Hello there my dear dear readers! Sorry for the late update, I was just waiting in the corner, waiting for the review numbers to rise... alas it reached 5, which I am very grateful for, and I figured you've waited long enough so here is chapter 9! Would you believe it if I told you you were the luckier ones? My previous stories took like, months to update. MONTHS.

Amyway, here it is. I hope you enjoy, and I'll go back to my little dark corner with my little laptop, clicking te refresh button endlessly on my stats page.

I am honest to god that sad.


Next Chapter

The sun burnt as it always did, and Link had come to love it.

Sure, he couldn't get the hue of nuts and wood and bread from the orb in the sky as his sisters could, but he loved the heat, how it seemed to make living so much more… worthy. He understood hardship and the rewards of living through it, and that was a gift only his new father could have ever given him.

Oh, and his sisters. Speaking of, he wondered where the twins were; Tsulen and Tarrimb were meant to show him what to wear for the dinner. He got out of the Great Gate's shade, and dug a stick into the ground. Judging by his impromptu sun-dial it was the time when those two would either be napping or doing what they enjoyed. Either way, they'd be in their room.

But first he decided to pay a visit to the Outer Fortress before heading back to the Royal Quarter.

The Inner Fortress, behind the archery, was where the children and the aged spent most of their time, enjoying the sun, reading scrolls, generally living their lives without the troubles of military combat. The Outer Fortress, located closest to the desert and the path that led to Hyrule Proper, was where the fit women trained and fought and did their compulsory service, and was usually left alone by children his age.

Link quickly entered the Outer Fortress, looking for the eldest sister, Alita.

She was twenty years old, and was preparing to leave for Hyrule that night to join their father. She was his goal, his idol, and in a small way his jealousy incarnate. She was strong and tough and brash and was very like their father; she excelled in everything Gerudo. She would make an excellent Queen in the distant future, when Ganondorf went to rest.

Naturally he loved to pester her. And her friends. As he dashed through all corridors and rooms he could find he shouted one thing only: "Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally,"

"Link! Shut the fuck up!"

"Oooh, tough language for a lady of high standing!" he yelled into the communal kitchen area, where everyone was glaring/staring/sighing at him. He found her amongst the crowd, face beet red, amber eyes murderous.

"I will be standing ON you if you don't get out of here soon!"

"How soon is soon?"

She was trying to get to where he was without being noticed too much by the others, who were snickering at her, but she was painfully tall, an attribute she both hated and prided in. Link grinned and stuck his tongue out at her, before hollering something nonsensical and insulting, which earned a muffled laugh from their audience and Alita shrieked and gave hot pursuit.

The thing he'd learnt early on was that being small could be an advantage; big things couldn't get at you in small nooks and crannies, and Link knew from previous excursions like this that there were plenty of places in the fortress. He used them all in this particular chase.

Alita was furious. Link laughed and cackled as he weaved through crowds of women soldiers who knew this routine too well, dodging both the Hylian boy and the Gerudo woman, rolling their eyes as they cheekily tried to trip both of them up with their spears and cutlass' sheathes. They usually got Alita, which infuriated her even more.

"Come back here you moon's spit!"

"Not a chance in your life, dirt-bag!"

Link ran up a wall, grabbed a supporting beam and hauled himself up before scurrying along it, knowing his sister was in hot pursuit. He jumped across to another beam (an insane move that he'd once nearly killed himself doing) and slipped through a skylight onto the roof, blowing a raspberry at his hunter before scampering away.

Link waited cheekily on the hatch that led up to where he was, and there was a mighty bang underneath him. "Link! You liver-worm, get off this hatch right now!"

"Parlay!"

"No way in fucking hell you piece of-"

"Parlay!"

There was a mindlessly angry shriek from below.

"Come on, Ally, I have a flask full of water. If you want it, parlay with me."

He imagined her taking a deep breath, suppressing the temper she'd inherited from their father. "Fine. Fine. Parlay, then."

He got off the hatch and sprinted a good distance away before the hatch erupted open, the murderous smirk on Alita's face fully informing him that she had no intentions of respecting the parlay. Link held out a flask with a hesitant smile, and from the steam, Alita saw that it was chilled ice cold.

This completely baffled her. "What the…?"

"It's your last day, right?" Link pointed out, slowly scooting closer to her, "You won't get the sun like this over there, trust me, I know. And, well, I wanted to give you a proper goodbye. Here." He handed her the flask, which was bitingly cold against her hot hands, and quickly scooted away. "Like I said I would, I finished that Room of Ordeals."

