A/N: Well, I got this one up!

'What if you don't come back?' the girl asks. The woman starts to reply, then thinks better of it. She comes over and kneels down in front of her daughter, cupping the little girl's face in her hands.

'Sheik, I need you to be strong for me,' she says, her red eyes shining with barely-held back tears.

'Don't want to,' Sheik says sullenly, refusing to meet her mother's eyes.

'You have to. You can do that for me, can't you?' Her daughter looks up, but says nothing. 'I know you can do that. After all, you're a Sheikah. You're my brave Sheikah warrior, and no matter what happens to me, that's not going to change. You have generations of Sheikah blood in you, and I want you to remember that. Even if I don't come back. You are strong enough to fight for yourself.'

The next thing she knew, she was being roughly shaken awake.

'Ugh,' she said, addressing the universe at large. 'This had better be important. And why am I lying on a sheep?'

'That's not a sheep, that's the carpet,' the figure standing over her replied.

'Oh.' Sheik managed to push herself up on her elbows, and looked up at the figure. The room was dark, and although Sheik recognised Impa's voice the Sheikah herself was shrouded in darkness. 'Maybe it's just me,' she said, standing up, 'but I was always under the impression that part of the definition of morning was, you know, light. The sun being above the horizon, that kind of thing. Which does not seem to have happened. So could you please explain to me why you're waking me up now, in what I assume is the middle of the night, when I seem to remember specifically asking you to wake me up in the morning?'

'Because you asked to be taught Sheikah stuff,' Impa told her, handing her a pile of cloth which, after some careful prodding, Sheik identified as her bodysuit. 'And I can't exactly teach you what I'm about to teach you in broad daylight. We need to leave the city again, and that means waiting until after dark. Now get changed so we can go.' Sheik was too excited to argue, and soon they were heading for the small door in the city wall again.

'What are you going to teach me?' she asked, trying to keep up. Impa remained stubbornly silent, but Sheik knew she wouldn't have to wait long to find out. They didn't go far out into Hyrule Field, and stopped in the middle of the open grassland. Sheik looked around, wondering why Impa had chosen this spot. But suddenly she heard a noise which made the hairs on the back of her neck rise: the sound of a sword being drawn. She spun round, memories of her encounter with Zant flashing before her eyes. To her relief, she saw Impa holding a large, curved sword hilt-first towards her, and she took it reluctantly.

She had never held a weapon before in her life, and she wasn't at ease around them. Weapons were used by the shadier class of criminal, the kind who threatened, or sometimes even used those weapons. Sheik preferred not to carry even a small knife, just in case; she had no intention of using a weapon and if, Goddesses forbid, she was ever caught, she could get charged with armed robbery rather than just bog-standard thieving. The sentence was the same, but it was a matter of principle. Refusal to carry a weapon was what separated Sheik from all those other criminals. But here she was, carrying a proper sword, and Impa was holding another one of her own.

'Um…' she said, holding her sword away from her as if she expected it to bite. 'What exactly am I supposed to do with this?'

'Fight,' Impa replied. 'You wanted to learn "Sheikah stuff", I seem to recall. Well, these swords are traditional Sheikah weapons. We all learn to fight with them, so it's about time you learnt.'

'Ah. Right. Okay then,' Sheik replied, trying not to show her unease. 'So what, are we going to start with some training dummies, maybe a few drills or something?' Impa smiled, but it was one of those smiles Sheik had learnt to know and fear. It was a smile that meant, "I'm amused by what you just said, not because it was remotely funny, but because I know something you don't, and that something is about to bite you on the arse". Sheik started to back away slightly, and had made it about three inches before Impa leapt at her, sword raised.

She instinctively raised her own sword, and the resounding clang as the two blades met radiated up her arm.

'What are you doing?' she yelled as Impa attacked again and again, each time only just blocked by Sheik.

'Teaching you!'

'I don't feel very taught!' she replied, but it ended as more of a shriek as she dodged out of the way of another blow. 'Stop attacking me!' she said angrily, but Impa didn't even slow down, launching another blow at neck height which Sheik just managed to duck under.

'Make me stop!' the older Sheikah replied, and Sheik frowned. This is her idea of training? she thought disbelievingly. But another near-miss reminded her that she could criticise Impa's teaching strategy later. Right now she had more immediate problems, such as not being beheaded. She focused on the fight, keeping her eyes on Impa's blade as it flashed back and forth in the moonlight. She had a plan -well, sort of. But she needed an opportunity. Just one blow in the right place…

Finally she got her chance. Impa slashed at her neck again, and Sheik ducked under like before but kept going this time, cannoning into Impa and knocking both of them to the ground. Impa's sword went flying, embedding itself in the ground a few feet away. But to Sheik's surprise and horror Impa just reached up to her back and withdrew a second sword.

'Oh, come on!' Sheik said angrily as she was forced away. 'I beat you!'

