Author's rant: I dunno, just reveiw. ^^ I am one of those kooky author's who likes hearing peoples thoughts. No flames. You can say you don't like it and for an actual flaw in my writing style but don't say it sucks because you don't like certain characters. If they are my characters make valid points in why you hate them. If they are characters that belong to Nintendo than you are stupid if you complain to me about them.
Oh yeah, just so you know, in this fic no one can teleport aside from the sages. Unless they have the Ocarina of Time.
Chapter 4
Ruto sighed in exhaustion, standing alone in the halls of Hyrule castle. She and the other sages, minus Impa, had been trying to convince the Queen that nothing was wrong, but had failed.
'Because you know something is wrong...' She nagged herself. She knew nothing of the impending danger when Link had first started his quest for the Spiritual Stones, but this time the dreams were coming to her. She couldn't say that they were anything special, like Zelda's dreams that were more symbolic then her own, but she felt it. She felt how different and strange her dreams were compared to any other dream. And what was worse, a few Zora's from Zora's domain had the dream. The other Sages had confessed dreams of their own, all different for the members of the different races, but all claiming that others of their own kind who seemed more sensitive to things such as destiny or magic had had the dreams. The same dream for the same race.
The Zora's water turned black as midnight, draining life from Zora and fish.
The Kokiri's forest withered and became a shadow of the simple beauty it once was, taking the Kokiri with it.
Death mountain released black smoke, full of poison on the unsuspecting Gorons.
The Guredo were condemned to darkness, not even the moon shone any light on them.
The Hylians dreams were more scattered, few having any dream. But the few who did received visions of their own personal demise, not a disaster befalling the entire Hylian people.
Only the Sheikah left their fears unsaid. Not that anyone was altogether shocked by this, amongst themselves they may have confessed concern but they deemed a sin to confess such things to 'outsiders.'
Ruto shivered, suddenly the feeling of the enclosing darkness becoming all the more immediate. She could almost feel the other sage, Saria the only other who had stayed behind, running for the nearest window as she herself was doing.
At first the Zora thought her mind was playing tricks on her, the night over Hyrule a picture of perfect, undisturbed tranquility. But upon closer examination, the Zora quickly knew the original assesment was incorrect. A shadow was slipping over, Hyrule. Slipping into Castle town, and over gates, the moonlight giving it away.
She was running for Zelda's chambers, as she was sure Saria was, before she even began guessing at what these creatures actually were.
Zelda was already ready to travel, adorning her old Sheik guise, when Saria and Ruto burst into her room, both looking frantic. Zelda gave them a sad smile as she slipped the mask over her face, the finishing touch of the old disguise.
"Zelda... We're surrounded... You won't get out..." Saria whispered, her childish face not covering the distress she felt in the slightest.
"I may not be a Sheikah, but I was trained by them." Zelda said simply, starting towards the window.
Ruto stared at her for a moment, horrified. Surely the Queen knew this was suicide...
"Why aren't you using the Ocarina?" Ruto asked, her blue eyes flashing with concern.
The Queen shook her head slowly. "Kaepora has been here. Every place the Ocarina would bring me is being guarded. Shadows he called them, described them the same way Dark Link was described."
"We can't escape either then..." Ruto whispered. There was no way, all three knew it. Even Sages had restrictions, but why did it have to be where they could and could not teleport...?
"But if they are at every warp point then they must've already taken the Kokiri..." Saria whispered in horror.
"The only ones who may not have been taken over are the Zora and Sheikah. Neither are near any warp point, unless the Shadows know about the passage from Zora's Domain to Lake Hylia..." Zelda said softly. Her voice betrayed how much she wished she could have said it more gently.
"We'll come with you." Saria said, a bitter resolve in her voice.
"No, that won't help-"
"Yes it will!" Ruto interrupted, feeling the same determination as the Sage of Forest. "You will be caught, but if we are there, we can use our magic. Not all of us can get away but at least one of us can." She reasoned.
A breif light flickered in Zelda's eyes. "Thank you..."
Aleka's head pounded as she opened her eyes, the full moon still hanging in the dark sky. 'Well, at least you weren't out to long...' She thought to herself, trying to remember what had happened. She was just outside the cave when something tackled her from behind, she had caught a glimpse of a looming shadow with glowing red eyes just before she felt a harsh blow come down on her head. Her thoughts slowly slipped from the haze and turned frantic.
