Hey guys! Happy tenth chapter, yay! I posted fast again xD This one is almost 3,000, but I think it's pretty good otherwise. It was fun to write!

Review, pretty please! ^_^

-Nessa

I could hear stomping, metal clanging against metal. I knew what it was. I wanted to turn around but I couldn't. My muscles wouldn't move. Darunia's face was now much more confused and alarmed than scared. Had he recognized it? A split-second later it was so much closer—I shut my eyes and waited for something to happen when I was shoved aside, by whom I couldn't tell, and as I tried to catch myself I toppled over backwards and fell off the edge of the overhang and into the water below.

Thankfully I didn't hit any rocks, but I did get quite a shock and swallow a few more mouthfuls of water than was healthy for my respiratory system. Everything seemed to be going on at once. The next things I knew I was up on high ground again and the Iron Knuckle had fallen over, dead, between Darunia and I, who was looking absolutely shocked and standing stock still.

"Wot jus' even 'appened?" the Goron muttered after a split-second too long of silence.

I took a cautious step towards the empty iron casing. There was nobody in it, it'd just been a normal Iron Knuckle. "How did you...?"

"It just dropped dead of it's own accord," said Darunia, "oi didn't do nothin'!"

I kicked open the chest plate and it fell off the ledge and into the water below. This didn't make any sense. "This thing is an Iron Knuckle," I explained. "It's a minion of Twinrova, practically invincible. And it somehow managed to get its clumsy way up through the rubble here just to fall at your feet and break."

"Twinrova're dead," he managed to say. "This can't've been their doin'."

"The witches aren't dead," said a shaky voice.

Darunia and I both jumped and I turned to find Zelda and Link behind us. The Princess had tear streaks on her face—I could tell that she hadn't thought the ruins would be as bad as they were. No doubt she had now convinced herself that Ttoren was dead.

Honestly, he probably was.

"We followed the Iron Knuckle here," Link said. "That's why it took us so long. It was really slow and we had to get off the horses so it wouldn't notice us."

I blinked. "Did you manage to hurt it? Is that why it just died here?"

He shook his head. "We wanted to see where it was going, we couldn't draw attention—I mean, you don't really see many Iron Knuckles wandering around Hyrule Field, do you?"

I shrugged absently.

"Princess Zelda, Yer 'Ighness?" asked Darunia. "Wot were yeh meanin' by sayin' that the witches weren't dead?"

She didn't look up from surveying the empty suit of armor. "Just a feeling," she mumbled.

I frowned at her, then turned to Link and was surprised to find he'd paled considerably. "What's wrong?" I asked.

He jumped. "What? Nothing."

Nothing. Wasn't it always nothing?

I turned and kicked a pebble. "Why won't you two ever tell me anything?" I demanded. "It's really getting annoying, I can tell you're keeping things from me! I'm not stupid!"

The silence was much shorter than I had anticipated. Link and Darunia were both just staring at me, but Zelda got up, looking...ashamed?

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It isn't fair."

I blinked at her, unsure of how to react. I wasn't actually expecting an apology; it was really quite strange. "I...um...I just..."

She flashed me a very quick smile. "Is it just nothing?"

I fumed at her and she almost laughed, but the humor was gone in a second.

"Would somebody please enlighten me on this?" said Darunia gruffly. I'd forgotten he was there. "Oi'm more'n a bit confused."

"It's nothing," we all assured him at the same time; then we all exchanged glances and rolled our eyes.

The Goron huffed and shook his head. "Wull, if you young'uns don't mind, oi'll be goin' back up the mountain, they'll be wonderin' where oi'm at. Nice seein' ya." He curled into a ball and we made way for him as he rolled back down the rocky slope at the speed of Goron. We watched him leave in silence.

It was a long time before any of us spoke again. Zelda sat down next to the empty suit of armor and continued examining it, though I had no idea what for. Link sat with his elbows on his knees and his head rested on his forearms and I returned to the Domain's entrance, looking at the rocks even though I knew it was pointless. I realized what I was soaking wet. I had fallen in the water, after all.

I lost pretty much all sense of time, and suddenly we were sitting in a circle and discussing what we were going to do next.

"I think we should wait," Link was saying. "Give ourselves a bit of time to rest up. We've brought food and all."

"What are we going to do for a whole day?" Zelda asked. "Look at a dead Iron Knuckle?"

