YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, YOU ALL MADE FOOLS OF YOURSELVES! Well, can't say I didn't warn you! And yes, I would have done the same thing. So I can't complain too much, or make fun of you…DARN!


Read on to find out why:


Link gasped.

Meghan started laughing manically.


"You are so easy to fool." She said. "And now you are rendered helpless. What will you do?"
But as Link looked on in disgust for Ganondorf, she started snorting.

"I so got you! Ha ha! That was so funny!" She fell to her knees, laughing. Link seemed…distant. "Hello, it was a joke." She said. "You don't catch on to things easily, do you?" she walked over to him.

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist. Tightly.

"Don't EVER do that again." He said. At first she thought maybe that this was HIS joke, but she realized he was serious. "Never."

"I'm sorry. But you have to admit, it was funny."

"It was not funny!" he said, squeezing her wrist. His hand was shaking. His gauntlet dug deep into her wrist. She didn't think he was hurting her purposely…maybe it was just because he was scared. He wanted to know she was really there. "Forced to face a decision like that…I don't know what I would do."

"OK. I'm really sorry."

"Are you sure you're you?" he said, still not letting go.

"Yes I'm sure," she said, looking down at her hand. "Link…"

"Yes?"

"You're hurting me." she said seriously. This time, he really was. He looked down, as if he didn't realize he was. He quickly let go. She rubbed it.

"I'm so sorry." He said. Meghan's eyes watered, realizing what she just did. Man that was stupid. "I'm really sorry."

"No, I'm sorry! How could I have done that?" she asked.

"Shh…it's OK." He pulled her into a hug, as she cried onto his shoulder.

"I tried not to remember it. But just now I did. I remember that I might have to go…"

"Nobody is going anywhere."

"Remember the promises you once made to me?"

"No, what were they?" she pulled away.

"Silly. You seriously don't remember?"

"Please, I don't know what you're saying…I don't want to be here…bring me back home…"

"I…don't know how…I'm sorry…but we'll find out how. I promise."

"Alright. But, if you lose, then our business is with her! She decided to come, she has to play!"

"I won't fail." He whispered. "I promised."

"You made two promises that I remember. One, you promised you wouldn't fail." In reality, he actually promised he wouldn't get hurt, but Meghan tweaked it. He didn't remember anyway. "If you were ever faced with such a decision, don't fail Hyrule. And two, you promised that one day you would bring me back home. Thank you for keeping that promise."

"I…kept that one?"

"I do believe that this is home. Now…"

"But I hurt you."

"So?"

"I don't think I've ever hurt you."

"Sometimes life hurts. It means nothing." She said, gesturing towards her stomach. "I've gotten hurt before. But here I am. Good as new. Maybe better."

"Yes, perhaps. But I could still…never…"

"We'll worry about that if it ever comes."

"Now we must make a promise to each other."

"What is that?"

"We won't fail each other." Meghan looked into his eyes…

"I…promise."

"And I promise as well. Good." They both smiled.

"Well! Aren't you mad at me? Then I have an idea!"

"Where do you come up with these things?" he asked. Just a second ago they had been talking about something else.

"Let's have a friendly duel!"

"A…duel…doesn't somebody usually die in a duel?"

"Not in a friendly one." She ran over and got her sword.

"Now how do you expect me to fight you?"

"I don't know…FIGHTING TIME!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. "Hurry hurry hurry!" she cried, pulling him out of the forest.

"What? Where are we going?"

"In the field…"

"Why again?"

"You're clueless most of the time…you do know that, right?" she stopped.

"No…actually…"

"COME ON!" she pulled him and ran out to a flat part of the field.

"It just occurred to me that you were suddenly dressed this morning."

"You pay attention to the weirdest things."

"Just my observant nature I suppose."

"Yes, well what I did was not on impulse. Don't you just want to beat me up for it? OK! You stand here…" she back up. "And I stand here."

"Please, again, why?"

"Because this will be fun. Besides, when was the last time we fought?"

" Never."

"Exactly! What better time to start?"

"Never."

"GOOD! Are you ready?" she drew her sword and bowed to him. He just stared at her, with no weapons in his hand. "Come on; take it out…" he didn't do anything. "OK, your funeral." She rushed at him, trying to stab him. He just moved to the side.

"Umm…OK, you win." He said.

"NO! I want a real fight, please? Don't hold back! I can take it! I can do it!" she started jumping up and down. "Come on, don't you want to beat me up?"

"I really don't want to…" she put her sword at his neck.

"Unsheathe your sword."

"I really don't want to…"

"PLEASE?" she said, removing her sword.

"Uh…fine." He unsheathed his own sword.

"Are you ready yet?"

"I suppose…"

"Come on!" She slashed at him. He parried, pushing her sword away. But she had become stronger since their first training session. She slashed him again, this time vertically. He stopped it by pushing it to the side.

"Considering the choice of weaponry, you're not doing badly." He said as she tried to hit him. "We need to get you a better sword."

"What would I ever do with it?" she said, trying to hit him again. He blocked it, this time she tried to hold it there, swords locked in an 'x' position.

"I don't know." He said as he pushed on her sword. She held it, quivering a bit. "Maybe fight?"

"I don't know if I could use anything much bigger than this." She said, pushing with all her strength. "I'm probably too weak."

