"Nabooru!"

She lifted her head off the pillow and looked around for the noise. She yelped and leapt back, a movement that would have caused her unspeakable pain only a few days ago but left her perfectly fine now.

On the end of the bed, their faces inches from hers, were her friends, Krysu, Jessa, Tami, and Amalyse.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nabooru demanded, settling back down onto the bed and glaring at them. They just laughed, unaware of how damaging their little joke would have been when she was first hospitalized.

"We're here to visit you. Be supportive, et cetera," Jessa explained. "And to give you this." She dropped a package in her lap. Nabooru grunted at the sudden weight, barely catching it before it slid off the sheets and onto the floor.

Inside the thin parchment were two beautiful scimitars. The hilt of one was lined with sapphires and diamonds, while the other was covered in rubies and topaz stones. "How on earth did you find these?" she asked, running a thumb down the steel blade of the sapphire one. "Is there some really angry Ryian merchant who'll be out for your blood?"

Tami shrugged, admiring the gold hilt of the ruby sword. "It's the weirdest thing. We didn't steal these."

Her forehead wrinkled, concern flitting across her mind. "Who did?"

"We have no idea," Amalyse said. "There was this girl who handed Krysu the package and told her to give it to you. Know anyone like that? Maybe a mutt or something?"

"Of course not." Nabooru knew that this ought to be reported to Aveni, or perhaps Lenea. These were exactly the kind of bizarre windfall that they were taught to be distrustful of. Every instinct she had told her that they should never accept gifts from strangers, especially if that gift was food or a weapon. But before she could think about that in any detail, she would be distracted by the wickedly sharp blades, or the way the gems glimmered, or the perfect grips of each. They seemed fit to the bumps and curves of her palms, to the point where she knew that the ruby one was for her right hand, and the sapphire her left.

The other girls were just as dazzled by the weapons, each one reaching forward to touch part of it every few seconds. "So how do you feel?" Krysu asked. "Healed yet?"

Nabooru said, "Actually, yeah. The stab wound is gone, but the Healer won't let me leave. That magic really freaked her out."

The girls had heard about that; everyone had. Tami's fingers brushed against the golden hilt. "I didn't know gold could get this smooth," she said. "It makes you want to fight with them, doesn't it?" The others burst into a clamor of agreement, each eager to see the swords in action.

Nabooru thought once again about her orders, her instincts, her health. Then she tightened her grip around the hilts of the scimitars and climbed out of bed, leading her friends out to the most isolated fighting space in the Fortress. They were falling into formation when a shadow moved just outside of Nabooru's vision. She whirled around, raising her scimitar, and almost hit a stunned Ganondorf in the head with the flat of her blade. "Ganondorf!" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

The other girls had dropped to their knees. Nabooru inclined her head, but didn't want to set the swords down long enough to bow properly.

"I was taking a walk," he said, "and happened to see you." He took her by the elbow and drew her away, his expression darkening. "What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe that the Healer let me go?"

Ganondorf sighed, giving her an incredulous look. Then he noticed the scimitars. "Where did you get these?"

"Some girl gave them to me. Cool, huh? I wish I could thank her."

"I bet I can," he muttered. For some reason he didn't seem nearly as impressed by them as her friends had been.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just be careful." He turned and disappeared into the night without so much as a goodbye, leaving Nabooru to return to her friends . . . who weren't there.They must have gone to bed, she assumed. "Rude of them not to say goodbye," she muttered, but was distracted from her irritation by the brightness of the swords. She grinned, turning around so that the moon was shining directly on them. For some reason, the blades didn't seem as bright as before, which was enough to make her hesitate. However, she couldn't quite bring herself to part with them, and Aveni would insist that they be taken away. They might even be destroyed.

Ganondorf would know what to do. At least, he should. He was her king, after all. If she had to guess as to where he was going . . .

As Nabooru turned toward the west, the swords grew brighter again. Magic, she thought, knowing that this meant she should give them up; she had no excuse to keep them anymore. Unless, of course, they were leading her to Ganondorf, in which case they were made of good magic.

The Gerudo didn't know the difference between good and bad magic. They wouldn't be able to appreciate her gifts.

That settled, she began to follow the glow of the swords, hoping they would lead her to Ganondorf.

Ganondorf was sitting on a rock outside the sphere of Koume and Kotake's influence. Or, at least, what he had always assumed was their sphere of influence. Now that they had unleashed those swords into the world, who knew how far their magic could spread?

He should have taken them away as soon as he saw them. But there was always the chance that he could fall under their thrall; he had wanted to, after watching them glisten in the moonlight. It was better if he stayed as far away from them as possible.