Her hands were tied and she wasn't anywhere near the cave. She was on top of the wall surrounding a town. The town sat in front of a large castle. It would have been beautiful had it not been for panicked screams in the town's streets as people tried to escape shadows, similer to the ones she had run into.
"So is it true, young one?" Aleka turned, barely making out the figure of a man, another shadow with gleaming red eyes. But this one wasn't like the other two, something was even more unsetteling about him. He looked human. "Are you his daughter?"
Aleka felt a cold sweat run down her spine. She sat in a crouching position, trying desperetly to convince herself that he had her mistaken as someone else. "I..." Her voice seemed to stop functioning as she shook her head, hoping to God that this was just the result of her fainting because she was hungry, that nothing had happened, that no Sheikah had come... As if to mock her, the dull pain from the dog bite she'd received on her arm shot through her.
The red eyes narrowed, looking more then a little impatient. "Two of my men said you refered to Link as dad... Is he your father...?"
Summoning what courage she had she responded as best she could. "Depends on how you look at it...?" She whispered, cursing her stupidity and fear.
"Riddles? Not much of one... I know you called him father, but he could never have sired you..." He said his voice still ringing with a certain familiarty but a malice.
Before Aleka could start guessing on why anyone would care about her connection to Link a blinding flash of blue light erupted not to far away, followed by a chorus of undistiguishable shreiks. Mere seconds later, three figures were on the wall maybe nine feet away. One figure was the size of a child, one was being supported by the third, who appeared to have used some tool to bring the three so near to escape.
The shadow man clucked his tongue in slight disapproval, grinning at them. Aleka could have sworn the others refered to him as Dark Link, or something of the like, but didn't have time to think that over before a beam of dark purple magic flew from his hand, crashing into the figure who was leaning on the other one, knocking both over.
"Don't worry." The shadow said in a disturbingly jovial manner. "We can't kill our bait, you'll be kept alive. At least until Link comes..." He whispered as an after thought, holding out his hand and forming the energy again.
A faint memory of Link telling Aleka she was to reckless flashed through Aleka's mind, having little impact on what she was doing. Using her legs, she shot herself into the shadow man. The fact that her outburst bought a few seconds for two of the three to escape seemed only a side effect to her, only the rage she felt at him targeting her family mattered for a few breif moments.
The reaction of the shadow broke those moments as he knocked her to the ground. He grabbed the back of her head with one hand and forced her against the ground as he shouted to the two escapees something about telling Link where his daughter was. She felt him place the palm of his hand against the lower portion of her right arm as she was forced to stare to the side at the figure of the one who didn't escape. The other one she could see farely well in the moon light. Like the Sheikah, Link had told her about these people. Zora, people of the water...
Suddenly her thoughts broke along with her lower arm. Whatever magic the shadow possesed she wished she had thought about it before she'd done something so stupid as to attempt to attack him. She screamed, unable to see the Zora try to move toward her, to help perhaps, before another shadow grabbed her.
Saria ran along side Zelda, both of them trying to keep quite as they ran for Lon Lon. Saria couldn't believe it when she saw it.
Everything was normal, as if it had been over looked. As normal as things could be with the chaos outside. The Lon Lon family as well as their farm hand Ingo seemed to know enough to get out. They were already saddeling their horses. Aside from the rather late night escape, the place was untouched by the attack.
"Wait!" Zelda shouted, pulling away her mask. The three turned, clearly suprised to find royalty at their home. "Are there more horses? We would only need one..." Zelda stopped, seeing the look on their faces answered her question. She cursed herself, remembering that she had bought a few, unwittingly reducing her chances of escape.
After a few awkward moments, Malon spoke. "Here," She said, starting to dismount. "Take my horse-"
"No, no..." Talon said. "You can't stay. I'll stay, Highness, take my horse..." He said, hopping off the horse, ignoring Malon's protests.
"Damned old, lazy ass..." Ingo muttered, jumping off his horse as well. "Can't well just let you stay here all alone, probobly just fall asleep when they come to kill ya'." Ingo snorted, trying to sound unconcerned with his employers well being. "Don't worry, if we have a horse here at least one of us should meet up with you later on."
Zelda nodded in thanks and apology for the danger she was putting them in as she mounted the horse, Saria sitting in front of her. With Malon, they rode out of the ranch, immediatly veering towards the Mine City.
'With luck, we'll be there by morning, Link and Impa there waiting for us...'
