Her Story

by The Kirby Kid

[UPDATE] There's a new Blueeyed Devil in town...it's the kid named Link. He's back, and he's after Invincible's killer. Will Zelda learn to always 'Be Careful What you Wish For' [Chapter 13. SONG REPLACED]

4. Sheik

The Legend of Zelda: Her Story

Chapter 3: Sheik

By: The Kirby Kid

Disclaimer:

The Legend of Zelda®, Roy™ and Fire Emblem® is property of Nintendo of America/Japan

Author's Notes:

I'm introducing a guest star to my story: Roy.

A lot of you know Roy from Super Smash Bros® Melee. That was in fact his first (and so far, only) appearance on any game console. Roy hails from the kingdom of Etruria, and is a character from the upcoming Fire Emblem game for Game Boy® Advance. His sword is the Sword of Seals.

Now even though I'm bringing in a character from another world…since the story has nothing to do with what's going on in Etruria, I don't consider this a crossover. Roy is just a guest star, that's all. Thanks for understanding.

Thanks a lot for those who reviewed, I appreciate it! Keep reading, and I'll see you in a week or so (or less, who knows?)

Remember, if you need information on the history of these characters from my past fics, just check out the Chapter called 'History'

************

Learning to fight isn't nearly as glamorous as I had thought it to be. It had been, in fact very painful. I ended up being very tired and very sore each and every night since I had begun so long ago. But you know what?

I thought it was worth it.

I thought it was worth knowing what I was capable of, and what I could accomplish.

It didn't matter if no one knew it was me that was doing all of this. It didn't matter if I didn't get any praise or acknowledgment from those who I wanted it from the most.

Like…mother for instance…

No, it didn't matter, because I knew it. I had the answer I had been searching for, ever since Gram came into my life. I was beginning to realize my purpose.

At least, that's what I thought at the time. The truth was, Gram was using me.

It was forcing me to learn how to use it, so that it's questions could be answered, so that it's purpose could be realized.

I had felt so proud of myself…and I guess I should have been. I did accomplish a lot.

I really did try.

**********

In the week before the First Rank knighthood nightly sessions began, Zelda had practically lived in the library. There she studied the Glamour like she had never studied anything before in her life. To others she seemed obsessed with something, but whenever someone asked her about this, she answered the same way:

"I'm smart, and I'm just trying to get smarter. Is that so wrong?"

The answer was just rude enough to get people to stop asking, but considerate enough so that people wouldn't hate her. It worked pretty well. Impa and her mother were used to that type of attitude from Zelda. Rocco and Talon were stunned, but they got used to it.

Zelda was sad she had to brush them off, but this was way too important. However, her deception gave her a chance to concentrate, and it seemed to pay off. She was getting the hang of the Glamour spell.

The Princess practiced the spell privately, usually in her chambers. She started small, at first, making diamonds appear to be pearls and soap appear to be shampoo. Then she moved into changing the appearance of the color of her bed-sheets, the wall, the carpet. When she gained enough knowledge and confidence, she moved to living objects.

Living subjects were more tricky to Glamour than inanimate objects. Again, she started small, making flies appear to be birds and changing the color of Moto's fur to a flamboyant pink. When Zelda had trouble unraveling the spell and returning Moto to his normal yellow hue, the little Keaton/Bombchu hybrid made known his anger by exploding several times, darkening her face with ash. Zelda learned how to manipulate fur pretty quickly after that incident.

Eventually she began to Glamorize herself. She brightened her hair, turned her eyes different colors, and removed her freckles without makeup. Zelda found it pretty useful, and when she learned to tie off the threads that composed the Glamour, she found that the spell could sustain itself. This could mean the end of make-up forever!

That in and of itself would have made the whole study worth it.

Two days before the beginning of the First Rank training sessions, Zelda found herself in the library again. She had mastered the first part of the Glamour spell; changing the appearance of things. Now she had to master the second; physically changing her looks and clothes. This required complex theory, some of it not documented in the library files. Zelda had to sneak into the Rune archives in order to learn more. This wasn't a big deal though, she's been sneaking into the archives since she had learned how to read.

