I am on a role! I started this straight after chapters 7 and 8. I've been a busy bee writing all of this! I am so dedicated to this story! I've got so many good ideas I'm not sure if I can cram them all in!

This chapter is dedicated to Apoclypse666. You pain in my rear. I miss you though. Anyway, enough big-sister-lovey-dovey stuff (making me sick) and on to:

Chapter Nine

I knew staring wasn't polite, but I stared at her anyway. A Twili? Really? It was unbelievable! The Twilight Mirror had been shattered by the Twilight Princess centuries ago. And Twili couldn't stand light, just as Light People couldn't stand the Twilight.

"Are you really from the Twilight Realm?" I asked her in her own language. Her face lit up.

"You speak Twili?" she asked me in the same language. I nodded.

"My mother and I learned it together when I was very young. I am quite good with languages," I said again in Twili. She smiled a genuine smile.

"I am pleased to meet you, Zelda," she told me in Hylian. I switched back to the language I first learned.

"Thank you. If you don't mind me asking, why are you in your regular form, and not that of an imp, or a Shadow Creature?" I asked her. She tilted her head to the side, pressing two fingers against her lips, pondering my question.

"An ancestor of mine was cursed and banished into this realm. She was stuck in the form of an imp until the one who cursed her and his master were defeated. When they were, she was granted her original form back, and could stay in the Light Realm like that. That ability has been passed down through the daughters, generation after generation."

My eyes were wide. It was amazing. I couldn't believe it, but here was proof.

"So why are you at school in the Light Realm if you truly belong in the Twilight Realm?" I asked her.

"My betrothed thought it would be a good idea if I went to the Light Realm and established bonds and an alliance by being with the Light-dwellers," she explained calmly. I tried to read her eyes, but she was discreet and unreadable. Not cold, but guarded.

"Why would he do that?" I asked him.

"Perhaps for the same reason that your parents sent you here," she suggested.

I snorted loudly, very unladylike. "My father sent me here to improve his standing in society. My mother is dead. I doubt that is the reason that you were sent here."

Midna looked down at the floor, "Well, my mother is dead also. And Father can't possibly be any higher in society, except for being king. And my betrothed is also very close to the throne." Her cheeks flushed, and my eyes started to well up despite my determination not to cry for Mother. Then I did something I rarely ever did in my life. I put my hand on hers, and squeezed it. She looked up, a bit startled.

"The Goddesses work in mysterious ways. One day, we will be repaid for all of our sorrows with the greatest of happiness," I told her sagely. Then I blinked. Did I really say that? Where on earth did that, that—wisdom—come from?

Midna seemed to be comforted by my words though. She smiled, and squeezed my hand back. Her smile was absolutely beautiful. I was a little jealous for my lack of beauty.

Sheik woke up, and if he had been able to speak, he would have been yelling at me. Instead, he wordlessly reprimanded me rather harshly, so I had to turn away from Midna, with the pretense of finishing unpacking while having an internal struggle with a Sheikah. Midna sat on her bed, and took out a book, written in Twili. She frowned over the text as if she was analyzing it, but she said nothing.

When I finished hanging up my gowns, Midna looked up.

"Where are you from again, Zelda?" she asked me.

"Kakariko."

"Interesting," she mumbled, and poured over her text once more.

The door opened and in danced my cousin Ruto. She saw me with one of my beloved books in my hand, and just as she opened her mouth to say something, she saw Midna stand up. Ruto was a bit shorter than me, by about half an inch, but Midna towered over Ruto. Ruto gasped, tripped on the hem of her gown, and ran out the door. Midna sighed, and shut the door behind Ruto's fleeing figure. I stared in shock.

"What was that? That was unbelieveably rude!" I yelled. Midna's eyes were on the floor.

"It is a reaction I am used to receiving," Midna murmured. I was speechless.

"Why?"

"No one has seen a Twili in centuries. I am not what is seen normally. I am different from everyone else." She seemed ashamed of her difference, of her foreign beauty.

"But would you want to be just like everyone else?" I asked wisely. I frowned at myself on the inside. What?!

Midna seemed to think about what I said. Suddenly, we heard a bell. Midna put her book away and went to the door. Turning to me she smiled. "We have penmanship now. Mistress Uli is the kindest teacher here, and she also teaches languages. But we best not tarry, because they do employ hand lashes here."

I started, but I followed her down the hall, and down the stairs. We went into a small room, cluttered with desks. Most of the girls had been seated, and I didn't see Ruto or Malon anywhere. Midna sat in the very back of the room, and I sat beside her. She intrigued me. She seemed to be hiding something, and at the time, she was conservative. It seemed to me that no one had tried to be close friends with her.

