As I sprinted in a blind panic out of the village I heard soft murmurs over my frantic breaths. I ran past the acrid smelling bulblin corpse and into the spring. My throat was dry and I nearly choked at what I saw. I edged closer towards the light, it was almost blinding. In the middle of the spring sat Link; Midna's shadow was nowhere to be seen. I walked toward Link and put a hand on his head. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the centre of the light. It was just a sphere. I wiped the tears from my eyes and tried my best to look brave and presentable, but inside I felt a mess.

'Dear child, you are weeping.' A low, ancient voice murmured gently. I couldn't reply- I was so overwhelmed. 'You need not be afraid.'

'I can't see you.' I said as fearlessly as I could, but the light seemed to know better and blurred.

Link looked up at me expectantly, I felt very ashamed: is this what I looked like? A snivelling, little girl?

'You are braver than you think,' I frowned at the light, not just because of the intensity, 'remember whom you are risking your life to rescue.' My mind was brought to Ilia's seemingly innocuous face and Colin's floppy blonde hair. Colin's father wanted to kill me, and so would Ilia's if word got out I had stolen the village's defences. If I saved their children, would they give me their pardon? Even if they wouldn't, I still would.

The ball of light began to grow; then split in two; then envelope itself; then stretch. It was the figure of an Ordon goat, in its huge antlers the ball of light was held, with flesh that glowed and rippled a soft yellow gold.

'Now you see me.'

I gulped.

'Are you brave now?'

I nodded. And then he disappeared into his spring, filling the area with a warm and rich light, with a soft splash.

'What did he say to you, then?' I asked Link incredulously. Link merely looked at me with a cheeky glint in his eye. 'Midna was right, you are completely useless.' I went to ruffle his hair but he ducked his head out of the way and snarled a little. I was even treating him like a dog now.

'Phew, that was a bit too bright for my liking. Are you two ready?' Midna popped up in front of Link in her silhouette form. 'Let's go rescue your darling friends.' She giggled and disappeared.

Link and I set off across the rope bridge, toward the ominous black wall. I wasn't as scared as I was before, I knew what to expect, and it gave me more time and composure to examine the wall. It blazed dark gold around the edges and within the strange shapes that covered it. The shapes were so random, so inorganic, circles and squares neighboured each other, it was all so confused. Once we approached the wall, Link began to wince and whimper a bit. I felt that way too; the journey into twilight had been painful. Midna floated up out of the ground across from Link and faced the wall . . . at least I think she was facing the wall, her silhouette integrated well with the pattern.

'If only I had two hands . . .' she muttered playfully. Link and I looked at each other for a brief moment until a great orange hand grabbed me and pulled me through. I arrived in the twilight groggy and dishevelled.

'Where are my insides? I think I left them behind . . . the wall . . .' I joked, even though it was half true- I felt sick.

'You aren't going to be much help, you know, you have no weapons whatsoever and your teeth aren't very sharp.' Midna stated as she yawned and stretched her little arms up and over her head.

'What about the sword and shield we stole?'

'These old things?' with a snap of her fingers they floated in front of her, 'I'm holding onto these for Link.'

I raised an eyebrow at this.

'Don't worry, he'll turn back. Whether he'll be the same as before . . .' she trailed off nonchalantly, she knew she was toying with me.

'So, what do you suggest I can do? I'm not going back until I see these children.' I pointed a turquoise finger at her little impish face, but dropped it when I saw the cheeky menace look she had on her face. '. . . If Link and I are saving the children, what's in it for you?'

Midna stretched up to touch her headdress- a great, grey hunk of rock, carved intricately with the similar pattern that adorned the wall- and a giant, pulsing orange hand erupted out of it. It plunged through the wall, and pulled wolf-Link out, rippling the wall as it did so.

Link landed with a ruff, followed by a bark when Midna landed on his back.

'As I was telling Penthiselea here, we can't use the weapons yet; so we'll wait until you can use them.'

'Hey, what makes you say I can't use them?'

'You're Gerudo- swords and shields aren't your forte.'

'That doesn't mean I can't use-'

'Shut up, you're ruining the story.' My bewildered face made her giggle, 'So, Link, you're going to help me . . . collect some items. Don't worry, it's not too dangerous and, in return, I'll help you and Penthiselea find your friends.' Link nodded and then looked at me. 'Her?' Midna giggled, 'I can't help her, but I know who can.'

'Can you please elaborate?'

'Boy, you sure talk a lot don't you?'

I opened my mouth in protest, 'That's plain rich coming from you!'

Link barked.

'I think Link wins this one.' I said while Midna slithered her orange hand out of her headdress.

'Remember this?' and she run me through the stomach. It wasn't as painful as before, but I felt all sorts of senses coming back to me: my body started radiating brightly and it was becoming difficult to see. It seemed to take as long as falling asleep, I was in a dreamlike state and dark, thundery clouds surrounded me. I was my normal self again, but I didn't know where I was. A wisp of black smoke eddied around a point ahead of me, lengthening and twisting until it came up to my height. A skeleton walked through it. It had light armour and sashes hanging off its bones. It walked toward me and placed a hand out in front of it.

'When you have no weapons, the Gerudo find other ways, Princess Penthiselea.' It spoke in an ageless, but feminine, voice.