Zelda began to experiment again on things like lengthening and shortening her hair, changing the consistency of her clothing, all the important matters that she would need to pull the stunt off. All it entailed was coaxing materials to rearrange themselves. That was the easy part, the hard part of the magic was keeping it going. It required a lot of magical energy. Luckily, that was something Zelda had down.

Finally the night arrived. According to subtle questions directed at Rocco, the sessions would begin around midnight. Zelda was pretty sure she was ready, but at the same time, couldn't hide her nervousness throughout dinner or evening prayer.

The Queen met Zelda as she was making her way to her chambers. "Zelly?" she started, bringing the girl to a halt.

"…Yes mother?" Zelda answered without meeting her eyes.

The Queen regarded her for a moment, before continuing. "Are you all right? You seemed a bit…quiet during the day."

Zelda looked up at her mother and smiled, before thinking better of it. She hardly ever smiled at her mom anymore. It might have made her look suspicious. "I'm perfectly all right. Just a little tired, that's all."

Again, the Queen regarded her. "You've been spending quite a bit of time in the library and the archives lately. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Well I'm smart, and I just want to get-"

"Yes, yes. We've all heard that from you lately. Don't you think you're being just a little pretentious?"

"Yes", Zelda thought. Still, she wasn't going to let her know that. She instead arched an eyebrow and said. "Not really. Honestly mother, you don't give me anything else to do around here, do you?"

The Queen continued to look at her, seemingly unfazed by her daughters frankness. "Goodnight, Zelly." She said, before turning away.

Zelda showed her petulance by grounding her teeth. Nothing ever phased the woman. It was like she was made of ice, except that even ice sometimes melted.

***

An hour later, Zelda was ready. Inside her bedchambers, she latched the door shut. She had done it every night for the past week, so that it wouldn't seem suspicious tonight.

She climbed out of her dress and into her nightgown. The less clothes she had on when she did it, the better. At last, she picked Moto up from the scruff of his neck and set him on her hands.

"Better back up, old man. This might get a little intense."

"Ku!" chirped Moto, and he leaped off of her hands and onto the nearby windowsill. "Ku! Ku!" he said again.

Zelda beamed at him. "Who knows, if this works I can use it on you." She linked her hands together and stretched her arms. "You can scare off that dumb cat that's always chasing you in the pantries."

"Kuooo!"

Taking in a deep breath, Zelda stiffened her arms to her side and looked to Moto one more time. "Wish me luck."

Her Wisdom welled up inside her body and flashed outward. Threads of blue magical energy whipped around and inside her form, distorting, warping and twisting molecules in a rush of wind. Her long hair shortened and became sharper, like straw. Biceps and thighs thickened. Her chest flattened and widened, and her shoulders were broadened a few inches. Her nightgown became a black and blue body-suit, with bandaged wrapped arms hands, legs and feet. A bandaged cap materialized and covered the top of her head, and a long grey scarf flew over her mouth and shoulder.

There was a flash of blue light, and Zelda fell to her knees with a gasp. When she finally caught her breath, Zelda checked herself out in one of the full-length mirrors that adorned her room. The image that met her in the mirror was that of a young male, dressed in ancient Shiekah gear. She felt up and down her arms, and down her chest. The Glamour was perfect, no one would know that she was a woman, that it was only an illusion.

"I did it." she breathed, before moving her hands to her mouth. Zelda realized that she had made a terrible mistake. All this time she spent on the Glamour to change her appearance, she had made no effort to change her voice.

Zelda continued to stare at the mirror, red eyes blazing. She cleared her throat thoughtfully. She could still pull it off, she'd just have to say as little as possible. She'd have to think before she said every word, and then disguise it normally. It could work.