"Do you want to switch weapons?"

"No way! I couldn't even hold that sword, most likely."

"Too bad I don't have the Master Sword anymore."

"Yeah…" Their swords slid down each other's. Meghan jumped back to avoid being cut by his weapon as it crashed downward. She turned in a circle, switched the sword to just one hand, and attacked Link from the side.

"That was a nice move." He complimented, blocking it.

"How come I'm the only one who's attacking?" There was no answer. "Hey, I told you not to hold back!"

"I can't, Meghan. One time when I hit you, you started to leak." He knew how much that annoyed her. Even though now he knew well what blood was, he said that because for some reason she was protective of her blood.

"HEY! It's not leaking." He grinned. "You did that purposely."

"Yes."

"I'll get you for that!" She rushed forward, taking him by surprise. She hit him on the gauntlet.

"Wow. That was good." He said.

"I…I hit you? I ACTUALLY hit you? The Hero of Time? I HIT the Hero of Time?"

"Yup."

"I…HIT you?"

"Yes, you did."

"Aha. I HIT YOU! And you DIDN'T hit ME? WOW! OH MY GODDESSES! I HIT you! YAY!" She celebrated as Link whole-heartedly congratulated her…

They did not know they had a spectator.

An old man, dressed in a brown robe, had watched their whole battle. A wise, firm old man who never really 'fooled around' in life anymore. He watched as they partied, he watched the girl. The human, that girl who helped the Hero. She had grown, in strength and character since she came here.

Now as he watched them, fighting as friends, they seemed so childish. But the worst was over. He could relax again. When tensions had been high, in the times of the evil king, he had reason to be so serious. But now…maybe now he could relax.

The Hero of Time had defeated the evil, along with the princess. And not to be forgotten, the human had helped perhaps some as well.

He was the sage, Rauru.

As Meghan and Link continued their battle, Link actually tried to hit Meghan. Not hard, though. Meghan blocked most of the blows. A few she back hand sprung to get out of the way. That was fun. But it was Link who was the first to notice who was watching them. Just as Meghan was about to strike, he lowered his sword and put his hand up. She almost hit it, but stopped. She turned around and saw him walking towards them. The sage, dressed in simple clothing, walked towards them.

"It's Rauru." She whispered to Link. He nodded. "What's he doing here?" Link shrugged a little shrug.

"We'll find out." He walked to Rauru, who was walking towards them. "Hello…"

"Hello, Hero. Hello, Meghan." Finally! They didn't call me human! The elderly man smiled an old man smile. They smiled back, to be polite.

"Hi!" she started, hyper, but then said "Hello, Sage."

"Now, there's no need to do that. I may be an old man, but I know how to have fun!"

"This old dude can have fun?" Meghan whispered barely to Link.

"And, to show you that I can, how about you come with me?" Link didn't seem convinced.

"Sorry, but he had a little run in with an unexpected joke this morning. Forgive me. Are you really Rauru?" Meghan asked.

"Of course!" He said, seeming taken aback. "I am Rauru."

"Of course. How could we have ever doubted you?" She said with a smile.

"That's all right. Please, come this way. We must go the Temple of Time."

"Why must we go there?" Link asked.

"We shall have a tea party." Meghan and Link stopped and looked at each other.

"You can't be serious…" Meghan whispered

"I think he is." Link responded. Rauru didn't realize that they had stopped, and they quickly caught up to him. They walked across the field to Hyrule Castle Town, which was being rebuilt, as Rauru had told them.

"Princess Zelda and the sages removed all traces of evil from the area. It is now safe, once again."

"Are they rebuilding the castle as well?"

"Yes. You shall see when we get there." Within a few minutes, they had reached the entrance to the town. They walked over the now fixed bridge. Into the town.

There were the carpenters, the whole company of them except for one who seemed to be missing... Their boss was standing in the middle of the town, yelling orders. The whole town looked like new, though it wasn't finished.

"Wow…" Link said, walking into the town. "It's like…it's like it was when I was…a kid. Sort of."

"It's so awesome!" Meghan interjected.

"And the castle…is even better." Rauru said. "Come, see!" Meghan and Link followed him. They walked across the small town to the castle on the other end.

When they entered, they gasped. The castle was just as it was seven years ago.

"How did they build it so fast?"

"With a little magic, of course!" A girl's voice said. They turned…they knew that voice!

"Zelda!" Meghan said, running towards her. Zelda was wearing a light blue dress, a slightly different variation of her famed pink dress. Her hair was pulled into a bun, with two pieces hanging down.

"How are you, Meghan?" she said, giving her a kiss on both cheeks.

"I'm great!" Zelda walked up to Link, and gave him a kiss as well.

"How are you, Link?" she asked. Link blushed.

"I'm fine. How are you? Princess?" he said, bowing jokingly. She giggled.

"Oh stop that! Please, don't! Well, busy, but that's what you would expect." She sighed. "We've been building this place for days nonstop, since…I visited you."

"Oh. So…the carpenters…can use magic?"

"No, silly! I have been, though. Not much though. They won't let me."

"Well, your castle is beautiful, Zeld." Meghan said.

"Thank you! And as soon as the interior is finished, you have to come and visit everyday!"

"Somebody's very happy." Meghan observed.

"Well, it's really just stress." Zelda said, looking down. "But this is my way of handling it."

