Author's Notes: Last night I suddenly wrote down over a page of notes, explaining how I saw the plot of the story and several things that I have so far left unexplained. Now I just have to somehow work it into the story. If you have questions, you can e-mail me them and I will try to answer. I apologize for the short chapters, but it's just the way I write. We're getting close to the end of this period in Link's life, folks. Not quite there yet, though.
Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own anything, you have no reason to sue, etc.
Chapter 7: Questions
Impa had just finished putting Link to bed when the King of Hyrule caught her. He burst into the room, bellowing his rage at Impa for removing the Princess from the castle without an escort.
"Impa! You are entrusted with the safety of the heir to the royal family! You can't just take her into the middle of nowhere, without an escort! Anything could happen-"
Impa's patience had been worn short while dealing with the current crisis. Therefore, she forgot all about proper etiquette and respect for her employer and liege lord. Eyes blazing, Impa interrupted the king.
"Shhhh…" Impa silenced the king with a finger to her lips. Said king, shocked by the sudden interruption and flustered by the whole affair fell silent. Impa glanced at the sleeping figure of Link, and the king followed her gaze. A look of compassion and understanding crossed his face, and he motioned Impa to the door.
"Do you mind telling me what this is all about?" The king stated softly, to avoid waking the prone boy. "Why did you take off with the princess? And who is that? Is something wrong with the boy?"
Impa responded just as quietly. "That boy is the reason the princess and I left the castle, Sire. He is a close friend of the princess and our other guest, the ranch girl Malon. He is my friend as well, Sire."
The king looked a bit skeptical. "Is he now? I wasn't aware the princess was allowed to associate with such ruffians. Nor was I aware you did as well." It was on the tip of Impa's tongue to tell him that this "ruffian" was the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, the Hero of Time, and a great warrior. Unfortunately, that would give rise to questions, ones that she was not prepared to answer. That in itself was a fact that bothered Impa.
Only Link retained true memories of his adventure as the Hero of Time. She remembered meeting Link, knew that he was the Hero of Time and held the sacred triangle…and remembered vague feelings of danger, the whisper of the name Gannondorf lingering on the edges of her brain. Only people that Link had a direct influence on retained any memories of the whole affair. The sages all maintained that Link had done something for them, such as Nabooru and the Silver Gauntlets, but Nabooru did not remember being captured by Gannondorf's surrogate mothers. No one remembered Gannondorf: It was as if he didn't exist.
Some things remained to testify to the alternate timeline, however. The Great Deku Tree had withered, but its sprout lived on. A boulder that had been brought on by an avalanche had sealed off the Dodongo's Cavern. Link had unblocked it. Jabu-Jabu had apparently swallowed the Zoran princess, and Link had saved her. Link was still considered a Sworn Brother to the Gorons, but Impa wasn't sure about the result with the Zoran princess…Impa speculated that Malon remembered Link as well, since Epona apparently did.
Impa was abruptly brought to the present by an outburst from her king. "Well?" Impa felt ashamed to be caught reminiscing, and in the middle of a sentence, no less. Hastily gathering her thoughts, Impa answered. "The boy is…ill. The princess and myself are concerned for his health, Sire." The king looked about to answer when the royal messenger arrived.
"Your majesty, there are two diplomatic envoys approaching the gates." The king seemed startled. Impa was too. She had heard of diplomatic envoys coming, but she did not know whom, and had not expected them this quickly. The king seemed to echo her thoughts. "Who has sent envoys?" The messenger quickly replied, "Lady Nabooru of the Gerudos and Sir Darunia of the Gorons are here, Sire." Years of experience in the throne took the king over. "Well, show them to the Great Hall. I will meet with them shortly." As the king left to his room to change, Impa breathed a sigh of relief: no more questions. Now she just had to tell Zelda.
* * *
Link tossed in his enforced sleep. The voice of the Fierce Deity was laughing at him, at some secret joke. It delighted in his torment, reveled in his pain. That was why it decided to tell Link why he was laughing.
The Fierce Deity knew something Link didn't: many things, in fact. First of all, some of Link's friends were coming. The Fierce Deity wanted as many of Link's friends to destroy as possible. It also knew that something was going to happen, something important. Something that it wanted to happen. That something wasn't good.
Link didn't know what it was, only that if it happened, the results would be terrible. He couldn't see what, but he had an idea. He had seen glimpses of it in his nightmares. Link did not have prophetic visions; he actually saw small bits, possibilities, of the future to come. It probably had something to do with having done so much time travelling. The flashes of possibilities did not always come in dreams; sometimes he just knew, for no good reason, what an enemy was about to do, or what a person was about to say. It helped make him a very good fighter.
The Fierce Deity apparently saw something that Link did not, and was encouraging to happen. But it was not yet certain. It could be stopped. Link tried to get up, and found that he couldn't. He thrashed in his sleep, but the Fierce Deity would not let him go. Link screamed silently as he was pulled down into a world of nightmares.