She moved quickly to the windowsill, hoping that the week she spent practicing to walk less like a woman paid off. (This plan ended up taking quite a lot of planning after all). Zelda opened the large window and let the cool breeze hit her face. She gulped and tried to tone down the raging swarm of butterflies that invaded her stomach.

It was time for action. She put her foot up on the windowsill, but was surprised when Moto jumped up on her shoulder. Zelda picked him up again and sighed. "Sorry, old man. You won't be able to make these trips with me."

Standing up on his hind-legs, Moto tilted his head and blinked at her confusedly. "Ku?" he asked.

"You'll completely blow my cover, you realize that, don't you?" she said softly as she let him down on her bed. "Stay here, old man. I'll only be a few hours."

Moto looked at her angrily. "Kuooo." His fur bristled, and air began to heat up around him.

"Oh, Moto don't do that-"

KA-BOOM!

Zelda wafted her hands through the thin smoke that filled the air and frowned at the burnt-out little Keaton on the bed. He was wobbling, straining to keep upright on his hind-legs. "Kuooo" he moaned dizzily. Zelda just shook her head.

"Old man…" Zelda groaned. "I left you plenty of treats. Have fun, don't get into too much trouble."

She turned her gaze out the window, several stories above the ground. Taking in one deep breath, Zelda leapt off and downward. As the wind whipped around her, she sent out threads of Wisdom to catch it and caress it around her body; invoking the spell of Farore's Wind. In a flash of blue energy she was snatched from the air and whipped to the ground in the space of a heartbeat. When the wind released her, she landed on the soft green earth without a sound.

"Perfect", Zelda thought with a smile. She looked up into the brisk night air, and towards the courtyard. There was nary a sound that met her ears in this dead of night, and the guards that walked silently along their routines didn't see the Glamorized Princess as she bled into the shadows of the old brick castle.

Gathering her will, she conjured Farore's Wind once more and made her way towards the training grounds. Unfortunately, the butterflies in her stomach weren't left behind with the rushing of the breeze.

************

Midnight was drawing near, and Roy watched as a two more individuals walked into the clearing in the woods next to the Courtyard. That made eleven overall so far. Eager young men, some even dressed in polished armor, eager to prove they deserve to be indoctrinated into the Hylian First Rank of the Knighthood. Another walked into the clearing, a girl, making the number now twelve.

Roy huffed and kicked some stray branches into the bonfire that lit up the clearing. He wasn't interested at all in becoming First Rank. However, he had heard a lot about the Knights of Hyrule, especially one Knight in particular. Roy needed this to get his mind off of the last couple of years of strife at home. He needed to relax.

However, Roy was a swordsman, and a very good one at that. Sitting still wasn't in his nature, what was in his nature was the sword strapped to his side. At the same time, coming to Hyrule could be the solution to both the problem of relaxing, while at the same time honing his skills.

Roy knew it wouldn't make a lick of sense to anyone he'd try to explain it to. That was okay though, nobody here knew Roy.

"Hey," a voice said beside him. Roy glanced over and saw a wide-eyed dark-skinned youth grinning at him. "Your ears are kind of small. Where are you from?"

"Oh…across the Ocean Realm; Emblu continent."

"Oh right. You're a human aren't you?" The other teen next to him said with a bit of awe. It was the only girl in the group, a waif with wild spiky silver hair. Roy shifted his blue thick boots uncomfortably. He rubbed his hand through his red locks.

"I suppose. It's my first time in elf country."

"Elf?" The boy blinked. "We prefer 'Hylians' around here."

Roy chuckled, and the girl growled, baring some teeth. He noticed her ears were even bigger than most of these elves…her forearms were more defined then the rest of her body, and her hands and feet seemed larger than normal. That was peculiar.

Still…of elves and Hylians, Roy wasn't really that concerned. "Boy, it's not enough the world is called Hyrule…but the continent, the country, the Kingdom…even the people? That's a bit much isn't it?"

The boy's eyes narrowed and he huffed angrily. "We consider ourselves the people of the Goddesses. That bother you?"