Eventually all the girls came in, and I turned my head away so that I wouldn't be seen by Ruto or Malon. The teacher, Mistress Uli was a beautiful petite woman, soft-spoken, and very smiley. She sat at the front of the classroom, looked around at us, and waited for silence. Immediately the girls who were chatting fell silent.

"Hello! Today, we are working on signatures! I would like our new students to write a little composition to let me understand what I am working on with them. Please begin."

A little blank book was given to me, and I took the pen in my hand, and thought of what to write. I wanted to write about Link, and how I loved him, but really, that was too private. Mother was still fresh, Father just made me angry, and Sheik no one knew. Then I thought of Rutela and Ralis, my childhood friends. The memory of my last adventure in the Zora Domain came to the forefront of my mind, and I began to write.

Zelda was ten, and she had been playing in the water all day, and she was getting quite brown. While climbing out of the water, she heard a child crying. Looking around, she saw a boy sitting half-submerged in the water sobbing. Splashing up to him she smiled widely.

"Hello! I'm Zelda! Who are you?" she chirped happily. The boy looked up, and Zelda saw he was a Zora boy. Then she wondered how she had missed him being a Zora in the first place.

"I'm Ralis," he sniffed. Zelda kept smiling.

"Are you lost?" she asked him, sitting down next to him. He nodded.

"Where's your mother?" Zelda asked him.

"Still in the Zora's Domain," he grumbled. Zelda got up, and ran to find her mother. Pulling her over to the young Zora, Zelda pointed him out to her mother.

"Can we take him back to the Zora's Domain, Mother? He's lost," she had explained. The Lady Ella had smiled happily at the child who sat frustrated in the water.

It was a long hike, but they got to the waterfall, and jumped in. The water had been lower then, and Zelda and Lady Ella had been able to come up for air. Suddenly, Ralis cried, "Mama!" and released Zelda's hand, and embraced a beautiful Zora woman with a diadem on her head. Thus started the friendship between the Zoras and Lady Ella and Zelda.

"Oh my," Mistress Uli said behind me. I started violently making some of the girls giggle. I had been remembering Queen Rutela's elegance. Mistress Uli's slender hand plucked my book from in front of me, and examined my handwriting.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked her, a bit nervously.

"Well, my dear girl, you need to work on your penmanship. Much. This is abominable," she stated matter-of-factly. So much for seeming to be kind. Mistress Sera walked in and stared at the notebook in Mistress Uli's hand. She looked stunned, as if a frying pan had hit her square in the face. I tried not to laugh at the image that made in my head. Sheik shook his head.

"Who's scribble is this?" Mistress Sera demanded.

"Mine, Mistress," I answered, unabashed. She glared at me.

"And pray tell what does this say?" Her voice sounded dangerously low.

"Well, Mistress Uli told us to write a little composition, and I wrote about my friends, Prince Ralis, Queen Rutela, and the Zora's Domain. That's a retelling of when I met them when I was ten," I explained. I told them this matter-of-factly, not rude, not condescending, not sarcastically. But somehow, Mistress Sera thought I was.

"Oh really? Then I suppose you flew to the moon and married the Hero of Light!" she mocked me. I grew red. I hated mocking. The students around me started laughing. Midna sat absolutely still beside me, though I saw her eyes flash. Ruto smirked at me. She loved the situation. Sheik was frowning and tensing. He knew there was something wrong.

"No, madam, this happens to be true. Mother and I met them both a few years ago, when I was ten. We have maintained a steady friendship with the Zoras since," I informed her with a measured voice. I didn't want them to know that I was angry.

"A fairy story. Written in the worst hand I have ever seen! Did you write this with your toes?" she laughed. The other girls started to laugh uproariously. I couldn't take it.

I abruptly stood and snatched the notebook out of Mistress Sera's hands. Glaring at her, I marched out of the classroom, and when I was out of earshot, I ran back to my room.

I threw the notebook across the room. It landed face down on my bed. I needed to calm myself, but I couldn't in that house. I grabbed my harp from the Kokiri, and ran out a back door.

Once I was out of sight of the house, I began to explore a little. Beyond the village there was a path leading somewhere. The one on the left, the one that was more travelled and that we had come from led back to Hyrule. The one on the right seemed less travelled, so I went that way.

Eventually my footsteps took me to a beautiful little spring. It was peaceful, and seemed as if the Goddesses had blessed it. It was almost too perfect. I took off my shoes, and waded a little in the water. It was heavenly. I closed my eyes and pretended I was back at Lake Hylia with Link. I sat on the sand and strummed my harp absently. The music calmed my nerves, and also allowed me to see reason.

What I had done was bold and rash, and would be punishable. Midna had said that they used a stick. Oooooh, I was going to get lashes. Impa would be furious to learn that they would hit me. Sheik was working up to furious. I lazily gathered the shadows. Sheik wanted out.