"Zelda, please don't be stressed. You'll do fine." Link reassured, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I do hope. I don't want to be hated by my people."

"Never say that!" Meghan said.

"Yes, Zelda. You are destined to rule us. You will do perfect."

"Yup."

"Thank you, my friends." Zelda said. "I'm so glad you could come by. I'm terribly sorry, I must leave before that carpenter hurts himself. Hey, be careful!" she said, walking to him. She turned and said, "Bye! Really sorry! Terribly, terribly, it's just…Ichiro! Don't hurt yourself, please! I'll see you…really…"

"It's OK, Zelda. Don't stress out about it." Meghan said.

"We will see you soon."

"Bye! WATCH OUT! Oh, goddesses." She put her hand to her head, then ran to help poor Ichiro who dropped a stone on his foot.

"Shall we go?" Rauru asked.

"Oh…yeah…" She said, whining so only Link could hear. Rauru! We don't want to! Meghan thought.

"Come on, let's not be rude." Link muttered to her.

"She is certainly busy. She has to be a sage…a princess…and everything else."

"She is wonderful at it, though. And at such a young age. She is just right for the job." Rauru said. He led them to the Temple of Time.

"I'm really going to…" but Link silenced her with a look as Rauru continued to talk. She had no idea what he was saying. But he was old. So perhaps she would give him a break.

"Be ready, friends, I am going to bring us to the Sacred Realm."

"Why are we going to the Sacred Realm?" Meghan asked.

"I just about live there. We can have tea!" He said, all happy-like. Yes, Meghan was freaked out. She just hoped Hylian tea tasted like tea from earth. And she hoped they had sugar. LOTS of sugar. LOTS AND LOTS OF SUGAR!

As they walked in the Temple, Meghan saw the…the pedestal…

In less than four days, he would have to put it back…

Put it back there…

She breathed deeply and tried to forget it. Today she would not cry again. She already did. Rauru brought them to the Sacred Realm.

The place they got transported into was beautiful. It was a garden, with a table in the middle. Flowers bloomed every where, vines hung from the arbor above the table. Behind it was a path lined with more colorful flowers in full bloom. It led to a gazebo type thing. Inside the gazebo, vines with vibrant colored flowers hung from its top. To the right of the gazebo, there was a small stream. It ran under the path, where there was a small bridge, to the other side of the garden. There, it ran up a waterfall. Yes, you read correctly, I said UP the waterfall. It kept going, right into the sky as far as Meghan could see.

"The Garden of the Goddesses' Wish." Link said. "I've heard Kokiri legends of this place. I never knew it actually existed. It's rumored that that waterfall runs right up into the small one in the Kokiri forest."

"That is true."

"Wow, this Sacred Realm is sure strange. No offense," she added quickly. "It's beautiful."

"Would you like some tea?" Rauru asked suddenly. Meghan nodded. Perhaps she would not regret this, after all. "I shall fetch it." He disappeared behind a wall covered in more vines. Just sorta phased through it.

"So, do you know about this place?" Meghan asked Link, walking out across the path, and over the bridge. She looked at the waterfall, seeing how high it went.

"Well, it's also said that the goddesses came here and made a wish for Hyrule's war to be over. But they knew they couldn't stop it, it was a mortal's struggle. So they wished that the inhabitants of Hyrule would end their war soon on their own."

"Is that the same war…from when you were a baby?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps…perhaps that has something to do with why your mother went to the Kokiri forest, if this really leads to it." She said, walking to the waterfall. It was very thin; the water flowed in an almost perfectly straight line. She put her hand above it, and felt the water rush upward at her hand.

"Maybe." He said, picking a flower. He walked up behind her. "It was a very good assumption." He said, giving the flower to her. She took it delicately.

"Oh, it's beautiful! What a pretty flower!" The flower was like a rose, but it didn't have thorns and was smaller.

"Maybe my mother was guided to the forest by the goddesses."

"So the goddesses really were here?"

"I believe so. But you should not be surprised; did you not see the goddesses once?"

"I…did in my dream. But that was really nothing. It was just a dream."

"Dreams are not always just dreams. Sometimes they come true. A lot of times they come true." He walked back over to where they first came in. "I think Rauru is returning."

"How do you know these things?"

"I can feel…"

"Must be a Hylian thing."

"No, really. It's not too hard. Come here." She tottered over to him. "Listen." She listened for a while.

"I don't-"

"Shh." She listened. She listened. And she listened. And (My famous line) she waited.

"Here he comes."

"I'm telling you, it must be the ears. I have annoyingly short ears." She felt so left out. And she didn't want to think about the Gerudos. Not after yesterday.

Rauru, sure enough, returned a few seconds later with a tray of tea and SUGAR! Also, there was an array of Hylian pastries

"Wow this is an odd experience! I like sugar though." Rauru must have heard her. He chuckled.

"Well, there's plenty. So drink up." Meghan, Link and Rauru walked to the table and sat down. They pleasantly conversed, until a bit later they reached a dead spot in their conversation. With nothing left to say, they sat and quietly drank tea. Link seemed to have trouble swallowing it. He obviously didn't like it too much. After a minute of silence, Rauru asked, "So how have you been enjoying your visits from the sages?"

"Visits?" Link asked.