Even the two Sheikah seemed visibly shaken by what had befallen the cities inhabitants as they made their way through the main city in the building; the cathedral. Unlike the Temple of Time it was complex. At least on the lower level. It was designed to protect the treasures kept in the upper level, by way of a maze that would, if you found your way, lead to the stairs in the center of the building.
Link was just grateful that Pharik seemed familier with the place and that Whitebrow always smelled an enemy coming. Not they they couldn't smell these enemies, but they had a good idea of when it was safe to go down a tunnel.
The swisting tunnel they were currently in seemed unending until they finally caught sight of the stairs, Impa, for once in her life, allowing her own relief to be seen.
The party climbed the stairs, finding a large room, which shimmered with the same unearthly light the rest of the city did. Link had no idea what the Sheikah thought they might find there, all he knew was that so long as nothing was up here, they were in the safest place imaginable.
"Well, if I thought of any survivors coming here I was mistaken." Impa muttered softly.
"Impa... The Topaz..."
Impa and Link looked to Pharik, a bit confused by his seemingly senseless statement.
"The Guredo's Topaz was here, Impa... The Sheikah's Amethyst dissapearing, the Queen's visions... Something has the stones and is using them, it used the Amethyst to change the people..."
He stopped, Impa grabbing him by the arm and turning him around to face her, her eyes giving off every bit of her rage. "What do you mean the Amethyst dissapeared?" She asked in a deathly soft voice.
Pharik looked away, the shame written across his face. "The... Someone broke into the shrine, I didn't see them, but the Amethyst was gone..." He whispered, fear welling up inside him as he confessed his failure as the stones guardian.
"When was this?" Impa asked, her voice hard and cold.
Pharik took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to say. "Two monthes ago." He watched her face, daring to look up to see her reaction. It was stunned, for a moment before she slammed her fist into his jaw.
Pharik fell back, but made no move to strike back. He knew better then to fight against the punishment he'd earned. As always, he wished for a moment that he had Hylian blood, then it would have been so much easier to explain to her that he hadn't come to her when it happened because he could never stand to let someone down, that for once he wanted to clean up his own mess...
He touched the blood that trickled down his chin and glanced to Link, somewhat relieved to see a sympathetic look from the Hylian. Even the wolf was kind, licking his hand almost to say 'I make mistakes too...'
Pharik looked back to the ground, screaming to himself that going to Impa from the begining would have prevented Tirun-da's fate.
"We might as well leave, warn Zelda of this..." Impa said, dissappointment ringing in her voice. She knew how harsh she'd appeared to Link, but it was better then what Hylian law would have rewarded such a failure. Sheikah knew pain taught a lesson, but they also knew death was useless as far as changing your ways went.
Pharik stayed behind Impa as she led the way, avoiding her as she lead the way towards the window and leaping over roof tops towards the city entrance. The thought of all the apologies he owed drifting through his head. Zelda would be shocked and saddened, the dissapointed look she could get on her face scared some of the palace guards and he didn't like it any more then they did. Friends and family of Tirun-da's citizens... All would be furious, he could just see them attacking him... Aleka. How would she react...? He already knew, he'd seen very little of her, but he could tell she would probobly say something like, "Nah, my fault for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong." He could tell she would grin and brush it off. Just as forgiving as Link, but so much more naive...
As they reached the entrance to the tunnel, Link pulled out a few bombs. "We'll just have to seal this place off, then... Too bad, Aleka loved this place when I first brought her here."
Another pang of guilt hit Pharik. Some part of him wanted to say that it was the other Sheikah's fault for being so stupid as to trust something so important as the Amethyst to a seventeen-year-old, but he knew that was a stupid a wastful train of thought.
The party walked in silence after sealing the city, Link trying to think of something to say that would somehow comfort Pharik and not anger Impa. He knew from his own experiences as a "parent" that one could be touchy with critisism on how you raise or discipline one you think of as your own. At least Aleka would get away with saying something nice. He doubted Impa would get mad at her, seeing as she came off as so childishly optimistic Impa would probobly figure she couldn't help trying to make him feel better.
He smiled to himself, knowing she wouldn't be able to help trying to cheer him up. She would say or do just about anything to make someone smile if they were really upset. As they stepped outside Link could see by where the moon hung in the sky that it wasn't far from sun rise. He glanced about, looking for Aleka. He froze, a cold sweat on his brow.