I woke, and I immediately felt Zelda succumb to despair inside of me. I hurt, knowing that she would be punished brutally. I also knew that those scars would never fade.

I plucked her harp, playing her melody, over and over, adding harmonies and even chords underneath the melody. Soon, it sounded like a symphony. I was happy with the way that the song had turned out. Suddenly, I heard something.

Whipping around, I saw Zelda's roommate, Midna come out of the woods. She seemed surprised to see me. She looked around uncomfortably, then approached me.

"There is more to you than you seem, isn't there?" she asked me in a low voice. The only person I had ever come in contact with was Impa, and I hadn't any idea how to answer such a question. Zelda panicked.

"I am merely a shadow. Without substance, I cannot—do not—exist," I whispered to her. I began to circle around her, but she followed me. I had a strange feeling that she knew who I was, and where Zelda had gone.

"You are not Twili, and the shadow people of the World of Light disappeared centuries ago. They were the Sheikah. Tell me, Oh Red-Eyed One, what is the meaning of your symbol?" she gestured to my chest, and watched me intently. Zelda was nervously wringing her dress. I told her if she kept doing that she would tear it to shreds. She stopped.

"The Eye of the Goddess," I said, and backed towards a great tree with an immense shadow. I could warp back to the school and gather the shadows.

Alas, no such luck.

The pool began to glow, and Midna turned in amazement to face the water. Zelda gaped in awe inside of me, and I stood, shocked, and unsure of what was happening. Midna and I backed away, but she turned to run, but into a tree. I caught her before she hit the earth, and the light got brighter. Wind began to blow, and we covered our eyes. Excited, Zelda took my hands away from my eyes, and made me look at what was before us.

A spirit made completely of light floated above the water. It was in the shape of a goat-like creature. Zelda pointed out that they were a special goat only native to this region. The goat had beautiful and strange markings on it, and it fixed it's crystal-like eyes on us. Midna stood, and I clutched tightly to Zelda's harp.

"Welcome, Princess of Twilight, Survivor of the Sheikahs, and the Nayru's Chosen One," Zelda blushed scarlet, and Midna looked confused. "I am Ordona, the Spirit of Light that guards the Ordona Province. We are well met."

"So he is the last of the Sheikahs?" Midna asked Ordona. Ordona nodded solemnly.

"He is, though he is not a natural Sheikah. Just as you are not natural in your essence, Princess," Ordona said. Zelda reeled with shock at the fact that Midna was the Princess of the Twilight Realm. I was confused. Not natural in her essence?

"Why have you revealed yourself to us?" I asked Ordona. Ordona's great head turned to look at me.

"Survivor of the Sheikah, the winds of peace have turned, and something is stirring in the land of Hyrule. The Princess's ancestor defeated an evil before, with the Hero of Light and Princess of Destiny, and her strength lives on in her descendant. The Prince of Hyrule and Nayru's Chosen One are the Hero of Light and Princess of Destiny, reborn. And you are the key to a great mystery in this puzzle. Beware, Survivor of the Sheikah, not everything is as it seems." And with that, Ordona faded away, and Midna and I were left alone. She turned to me.

"Now you know who I truly am. And I am closer to finding the mystery that is yours. Why are you not a natural Sheikah?" she asked me. I chewed the inside of my cheek, debating if I should lie, or tell the truth. She could not read my expression for my cowl covered most of my face.

"Who is Nayru's Chosen One?" Midna persisted. Zelda and I sighed, realizing that there was no way that we could use falsehoods to escape the questions. I began to back away from Midna.

"Watch carefully," I told her, and I gathered the shadows.

As I walked back out of the shadows with my harp, Midna's eyes grew wide, and she started to back away from me.

"Princess, be not afraid. It is I, Zelda," I told her, still advancing. She began to back into the water.

"You are unnatural," she whispered in horror.

"No, there you are wrong. I am Hylian born, raised by my Hylian mother and my Sheikah guardian. Only a month ago I learned that I was certainly blessed by the Goddess Nayru," I showed her the back of my right hand, the hand with the Triforce symbol that I was certain not a birthmark. She frowned. "My mother is dead. My Sheikah guardian has cared for me since I was born. After my mother's death, my Sheikah guardian and I decided to take my fate into our hands. With her Sheikah magic, she put the consciousness of Zelda to sleep within a male Sheikah's body." With that, I gathered the shadows again, and Sheik woke.

"I am a completely separate entity from Zelda, yet one cannot exist with the other here. Zelda sleeps within my soul when I am here, as I sleep in her soul while she is here. I protect her, and I guard her. She is safe within me. Nothing can harm her or touch her. I am a shadow, one of the shadow people, not birthed by a woman, but created out of necessity. I need her as surely as she needs me." I gathered the shadows, a little dazed by how much I had revealed of myself and Zelda. It was true. I loved Zelda, she was a strange version of a twin, or sister. I didn't want to reveal more than I should. I was a private person.