"Yes, you saw a sage yesterday, did you not?"

"Yeah…" Meghan said.

"And one the day before…"

"Oh! You're right! I didn't realize that until now."

"It was a good plan on Princess Zelda's part."

"A plan?"

"Yes a plan…but you…did you not know? Oh! Foolish me! I just recalled…it was a secret…I do believe you were supposed to figure it out by yourself."

"Rauru…had a senior moment…more like senile." Meghan whispered to Link, almost laughing.

"Se…nile?"

"Never mind."

"Ah, well. It's not that big a deal. But, speaking of sages, Nabooru and some others seem to think that Link is in some sort of relationship…" at this point, Meghan choked on the bit of pastry she had just tried to ingest. She gave the universal sign for choking. (You know what I mean, right? It's universal!) She started coughing. Obviously, Hyrule isn't part of the "universe".

"Meghan, are you OK?" she didn't respond but kept crossing and putting her hands crossed over her neck. "What's the matter?"

"(Insert choking noises)"

"What's the matter?" Rauru asked. She thought. Seriously, Hylians don't choke? They must be the all time most perfect beings! Well, since no one here knew the Heimlich maneuver, she attempted to do it on herself. (I had biology class today (I think I'm in love with biology (less than Link)) an if this next part seems strange, don't laugh at Me or Meghan because (A/N) this is what you're supposed to do if you're choking and no one's around. Or, in this case if no one has any idea what the heck you're doing.) (OK, never mind I tried writing it and it made me feel so stupid) (A/N you're supposed to use a chair to push our diaphragm up and force air out) (It would make Meghan seem so stupid. I'll do it the unintelligent way, but you must know this actually happened she would have done the real way.)

Meghan put her hands together and placed them under her ribs. She pulled them in and up, causing her diaphragm to make her chest cavity smaller, therefore pushing the pastry out. It took a while, and Meghan was feeling so light headed by the time it actually came out, that when it did, she sat on the floor, panting for breath.

"Meghan, what happened? What just came out of your mouth?" Knowing that he was a bit…cautious…do to this morning's events, Meghan tried to explain as best she could while not completely stabbing him for letting her choke like that. Not that she would ever had an alibi to do so, since let's see…how many times had he saved her behind? Too many to even think about counting.

"OK. It's called choking. When food gets stuck in your trachea, that's your wind pipe where you breathe, due to the epiglottis not closing in time, or not completely closing," Yes, she resorted to big scientific words to confuse him, "you can't breathe and then you choke, because the food can't go down, and it's too stuck to go back off. So your first reaction is coughing, and then if you can't get it out you will pass out within a short amount of time. What came out of my mouth was the piece of what I just ate. Needed to come out somewhere." Rauru and Link both looked at her, sitting on the floor.

"Well! What an intelligent girl you are!" Rauru said.

"If you knew about where I come from, you would know this too. Common. Sense. Really. You can't breathe, you pass out. Simple."

"Yes, well…" Link said, walking over to her, and extending his hand to help her up. She took it and he pulled her up mostly. "Next time try explaining in Hylian terms." He said, so Rauru didn't feel too stupid. Even though he understood it a bit, Rauru didn't. Link had certain…knowledge of things from her constant explanations. He still had no idea what an epiglottis was or a trachea…but he dealt with it.

I swear, he is the most intelligent dumb blond I have ever met. Ever. And Rauru is the most senile sage I've ever met. Well, he's the only senile sage I've ever met, but he's still the most senile.

"So, as I was saying," Rauru said after moments of silence and Meghan had returned to her chair. "The girls, mostly…"

"Have you any idea what the time is?" she inquired, noticing that Link was reddening. She would have been too. But, you know, she can't.

"No, I…hmm…"

"What was that?"

"I shall see. There is a gossip stone behind there. I just remembered. I shall be right back…" he got up and slowly walked over to where it was. Once he was out of earshot, Meghan told Link,

"Yup. Definitely senile. I think he's remembering things that never happened."

"Meghan…perhaps…maybe they think something."

"NO WAY!" she yelled. Rauru turned. Meghan smiled. "We're good!"

"I didn't ask how you were…"

"It's an expression." Link said. "Please, pay no attention to us, Sage Rauru."

"Young people." He said to himself as he continued, huffing his way to the stone.

Meghan giggled. "What's so funny?"

"He is. He's strangely odd. Then again, I must be so strange too, so…"

"You're not strange, just a different species."

"Yes, I know. I am a HUMAN. There are so many species in Hyrule, yet I'm the only one here…"

"Don't be lonely. You have lots of unique people here to keep you company."

"Meaning…yourself."

"Well…no!"

"That was strange." She said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. "I guess we're all strange and individual."

"Yes." Rauru was returning.

"Man he's slow."

"We should not be saying this in the Goddesses' Garden." He said, smirking.

"Yes, you're right." She sat back up as Rauru approached them. "Thank you ever so much, Rauru. So the time is…?"

"It is 13:00."

"Already?"

"Yes."

"I guess we were having fun! Time sure flies. I wish it didn't." she whispered the last sentence.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"No…do we LINK?" She said, trying to make him say something to excuse them. He didn't catch on.

"No, I don't think so. Unless you have something to do, Meghan. Or you, Sage Rauru."

"No, I do not."

"Are you SURE?"