The Room Of Ordeals was the high-league training area in which Gerudo earned their most prized magic; the ability to make thing cooler. On rare occasions, ones with higher ability could make things turn to ice, like Kotake could do.

Link's knack for magic, evident in the flask, was stupendous.

"And, and," Link added, as Alita stared at him with new respect, who seemed unaware of how important his achievement really was, "I made you flat-cakes, and dried leever meat. See?"

He handed these to her too. Almost on cue her stomach growled.

She frowned. "Wasn't this your allowance of flour? And where did you… oh goddess, don't tell me you went to the desert."

"Just on the other side of the gate, in my defence," Link grinned, holding up his hands in defeat, "I was only looking for a bubble-cactus; I just got lucky with that leever."

"Link…"

"I just… wanted to do this again before you went. I won't be seeing you for like, what, three years? I'm gonna miss you."

Alita stared at him for what seemed like forever, and it unnerved him a little; Alita had never been affectionate to him, true, but the gaze she gave him was almost… suspicious. Then she sighed, smiled, and gave him a tight hug, which he gratefully returned. It occurred to him then that this may have been the first time that they'd even done this.

On letting him go, she bit the sun-baked cake and washed it down with ice-cold water, complementing him on his unusual culinary skill.

Link didn't get to smile because Alita slapped him upside the head, twice, for being such an idiot about it.

… … … … …

He collapsed on the rug in the twins' room, and Tarrimb scowled at him. "You stink."

"Yup." He nodded sagely, rolling on the rug and spreading his stinky sweat and inducing Tsulen to kick him off it. Link chuckled on the cool polished stone floor, his sweat-soaked back freezing against the surface. He sighed, and added, "Alita says bye."

"You actually did it?" Tsulen said from the other side of the room, Tarrimb returning to her scroll, "I'm surprised you're not dead."

"I'm surprised that you still haven't decided what to wear." Link called back, a little gruffly. Ever since she and her twin had turned thirteen Tsulen had declared herself a budding fashion-setter and stylist, and was almost always wearing an attitude that irked him. He was just glad Tarrimb was the same as always.

The reply was a disdained: "Boys."

His ire flared. "I'm the only guy around! You can't judge men by me."

"Humph," she returned to her mirror, twisting this way and that as she held at least three shades of like-like silk against herself. "Tar, I want one of these three, which one do you think I should go for?"

Tarrimb looked up, rolled her eyes, and returned to her scroll. "I thought you didn't like yellow."

"Well, this one's kind of nice… anyway, as a stylist, I shouldn't turn away from any colour. Everything should be experimented on."

Link and Tarrimb shared a look.

"You still haven't decided what to wear?" the voice came from the doorway, and all three siblings looked at the source of the voice.

It was the (original) middle child, Mika, sixteen and lean and gorgeous. Link as an afterthought attributed Tsulen's new obsession with beauty to jealousy of Mika; as a man Link knew she was attractive, from the proud slant of her nose, the glimmer of her eyes, to the way she simply stood. A few months into training as a soldier and she already looked better than ever. Link couldn't wait to spar with her.

"Lensie, let me have a look, yeah?"

"No." Tsulen crossed her arms and rumpled the silks as she did so. "I don't need help."

"Oh, come on, please? I'll do your hair if you'd let me help, you'll look utterly gorgeous."

"… Um… Well…"

As the two sisters decided on the silks and how to wear them and on what kind of style they should arrange each other's hair Link rolled his tongue inside his mouth before tapping Tarrimb's shoulder, gesturing with his head towards the doorway. The Gerudo girl gave a quizzical frown as she rolled the scroll closed, calling, "Lensie, Mika, I'm just going to help Link with his hair. I'll be right back."

Link scowled at her excuse for leaving (to which she stuck out her tongue at) as the two of them left the room, crossed the corridor, went up the stairs and stepped onto the roof, sitting at their favourite shelter, shaded from the brutal sun.

"What's wrong?" Tarrimb immediately asked, her short hair flickering like fire in the wind. She didn't like being a twin, simply because she didn't want to be part of a set. Tsulen liked it for the 'cute' effect, but this twin couldn't have cared less. She just wanted to learn.

"What do you think of the Rovas?"

Another reason why Tarrimb didn't like being a twin; the Rova Sisters had taken the good out of it, and had added all twins from there on in to suffer an expectation to do great wonders. "You know I don't like them."

"Yeah, but… what do you think about them? Do you think they're… crazy?"

New confusion touched her gaze as she stared at him, the boy that'd ended up becoming her brother, who only two and a half years ago had been an utter stranger. "Why? Do you think so?"

