in Sheik's translated dialogue? That's because I forgot what he said there. It's not real important as you can get the just that he's not happy. Just felt like pointing it out.)

Orayo: "Shanado." "Peace."

Orayo and Jinna said "Nay!" "No!"

Glad that's over. Almost gave me a heart attack there.

--Kid who's cap is sitting on her bed next to her