Roy put a hand up apologetically. He wasn't here to fight with the natives. "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm Roy, by the way."

The black elf reached out and grabbed his hand enthusiastically. "I'm Donnelley. Nice to meet you. Call me Don."

The girl also nodded. "I'm Bixenta. People call me Busy for short." She glanced over at the long sword sheathed at Roy's side. "So, why've you come such a long way? You fancy becoming a First Rank Knight?"

Before he could answer the question, two more entered the clearing. These two were older than Roy or the others. One of them was short and stocky and fitted with silver armor. The other was tall and fit. He wore a silver tunic and black pants. A long silver toque sat atop his head, covering some of his dirty blonde hair. He looked to be around forty-something, but his eyes flashed with the playfulness of youth.

This was the person Roy was waiting for. The one known as Invincible.

Link.

"Sort of a sorry bunch we have here this time, eh Captain?" the short knight said.

"Oh I don't know…" the tall knight mumbled. "I'm sure there are a few here that could surprise us…" Invincible focused his gaze on Roy, who met his eyes cleanly, and kept very still.

"Prince Roy?"

Roy smiled. The man was quite learned. Roy stood up and bowed his head slightly. "I thought the only ones who'd recognize me would be the Queen and some of her attendants. I'm impressed, Sir Link." He extended his hand to the knight graciously.

Invincible bowed deeply and shook the prince's hand. "I try to make it my business to know what the Royalty knows. That way keeping them guarded becomes much easier. Knowledge can be a deadly weapon, you know."

"I know." Roy sighed. "I just finished fighting a war against Bern. It was knowledge that won the day, more so than swords and shields."

"Prince Roy." The stocky man said. "I'm Adrel Fastis of the First Rank. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Sir Knight."

"Your highness…why have you come here tonight? I'm sure the Queen offered you VIP guest quarters in the Castle."

Roy smiled. "Actually, your Queen doesn't know I'm here yet. I was going to present myself to your Royalty tomorrow, but I heard this was going on tonight, and I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring."

Invincible arched an eyebrow. "You want to join our Knighthood?"

"Well…no. Not really." Roy said as he patted the sword at his side. "However, I'd like to prove that I can."

Adrel stepped forward to Invincible's side and crossed his arms. "I'm not sure how things work in Etruria…but joining the First Rank is not an easy task."

Roy's smile broadened, and he adjusted his blue and red cloak. "Good. I'm not used to easy tasks anyway."

Invincible smiled. "Then good luck, your highness."

Roy nodded and sat back down next to a stunned Donnelley and Bixenta.

"Y-you're a prince?" they stammered.

Roy shrugged.

At that moment another person entered the wooded clearing. Roy chuckled, it was another blonde. It seemed this country was full of them. Back home, only about ten percent of people had that hair color. This blonde was a young man who wore a similar suit of armor as Adrel, and he carried a single-handed sword on his left hip, and a large halberd in his right hand.

Invincible smiled faintly. "Rocco. What're you doing here?" Adrel seemed to be interested in this too, as he inched closer towards the young man.

Rocco gulped and didn't look either knight in the eye. "Well…I came to try out for the First Rank."

"We've talked about this already, Roclard." Adrel huffed.

Rocco put a hand up to interrupt him. "I know we have…but I still think I can train for the First Rank and attend to me duties as a shadow…"

"I don't." Invincible said simply. Rocco looked stunned, and met his dark brown eyes. "There's no way you'll be able to spend all day looking after Zelda, and half the night training…"

"You can!" Rocco cried. "In fact, I never see you sleep. You're up and about all day."

Adrel let out a small laugh. "I really hope you don't presume to compare yourself to Sir Link." At this, Rocco looked down at the ground.

"How do you think this is gonna end up?" Don asked silently of Roy. Busy leaned in to listen in, when suddenly her ears pricked up and she turned her head east. Roy felt it too, and he jumped to his feet and went for his weapon; a double-edged sword with a three-foot blade and a winged cross-guard emblazoned with a red jewel. Rocco leveled his halberd and rushed towards the same spot. Roy and Busy moved too, and Invincible and Adrel drew their swords, shifting instantly to the same place.