'And yet I'm still fighting. How very effective that beating was,' Impa said sarcastically. Sheik shut up, and focused on the fight again. Her main concern was staying between Impa and her discarded sword; if the other Sheikah was allowed to pick up a second weapon, there was no way Sheik would be able to defend herself. But if she could pick it up...

She backed away, trying to gain enough distance, then suddenly sprinted for it. She grabbed the sword as she passed, but was immediately pulled over when the sword didn't move. It was stuck firmly into the ground, and Impa paused to watch pityingly as Sheik wrestled with it. Sheik looked up at her, but she sheathed her sword and folded her arms.

'Go on. I'll wait.' Sheik frowned, and tried to pull at the sword from all angles, slowly manoeuvring herself so that her body blocked Impa's view of the sword. With one final wrench it came free, but Sheik carefully stayed hunched over so that Impa couldn't see. Then she readjusted her grip on her other sword and without warning she leapt at Impa.

The other Sheikah had quick reactions, and her sword was up before Sheik reached her, but Sheik's reactions were also fast, honed by years of criminality, and she managed to get her swords on either side of Impa's. In one deft movement that owed nothing to thought and everything to instinct, she twisted Impa's sword out of her grasp and tossed it away. She stood, panting, and glared at Impa.

'If you have another sword hidden in there you can stick it where the sun doesn't shine, because I'm done.' She kept her grip on her own swords though, just in case. But Impa was looking appraisingly at her, and nodded slowly.

'Not bad. Really not bad, especially for a first try. You've never had training before?'

'No,' Sheik replied sullenly. Her mother was the source of her no-weapons policy; she had her own sword, but never had it around in the house, and she had never even mentioned training Sheik to use it.

'Oh. Well, then I have to admit I'm impressed.' Impa reclaimed her sword and took the others back from Sheik, before turning back to Castle Town. 'So what did you learn?' she asked Sheik, trudging along behind her.

'That you can't be trusted?' she replied drily.

'Other than that,' Impa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. 'I mean, what did you learn that you didn't already know?' Sheik sighed, but it was a long walk back to the castle and she knew Impa wouldn't let her out of this.

'I guess… that I'm surprisingly good with a sword? And you're an unsurprisingly bad teacher.'

'Not at all. You beat me, didn't you?'

'Yes, but you didn't show me how to do that! That was just instinct!'

'Exactly! That's what I was trying to do. That's how all Sheikah are trained, not by drill or by example, but by instinct. We're warriors, all of us, and we're born knowing how to use a sword. You've either forgotten or ignored those instincts, but I was trying to force you to remember them.'

'What if I hadn't?' Sheik shot back. 'What if you'd sliced me in half with your first attack? Then what would you have done?'

'I had faith in you,' Impa replied with a shrug, oblivious to the small glow in Sheik's heart. 'I knew you were well in touch with some of your Sheikah instincts - that's what makes you such a good thief. Sneaking around the town requires the same skills as sneaking through enemy territory. I just had to hope that the rest of your instincts would come as easily. Like I said, I had faith. So, what have you learnt?'

'Didn't we cover that?'

'Remind me.' Sheik sighed.

'I learnt that I have good instincts. And I should trust them.'

'Excellent. What else?' Sheik looked at her, so nonplussed she was very nearly minused. She had no idea, since she was still under the impression that she hadn't learnt anything. Then again, apparently she had learnt that she should trust her instincts, so she thought back to the fight and took a guess.

'I should take advantage of the situation. Like when the sword was stuck. And then when you put your sword away to make fun of me. You lowered your guard, and that's why I was able to surprise you.'

'Exactly. People might not know just from looking at you that you're a Sheikah, so they'll assume you're just an innocent little girl. They'll underestimate you, they'll cling to some abstract notion of "honour", thinking that it's bad to hurt girls so they'll just do it a little bit. They'll make fun of you, and you need to take advantage of that. If they feel sorry for you, take advantage of it. Anytime your opponent underestimates you in any way, use that to your advantage.'

'Right. Lecture heard and more or less listened to. Can I go back to bed now?' Impa sighed.

'I suppose. There won't be much to do tomorrow, so you can sleep in.'

'But what about seeing Link?' Sheik asked, her heart jumping at the mere mention of her beloved prince.

'Him? Oh, he's gone.' Impa kept walking, and only stopped several minutes later when she realised Sheik wasn't with her. She turned back, sighed and walked back to where she had unknowingly left Sheik, standing open-mouthed in horror.

'He's gone?' she shrieked, grabbing Impa by the shoulders. 'What? Why? Where? How? When? How do I find him?' Impa removed Sheik's hands with difficulty.

'He left earlier today, after Zant's imprisonment. I assume that's part of the reason he was so anxious to speak to you.'

'Where is he?' Sheik demanded, ready to rush off to whatever corner of the world Link was hiding in.

'I think he's probably with the Zoras for now. Hyrule is surrounded by many other lands such as those of the Zoras and Gorons, and while Link's in our country he's taking the opportunity to visit other people. You're not the only royal in the world, you know.'