"It is a secret that shouldn't be told to anyone. No one except Sheik, myself, Impa, and now you know this secret. I wouldn't have told anyone, but Ordona knew. And Ordona told you. Perhaps it's the will of the Goddesses for you to know my secret," I told an astonished Midna.

"Is it all true?" she whispered. I nodded. Then I smiled a bit mischievously.

"I won't be staying at finishing school for long. As soon as I can, I will sleep in Sheik, and Sheik will be going to the university in Castle Town. If I can't have a true education, then Sheik is." Sheik smiled in an excited manner. It was our roundabout way of becoming greater than we were.

"How will you accomplish that?" Midna asked. She didn't seem to be afraid of me anymore. She walked out of the water, at least.

"When the time is right, I will disappear for a while, and Sheik will be dominant, and finishing school will never see me again. Sheik and I will travel to Castle Town, and apply to the university."

"Won't you need money, and some clothes, so that it won't look suspicious?" Midna asked. I sighed, and sat on the sand. She sat next to me.

"We've thought of that, and short of robbing, the only way we can get any money is to go to Lake Hylia and throw back the Zora belongings. Hopefully they will be generous. As for clothing, I will sew them for him, for if he is seen with the Sheikah symbol, he will be singled out. Though I'm afraid that I won't be able to with so little time."

"I will help you. Finishing school is not where you belong, Zelda. Neither of us belong here. And when I go back to the Twilight Realm, you may have the money that I have in this world. We do not use rupees in the Twilight Realm. And people are a bit careless around here. You can easily find some rupees under rocks or in the grass too."

I was touched by how the Princess of Twilight would help me. We had only met that day, and she had been cordial, afraid, suspicious, and helpful to me. She was already an invaluable friend.

"Thank you, Princess," I said. She smiled at me.

"Midna," she said, holding out her hand to me. I took it and smiled back at her.

"Zelda," I said, and shook it. Gathered the shadows, and the hand in Midna's hand turned black and blurry, and became a man's hand.

"Sheik," I said, and underneath my cowl I smiled. She kept smiling at me. My ears started to pick up on footsteps in the wood. Letting go of Midna's hand, I stood. She frowned, a little puzzled.

"What is it?" But I held out one of my hands, and she looked around. We heard bushes rustling, and a girl with short hair and sharp, dull blue eyes stepped into the clearing. Midna stood also, but she looked a little angry.

"So is this where you come when you sneak out of school, is it, Midna?" the girl said, smiling widely. "To meet a sweetheart?" she laughed. Zelda heard the girl's laugh and woke up. Hearing her laugh, Zelda looked through my eyes, and when she did, I was glad she was in my soul, for she screamed so loud that I winced. I turned away so that the girl didn't see much of me. She did see my short sword, and stared at me. Midna eyed the girl.

The girl's eyes snapped toward Midna, and I began to back away. She didn't notice. I wanted to warp and gather the shadows, but I didn't dare in front of this girl with the sharp eyes and triumphant demeanor. She wasn't to be trusted.

"Now, why would a Twili have a Hylian sweetheart? Did the men in your world reject you?" the girl laughed again. I began to sink myself into the water. If I submerged myself completely, then perhaps I could warp behind her and gather the shadows. Zelda pleaded with me not to gather the shadows. I didn't want to, but it was to stop awkward questions for Midna and Zelda.

I finally went underwater, and warped to behind the huge tree. I gathered its huge shadow. Sobbing, Zelda begged me. I didn't want to, but I did.

I dried my tears, and Sheik sat inside of me, upset. I came out from behind the tree, and Midna saw me. The fury in her eyes surprised me. It was clear that Midna hated this girl. The girl was still taunting her.

"Is he ashamed of showing his face in public because he's with you?" the girl taunted.

"Perhaps he's wise enough to know that you would be stupid enough to spy on them," I said to the girl. Midna's fingers were twitching.

"I found both of you! Midna and Elinor! I've found them both!" the girl exclaimed gleefully. She turned to look at me. Her face split into a very large, evil grin.

"Well if it isn't Zelda," the girl said. Midna's face showed panic. My heart plummeted into my stomach. Standing before me was the only other person who knew my greatest secret. The secret of the curse which only Mother, Impa and I knew about. The girl whose nose I had broken when I was eight.

Standing before me, all grown up, was Ilia.

WHO WAS EXPECTING THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I briefly mentioned her in my first chapter, and you guys thought that was the end of her. Oh, no, I brought Ilia back. She does play a larger part in this story. Next chapter, you'll see what she'll do with her power over Zelda.

So, what did you think? Review, and let me know how you liked this chapter. And don't forget the poll on my profile! Review and vote! Please!

Mercie!

~Principessa Dell'Opera