Her sheild was leaning against a tree, torn almost in half.
AN: OK kids, tell me what you think, don't bother complaining if you think it is to short, MoonChild is already in charge of harassing me 'bout that. ^^
Oh yeah, just so you know, in this fic no one can teleport aside from the sages. Unless they have the Ocarina of Time.
Chapter 4
Ruto sighed in exhaustion, standing alone in the halls of Hyrule castle. She and the other sages, minus Impa, had been trying to convince the Queen that nothing was wrong, but had failed.
'Because you know something is wrong...' She nagged herself. She knew nothing of the impending danger when Link had first started his quest for the Spiritual Stones, but this time the dreams were coming to her. She couldn't say that they were anything special, like Zelda's dreams that were more symbolic then her own, but she felt it. She felt how different and strange her dreams were compared to any other dream. And what was worse, a few Zora's from Zora's domain had the dream. The other Sages had confessed dreams of their own, all different for the members of the different races, but all claiming that others of their own kind who seemed more sensitive to things such as destiny or magic had had the dreams. The same dream for the same race.
The Zora's water turned black as midnight, draining life from Zora and fish.
The Kokiri's forest withered and became a shadow of the simple beauty it once was, taking the Kokiri with it.
Death mountain released black smoke, full of poison on the unsuspecting Gorons.
The Guredo were condemned to darkness, not even the moon shone any light on them.
The Hylians dreams were more scattered, few having any dream. But the few who did received visions of their own personal demise, not a disaster befalling the entire Hylian people.
Only the Sheikah left their fears unsaid. Not that anyone was altogether shocked by this, amongst themselves they may have confessed concern but they deemed a sin to confess such things to 'outsiders.'
Ruto shivered, suddenly the feeling of the enclosing darkness becoming all the more immediate. She could almost feel the other sage, Saria the only other who had stayed behind, running for the nearest window as she herself was doing.
At first the Zora thought her mind was playing tricks on her, the night over Hyrule a picture of perfect, undisturbed tranquility. But upon closer examination, the Zora quickly knew the original assesment was incorrect. A shadow was slipping over, Hyrule. Slipping into Castle town, and over gates, the moonlight giving it away.
She was running for Zelda's chambers, as she was sure Saria was, before she even began guessing at what these creatures actually were.
Zelda was already ready to travel, adorning her old Sheik guise, when Saria and Ruto burst into her room, both looking frantic. Zelda gave them a sad smile as she slipped the mask over her face, the finishing touch of the old disguise.
"Zelda... We're surrounded... You won't get out..." Saria whispered, her childish face not covering the distress she felt in the slightest.
"I may not be a Sheikah, but I was trained by them." Zelda said simply, starting towards the window.
Ruto stared at her for a moment, horrified. Surely the Queen knew this was suicide...
"Why aren't you using the Ocarina?" Ruto asked, her blue eyes flashing with concern.
The Queen shook her head slowly. "Kaepora has been here. Every place the Ocarina would bring me is being guarded. Shadows he called them, described them the same way Dark Link was described."
"We can't escape either then..." Ruto whispered. There was no way, all three knew it. Even Sages had restrictions, but why did it have to be where they could and could not teleport...?
"But if they are at every warp point then they must've already taken the Kokiri..." Saria whispered in horror.
"The only ones who may not have been taken over are the Zora and Sheikah. Neither are near any warp point, unless the Shadows know about the passage from Zora's Domain to Lake Hylia..." Zelda said softly. Her voice betrayed how much she wished she could have said it more gently.
"We'll come with you." Saria said, a bitter resolve in her voice.
"No, that won't help-"
"Yes it will!" Ruto interrupted, feeling the same determination as the Sage of Forest. "You will be caught, but if we are there, we can use our magic. Not all of us can get away but at least one of us can." She reasoned.
A breif light flickered in Zelda's eyes. "Thank you..."
Aleka's head pounded as she opened her eyes, the full moon still hanging in the dark sky. 'Well, at least you weren't out to long...' She thought to herself, trying to remember what had happened. She was just outside the cave when something tackled her from behind, she had caught a glimpse of a looming shadow with glowing red eyes just before she felt a harsh blow come down on her head. Her thoughts slowly slipped from the haze and turned frantic.
Her hands were tied and she wasn't anywhere near the cave. She was on top of the wall surrounding a town. The town sat in front of a large castle. It would have been beautiful had it not been for panicked screams in the town's streets as people tried to escape shadows, similer to the ones she had run into.
