Sheik did not even draw a breath. This dream... it must be true. His dreams were always true. This did not bode well for him. He sat up on his mat and breathed long and hard, holding his knees. This was not right. This was a violation of tradition. A violation of the path a Sheikah was to take. He looked over the text again from his night stand.

"The Sheikah are a race of the dead. They are not born, they are made. The Sheikah are the protectors of Hyrule and the protector of the heart of the Royal Family. The reincarnation of a Sheikah to come and reclaim their selves will never stray from the Sheikah's original body. The Sheikah are to never manifest themselves in the Royal Family lest death be brought upon Hyrule."

Sheik sat there, shaking more... It was not from the frost that was just outside his hut, but it came from within. As he predicted when he was a child, he had grown up with and protected the captain of the Hylian knights, Link, who Sheik knew, by Destiny's whisper, would turn out to be the Prince of Hyrule. With his job done, he was forced to leave Link's side and spend the rest of his days in his home in the hills of Kakariko. The sadness only filled him and he would have to fight the tears from spilling. But this time it was no use. He knew he loved Link and wanted to dream of him... but the dream would not come. Until tonight. Already Sheik, hero he may be, had violated the teachings by falling in love with the Prince of Hyrule and if this were to be found, he would be an outcast... The tears would not stop and he had to wipe them on his blue sleeve. Only his harp could bring any pleasure to him anymore.

Then came the dream. A dream about three forces.... a dream about a boy without a fairy.... It was Link, no doubt. He was to meet Link again, which made his heart bound and a smile sneak upon him. But in this destiny, Sheik's transgressions would soon multiply upon himself the dream he just had.

He was to be reborn as a member of the royal family. Never such a thing had been heard, it was against the Path of the Sheikah. If that were all Destiny had decided, perhaps it turn out all right as a necessary evil. But no, this was not to be all.

"Princess Zelda...." he said softly, testing each syllable of the word with his tongue gently.

The sense in him that told him to panic was repressed, as if Destiny were gently floating him away from his duties as a Sheikah, as the famous Sheikah Prophet, and back to himself. He had already violated gender by loving and holding Prince Link, to him it was no stretch to become a woman under the hand of Destiny. But this had never happened before - even if a Sheikah had even become a Royal family member millenia before, never had there been a gender difference between the reborn body and the soul of the Sheikah.

Sheik had decided to reveal his revelation to his people, but he was to be careful on how he worded it. He would bring no mention that he was going to be a royal family member. He was going to be especially careful not to let it be known that he would become a woman.

This would have been a travesty, you see. The Sheikah's bodies are reborn, and some day they are lead - whether it be on their own, or preferably guided by an older Sheikah - to the heart of their own catacombs to be given the form and soul of their Sheikah selves. Permenantly. How traumatic it would be for a young man or woman to finish their journey deep under Hyrule to be given the bodily form and soul of someone that contradicted who they were! How could this be?


.....


This was something Impa had thought about many times when looking upon young Zelda. Impa had hoped that this was not to be. A century ago, when Impa had her first and only child, she thought perhaps this child would grow to be Sheik. The oracle in the temple under Kakariko had told her a child she'd raise would be Sheik's incarnation - the one that would have the vision of the Triforce and would join with the Boy Without a Fairy to save Hyrule.

The child died of disease before he ever reached the age of three.

It did not take long - Impa knew even before Zelda had one of Sheik's famous prophetic dreams that she was the one the oracle had spoke of.

Zelda was walking confidently on her own. Impa knew that the force alone was now leading her and it would be on her to keep up with Zelda now. Zelda's expression of uncertainty had become one of determination. Zelda rattled open a door which fell off it's hinges and a dead room stood before her. It was a room never meant to be underground. Light flickered upon broken bits of wood and a bed that had been eaten away. A worn, but still alive tapestry of the Sheikah eye stood above the bed. It was a house or hut that had been perfectly preserved over a very long time and had somehow found it's way underground. Impa stood outside the door, as if not daring to enter. Very quietly and deliberately, Zelda, whose hands were trembling as if a winter chill had taken her, went through an old chest at the side of the bed. Inside.... inside...

Was a broken harp. Running her small hands over it, she felt strong emotions come from her. Every curve, every contour, she ran over it and her face twitched and contorted and tears flowed like rivers. She didn't understand why she cried, but she cried long and hard.

"Link.... you... you went away...." she said, sniffling, "you won't be back.... you... you won't be BACK!!!"

Impa, taking a deep breath, walked in and crouched next to Zelda, who immediately threw herself at Impa. The tears would not stop. It would not stop. Zelda quivered and beat her fists against Impa's shoulder.

"Child...." whispered Impa, putting an arm around her.

Zelda sniffed and hugged both harp and Impa closer to her.