Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda characters, places and everything in it.

The horses trotted along, on the way to the Gerudo Desert. It had been a couple hours since the group had left the Kokiri Forest. Navi stayed behind to look over the Kokiri, as that was Link's request. As Christy thought, Saria was the Forest Sage, and there was now a green leaf above the odd purple shape on the Book of Elisu. When Christy got her book back, she cast the spell on page four, and the darkness disappeared from the sky. She felt she should do that whenever she got the chance. That way, she could keep her promise.

The darkness still hung in many places around Hyrule, however. That reminded Christy that the darkness would remain, as long as Ganon was around.

With her left hand on the reins, Christy raised her right hand to look on the back of it. The symbol of the Triforce was still there. She was still slightly surprised that she had been chosen as the owner of the Triforce of Courage.

As she thought of that, Christy remembered that Link was going to tell her some kind of secret. Zelda had told the other girl that it was a subject Link rarely talked about. In fact, he would prefer not to. If that was the case, why was Link going to tell her this secret?

Christy curled the fingers on her right hand around the reins. She was getting better at riding a horse, but only a little. She urged Epona closer to Link's horse. "Link. About that secret you want to tell me..."

Link sighed a little bit. "I forgot to tell you back at Kokiri Forest, didn't I?"

Christy shook her head. "I didn't know when you were going to tell me," she admitted, concern slipping into her tone. "Zelda told me you don't like talking about this. If that's true, why are you going to tell me?"

As Zelda thought, Link didn't answer her. Instead, he kept his eyes ahead of him. Minutes passed, and the Hylian boy didn't speak.

"It's okay if you changed your mind," Christy told the young man. "I don't..."

"No, I'll tell you," Link said with another sigh. "I told you I would, and I meant that." Link looked toward the girl, seeing concern in her eyes. It was obvious to Link that Christy would have been satisfied if he decided not to tell her. But, he was not going to back down. He had to let her know. "When I was thirteen, a girl came to Kakariko Village with her family. Their home village was attacked, so they fled. Her name was Furil."

"Furil?" Christy repeated. That was different. In any Zelda game Christy knew of, Link had never met a girl named Furil.

"Furil was very pretty, and had a sweet personality." Link smiled a little as he thought about the girl. "Everyone in the village liked her. She would do whatever it took to help a friend. She was sweet, but she fought whenever she had to."

Christy couldn't help a small grin. She hadn't even met Furil, and she already knew she liked her. "Was Furil special to you?"

"Yes, she was very special to me," Link answered with a nod of his head. "She was really close to me and Zelda."

Christy listened carefully to Link's choice of words and frowned. Link kept saying 'was'. She knew she was right before. She was not going to like this. "What happened, Link?"

Link's smile disappeared. He turned his head to look at Christy. "About a year after we met, Impa sent us to Death Mountain. Impa said that something terrible was happening over there, and she wanted us to help. It was just supposed to be me, Zelda and Navi, but Furil insisted on coming along."

Christy would have asked about Navi being with him, if the fairy hadn't told her, before they left, that she left Link to check on the Kokiri, at his suggestion. She was supposed to come back to Link every now and then to tell Link what was happening, but she never got the chance. So, instead, she asked, "Why did Furil want to go along?"

"I don't know," Link admitted, shaking his head. "Zelda didn't want Furil to come with us, but Furil couldn't be persuaded. So, we headed off to Death Mountain together."

From Link's tone of voice, Christy figured that something terrible happened to Furil. She didn't know what, but she knew it wasn't pleasant.

"When we got there, we were attacked by Ganon's Moblins." A sad look entered the Hylian boy's eyes. "Somewhere during the battle, a Moblin shot an arrow right at me. I had no time to get out of the way. But..."

Christy's eyes widened in surprise. Now she knew where this story was going. "Furil protected you," Christy guessed. "She took the arrow instead of you."

Link nodded slowly. "Yes. I was in a blind rage, attacking every Moblin that came close to me. When the battle finally ended, I walked over to Furil. And, I was afraid. I asked her why she did that, and she told me, 'You would have done the same for me.' I told her not to talk so much. That she needed to save her strength.

"Instead, she told me that she had no regrets. If the same thing happened again, she would have taken the arrow for me. Because she..."

Christy could feel sympathy fill her heart. Link did not have to finish his sentence. She knew what Furil told him. Or, at least, she thought she did. The reason Furil took the arrow instead of Link was because she cared for him. Maybe even loved him.

"Link. I..."

Link shook his head again. "I watched Furil die right in front of my eyes. And she is dead because of me."