I shrugged. "Why not? You seem plenty interested in it."

She made a face at me. "I was checking to see if there were any signs that a person was once in it."

Link frowned. "How would you be able to tell that?"

"I don't really know," she admitted. "It just seemed like the right thing to do."

He seemed skeptical. "Whatever. Does that really matter? I just want to know what it thought it was doing."

"Iron Knuckles don't think," I said abruptly.

He gave me a funny look. "You know what I meant."

I jerked my head in a noncommittal way. "Just saying. Where is this food you were talking about?"

Zelda immediately jumped to her feet. "I'll get it." She took off at a run without waiting for us to say anything.

I shot Link a confused look; he looked just as puzzled. "Doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I guess not," I said.

"What was Darunia doing here?" he asked.

"Kaepora Gaebora told him to come, somehow he knew I was here," I said. "If he hadn't come I probably would've gotten myself killed. I was going to push a rock but I didn't notice where it'd be a problem." Then I remembered the most important things the Goron had told me. "He says that this wasn't an accident."

Link turned to look at me quickly. "How does he figure?"

I pointed towards the rocks at the bottom of the chasm. "Those've been cut. They were at the very top of the cliff initially, so nobody in their right mind would've gone up there just for some stone."

He frowned slightly; I could practically see him working out possibilities of who would've done it, and he came to a conclusion almost instantly. I could tell by his eyes. "I...don't know what to think."

I stiffened a bit. Of course he wasn't going to tell me. "Me neither," I said. "Darunia also said some things about the Sages."

"Like what?"

"He said people thought the Lost Woods have stopped playing music because Saria's missing."

The effect of my words was immediate: the color drained from his face and his eyes grew alarmed. "Missing? How does he know that?"

"I don't think anybody knows. After all, nobody's been in the Lost Woods for a long time now. Everyone's turned into Stalfos for some reason."

He stood up and began pacing; I stood as well. "I've got to go check! Goddesses, if she's missing...she was my best friend when we were little—when I
was little—"

"Who are we talking about?"

We both whirled around. "Sheik says Saria's gone missing!" spluttered Link.

Zelda nearly dropped what she was holding. "What?! Why didn't you tell us?"

"We don't know she's gone missing!" I protested. "Darunia said some people think that's why the Lost Woods are silent now and why people keep turning into Stalfos whenever they try to go in."

She looked from Link to me, then back to Link. "You should go," she said firmly.

He was momentarily speechless. "What? No! I'm not leaving you—"

"I'll be fine!" she assured him. "You look for your friend, I look for mine. I'll be with Sheik, anyway."

I coughed. They both looked at me.

"I, er," I began intelligently. "I think I'm going to, um..."

Zelda looked exasperated—she knew what I was getting at. "Look, I hate you too, but seeing as I'm completely useless and you agreed to come with me—"

"That was a ages ago!" I protested.

"It was two days!" she retorted.

"That's a long time when your sense of hours and minutes flew out the window after being a hunk of metal for seven years!"

"What?" said Link, probably feeling a bit out of it.

"Nothing!" we both shouted, glaring at each other.

Link sighed. "I'm not going anyway, it doesn't matter."

Zelda turned on him. "Yes," she said, "you are! Even if I have to make you."

They stared at each other for a few moments and I suddenly felt very awkward. "Um, I guess if I really mustI can deal with her for another day or so," I admitted painfully.

"No," said Link quietly, "it's fine. You can come with me, Sheik. Zelda is going alone."

I got the feeling they'd had a silent conversation in the few seconds we'd been speechless. "Er, okay then. I'm cool with that. When do we leave?"

"Now, I suppose," he said. "We can eat as we ride."

...Ride?

Ohh.

Shit.

I mentally kicked myself. Had I actually just chosen to go ride a horse all the way to Kokiri Forest instead of just walk around and find another way into the Domain? "Oh, um, yeah, right," I stuttered, throwing a quick deathglare at Zelda, who was smirking, though she looked a bit worried as well. Hmm...

Link shook his head as he gathered his stuff. "This is a bad idea," he muttered.

"What is?" I asked.

"Splitting up," he said. "We shouldn't be doing this, it makes us more vulnerable..."

I frowned. "Vulnerable to what?"

He glanced at the empty suit of armor lying a few feet away, and I was suddenly glad I was going with somebody else. I swallowed. "What if we find more of those?" I asked.