"I don't know. It's, you know how I have to go see them again tomorrow?"

"Already? But I thought it was next month."

"They moved it. I don't want to go." Link hugged his knees, staring out at the shimmering, burning air of his home. "I really, really don't want to go."

"Well, why?"

"I don't know it when it happens, but times like now, just before I'm going again, it feels like I wasn't me when I got back. Does that make sense?"

She looked completely nonplussed. Link sighed. "Never mind, then."

Tarrimb sat next to him looking furtive, making sure that they were alone before scooting up close to him, whispering, "What do they do?"

Link frowned at the air, trying to remember before whispering back, "They're looking through my head, to see if they can find stuff."

"Like what?"

"Important things for the war."

"But the war's finished. We've won."

"Princess Zelda's still missing. She's supposed to be really dangerous. Or something."

"Oh."

"I mean, I know it's important, I want to help, it's just… I don't think there's anything left I can do. I… what if they dig too deep? What if they shove their magic into my head so much that it breaks? What if I'm not me anymore?"

Tarrimb looked genuinely scared, and suddenly Link wished he hadn't unloaded on her. But Tarrimb took a deep breath and hugged his arm so tightly that it hurt, and she gritted out bravely that he would never ever ever have to go back to those bats again, never ever.

Link was relieved, even if he would go back tomorrow. At least he'd told someone.

They got dressed, went to dinner, saw their father for the first time in half a year. Goods such as food and cloth and plants and irrigation plans came with him and there was much rejoicing and so much food. Incense was burnt in bushels that night, thanking the goddesses for the bounty, colouring the bonfires in all shades of the rainbow.

Link was called aside by the witches, telling him to pack for tomorrow.

Wincing he did so, as soon as the festivities were over. He blamed his sluggish movement to his eating too much at the festival, to his sneaking too much wine. He packed in the dark to delay himself even more, and winced again when firelight seeped into his room.

"I'm coming, I'm com-father?"

Ganondorf's large frame towered at his door, his severe expression flickering in and out of the hand-held brazier's firelight. "I heard from Tarrimb."

Link shivered. He was definitely in for it now. "Oh. Um, I'm sorry for complaining, father. I know this is important…"

"I asked the others what they thought; they had similar fears."

Hope jumped in his stomach, thudded against his chest. "Really? I, I didn't, well, I,"

"If I had known that this was such an ordeal for you I wouldn't have prolonged it this much, my son." Ganondorf placed the brazier in a slot inside his room, and strode up to him, embraced him. "You've done well to endure it. I am proud of you."

"Really…?"

Ganondorf chuckled, the sound such a low rumble it was animalistic. "Of course."

They separated, and the relief on Link's face was purer than their highest-grade glass. "Thank you, father. Thank you so much."

"Do you still wish to help?"

He nodded vigorously, making Ganondorf smile. They sat on Link's sleeping mat and talked for a very long time, so long that Link earned a promise from Ganondorf that if his teachers approved, he would be allowed into Hyrule earlier than his seventeenth birthday.

Link wondered if Ganondorf knew how strict said teachers were, and that was why he had so readily accepted the deal. But then again, that in itself would help him be the best, and his father deserved nothing less. And finishing three years' worth of lessons in two would be a challenge he was willing to take.

… … … … …

"… i… Nav… Navi!"

"Wha… where…?"

He's talking to you, not me, you silly forest boy. Are you alright?

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Link stared at the bandaged fingers and blinked, slowly. Coughed. "…Can you spread them out? It's sort of blurry…"

Sheik did as told, and Link answered correctly. After checking a few of his vital signs Sheik deemed him alright, and they stood together, Link swaying a little. Link winced as a headache flared across his temple but he shook it off, sighing as he commented, "I take it you beat whatever that thing was?"

"Yes, though barely."

Link stood on his own, flexed his limbs to make sure they were working fine before grinning at the Sheikah. "You look pretty good for a 'barely' kind of win."

"I had a fairy."

Link snickered at the irony.

They proceeded through the rest of the temple more cautiously, wary of other shadow-creatures. But it wasn't really necessary; the rest of the temple was just as tedious and no less difficult, until they had to deal with Morpha.

Link kept the hell away from it, repulsed by its very existence. It was slimy, it slithered (he hated snakes) and it could grab them. There was no way the Hylian was going near that thing, at least till Sheik fished its brain-like organ out from its watery body with the nifty tool he'd found around the place and they could hack at it; he wasn't going to risk getting drowned again.