Christy was shocked to hear Link say that. At first, she wasn't sure she heard him right. He felt that Furil died because of him? That seemed familiar.

She knew exactly how Link felt. She felt the same way before. She believed that Link and Mitoko got hurt because of her. That was her reason for going alone. She didn't want to see her friends being hurt, or killed, because of her.

Furil's death still lingered in Link's heart. Was that why he was so reckless? Was that the reason he fought so hard? So that no more innocent people, like Furil, would die?

"Link, that's awful," Christy whispered sadly. "I... I didn't know."

"I know."

Christy didn't know what to say. She didn't know that something like that happened to Link. Losing someone you cared for can be really painful. But, it's worse if you're blaming yourself for it.

Unable to come up with anything, Christy pulled Epona away from Link. She wanted to say something to soothe Link's troubled heart. But, she didn't know what to tell him. She didn't know Furil, so she didn't know how the girl felt.

Like before, Avalon and Zelda were behind the two. Though it was hard to tell, Zelda guessed that Link told Christy about Furil. She had tried to tell Link that it was not his fault, but it didn't matter what she said.

"What happened over there?" Avalon demanded Zelda.

"Link told Christy the secret," the Princess answered sadly. Avalon was about to fly over to Link, and Zelda noticed. "No, Avalon. Don't ask him."

"Why not?" questioned Avalon, slightly annoyed. Why should Christy be the only one to know Link's secret?

Zelda shook her head. The fairy did not understand what his heart was going through. "Link doesn't like talking about it. I'm not sure why he told Christy."

The purple fairy was about to ask Zelda what she meant, when she saw the look in the Princess' blue eyes. A look of concern, worry and sadness. Avalon could tell that Zelda wouldn't say anything more about it. And even though she could ask Christy, she decided not to.

Some time passed. As they went, they didn't see as much grass. It was sand as far as the eye could see. The darkness in the sky blocked the sun's rays, so it wasn't too hot. They had finally entered the Gerudo Desert. No one had spoken in a long time.

Christy had no idea where to go. Everywhere she looked, she saw endless sand. Christy looked over at Link. He still seemed a little down. She glanced over her shoulder at Zelda. "Where do we go from here?" she asked, speaking louder so the Princess could hear her. She was still farther away.

"I don't know," the Princess called back. "We've never been here before."

Never been here before? That was something Christy didn't want to hear. She turned her head to look in front of her. Maybe she should choose which way to go. But, she was sure if she did that, they would just get lost.

"Link, which way do we go?" she asked the Hylian boy, wondering if he would answer. He hadn't said a word after he told her about Furil.

Link was about to answer, but wasn't given a chance. What he saw next terrified him.

As if from out of nowhere, an arrow flew into Christy's chest! Christy cried out in pain, her hands letting go of the reins. Christy slipped off of the saddle, and fell to the sandy ground below. Epona, surprised by the sudden attack, neighed in alarm and galloped in the other direction.

"Christy!!" Link didn't even bother stopping his horse. He jumped right off and ran to the fallen girl's side. Zelda, with wide eyes, tugged on the reins, causing her horse to stop. She got down from the saddle and walked up to the girl.

Tears brimmed Link's eyes. This couldn't be happening! Not again! First Furil, and now Christy?

Christy was out cold, but she was not dead. Luckily, the arrow did not hit Christy's heart. But, if they didn't do something soon, she may still die anyway.

"Christy, wake up!" Link begged, holding the girl's body. "Please, wake up! You can't die!"

Zelda was about to pull some bandages from her pouch when they heard a voice. The voice came from the direction they were heading. "Who are you? Why are you in our desert?" A woman came forward, dressed in purple. She had a purple cloth over her mouth and nose. She had dark skin. This woman was a Gerudo.

No one answered the Gerudo. She wasn't carrying a bow, so she wasn't the one who shot Christy. Link stared ruefully at the girl in his arms.

The Gerudo took a couple more steps forward and looked at Christy closely. At first, a look of alarm filled her eyes. Then, they hardened. For a second, she looked over her shoulder, and then back at Christy. "I'm going to have a long talk with Flare. This is the third time this week." She knelt down to Christy, and curled her fingers around the arrow.

"You can answer my question later," the Gerudo told the group. "Right now, we need to take care of your friend."

"Why are you helping us?" Zelda questioned. She had never heard of the Gerudo helping strangers before.

"I've seen this girl in my dreams," the Gerudo calmly explained. "I don't know who she is, but I know she's important."