"I'm positive…unless for some reason I'm forgetting…"

"Maybe you are? Think REALLY hard." He seemed to realize what she was thinking. However, he did not want to be so rude to Rauru. Leaving a party with an evil abundance of Gerudos was one thing, leaving a private tea party with the oldest sage was another.

"No, MEGHAN, we do not." He said, looking at her with an expression that clearly said "drop it".

"Well splendid! Would anybody like more tea?"

"Uhh…no thank you?" Meghan said, adding sugar to the cup she had that had been filled for the fifth time already. Unwillingly. She poured half of it on the flowers when Rauru wasn't looking. Link gave her another look, and then tried to choke down his umpteenth cup. He didn't get much down.

"Add more sugar!" Meghan suggested. She took the sugar and added half thebowl of it to his tea. She smiled at the tea. "Drinky drinky!" he looked disgusted.

"You ruined my tea!"

"You ruined my tea!"

"I didn't ruin your tea!"

"I DIDN'T RUIN YOUR TEA!"

"Stop that!"

"Stop that!"

"Please?"

"Please?"

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

"Meghan, don't do that!"

"Meghan, don't do that!" Why they were acting like children in front of the wisest (Besides Zelda) sage, they never figured out. But he seemed to be annoyed at their childish behavior.

"Please, desist." Rauru said.

"Huh?" Meghan said, suddenly she was standing and acting like a complete lunatic, even though she had not looked at the moon for a while. (A/N did you know that that's where the word lunatic came from? I think it had something to do with people looking at the moon and it affected their behavior, or so was once believed.)

"Calm it down." Link said, leaning away from her. She was quite humiliated…

She sat back down. "Just…too much sugar." She said. She noticed that Link was staring at his now destroyed tea. "Wanna switch?"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, why not?"

"No reason…here." He slid his cup and switched spots with hers. She stared down into the cup…eeewww; she was NOT going to drink that now. Nor was he. It was even more destroyed than when there was half a bowl of sugar in it. Given different conditions, Meghan would have drunk the whole thing in a second. But…

"Yup, definitely destroyed."

"Yes." He switched them back. Meghan took the sugar and dumped most of it in hers. She drank the whole thing.

"MMMMMMM! Nummy nummy sugar!"

"This is bizarre." Rauru said to himself, watching the teens do strange things. "I never knew that the Hero of Time was so…absolutely unusual. It must be…the girl…"

"Eat it!" Meghan said, forcing the pastry in her hand towards him. He put up his hand and blocked it from getting smushed on his face, then observed Rauru observing them.

"Uhh…whoops." Meghan said, also becoming conscious that Rauru was watching. She put the squished pastry down and sat straight in her chair. "Sorry." Rauru chuckled. Ah, adolescents. They don't need to be here any longer. They need to be free."Well, soon I must meet with the sages." helied."You are welcome to stay here, but I will leave you a way to leave when you are done. Are you finished with your tea?"

"Um, yeah."

"I shall take them with me."

"Do you need help cleaning up?" Link asked.

"No, no. You just stay here."

"Are you certain?"

"Of course. Now, let me take that."

"Thank you." Meghan said, putting her cup on the tray thing. They cleaned up the table, then Rauru said,

"Well, I must leave now." He put down the tray. "Here is the portal," he stretched out his hands and some yellow lights came out of it. "Just step through this wall when you are done. Goodbye my friends. Let the goddesses guide you." He turned himself into the orb of light that sages use to travel, and left.

"Why do things always happen strangely when people need to leave? I feel like every time we're done doing something I say 'that was strange'." He shrugged.

FLASHBACK

"Well, that was an interesting experience."

"That was wrong…"

"Or maybe I'm just the one who's strange. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know, do you want to go?"

"It's sorta purdy here…" she said, taking the flower he gave her and skipping down the path.

"Well, I don't thank the goddesses would come here if it weren't."

"So they were ACTUALLY here?"

"You keep asking that question."

"Yes, it's just hard to believe."

"What's so hard to believe about it?"

"I dunno…" She said, skipping over the small bridge, and farther down the path into the gazebo thingy. She sat down, positioning herself so that she could see out of it. It had large spaces between the beams holding it up. It was closed on the bottom up to where the benches, which ran around its circumference, except in the four openings. The benches had soft, gold colored cushions on them. Each of the four openings led to a different path, one to the stream which turned into a small, clear pond on the opposite side of the waterfall. One to the back, where the gardens extended and now she could see the gossip stone, with its one eye staring at her. The third led to the side of the stream where the waterfall was, and the last of course led back to the table.

He followed her to the thing. He went in, and found a spot to sit next to her. She sat back, not looking at him. She just stared forward, smiling. After a while, she started giggling.

"What's so funny?" he asked, grinning.

"The sky…" she said, looking into the roof.

"That's not the sky, in case you were thinking that."

"Yes, I do believe that is the sky. I am an idiot. Duh!"

"No, never say that. You said that once and I told you not to say that."

FLASHBACK

"Hurt me? No, I'm sorry. I lied…it didn't really hurt. I'm so sorry. What an idiot I am!" she said, feeling the embarrassment of being caught in her own lie.

"No, please," He said, putting his hands up. "Don't call yourself an idiot, because you know perfectly well you're not."