At the spot they all converged on, a plume of smoke blasted from nowhere and spread apart in a flash and a whirl of wind. Out of thin air appeared a slight young man dressed in tight blue and black leather and bandages. His arms were crossed over his chest, and a incredibly long grey scarf billowed in the wind. He didn't move when Roy, Rocco, Adrel and Invincible's weapons were pointed to his neck. Roy didn't know if it was because he was fearless…or because he was scared stupid.

Roy got his answer when the boy opened one rose-red eye towards Invincible's long katana blade, and touched it with a single finger. "No need" the lad said with a low, overly gruff voice.

"Sir?" Adrel asked, without moving his blade an inch from the boy's neck.

Invincible paused for a moment, and then swiftly moved his sword away, sheathing it with a smooth movement. Rocco and Adrel followed his lead. Busy withdrew her fists, which had been cocked and ready to smash into the boy's face. Roy didn't really know what was going on, but he sheathed his Sword as well.

"State your name and business, stranger." Invincible said with the same playfulness in his voice that he always had. Roy couldn't yet tell when the man was being serious and when he was not.

"Sheik", the boy said. Invincible, Adrel and Rocco looked at each other, as if understanding some inside joke. Roy shook his head. Being the outsider wasn't easy.

"A Shiekah named 'Sheik'?" Rocco laughed derisively. He then leveled his halberd once more. "Tell us the truth. Who are you really?"

"I am, whom I am."

Again, Invincible and Adrel glanced at each other. "And your business?" The shorter man asked of the Shiekah.

"I've come to train."

"You've got to be kidding me." Rocco said, enraged. He turned to Invincible and gestured towards the Shiekah, who stood with arms crossed. "We can't just let any yahoo train for First Rank Knighthood. Shiekah don't fight anyway, they haven't fought for hundreds of years!"

Invincible pursed his lips in thought. "Perhaps Sheik here is just like Prince Roy…maybe he just wants to increase his knowledge of fighting styles." Roy blinked. He wasn't sure he liked being drawn into this.

Rocco stared wide-eyed at Roy, then at Sheik and then at Invincible. "You're making excuses for him! Sir…I mean…I'm confused."

"Maybe you need some rest then, Rocco. Why don't you go back to bed, you've got a big day taking care of the Princess tomorrow."

Rocco stared, mouth-open. "S-sir. I think-"

"Don't think." Invincible said coldly. "You will not be made First Rank until your duties as shadow are over, and they won't be over until I say so, and I will not say so." He walked up to the boy with his arms crossed, and went nose to nose with him. "Now, Roclard, remain the type of person my Talon can be proud of, and let this go. Leave, now."

Roy could tell by Rocco's expression that he was enraged. No…not just enraged, upset. The kid looked like he was on the verge of tears. But he let none show. Instead, Rocco nodded, turned on his heel, and stalked off.

Invincible then turned his gaze on the rest of the recruits who had showed up that night for training. He stared over Roy and the other twelve that gathered around the bonfire.

He started to pace around the bonfire. "Rocco, I can easily say, is one of the best young knights I have ever had the privilege of training…and he could easily become First Knight if given the opportunity. He's also dating my oldest daughter, and I love the boy very much." Invincible paused. "So I hope you all took in that little altercation I had with him, and take that as meaning that I will treat you much…much more harshly. This will be the hardest month of your life. Nobody will look at you any less if you quit at any time…even now. Truly, of the twelve of you I see hear now, I'm betting maybe eighty percent of you won't make it."

"And that's if you're generous." Adrel chuckled.

Invincible lifted a finger of acknowledgment, and let out his own small chuckle. "He's right you know. Check out the books. We have scores of knights…and they're fine men and women…but we have roughly a dozen First Rank. They're the better than the best, and they don't even answer to the Royalty. They answer to me…and I'm a very tough master."