I didn't feel scared, for some reason, I felt almost comforted. I glanced at the scimitars and glaive that were strapped onto her fleshless body.

'You are like me!' I exclaimed happily, 'Truth be told, I thought I'd never see another Gerudo again.' I smiled genuinely.

Whether or not the warrior smiled back at me or not, I didn't know, 'Why am I here?'

'Long ago, when our woman-tribe was thriving, we were taught to fight using our weapons. We were content and safe; until our king had other ideas. He wished us to steal and murder for no good reason at all, but our entire battle prowess wasn't enough to defy him: for he had magic.' She unsheathed her scimitar swords and threw them on the cloudy ground, 'Our weapons were useless.' Her voice became more angry as her story went on. The thunder and lightning raged on silently overhead, it was like a dream. 'It was his actions that had us banished from the desert, from the light world.'

I frowned slightly, a little confused, 'Sorry, but how long ago did you say this was?'

'A little over a century ago.'

'How could it happen again, if our race had been banished once?'

The skeleton remained silent.

'I left the desert around 3 weeks ago. My mother told me to run away, something bad was going to happen. I-I took my sister with me.' I trailed off, my voice was already becoming thick with grief, 'We found a hidden passageway; it was filled with monsters.' Tears were streaming uncontrollably down my face, and I could barely finish my story, 'I threw one of the monsters' spears at a bulblin, b-b-but a moblin attacked me and the spear's course changed. It c-caught her under the arm, she was parrying an attack at the time, and she fell a-and it was all my fault.' I babbled incoherently.

I fell to the ground and wrapped my arms around my knees, burying my face into my legs, sobbing uncontrollably. I still couldn't believe I was telling this to a skeleton. The world around me changed and the clouds broke into a downpour, thunder and lightning still rumbling. I still had the event embedded in my mind.

When she had fell, monsters swarmed over her, fought over her. I remember shaking with anger and suddenly I went crazy, killing everything in sight. By the time I reached her, her body was mangled and completely unrecognisable. I was sick. All I could taste was vomit, blood and tears.

I lifted my head from my knees and peered at the skeleton with swollen, teary eyes.

The skeleton was impassive, 'What was her name?'

'Hip-' I coughed, my throat was swollen, 'Hippolyte.'

'Good, you remember the eldest princess's name. Now, we can commence.'

'C-commence what?'

'You must be trained.' I opened my mouth to reply but she cut me off, 'Yes, you are trained in fighting with scimitars and glaives and daggers, I know. I am to train you in magic.'

I blinked. Slowly, I got up off the ground, and the raining stopped. I wiped my eyes roughly and laughed a little, 'I'm still very confused, you didn't answer my question.'

'I thought you'd have figured it out by now.'

I stood silently, racking my tired and unsteady mind for an explanation.

'I can see into your mind, believe it or not, your surroundings are reflected by you. You are not yet in control: you have much energy that needs to be tamed. Do you, or do you not, remember exiting the cave in which you experienced many ordeals?'

'No . . .' my shoulders dropped a little, 'I thought I passed out, and then I turned up in a completely foreign place, so I ran away.'

'The great fairy was looking out for you. She kept you within her cave, frozen but alive, until the time was right.'

I raised an eyebrow of amusement, 'That's ridiculous; this isn't a game.'

'Nonetheless, you are here. Believe what you will, but you are here. Come forward.'

I stepped closer to the skeleton, she was ghastly. There was still some flesh clinging to her bones, but it was black and rotten. Gold and red sashes draped her hips, but they were tattered and stained.

'Your hands are essential in this. If you do not direct and control the magic, how will it know what to do?' the skeleton held out her hands, palms upward, and nodded at me. I copied her. 'You do not own magic; magic is everywhere, you see? Only some have the power to harness that magic: mostly those of Gerudo descent. Now, you must invite the magic to you in whatever way feels natural.'

I felt foolish, and so, insincerely, I sang, 'Magic? C'mere!', as if I was talking to a pet.

The skeleton was unsmiling.

I looked around for clues, but the grey clouds still loomed over me. The lightning had gone. It was silent.

I don't know what drove me to do it, but I walked over to the skeleton and placed a hand on her hip. She didn't move, as if she knew what I was about to do. On her hip she had a small sheath for a dagger; it was black and gold, slightly curved, beautiful. I nabbed the dagger and took a few steps back. The only thing going through my head was, 'Nothing too drastic.' I slid the dagger into my left hand and glided it through my palm. I winced as the dagger sliced through my skin and lightning and thunder roared with my pain. Soon my hand was bright crimson and raindrops began to spatter everywhere.

I opened my fist and held my palm skywards, 'Heal.' I said gently.

Nothing happened. I was losing blood.

'Heal!' I shouted- the rain was stinging my cut, 'Please!'

And as soon as that magic word tumbled out of my mouth, a fork of lightning struck my hand, closing up the cut completely. It was utterly painless. My mouth dropped open- there wasn't even a scar.

The clouds lightened and streaks of blue sky could be seen: I smiled.

'Until next time, Lea.'

Very long chapter here, because I'm leaving for university! I'll still try and keep the story going but the chapters will most likely be less frequent. Thank you for your time!