"Then we follow it," he said grimly.

"Oh," I said, feeling like a brick had just dropped down into my gut. "Yeah."

I was not ready for this.

Why, oh why had I chosen to go alone? I can't handle alone! What was I thinking?

I don't actually think I was thinking. I was just...doing. Saying. Idioting.

That's a verb now. "To idiot."

Kill me now.

We all walked down to the end of Zora's River, where Link and I had left Epona and Takumi. As funny as it was to watch Sheik on a horse, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. After all, horses can be pretty scary if you don't know how to handle them. Maybe after a while he'd get used to it, though, who knew.

Just before mounting Epona, Link took out his fairy ocarina and gave it to me, holding my hands around the scratchy, hand-cut wood. "If you ever need us," he said, "if you ever get lost, if anything happens—"

"We're blaming you," called Sheik from Takumi's back, looking nervous, "since this was your idea."

Link cracked a dry grin and I laughed a little. "Just play the song I use to call Epona. You know the notes, right?"

I nodded. For some reason I was holding back tears. This just seemed so much like a goodbye. Too much like a goodbye. "It'll be fine," I said.

He gazed at me intently for a moment, then put his arms around me and kissed my forehead. I shut my eyes tightly and breathed deeply, my head on his shoulder. He smelled nice. Don't really know what the smell was, but it was nice.

I wanted to stay there forever, but I didn't resist when he pulled away. "I'll see you soon," he said softly.

"I love you," I said.

He offered me a very small smile. "I love you more," he responded, then turned and mounted Epona. "Give us a holler if you find Ttoren as well, okay?"

"I don't think I can shout that loudly," I admitted jokingly.

"Naw," said Sheik, "you can scream so loudly that they'd hear you in Termina."

"Termina doesn't exist!" I retorted. "Your argument is invalid."

He snorted and shook his head, and I made a face at him. "Go kill some Stalfos for me, alright?"

As they rode south, towards Kokiri Forest, I turned the opposite way and headed towards Kakariko Village, talking quietly in order to distract myself from my paranoia.

It was time to play some hide-and-seek with Zora's Domain.

What is wrong, Madam Sage! Are you not pleased?

Pleased? I am pleased. Not with you, but yes, I am pleased.

Why are you not pleased with us, Madam Sage?

Because all you did was enchant the owl! It was feeble magic, as well, and it could've gone wrong in so many different ways!

We couldn't have influenced the Sage of Fire directly, Madam, it would've been too risky!

Bold words, for such parasites as you.

I...forgive me, Madam Sage, I spoke out of turn.

Ha! Damn right you did, witch. What would our Lord think of that? Do you know what he would do to you?

Please, Madam Sage, it was nothing—

I will decide whether or not it was "nothing"! You have no authority! I would not be surprised if our God did away with you as soon as he was resurrected!

Please, please, I apologize! Forgive me!

...Forgive you? You are not only bold and disrespectful, but you are selfish, too, as it seems. If you had any decency you would have sacrificed yourself to our God as part of the rituals long ago! Maybe that is a good idea...

Madam Sage, please! Mercy, I beg of you!

Hmph! Mercy. Our Lord and God know no mercy...though perhaps I am different. Very well. You shall be kept alive, witch.

...Th-thank you, thank you! Merciful lady, thank you—

Stop your babbling at once! I had not finished. You shall be kept alive if, and only if you succeed to bring back to me the last of the Zoras. The beast is wandering around the east side of the land somewhere, last I checked, quite confused and half dead. It should be an easy task for someone with such little brain.

Of c-course, Madam Sage! Of course! Consider it done!

It will not be considered done until I have its body lain before me. Do not disappoint me, Kotake, or you'll go the same way as your sister. I wouldn't be surprised if she stopped eating any day now, locked up in that horrid, tiny cell...

No indeed, Madam Sage, I shan't fail!

No, you shan't. Your deadline is three days.

...Of...of course, Madam Sage.

Three days, witch. Three days and if that Zora isn't captured and delivered to me by midnight of the third day, you're as good as dead. In fact, you're better—your body will be torn up as sacrifice to the rituals. Do you hear me?

I hear you, y-yes of c-course, Madam Sage! I hear you crystal clear!

Good. That means you won't ever question my instructions again. Begone!

(Midnight of the third day...seem familiar? xD I make too many unintentional puns.)