He was surprised as something bright and silver appeared in the corner of his vision. "I found you!" Nabooru said, her face white under the glow of the swords. "I knew they would lead me to — ahhh!" She dropped the swords, blinking. "They got hot all of a sudden. That's weird." She paused for a second, then shrugged and knelt to pick them up again.

Ganondorf knew that this was the effect of his mothers' spell, and that Nabooru wasn't really this stupid. Still, he couldn't help but feel a stab of frustration as he tried to pull her away from the scimitars. He was too late, though.

Once her fingers closed around the jeweled hilts, she was hit with a burst of heat that seared up her right hand, leaving burns that made the healing welts on her right cheek look and feel as inconsequential as acne. Her left arm was freezing, to the point where she felt nothing but agonizing tingles from that arm, and her hand felt as far away as the Gerudo Fortress. Her back arched as she screamed, unaware of anything but blistering cold and frigid heat, mixing together in a pain that couldn't tell one sensation from the other.

"This isn't going to work with Ganondorf here!" Nabooru didn't know whether the voice was in her mind or in the air, and the words meant nothing to her weakened brain.

"Be quiet! As long as she holds the swords she can hear us!" The pain lessened to a point where she could make sense of the voices. Gibberish slowly morphed into language, and she heard, "We are setting you free for now. But you need to return to us tomorrow night. If not, we will come get you. You cannot tell anyone."Something about the woman's voice was comforting, though at the same time threatening. She nodded.

The burning pain disappeared, as did the voice and the light. She fell into Ganondorf's arms, which were held out in preparation for this very event.

They weren't prepared for her to fall straight forward, though. As he lunged forward to snatch her out of the air, he lost his balance and sent them both sprawling. They toppled down the dune, landing on the sand below. He landed flat on his back, and she crashed down on top of him. Their legs were tangled together. Her nose was touching his. They stared at each other.

Nabooru admired his long red hair, his tiny bit of stubble, the tiny gold-and-orange earring, and his dark orange eyes. She'd always been bad at reading faces, and his was especially inscrutable. It annoyed her to no end.

Ganondorf looked at her long eyelashes, framing golden-yellow eyes, her hair that fell around his face, and the spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks. The welts on her face had healed, as had the ones on her arm, but he wasn't really noticing that. He was thinking that her face was one that expressed extreme emotions, whether happy or sad. She wasn't one for mild reactions, and it was exhausting.

She gazed down at him. For once she wasn't laughing. "You're obnoxious," she said.

"You're worse."

She laughed at that, then gave him a hesitant kiss on the lips, pulling away almost as soon as she'd made contact. For once, they were both shy. "I-I've never . . . There aren't any guys at the Fortress," she finally said.

"There weren't any girls with Koume and Kotake," he replied, which seemed to give her courage. The second kiss was a lot longer than the first, though equally tame. After a few moments, she climbed to her feet.

"It's been a weird night," Nabooru said. "I shouldn't have done that. I just . . ." Her jaw set, and any traces of shyness — what they were both trained to call weakness — fled from her face. "I just lost my focus for a moment," she finished coolly. "It won't happen again, Your Highness."

Daphnes sat on the edge of Lord Jabu-Jabu's pool. He knew that at his age he shouldn't have run away, considering what had just happened. But considering what had just happened . . . how could he not run away?

"Wisdom," he whispered, his bare feet kicking at the shallow water. He hadn't had any glowing eyes, any out-of-body experiences. Just Wisdom.

Of course, if he actually had any wisdom, he would have known what this all meant.

"Daph!" He heard splashing behind him as Zelda squished her way over to him. He looked first at the dripping hem of her dress, then up at her face. She grinned. "I almost fell in one of the pools," she said, "but Trent caught me." She shook one foot, sending water droplets over their admittedly-unimpressive garb. She plopped down next to him, her smile fading. "So what happened?"

He clutched his right hand to his chest, not sure how to say it. "Zelda, when you . . . did whatever you did, I was mostly trying to figure out what was going on. But after it was over, and there was the triangle on your hand . . . I had one, too."

For a moment she just stared at him. "You had a golden triangle?" she demanded. He nodded, and she turned pale. "What does that mean?" When he had no answer for him, she said it again, louder. "What does it mean, Daphnes?"

"I don't know!" he cried. "I didn't change or anything, I didn't glow. All I heard was a voice that said, 'Wisdom'! I have no idea what that means!"

"Oh, no," she whispered. "Not again. This isn't happening again."

"Zelda, what are you talking about?" When she didn't answer, just kept staring at him with her wide blue eyes, he reached out and gently touched her wrist. "Listen, this is all very odd, but I believe that was the Triforce. I do not know what it means, but perhaps our journey is being blessed by the goddesses. Maybe Nayru; she is the goddess of wisdom, after all." Yeah, that made sense.