"So is it true, young one?" Aleka turned, barely making out the figure of a man, another shadow with gleaming red eyes. But this one wasn't like the other two, something was even more unsetteling about him. He looked human. "Are you his daughter?"
Aleka felt a cold sweat run down her spine. She sat in a crouching position, trying desperetly to convince herself that he had her mistaken as someone else. "I..." Her voice seemed to stop functioning as she shook her head, hoping to God that this was just the result of her fainting because she was hungry, that nothing had happened, that no Sheikah had come... As if to mock her, the dull pain from the dog bite she'd received on her arm shot through her.
The red eyes narrowed, looking more then a little impatient. "Two of my men said you refered to Link as dad... Is he your father...?"
Summoning what courage she had she responded as best she could. "Depends on how you look at it...?" She whispered, cursing her stupidity and fear.
"Riddles? Not much of one... I know you called him father, but he could never have sired you..." He said his voice still ringing with a certain familiarty but a malice.
Before Aleka could start guessing on why anyone would care about her connection to Link a blinding flash of blue light erupted not to far away, followed by a chorus of undistiguishable shreiks. Mere seconds later, three figures were on the wall maybe nine feet away. One figure was the size of a child, one was being supported by the third, who appeared to have used some tool to bring the three so near to escape.
The shadow man clucked his tongue in slight disapproval, grinning at them. Aleka could have sworn the others refered to him as Dark Link, or something of the like, but didn't have time to think that over before a beam of dark purple magic flew from his hand, crashing into the figure who was leaning on the other one, knocking both over.
"Don't worry." The shadow said in a disturbingly jovial manner. "We can't kill our bait, you'll be kept alive. At least until Link comes..." He whispered as an after thought, holding out his hand and forming the energy again.
A faint memory of Link telling Aleka she was to reckless flashed through Aleka's mind, having little impact on what she was doing. Using her legs, she shot herself into the shadow man. The fact that her outburst bought a few seconds for two of the three to escape seemed only a side effect to her, only the rage she felt at him targeting her family mattered for a few breif moments.
The reaction of the shadow broke those moments as he knocked her to the ground. He grabbed the back of her head with one hand and forced her against the ground as he shouted to the two escapees something about telling Link where his daughter was. She felt him place the palm of his hand against the lower portion of her right arm as she was forced to stare to the side at the figure of the one who didn't escape. The other one she could see farely well in the moon light. Like the Sheikah, Link had told her about these people. Zora, people of the water...
Suddenly her thoughts broke along with her lower arm. Whatever magic the shadow possesed she wished she had thought about it before she'd done something so stupid as to attempt to attack him. She screamed, unable to see the Zora try to move toward her, to help perhaps, before another shadow grabbed her.
Saria ran along side Zelda, both of them trying to keep quite as they ran for Lon Lon. Saria couldn't believe it when she saw it.
Everything was normal, as if it had been over looked. As normal as things could be with the chaos outside. The Lon Lon family as well as their farm hand Ingo seemed to know enough to get out. They were already saddeling their horses. Aside from the rather late night escape, the place was untouched by the attack.
"Wait!" Zelda shouted, pulling away her mask. The three turned, clearly suprised to find royalty at their home. "Are there more horses? We would only need one..." Zelda stopped, seeing the look on their faces answered her question. She cursed herself, remembering that she had bought a few, unwittingly reducing her chances of escape.
After a few awkward moments, Malon spoke. "Here," She said, starting to dismount. "Take my horse-"
"No, no..." Talon said. "You can't stay. I'll stay, Highness, take my horse..." He said, hopping off the horse, ignoring Malon's protests.
"Damned old, lazy ass..." Ingo muttered, jumping off his horse as well. "Can't well just let you stay here all alone, probobly just fall asleep when they come to kill ya'." Ingo snorted, trying to sound unconcerned with his employers well being. "Don't worry, if we have a horse here at least one of us should meet up with you later on."
Zelda nodded in thanks and apology for the danger she was putting them in as she mounted the horse, Saria sitting in front of her. With Malon, they rode out of the ranch, immediatly veering towards the Mine City.
'With luck, we'll be there by morning, Link and Impa there waiting for us...'
Even the two Sheikah seemed visibly shaken by what had befallen the cities inhabitants as they made their way through the main city in the building; the cathedral. Unlike the Temple of Time it was complex. At least on the lower level. It was designed to protect the treasures kept in the upper level, by way of a maze that would, if you found your way, lead to the stairs in the center of the building.