This creature was malignant in a different sense to Volvagia. That creature had been all about rage, and pain, and burning passionate hatred. This one was quiet, seeping, poisonous; Link knew it had no eyes or mouth or nose but he was willing to bet his father's sword that it could sense them, watched them with a greedy mind, the kind that enjoyed sucking on its food slowly, to make the taste and suffering last.

Link pinned it to the ground where it twitched and squealed as Sheik gave the final blow with the blade that was obviously the Master Sword.

There was a blue light, as before, and Sheik stepped towards it, looking back quizzically at the Hylian when the paler man didn't follow suit. "Aren't you coming?"

"That light transports us outside, right?" Link questioned, Sheik nodding in reply, "Well then I'll go back the long way; our stuff at the main quarter or whatever still needs picking up; besides, I have no place in wherever you're going."

You don't know that, whispered Navi conspiratorially, You've been helping him. Maybe you do deserve a destiny. On the Good side.

Sheik reluctantly nodded, adding as if he'd heard what Navi had said, "I would've thought you earned it by now."

Link winced internally before giving a gesture of nonchalance. "Eh, destiny. It's limited to a select few."

The red-eyed man snorted and said, "Tell me about it," before entering the portal, where he faded out of existence. Link quickly left the room and traversed the rest of the temple, thinking as he moved. Or at least he tried to, since Navi seemed to be determined in interrupting every train of thought to press forward just one point:

Admit it. You're thinking it, but you're not because you don't want to. Admit it.

"Sheik still insists on using his knives instead of the Master Sword, so he really isn't him. The Hero of Time, I mean. So where is that guy? Do you think he's hiding? Or she?"

You know that's not what I'm talking about.

"How old do you reckon this Hero would be? The same as Zelda? No, that'd be too young… maybe just a few years younger than father. It would make more sense… hell, this guy could even be dead, especially if he lived in Castletown."

You're avoiding the issue.

"The issue here is that I need to report to father soon," Link groused, killing a stray like-like with brutal efficiency, "And I don't have anything new to say to him expect oh, sorry, I helped kill the thing that was meant to kill Sheik. In my defence, I really didn't like the way it tried to drown me. My bad. I don't even know how close I am to finding Zelda! Do you think I should just, I don't know, kill him off?"

Then you'll never find her.

"If Sheik's so damn important there'll be a search party, and I can always track that instead of this… double-edged guilt-trip. Guilt from you, guilt from father, so much guilt. Guilt, guilt, guilt."

Only because you're so unnecessarily loyal to him!

"He loves me! Or did you not see that memory of him just before? He protected me from them! He gave me a family! He's done more for me than you've done for the last few days I've remembered you."

There was an icy silence that put Link to a trembling halt. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

It's alright. I forgive you.

But Link knew that that was a lie.

… … … … …

Link spat out of the water out of his mouth and took a deep, deep, exaggerated breath of real air and burst out laughing. Oh it felt good.

He dragged himself and the gear out of the water that led down to the Temple's gate, and strapping himself to it tightly he used Sheik's nifty tool, called a hookshot or something, and launched himself up onto the tree of the lake.

Sheik wasn't anywhere in sight.

Sighing Link sat and got his gear out to spread over the grass and dry it. He thought whether he had time till Sheik got there to report to his father. He took the risk; he got his helm and polished a section clean, nicking the tip of his finger to draw the circle of blood.

Ganondorf's image was warped, and maybe Link's face was to him as well, but that was expected and a necessary setback. "Son?"

"Yes, Father. I've got something to report."

"What have you achieved thus far?"

"I've located the Master Sword and the Ocarina; both of them are in the hands of a Sheikah who calls himself Sheik and supposedly works for Zelda. I'm gaining his trust, and will be face to face with the Princess soon. And…" Link hesitated.

"Yes?"

"I, I may have been aiding the Sheikah too much, or overly, father. I helped him reach his goals in the Temples. I'm sorry."

"If you're gaining his trust then I consider it a necessary loss. Is there anything else?"

Link opened his mouth, closed it, and then growled. Ethereal light was blooming on the edge of his vision and that meant Sheik was coming back. "Not now, Father. I'll report again soon."

He swiftly wiped the fresh blood off the helmet and continued to polish it, spitting against the bronze to make it shine. "Took you a while," Link commented as he breathed on his helm and gave it a squeaky rubbing.

Sheik looked troubled. He stared at Link for a while, enough to make the Hylian think that he'd been seen conversing with his King. "What's wrong?"

"Ruto spoke of meeting the Hero of Time."

Link's heart stopped. Then raced into action, making him want to cough. The Hero of Time? Nearby? It would ruin all his plans.