Zelda still didn't look fully convinced, but at least that horrified expression was off her face. "Maybe," she conceded. "But Prince Zora was there, too. Why didn't he feel it?" Her gaze landed on him, her eyes narrowing. "What makes us special?"

Normally, Daphnes was very good at not saying what he felt, even to himself. However, the events of the last hour had left him quite shaken, and he blurted out, "You mean you do not feel it? Deep inside, anywhere?"

To that she had nothing but silence. Then, before he could stop her, she leapt to her feet and sprinted away, leaving him staring after her, baffled.

That wasn't supposed to happen. He took off after her, slipping on the wet stone and kicking up water behind him.

Prince Zora leaned back against the wall, talking to Trent and keeping an eye out for Zelda. She'd told him that she would be fine looking for Daphnes on her own, but she was rather wild and impulsive. That, combined with whatever had happened . . . He was still trembling slightly.

Trent was explaining how he'd lost yet another girlfriend. "So she was all like, 'I thought you loved me, I thought you were sensitive, I thought you wanted millions of Zora children!' And I . . . panicked. And she pushed me off the waterfall. Man, it really hurts if you land in the water on your back like that. Especially if there's a Zora under you. Are all girls this weird? Like, are Sheikah girls and Hylian girls this crazy?"

"Absolutely," Prince Zora mumbled, not paying attention. Trent rolled his eyes. Prince Zora missed it though, since he was looking out for Zelda. He waved his hand, to tell Trent to continue.

"And then I blew flaming cuccos out of my butt . . ."

"What?" Prince Zora whirled around once the words had penetrated.

"You weren't listening."

He nodded, smiling apologetically. "I'm looking for Zelda."

Trent looked at him, disgusted. "You like this girl?"

"No! Heavens, no." He shook his head vehemently. She had hair, for one thing. And her — all Hylians, in fact — skin was such an unnatural pink color. It was just that she was something special, touched by the goddesses. He needed to figure out what was going on, and what he was going to do about it.

"Then what's the problem?"

At that moment, a door was thrown open and Zelda raced past, her eyes wild and desperate. A second later Daphnes sprinted out after Zelda, calling her name and stumbling over his own feet.

Prince Zora sighed, climbing to his feet. "That is the problem, Trent. Now, if you will catch one or both of them, I need to go get an important item."

"Psst. Imp." Impa was laying on the hard stone floor in the corner of her cell. The other men had snored the entire day, but she was too uncomfortable to sleep.

She raised her head. "What?" she hissed, knowing immediately who it was.

"Get over here!"

She crawled over to the bars, following Sheik's voice. "Where are you?" He dropped to the floor. Impa scrambled back instinctively, though they still had the iron between them. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Rescuing you." He was safe, because the guards were stationed outside the entrance to the dungeons but not within, and somehow he had sneaked past them. Furthermore, they were out of view of the other cells, so none of the other prisoners could rat them out.

"Really." She had seen Sheik's attempts at plans: rescue plans, heist plans, plans of every fashion. None of them worked.

"Yeah. See?" He took out a long knife and began sawing at the bars. After a few fruitless minutes, he gave up. "How about using keys?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me." Sheik grabbed the keys and opened the door. Impa stepped out, and they turned to leave. "Wait!"

"What?" he asked, turning around.

"The door."

They'd left the door wide open, the keys dangling from it.

"Oops." He was halfway back when his arm hit the suit of armor. It crashed to the floor with a deafening clatter. "Din!" Sheik cried when he realized what he'd done. He bent down to pick it up, and his foot hit another suit. It smashed into another. Like dominos, all the way down the hall, suits of armor banged into each other, making a racket that probably woke up the entire castle. When the noise had died down, there was a ringing in their ears that was almost as loud as the falling metal. "Who has goddess-damned armor in their dungeon?" he snarled. "Let alone positioned in such a precarious position?"

"Smart people," Impa replied. "It worked better than the guards, didn't it?"

The prisoners had woken up, and were making their way to the entrance of the cell. The largest, a man with a bushy black beard and dark skin, looked down at Sheik and Impa, both of whom felt very tiny in comparison. "You two let us out?" he asked. They nodded, and he reached around them to grab three long knives, which Impa assumed had once been their property before being confiscated.

The second prisoner ran a thumb along his blade, sizing them up. "And then you made all that noise that could get us killed?"

This time, they both hesitated before nodding their agreement. Both of them shifted into positions of attack.

"Well, then," the first one said, "you kids better be ready to fight, because the three of us aren't going to be able to take on all these guards by ourselves."

"What's going on here?" They all stared at the guard who had entered the dungeon behind them. Peering over his shoulder were at least six others. The three burly prisoners beamed toothlessly and prepared to battle.