Link was just grateful that Pharik seemed familier with the place and that Whitebrow always smelled an enemy coming. Not they they couldn't smell these enemies, but they had a good idea of when it was safe to go down a tunnel.
The swisting tunnel they were currently in seemed unending until they finally caught sight of the stairs, Impa, for once in her life, allowing her own relief to be seen.
The party climbed the stairs, finding a large room, which shimmered with the same unearthly light the rest of the city did. Link had no idea what the Sheikah thought they might find there, all he knew was that so long as nothing was up here, they were in the safest place imaginable.
"Well, if I thought of any survivors coming here I was mistaken." Impa muttered softly.
"Impa... The Topaz..."
Impa and Link looked to Pharik, a bit confused by his seemingly senseless statement.
"The Guredo's Topaz was here, Impa... The Sheikah's Amethyst dissapearing, the Queen's visions... Something has the stones and is using them, it used the Amethyst to change the people..."
He stopped, Impa grabbing him by the arm and turning him around to face her, her eyes giving off every bit of her rage. "What do you mean the Amethyst dissapeared?" She asked in a deathly soft voice.
Pharik looked away, the shame written across his face. "The... Someone broke into the shrine, I didn't see them, but the Amethyst was gone..." He whispered, fear welling up inside him as he confessed his failure as the stones guardian.
"When was this?" Impa asked, her voice hard and cold.
Pharik took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to say. "Two monthes ago." He watched her face, daring to look up to see her reaction. It was stunned, for a moment before she slammed her fist into his jaw.
Pharik fell back, but made no move to strike back. He knew better then to fight against the punishment he'd earned. As always, he wished for a moment that he had Hylian blood, then it would have been so much easier to explain to her that he hadn't come to her when it happened because he could never stand to let someone down, that for once he wanted to clean up his own mess...
He touched the blood that trickled down his chin and glanced to Link, somewhat relieved to see a sympathetic look from the Hylian. Even the wolf was kind, licking his hand almost to say 'I make mistakes too...'
Pharik looked back to the ground, screaming to himself that going to Impa from the begining would have prevented Tirun-da's fate.
"We might as well leave, warn Zelda of this..." Impa said, dissappointment ringing in her voice. She knew how harsh she'd appeared to Link, but it was better then what Hylian law would have rewarded such a failure. Sheikah knew pain taught a lesson, but they also knew death was useless as far as changing your ways went.
Pharik stayed behind Impa as she led the way, avoiding her as she lead the way towards the window and leaping over roof tops towards the city entrance. The thought of all the apologies he owed drifting through his head. Zelda would be shocked and saddened, the dissapointed look she could get on her face scared some of the palace guards and he didn't like it any more then they did. Friends and family of Tirun-da's citizens... All would be furious, he could just see them attacking him... Aleka. How would she react...? He already knew, he'd seen very little of her, but he could tell she would probobly say something like, "Nah, my fault for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong." He could tell she would grin and brush it off. Just as forgiving as Link, but so much more naive...
As they reached the entrance to the tunnel, Link pulled out a few bombs. "We'll just have to seal this place off, then... Too bad, Aleka loved this place when I first brought her here."
Another pang of guilt hit Pharik. Some part of him wanted to say that it was the other Sheikah's fault for being so stupid as to trust something so important as the Amethyst to a seventeen-year-old, but he knew that was a stupid a wastful train of thought.
The party walked in silence after sealing the city, Link trying to think of something to say that would somehow comfort Pharik and not anger Impa. He knew from his own experiences as a "parent" that one could be touchy with critisism on how you raise or discipline one you think of as your own. At least Aleka would get away with saying something nice. He doubted Impa would get mad at her, seeing as she came off as so childishly optimistic Impa would probobly figure she couldn't help trying to make him feel better.
He smiled to himself, knowing she wouldn't be able to help trying to cheer him up. She would say or do just about anything to make someone smile if they were really upset. As they stepped outside Link could see by where the moon hung in the sky that it wasn't far from sun rise. He glanced about, looking for Aleka. He froze, a cold sweat on his brow.
Her sheild was leaning against a tree, torn almost in half.
AN: OK kids, tell me what you think, don't bother complaining if you think it is to short, MoonChild is already in charge of harassing me 'bout that. ^^