"That's a lot of power for one man to wield." Roy said out of nowhere, something that horrified Busy and Donnelley. The rest of the young recruits started to inch away from the young prince.

Invincible nodded with a grin. "That's true. But I'm not just one man. I'm of Hyrule. I'm my wife, my daughters, the Queen, and her children. Those are my interests, and therefore they're the interests of the First Rank."

Roy had to admit. That was a good answer. He glanced over at Busy, Donnelley and the others. They all seemed a little nervous. All except for Sheik. He seemed to be a tower of confidence.

The young prince had to wonder why.

Invincible and Adrel then, to the amazement of everyone else, started to pass around parchment and pencils to the trainees. There were two of them; One was blank, the other full of questions.

"What the-" Roy started.

"Just a little something we'll be using to set the regiment. You know, things like weapon of choice, experience, medical conditions, why you want to become First Rank…things of the like."

What the point of all this was, Roy couldn't figure out, but answer the questions he did. He glanced over to Sheik, who for some reason looked very apprehensive about the questionnaire. Or was he apprehensive about writing…as if he had not anticipated holding a pencil at all tonight.

Roy didn't know why he should be. No one else had.

After he and the others finished their questionnaires, they handed the sheets back to the knights. Invincible took them in and glanced over each one very quickly. Roy didn't even think he was actually reading the answers that were provided. He spent less than six seconds on all twelve responses, and then threw them into the bonfire.

Stunned, Roy opened his mouth to speak, but Invincible beat him to it. "Now I know that you all think that what you're doing here is worth writing about….some of you more than others." He added the last part with a glance towards Sheik. Roy could only guess that the Shiekah had not written a lot for his answers.

Still, Roy wasn't satisfied with the knight's explanation. "What about things like…medical conditions?" he questioned.

"If you have anything that will prevent you from becoming a knight…you will not become a knight. It's that simple." Invincible crossed his arms once more. "As for the rest of the questions, well those will be answered for you and for us on-"

"On our journey through the training." Roy chuckled. "I got you. Very shrewd." From the corner of his eye, he could almost make out Sheik sighing. Why would he do that?

Invincible slapped his hands together to get their undivided attention, as if that were really a problem with the other recruits. "All right then, to your feet." He and Adrel Fastis unsheathed their blades, and waited for the rest to do the same.

Invincible smiled. "It's time to see what you're made of."

************

Deep in the night, Zelda returned to her room using two quick spell castings of Farore's Wind. She stumbled a few feet while making her way to her bathroom. There, she slumped over the rail of the bathtub, panting painfully, and released the Glamour. Gone was the image was Sheik, and Princess Zelda…dressed in a plain white nightgown, was returned.

She wasn't completely like she was before she put the Glamour on, though. He right eye was dark and swollen. Her lip was split and she had several bruises and gashes all over her pale body. Rocco was right: this training was harsh. At the same time, Zelda had never felt better than she can ever remember feeling. She felt exhilarated, she was learning so much…even from just one night, and it was from more than just books and papers.

Zelda had thought she was in big trouble when Invincible asked them to write. She was sure that he would recognize her writing…even though she had tried to mask it. Zelda was so lucky that he just threw them into the fire.

Drawing in a painful breath, Zelda unleashed her Wisdom and called upon the power of Nayru's Love. All wounds became healed in that instant, and with that sigh of relief, she made it back to her bed. She flopped and spread out on it when she abruptly wondered; where was Moto?

As if hearing her thoughts, the little Keaton popped out from under the voluminous sheets. He looked very tired himself, and he looked like he was wearing a crown of tiny leaves on his small head.

"Old man?" Zelda gasped. "What's that on your head?"

Moto snatched the crown off and hid it behind his back. "Ku!" he said in his happiest, cutest voice. Zelda blinked in confusion. Just what had he been up to?

Well…that's a story for another day.

