Chapter Two: Message With A Point

                       Re'ale closed the door behind her silently and went to where Link was sitting outside by the tree. He had not been allowed inside; only Gerudo elders were allowed to tend to a maid who was unable to control the new power within her. The yelling had stopped and everything was quiet now except for the evening breeze as it blew through the trees. He turned around when he heard soft footsteps on the path coming toward him. He smiled at the old woman and stood up, her height not so much shorter than his own.

           "She'll be fine now," Re'ale said calmly. "The fever has broke; the power has been released." Link sighed relieved.

           "Thank the Goddesses," he murmured, staring at the door. "I have a little idea what happened, I saw it once. A young girl at the Gerudo's Fortress who went through that. They took her away before I could really see anything though." Re'ale nodded.

           "It is a personal thing Link, the Duvidth, not being able to control the power could be taken as a sign of weakness, but," she trailed off and shivered uneasily, "I had never seen one so violent. I may not have seen many, perhaps one or two in the sixteen years I can remember, but never one like that." She paused and thought something over, "if I did not know any better I would say there was something more too it, but that's ridiculous. Most likely it was just because she's not a full Gerudo, who knows how her Hylian heritage would have affected it." Link raised his eyebrows and continued to stare at the door.

           "Will it happen again?" Navi asked, her voice becoming worried.

           "Oh no, not likely," she soothed, "now the spirit within her has calmed, the body should be able to control it now." She looked at Link apprehensively; "did you know that they traveled to see the Gerudo?" Link shifted his weight to the other leg.

           "I saw them there, as she was leaving the Ground. I was sent away and then after King Harkinian asked me to go and assist with a trade policy to the north. As soon as I came back a came here." Re'ale nodded again.

           "I don't blame them," she said. "Even when they were little girls, she and Megeara were more curious than most. But still," she paused, "they will need to be punished." Link didn't bother to comment on that.

           "Can we see her?" He asked softly seeing the silhouette of Loraefin's mother pass by the window. Re'ale shook her head.

           "No, the presence of a man could interrupt the integration of the soul to her body, or so says the Gerudo ways," was her answer. "She will be ill for awhile and need to stay in bed, perhaps in a week you may see her if you like, not before." Link sighed and consented and turned to leave when Re'ale stopped him. "Link?" She said inquiringly, "by any chance…by any chance did you hear the name Finnie claimed at her Rites? I, I would like to know it." Link grinned and replied to her.

           "It was Rae Lawen."

                       Re'ale's wrinkles stretched into a smile as she nodded and left back inside the house.

***

                       It was early morning when Link reached the edge of the woods. The sun was just turning the horizon the palest hues of pink and orange and the morning lark sung its first, sweet note. Epona made her way through the trees, which were growing more densely farther into the forest. Link yawned sleepily and sat up to stretch, throwing open his arms and stretching the muscles in his chest.

                       Even when he looked back on that morning years from now he would never be sure what direction the arrow came from, only that it came hard and fast into his left shoulder. Link reeled around and was knocked off of Epona to the ground by the force of the shot as Navi screamed. It stung painfully as he stared at the shaft in disbelief with his own blood starting to be soaked up by his tunic. He kept expecting to hear more shots fired, or at least someone call out to him, but the forest was perfectly silent except for the singing birds. Link panted on the ground, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing came. He started to feel a bit light headed from the blood loss and tearing a strip of his tunic he tried to stop the bleeding. Navi flew about in a panic, trying to see who had shot the bow, but found no one. Link knew that it was very unlikely for someone to find him out here, so with the strength he had left he dragged himself up into Epona's saddle and bade her to ride for the ranch. Epona neighed and took off, seeming to understand the urgency that was at hand.

                       Malon, who was just getting ready for her weekly ride to the castle, and on a much more personal note to see Rook, saw Epona coming from across the field with a figure slumped over at the saddle. She gasped in alarm and ran out to meet the horse, calling both her father and Ingo to help her. Link groaned as Talon lifted him off Epona and he could hear Malon gasp again when she saw the wound in his shoulder. Navi told them what had happened as they hastily got him inside the house.

                       Link had been hurt many times before, but this felt different somehow. Being hardened from defeating Ganondorf and then fighting with the resistance the second time around, he had built up a tolerance for physical pain, but this one he could seem to feel every vein in his body. It was not excruciating pain, but every inch of him seemed to be heated by an unknown fire. Malon's red blur would come in and out of his vision, and he could hear them speaking, but only in muffled voices. He heard the words 'doctor' and 'hang on' clearly, but the rest was hazy. Before he passed out on the bed though he felt the distant pain of the arrow being taken out and Malon's sweet voice etched in worry saying 'what do you mean the arrow was poisoned?!"

AN: Well? Is anybody reading this? Please R/R! I'm dying to get some feedback! Is it incredible boring? No? Tell me! I'll love you forever.