Zelda woke up early and yawned as she stretched, before getting up slowly and getting changed. Walking out of her room, she saw that Link wasn't there, but he'd left a small note on the table. She picked it up and read through it carefully.

Dear Zelda.

I don't think I can stand eating fish for another few days, so I've gone to Kakariko Village to try and get us some other food. I'll be back in less than an hour, because I've taken Epona with me. Make yourself at home, I'll try to get back as soon as I can.

Link

Zelda sat down, still yawning, and tried to think of something to do. Spying one of Link's pen-knifes next to a small bit of wood, she decided to try to do some carving before Link got back.

Meanwhile, Link had just arrived outside Kakariko Village and tied up Epona near the entrance before walking towards a few shops. The background noise of the bustling town was only broken by the soft jingling of the rupees Link had in his wallet.

As Link passed by a shop, something caught his eye. Somebody had put up a 'missing' poster for Zelda. It looked as though it had been put up recently, but it had already been defaced and vandalized with crude comments about her. Sighing with disgust, Link ripped the poster from the wall and slung it into a nearby bin, unaware that he was being watched.

Behind a fence, two angry Hylians had noticed Link ripping down the poster, and one of them gave an angry snarl.

"Check out that freak in green. What does he think he's doing?"

"Maybe he's a supporter of the 'queen'," the second man replied, with his voice dripping with sarcasm as he said 'queen'.

"Well," responded the first man menacingly, "Maybe we should show him how we treat supporters of the queen."

After responding, the man picked up a small rock and threw it over the fence. It barely missed Link, but crashed into a wall, causing a small bang. Link turned around, but the men ducked and laughed. Link shrugged it off and stepped into one of the shops, and the men looked like they were finished, but as they stood up again, one of them had a strange memory.

"Hey, that guy in green, wasn't he the one who protected the queen a few nights ago outside here? He stopped us all from giving that corrupt cow what she deserved!"

"You know, I think you're right, and I think I saw him riding around on that stupid horse of his near the south of Hyrule Field. What do you say we pay him a little visit some time?"

The other man laughed and agreed, before they both remembered that Link had a horse.

"Wait, if that guy came here on a horse, maybe we should go see it before he does!"

The other man didn't have time to agree before his accomplice rushed towards the entrance of Kakariko Village to try and find Epona.

Meanwhile, Link had just bought some fruit, and found that he had a few rupees left over, so he decided to go to Hyrule Market to see if they had anything on offer. Starting to make his way back down to Epona, he had no idea that his two new enemies were already there. They didn't want to kill Epona, so they cut the rope that tied her to the Kakariko Village signpost and tried to get her to leave quickly.

"Go on horse, get outta here before that freak comes back!"

"Hey," shouted Link as he came to the entrance, "What are you two doing?"

Link's shout attracted the attention of a pair of guards, who entered the scene, but unfortunately, questioned the two bad guys before asking Link anything.

"This is our horse," one of the men said, "But this guy in green has been trying to steal it from us for ages!"

"Guards, they're lying, I've had Epona for years."

The guards didn't know who was telling the truth, so they quickly responded that whoever could prove that Epona was their's would get to keep her.

One of the men quickly pulled a carrot out of his pocket and tried to lure Epona over to him, but Link didn't look worried. Epona slowly walked towards the man, who was beginning to chuckle darkly, but Link responded by pulling out his ocarina and starting to play a familiar tune to the horse.

Epona looked back at Link, then the man with the carrot, before galloping towards the two men. The two men gave a small cheer, until Epona bit the carrot out of their hands and walked back towards Link, placing the carrot on the ground in front of him. Link stopped playing the ocarina and smiled, picking up the carrot and slowly feeding it to Epona, rubbing her mane as he fed her. The guards immediately recognised Epona as Link's, but as Link wished the guards a good day and rode onwards to Hyrule market, the two men grew angrier, and one of them started walking off towards Lake Hylia.

"Where are you going?" the other one asked, only to receive the answer in a scream.

"I'm gonna find that freak's house and attack him!"

Meanwhile…

Link had just arrived in Hyrule market, and although he knew he should spend his money wisely, he saw a jewellery stand and thought of Zelda. As he counted his rupees, he found that he had just enough to get her a small diamond bracelet. Hoping that she'd like it, he quickly bought it and hurried back to Epona to get back to Zelda and give her her present.

Zelda was still trying to carve a picture into the small piece of wood she had, but it was harder than it looked. Sighing, she tossed aside the useless piece of wood she'd started with and tried to do better on a different piece. She tried to carve a crude but visible smiling face into it, but when a loud banging started at the door, she dropped both the knife and the wood. Luckily, the knife fell straight onto the floor, but Zelda was still concerned over who was at the door. Peering through the keyhole, she saw someone staring back at her with vicious eyes, and Zelda had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming as she backed away.

"Aha! So you're in!" screamed the angry man through the door. He had only seen her blue eyes, and to the best of his knowledge, Link was the only one living in the house, and he also had blue eyes. Barging into the door a few more times, Zelda cowered in fear and ran to her room, where she tried to barricade herself inside.

The banging didn't stop, and Zelda heard a few violent cracks as the door began to give way. Suddenly, Zelda felt ashamed. Link had let her stay in his house, and she was letting it be ruined. Cautiously stepping out of her room, Zelda quickly grabbed one of Link's chairs and stood next to the almost-broken door, waiting for someone to come in. Holding the chair nervously over her head, Zelda waited, too nervous to hear what was happening outside.

Link had just arrived back home, and was greeted by the sight of someone trying to break into his house. Immediately fearing what would happen to Zelda, Link jumped off Epona and charged at the man, bowling him over onto the ground. When the man stood up, Link drew his sword angrily, but the man was in no mood to back down. Roaring, the man stood up and pulled a small knife from his pocket. Without bothering to use it, the man threw it violently at Link, who just managed to duck in time to feel it grazing his shoulder. Link stood up straight again, only to have to duck a barrage of punches, which Link responded to with a strong bash of his shield against the man's face.

The man fell to the ground, but before he could get up, he found Link's sword pointed towards his neck. For a second, he thought Link was going to kill him, before Link whispered,

"Leave now, and never come back!"

The man didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled up and ran. Link let out a sigh of relief as he led Epona back to the stables before looking at the damage on the door. Unlocking it, he slowly walked inside, hoping not to startle Zelda in case she had heard the fight.

Zelda heard the door opening slowly and gripped the chair tighter above her head. She wouldn't let anyone break into Link's house, but her fear grew as she heard the mystery man taking a few steps forwards. Taking a deep breath, Zelda pushed the door shut and brought down the chair on the man's head with a scream, noticing too late that it was Link himself.

As Link fell forwards onto the floor with a startled cry, Zelda realised what she had done and immediately kneeled down to his side, pushing him onto his back. He was conscious, but only just.

Link's eyes were open, but what he could see was blurred. Zelda was apologising for something, but Link couldn't make out many of the words. He felt himself breathing heavily, while blackness began to appear at the side of his vision. Suddenly, a huge scream from Zelda distracted him as she stared blankly at his waist. Using the last of his energy, Link craned his head and looked down to see the knife that Zelda had been using for woodcarving, now stuck in his side.

Link heard Zelda screaming again, then everything went black.

Link was unconscious.