"How come you can remember what I said weeks ago, but you can't remember a promise you made to me?"

"Uhh…"

"Or is it just because you DID remember, and was just pretending to be stupid? Because I do that sometimes. I pretend not to know, just…because…I'll like, I don't know, feel innocent or something. Or maybe it was because you DID know, you just wanted ME to feel 'special'?" She finally looked at him.

"Uh…none of the above…" He said. "I seriously didn't remember."

"Do you mind if I say something?"

"Sure…"

"You promise you won't get angry?"

"Well…"

"OK, then I won't tell you."

"No, tell me."

"You have to promise."

"Again?" he said jokingly.

"Hey, no more jokes. I would have thought you'd be the one saying that."

"OK. I promise."

"Ok…" she hesitated for a second. "Don't be angry, but…" she stopped for a few seconds.

"Did you break something of mine?"

"NO! OK, I'll tell you. You're…you're…I think…I…I…thinkyou'rethemostintelligentdumbblondever!" he looked at her for a second.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"I SAID, you are the most INTELLIGENT DUMB blond I have EVER met."

"What does that mean? I'm intelligent, but dumb."

"Yeah, well where I come from, people call blond people…never mind." She said, remembering that he just told her not to call herself stupid.

"No, I want to know what rumors about us blonds go about on Earth." He turned towards her.

"Nothing! Hey, isn't this place pretty?" she changed the subject.

"Yeah…I guess…"

"You guess?"

"Not nearly as pretty as some people." He said, taking the flower from where it was, still clasped in her hand. He pushed her hair behind her ear and put the flower there. She opened her mouth, as if to say something while watching him, but then closed it and smiled. Finally, she said,

"Thank you." She looked down at her lap. Dumb blond. He's so sweet…

"For?"

"Everything…everything…" He studied her face, her eyes averted. She had her hands clasped together in her lap. Suddenly she looked up.

"I wonder what the date is."

"The date?"

"Yeah…I mean, in my terms. Like…I think it's April." She thought for a second. She started counting on her fingers. "Lessee…that day was…March 28th, I think, and then…there were a few weeks in between." She looked upward, counting… "Today is April…24th. Hey my birthday is…" she stopped for a second. "The day after…" she didn't finish the sentence. But he knew what she was talking about.

"How old will you be turning?" he asked, trying to make her forget.

"Uh…" Wait, right now I'm supposed to smack him. Remember…

FLASHBACK thing…

"Haha, old man!"

"I'm not old!"

"OLD GEEZER!"

"If I'm so old, then how old are you?" SMACK! Link puts his hand to his cheek.

"NEVER ASK A GIRL HER AGE! (Or her weight…)"

Heh heh, I'll pass.

"Umm…sixteen." She said quietly.

"Really. How old?"

"Sixteen." She said again, trying not to smile.

"Are you sure? Try again."

"SIXTEEN." She said, smiling now but trying not to laugh.

"What was that?" She looked up and playfully hit him on the arm.

"TWELVE, HAPPY?"

"No. You hit me again! That's not nice." He said, rubbing his arm.

"Sor-ry." She said, all attitude-like.

"That's OK…I think I'll survive. But I don't know."

"Oh come on, wimp. I hit you twice today."

"That's not nice."

"You asked for it."

"Actually you started it both times."

"OK." They chatted pleasantly for the remainder of the hour. Then, around two o'clock, they decided to leave.

They exited through the portal left by Rauru. They returned in the Temple of Time, right next to the Pedestal. When Meghan saw it, she took in a sharp breath, then quickly said,

"Come on; please let's get out of here. I don't like it." She walked quickly out past where the Door of Time was and past the Stones. He followed her.

Once outside, they could see the town being built. Even more progress had been made. Shiro and Ichiro were working in the town now, but the Chief, Sabooru and Jiro were not around, or at least anywhere they could see. They might have been working on the castle…

"Link! Meghan! Hi again!" They heard Zelda's voice.

"Hi!" Meghan said, waving to her.

"Did you have fun with Rauru?" she asked, grinning.

"Uh…if you call drinking tea fun, then yes. We had much fun!" Zelda giggled.

"Oh, wow. He did it again. You know, he seems to think that drinking tea and eating is all the rage for adolescents…poor guy." She said, looking toward the ground. "On a lighter note," she looked up. "Meghan, Link, the town is almost finished! Most of the houses are finished, and all that's left to be done is gardening. I'm so excited, this is turning out great!" But Meghan, not wanting to ruin Zelda's fun, was thinking, what will happen if we all go back and this never happened or something? I wonder if it will make a difference, will the future still have happened? Or will it never be, and they have to start all over from the beginning?

"Link, if you'll let me," Link looked at Zelda suddenly, "I'd like to steal Meghan for the afternoon." Meghan looked at her too. She was going to go with a princess? WHAT THE HECK?

"Sure…why not?"

"Zelda, what…"

"Oh, you'll see!"

"But what…what about Link?" she whispered to her.

"I have something I need to do, anyway. It's fine, really."

"Oh wonderful!" Zelda said. "I promise, you won't be sorry!" she grabbed Meghan's hand and led her towards the castle.

"Um, I'll see you later!" Meghan called.

"Good bye Link! I shall see you!"

"Uh, bye…" he watched them go, and then walked out to the field. "There's definitely something I've got to do." He walked towards Lon Lon Ranch.