Sheik's plans never went well.

Zelda finally stopped running when she couldn't hear Daphnes calling after her anymore. Years of chasing hyperactive children had put her in far better shape to outrace the prince, but she almost wished that she hadn't. He was far too kind to be abandoned like that, especially seeing as he was her sovereign.

But at the same time . . . he had heard voices. He had the triangle. He felt something, deep down, that said they were different. Connected, somehow. That was not something she'd ever expected him to say, which meant he was acting differently. Just like Dimitri. Even if he was right, and they were touched by the Triforce or the goddesses or something that wasn't evil, it was just too bizarre.

She sat down outside the Domain, plopping down by the river and putting her head in her hands. Could the goddesses throw someone normal into her path? Someone who wasn't the plaything of supernatural forces?

"Zelda!" He'd finally caught up. Though he was thin enough, it took him a few minutes before he could catch enough breath to speak. For the first time, she noticed that his eyes were tired and worried, and there seemed to constantly be a little frown line creasing his brow. Feeling a rush of pity, Zelda patted the ground next to her. He collapsed gratefully. "So what happened?" he asked, mimicking their exchange in Jabu-Jabu's lair.

"This is too much," she replied. "Nayru, the Triforce, Hyrule . . . Everything's changing so fast, and I don't know what I'm doing. And I don't know what things you're feeling deep inside, but I'm not comfortable with it."

"I understand." His neck and ears flushed pink, and he stared down at his knees.

But she felt that he needed more of an explanation than that. "I've met people who've felt things before," she said, "and those things turned this guy into a huge asshole."

His eyes widened and he met her gaze. "But I would never do that! I —"

Zelda sighed. "It's just that once the deities start getting into people's minds, things don't end well."

He froze. "What on earth are you talking about? I meant that . . . I meant something completely different."

"What, then?"

Daphnes ran a hand through his blond hair, stalling for time. "All I meant is that we were supposed to meet, I believe. My life has been thrown into disarray because of you, and that was not chance. If I had ever thought that it was, this Triforce experience has changed my mind. The only question that remains to be answered is why."

This wasn't what she had thought, but there was something in his tone that made her nervous. "Do you think you know the answer?"

"Perhaps." He was studying her, his gray eyes dark with some emotion she couldn't read. Before she could ask him again, he climbed to his feet, taking her hands and pulling her up with him. For a moment they just stood there, looking down at their interlocked hands. When she lifted her head to read his expression, he leaned forward and kissed her. It wasn't perfect; his lips were dry and rough, and he clearly wasn't sure what to do with his tongue. However, it was her first kiss, and he was so unbelievably warm compared to the night air that she wanted nothing more than to huddle into his arms. Besides, as far as guys went, Daphnes was a pretty good one to have want her. Better than —

Suddenly an image of Demi, his eyes filled with sadness and confusion, flashed into her mind. She pulled back, her heart hammering loud enough to make her head hurt. "No."

"No?" He wrinkled his brow. "I am terribly sorry if I have offended you, Zelda. M-Miss Zelda."

"It's too fast. I mean, the whole Dark Triforce, and Demi, and . . ." She realized she hadn't told him about that, and the idea of explaining her messed-up life to this undeserving prince was too much for her to handle. "I need to go."

"Wait. Zel —"

She took a step back, then another, then she was sprinting in the direction of Hyrule Castle. She kept thinking of Dimitri, and how she'd always sworn to herself that she loved him. She had, even when she'd considered him nothing more than a stuck-up, lazy jerk. She'd lay on the beach, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. She recalled with a pang of regret that she never would know.

But Daphnes was different. She liked him, too. He was funny, smart, sweet, and he honestly cared about her. She was never sure Demi had. She thought of him, always there for her, even though he had a castle, a kingdom, and no reason to be nice to her. He'd always been understanding, without really understanding what was wrong with her. He always tried.

Then again, she'd hurt Demi too. And he was all alone . . . and it was her fault. Maybe if she'd stayed, she could have helped him.

Daphnes had to deal with a war, and his father dying (he never said anything, but Zelda could tell, over the few weeks they'd spent together, that he was worried) . . .

Demi was so cute and funny. They'd known each other forever.

When Daphnes was about to kiss her, she'd wanted him to, even though she could have sworn that she'd never want that ever again.

She was torn between guilt over what she'd done to Demi, and guilt over what she could do to Daphnes. Happiness that she'd once had and lost, and an older, less innocent happiness that was still within her grasp.

It was all so confusing.

She had to talk to Impa.

A/N: Oh, this one turned out very poor. I did my best with a bad setup, though, and it's a lot more tolerable than it had been.