"You're kidding."

"She is well acquainted with him, or so she claims."

"But, but…" Link suppressed his panic, and tried to act natural. Disinterested, but mildly curious. And annoyed. Annoyed is a good one. "Why hasn't he, you know, revealed himself to you yet?"

"If that were an answerable question I wouldn't be thinking on it." Was Sheik's irritated snap.

Link shrugged. "True. She could be mistaken?"

"Possibly. He hasn't been seen for the whole of Ganondorf's rule."

"Huh." Link looked away from Sheik briefly, and then laughed. "Look, the lake."

They stared at the once deadened bed of the lake give way to clear water, slowly filling up from the reserves in the Water Temple. Fish emerged, nibbling on their dead counterparts, flashing like beautiful knives under the waves. It took an hour, maybe more, but the two were happy to watch their good work come to fruition, slowly but surely.

The Lake was restored.

"I wish my sisters could see this," Link murmured without thinking, and froze when Sheik said, "Oh?"

"Nothing. Just... nothing."

"Hm."

Sheik sat next to Link as they watched the gratifying spectacle before sighing and turning to the Hylian. "Navi."

"Mm?"

"Why do you want to meet Princess Zelda so much?"

Link rolled his tongue inside his mouth, moulding his next words carefully. "I want to go home as quickly as I can."

"With your skills you could easily fight your way out of Hyrule."

Why don't you? Run away? Never be seen in this cursed place where all you achieve is subjugation.

"It's not that simple."

"Why?"

Why?

Link furiously told the fairy to shut up but she laughed and promised nothing, and he had a feeling she wouldn't tolerate being ignored. Not anymore.

"Because… I told you I came to do a job. Collecting an item that was stolen."

"Yes."

"Well, it's just, I can't justify going home without it, without… doing something greater, in return. Oh, hi Dad, I couldn't get your stuff back, but you know what? There was a civil war, I went to see the Princess, and she assured me a safe passage home. At least, I'd like to be able to say that without lying completely. You know what I mean? It's a duty," he said more to Navi, to try to make her understand, "I may not understand how I'm here in this kind of situation, but I want to make the most of it. Even if it leads me to places I may not want to go. That was such an unnecessary speech."

Sheik, after a pause, shook his head. "No, it wasn't. After all, it has convinced me of one thing."

"What?"

"You're an overreaching idiot that's going to get his wish granted. You're going to see Princess Zelda."


Most reviews I recieved were hoping for a Shadow Link battle, but, no. I want to avoid the details in the temples as much as I can, simply because Sheik's not the main character. And I got a previous request to flesh out Link's background more, so that's what I did. More on Link's past and his relationship will be fleshed out in later chapters. In fact, chapter 10 is probably going to be the longest of the bunch.

Anyway, review replies!

daimee: Yayness! Glad you enjoy the relationship between the fairy and Link. :) And, well, as meeting Ruto, I figured it'd get a little too complicated, so I decided to leave her out. :P My bad. And i am so jealous of you not finding the Water temple hard. How did you DO IT? You must be a very, vry patient person, or a genius. Take your pick. XD

darkwolflink1: Yeeeeaaaah, sorry for the lack of a battle between Dark Link and Sheik, I was actually very very tempted to write one, to let Sheik get very suspicious of Link, but then I thought exploring Link's relationship with his gerudo sisters might be more interesting, so yeah. I do make up for it, however, in the next chapter, if I remember right.

CatsGotTongue: Tektite meat again, yes. I wonder why I'm so obsessed with eating those damn things. Maybe it's just my subconscious thinking that they look real tasty. I wonder what that says about me... anyway, and I'm sure playing too much Zelda turning you into a robot is totally legit. I'm sure it would've happened to me if I hadn't turned to fanfics, eh, lol. Anyway, I hope you weren't too dissappointed with the lack of Dark Link, but in real life, I just button-mash the hell out of him. You can actually cut him that way.

Havock's Tears: Thank you! Good to know I DO have a sense of humour. XD Sorry! Sorry! I hope you aren't too disappointed with lack of DL, I just... wanted to explore Link more? I dunno, it seemed a good idea at the time. And running into Ruto would have destroyed Link's cover so i hid him in a corner. You are so right though, Link is such a hypocrite. XD He has no right to call ANYONE insane! I mean, come on!

Kelleboi: Oh yeah, Sheik is definitely going to react when he finds out who Link really is. And Shadow link really was hard to beat, eh. Well I'm glad the story is interesting enough thus far to draw you in. I hope I can continue doing that. :)

Have a nice day, guys!

S.S.