MEANWHILE…

"Meghan, you must come see!"

"What is it Zeld?"

"Oh, well…you'll have to wait and see!"

"That really made no sense." Zelda smiled a radiant smile. It was so infectious, Meghan had to smile too.

"Exactly." Meghan giggled. They walked past guards, then past Sabooru and Jiro, who were walking the opposite way. Zelda waved to them. They blushed. Soon they were within the gates of the castle. Walking past even more guards, Meghan recognized the basic layout of the area. Although the grass was just beginning to grow, and the landscape was a bit different, it seemed so much like it was seven years ago. The molten lava pit was not there any longer, nor was the tower that once housed a great evil.

They walked up the path to the castle, where the drawbridge was down. Zelda walked over it, guards bowing to her as she did.

"Please, don't," she said, walking to one and straightening him. "I don't want you to, please."

"Yes Your Highness."

"And none of this 'your highness' business. Please, call me Zelda."

"Yes, Princess Zelda."

"Oh, we'll have to work on that. Come along Meghan."

"Zelda, it is our duty to check every person who comes along here." Said a guard in front of them. He seemed to be a high ranking guard, due to the cape that flowed off his armor.

"You will not check Meghan, if that is what you are thinking." Zelda rolled her eyes.

"You should not just let any girl into your castle, Princess Zelda."

"Tell me, General Shina, if I saw you walking in with a person who you seemed to know, would I go and stop you?"

"Princess, I am merely saying that we should do a small background check…"

"General. Please. Do you so question my judgment? Do I seem that naïve? Please, General, step aside. I WILL speak to you later, and I WILL NOT see you say this again. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Besides, since when are YOU so protective? She is but a simple girl."

"But she is armed."

"This is very rash behavior. I will not say anymore. Come, Meghan. Ah, yes, and may I add that this girl helped beat Ganondorf?"

"THIS girl?"

"Yes, General. Excuse us." Zelda stepped past him, and with a glare from him, Meghan did too.

"Uh…I don't mean to cause trouble, Zelda. I-"

"Please think nothing of it. It seems the only one who ever makes me angry anymore is that general. But that was completely uncalled for! whay would he do such a thing? I was merely walking...yet he seems to find excuses to stop me everywhere I go! I wish to replace him. Impa would do nicely…but she is more of… a sage…or that new spy…" She sighed dreamily, "Yes, yes he would do very nicely. I really do wish to replace him."

"Is he really that bad?" Meghan didn't see Zelda as the type of person who normally complained about anything.

"Yes, what you just saw him do is something he does often. You see, he was in charge when my father ruled, and was quite loyal. But I think he may have…been in allegiance with Ganondorf. I'm not sure, but he seems to hate that this land shall be a matriarchy. I really don't mean to cause any trouble…"

"Zelda, don't think that you are because you are not."

"I suppose…" She suddenly perked up. "But we cannot despair! I have something I must show you! She walked into a garden in the front of the castle. "The interior is mostly complete! You must see this!" She walked quickly across the garden, with Meghan following her.

They entered the castle, which was empty. After turning some hallways, Zelda got to one hallway which seemed specially decorated, unlike some parts of the castle which were not finished.

"You see, we had to finish this part first, because some people need a place to live!"

"Like yourself?"

"Yes, of course. And some guards, but they live in the guard's pavilion in the back of the castle." She continued walking down the hall. "This is where I sleep," she said, nodding towards the end of the hall, at a large double-door, engraved with symbols and of course, the Triforce. There was another hallway off the side of this one. "And this…" she said, gesturing towards a door that had the same basic structure of her door, but a bit less majestic. She opened one of the doors, and revealed a sitting room. It had two doors on two of the walls.

It had a small couch, a few chairs, and other things you would find ina sitting room.

"Meghan, I would like to ask you something."

"What is it Zelda?"

"Would you like to stay here, at the castle?"

"Zelda!" she said suddenly.

"I know, I know. It does seem a bit…odd, but you need your own home, and Saria may one day need hers back. But she's a doll, she never complains. The sages, they practically live in the Sacred Realm."

"Zelda, I don't know if I could. I mean, thank you, but…at a castle? I'm really not fit for such a thing."

"Of course you are! And I'd love to have you here! Meghan, really, not to take advantage of you, I promise."

"I…" and then she thought…about Link…how would he react? "Zelda, thank you…thank you so much…I just…" but then she realized that she couldn't stay in Saria's house, especially with an offer like this. What would Saria think?

"I have not told anybody except for you, yet. I just told the designers to make this room special."

"Zelda…thank you." She didn't want to hurt Zelda…but what in the world was she supposed to do?

"It's not completely finished yet, so you still have a few days. And you can take as long as you want to decide."

What was she supposed to do?

What, what, what?

"But there is more. Please, do come with me." She walked out of the room. Meghan looked at the room for a second, then followed her. She followed her down some hallways, some finished and some not, until they got to a door. Zelda opened it slowly. Inside were a few ladies, sewing and chatting.

"Princess!" an older lady said, standing up.

"Forgive me for coming in so suddenly, ladies, but here is the girl."

"Oh! This is her! It is an honor to meet you, Meghan!" a second lady said, putting her sewing down.

"Zelda, what have been telling people?"