'I'm the only one who should matter to him,' Sheik said grumpily.

'He'll be gone a few days. A week at most. Then he'll come back, and you can slobber over him all day if you wish.'

'Excellent,' Sheik replied, setting off back towards the city. It was several minutes before Impa's last comment registered. 'Hang on. I don't slobber!'

'Whatever you say,' Impa replied in a tone which suggested that Sheik could say whatever she wanted, but she was a slobberer and Impa had evidence to prove it.

'I don't slobber,' Sheik repeated under her breath, as if that would change anything.

As Impa had predicted, the next day was uneventful. The exciting part came that night, when Impa led her out of the city again for another night of training. "Training", Sheik thought, was the wrong word. "Narrowly avoiding death by angry Sheikah" was a more accurate description. But she had to admit, Impa might have been right about her instincts. She managed to hold her own against her teacher, and at the end of a gruelling night she finally managed to defeat Impa by quickly sidestepping her attack and rolling around behind her, poking the tip of her sword directly into the small of Impa's back.

'Good,' Impa told her as they returned to the castle. 'I think you might be ready to try something a little bit more advanced tomorrow.'

'Like what?' Sheik asked, but as ever she was ignored. The next night, Sheik was ready before Impa came to get her, both excited and apprehensive about the night ahead. She wasn't sure what "advanced" entailed, but her hopes were not improved when Impa led her not to the open plain they had been using until then, but to the wooded area where Sheik had learnt the vanishing trick. 'What are we doing out here?' she asked.

'Teaching you to use your environment when you fight.'

'How am I supposed to-' she began, but her question was quickly answered when Impa attacked without warning. Sheik tried to back away, her tried and tested strategy in times of trouble, but was immediately foiled by a small rock which sent her crashing to the ground. She rolled out of the way of Impa's next attack, and crawled behind a handy bush while she tried to think. A cracking noise distracted her however, and she realised that Impa was hacking through the bush towards her. She crept away, using the remains of the bush as cover, and looked around.

She hadn't gotten a good look at her surroundings before, but now she saw why Impa had chosen this spot. Rocks, trees and bushes, all presumably useful in some way or other. But since Sheik had no idea how exactly she was supposed to use her environment, she wasn't sure how those things were going to be useful. However, as Impa spotted her again and marched over to her, brandishing her sword, Sheik did appreciate the value of a good sturdy tree between her and the other Sheikah, and was about to duck behind the nearest one when she paused. Running endlessly wasn't going to help her here; Impa had the look of a woman who would hack through foliage all night if necessary. But what might help her was a bit of careful planning and a lot of luck…

She blocked Impa's blows as best she could, but all the time she was forced to back away, until she was pressed up against a large oak tree. Impa grinned and drew back her sword for the final slash, but when it came Sheik was ready. She ducked out of the way and Impa's sword bit hard into the wood of the tree, sticking firmly. Sheik grinned too; she'd checked, and this time Impa didn't have spare swords. She raised her own, and pressed it firmly against Impa's neck.

'I win this one,' she said, her grin broadening. Impa merely grunted, and Sheik assumed she was sore about having lost, handing Impa her own sword back. Impa tugged her sword out of the tree, but without warning she levelled it straight at Sheik. 'Wha-? But I won!'

'I never acknowledged that. Don't assume the fight's over just because you think it is. And more importantly, never hand your opponent your weapon.' Sheik scowled. She had actually thought she'd done rather well, but now Impa was going to turn around and steal this fight? No way. She wasn't going to let Impa win, not this easily. She narrowed her eyes, ducked under the blade, and grabbed Impa's hand, twisting it sharply. Impa's eyes widened in pain, and she was forced to drop her sword.

'Where did you learn to do that?' she asked, shaking her aching wrist. Sheik didn't reply immediately, picking up the fallen blade. She wasn't going to be fooled twice.

'What, don't you think that's my Sheikah instincts working?' she asked at last with a raised eyebrow.

'No! Sheikah warriors don't fight with their hands!'

'Well then they're missing out. For your information, I learnt that particular trick in a dark alley about two years ago. Some big drunk guy had me cornered with a knife, and then someone else appeared out of nowhere. I couldn't see their face so I don't know who they were, but they grabbed the other guy's hand with the knife and twisted it like that. Only they did it harder. I'm pretty sure it broke the guy's hand, so you should be grateful I didn't do that to you!'

'I am,' Impa said fervently.

'Anyway, they ran off before I could say thank you or anything, so I kicked the drunk guy in the balls and scarpered. But I did remember that trick. It's gotten me out of a few tight corners.'

'That was technically cheating,' Impa told her, sheathing her sword.

'I know, but you cheated too. The way I see it, if your opponent's going to cheat, make sure you cheat first and better.' Impa smiled slightly.

'We'll make a Sheikah out of you yet.'