"That you helped defeat Ganondorf!"

"But Zelda! You know that I did practically nothing! I just almost died as I left it to Link!"

"None of that matters! What counts is you did help and that in itself deserves recognition." Said a lady. Man Hylians are thick! Why can't they just see the truth that I didn't do anything…except almost die!

"Yeah, but…" she faded away. They wouldn't listen anyway.

"Meghan, I brought you here so you could get new clothes. It's been a while."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She said, not arguing.

"I presume that you would like some pants…and some shirts…and you need at least one skirt…" she thought. "Yes. What color clothing would you like?" she was about to say black, but what Zelda say to that? Maybe it was time for change. Maybe…maybe change could be good.

"I like red and white. And blue is nice, and I suppose yellow is a pretty color…" Wow, that was unexpected. Right now she really didn't care what color she wore…except pink. She shuddered at the thought of wearing pink. Ugh. It looked so nice on Zelda, but not Meghan. Definitely NOT Meghan.

"Alright, I shall arrange that. Wonderful!" Zelda said. "Ladies, please measure her!" Oh god not again! Having had to endure the Gerudos (Although she was barely conscious of it at the time) dress her up, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to pay any attention to her like this…

The group of girls, mostly middle-aged and tired looking, came over to her, pulled her to the middle of the room and pulled out measuring devices, measuring every square inch of her scarred body. She put her hands over her stomach, where her mostly healed wound was, but her hands were pushed away as a lady measured her stomach. She told the measurements to a girl writing them all down. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious. Oh god, make them stop…she thought as they measured every single part of her body…yes you girls out there I said EVERYTHING. You know what I mean.

Finally when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, they backed away and put their measuring tape things away. Meghan's face must have seemed funny to Zelda, because she laughed and said,

"Come along, Meghan. There is more I wish for you to see!" I thought Zelda was like the wisest person in Hyrule. Why is she so blind to some things then? I sure hope Link doesn't have to face such things…

MEANWHILE… (How convenient)

After closing the deal with Malon, Link decided that this would be perfect. Except…

Would she still be here?

Goddesses, he hoped so.

MEANWHILE…

Zelda led Meghan back to her room. When Zelda opened the large, picturesque door, Meghan saw the room inside was built for a queen. The area was large, and like the one Zelda offered to her it had a large sitting room when you first walked in. The room was a brilliant golden color, very likely meant to match the Triforce. Red satin couches and chairs were arranged in the middle, and near the back was a sort of desk. Zelda walked to the desk and took out a golden key. "Come this way." She said.

She led Meghan to a door. At first it was dark, but Zelda lit a torch on the wall with a suppressed form of Din's Fire. She led her down a hallway to a door, and used the key to open it.

Inside she found some sort of shrine, dedicated to the goddesses. A Triforce was engraved in the wall, glowing. Despite the fact that it was dark in the hallway, this place was light, most likely due to the Triforce and its glowing, golden light.

The Triforce was on the back wall of the virtually empty room. The only things in it were simple golden statues, most likely of the goddesses. Although the décor was limited, the room had a special simplistic beauty to it.

Zelda walked to the back of the room, where the Triforce was. As she walked closer, it seemed to glow even more.

Finally, when she was right next to it, she put the back of her left hand on it. The wall started rumbling, and slowly it opened, revealing some sort of chamber.

Inside, there was a small box on a podium sort of thing. The box was gold and blue, reminding Meghan of the Master Sword's sheath. Zelda opened the box slowly and took out its contents.

"Meghan, I want to give this back to Link."

"What is it?" Meghan said, straining to see. Zelda removed her hand from on top of it.

"The Ocarina of Time."

DUN DUN DUN! Mwahaha…OK so it's not REALLY a cliffie. I had to put this part of the chapter on by itself because it would be really long if I put the whole chapter on…plus it would take longer and I couldn't WAIT to see the look on your faces when you saw what happened! I feel so evil, Link must hate me…

People:

Serenity: NO! He is an independent being. He belongs to no one. However, he owns me and my heart! MWAHAHAHA! Uh…ahem…yeah. Thanks for the review, and the pronunciation. Mostly the review! And the pronunciation.

Tizami: Yeah, sure you can borrow it! Mwahaha, just to let you know it's what Farore says to Mido…yes it is very strange, boy in girl's body… (Shudders as well) VERY wrong…at least it never happened! THANK YOU!

Atchika: MY OH MY! You came back! Or at least reviewed… Even though I'm evil. THANK YOU! Yeah…

Princess Kathleen: Yes, the poor tortured souls. Oh well. It's over now! THANK YOU! And yes, had it gotten that far, the sages and Zelda most likely would have gotten Ganon out…but it didn't. Or maybe he wouldn't have come out…considering it's angst…these things don't normally happen that easily! In real life, though, yeah. YEAH! THANKS AGAIN!

Thanks for any future reviews…yeah…!

We should all be VERY glad that Link didn't chop her head off before she revealed who she REALLY was. (Or maybe some people would be happy?) That would not have been good…or…oh goddesses, lots of sick, violent, wrong images are going through my head…
Link would never do them!

Uh…yeah…

Oh yeah, now I remember what I was going to say: YOU guys have to tell me if Meghan should stay at the castle or not, because I really can't decide...I'm having so much trouble! On my own story too...that's sad.