************

"I think daddy's being so unfair to him. I mean, I bet a lot of those guys going their at night aren't even half as talented as Rocco." Talon complained. She and the Princess were seated in their favorite café in Castle Town. Rocco, who was shadowing the Princess in the background, groaned.

"Mmm-hmm." Zelda hummed, three-quarters asleep.

"Don't get me wrong, Zelly, I don't blame you at all. I mean, you're the Princess and you need the best to protect you…but why couldn't daddy let him train to be First Rank anyway?"

Rocco groaned again. "Talon please…don't bother the Princess with this."

"I'm not bothering her! I think maybe she can talk to daddy-"

Raising up a hand, Rocco interjected. "She won't be able to do anything, Talon. Your father doesn't answer to the Royalty. He does what he thinks is right." He sighed woefully. "I have to admit, I think he's right too."

"Blah!" um…blahed Talon. "Zelly, what do you think?"

"Mmm-hmm." Zelda half-snored.

"Zelda?" Talon tried again.

"Mmm-hmm."

"Are you sleeping with Rocco?" Talon said with a smirk.

"Talon!!" Rocco gasped.

"Mmm-hmm." Zelda murmured.

Talon threw up her hands in frustration. "She's totally asleep. I bet she hasn't heard a word of any of this."

Rocco's face was red. "Still…" he squeezed through gritted teeth. "…that's not something you joke about!!"

"What? Oh, Rocco." She reached up and pinched his cheek. "You're just too sweet. I'm sorry, that was a bit rude. Let's try to wake Zelly up. Poke her with that spear of yours."

Rocco couldn't help but smile. "You know…how about -no! I'm not supposed to be here. Why don't you just give her a shove?"

Shrugging, Talon did just that. When Zelda didn't respond, she began to push her continuously. "Man, even Moto's out of it. What were these guys up to last night. Adventures in Dream Land?"

Suddenly, Zelda shot up and rubbed at her eyes and mouth sleepily. "Ugh…Mother's calling me back to the Castle." She got up to her feet, gave her friend a quick hug, and started quickly back to the Courtyard, leaving Rocco and Talon very confused.

On their way back, Rocco caught up with the quick moving Zelda. "Um, Princess, are you all right?" he asked carefully.

"Fine." She shot back irritably. "I…just didn't get much sleep last night, that's all."

Rocco nodded. "I have that problem sometimes, but we learn to rest on our feet. Princess, maybe you need to start taking naps."

Zelda smiled. After all her rudeness, and what the poor boy went through last nigh, he was still being so friendly. She was so jealous of Talon at that moment. "You know what, that's idea's not half-bad."

When they reached the entranceway to the Castle, they were greeted by the Queen, Impa and a young man in blue, shouldered leather armor. To his right side rested a large double-edged sword. He looked around Zelda's age, and his blue/green eyes were accentuated with large spiky red hair.

"Ah, Prince Roy." Zelda said, offering her hand. When she noticed the stunned look on his and her mother's face, she realized she made a mistake. Even though Zelda remembered him from last night, no one else knew that.

Roy shrugged it off and gracefully accepted her gloved hand and kissed it gently. "What they say about you is true, Princess, you are very clever."

"Too much for my own good." Zelda said with a smile. She sighed inwardly. This double-life thing was going to take some getting used to.

The Queen, as serene as ever, added. "Prince Roy hails from the Etruria Kingdom, across the great Ocean Realm…even though I'm sure you already knew that, Zelly."

Zelda gave her mother a terse smile and looked back at Roy, who was trying to comprehend what just happened between the mother and daughter. "So, your highness, what brings you here, and how long will you be staying with us?"

Roy shrugged. "Vacation, mostly. My people just got through a war a couple of years ago, and things are stable enough. My men thought I needed to get away though…and I've never been to Hyrule."

"An explorer." The Queen said with a dazzling smile. "That's very commendable."

"I think so too." Roy said cleverly. "I'm not sure how long I'll be staying. At least a month. I'm trying out for your 'First Rank' just to get the old juices flowing again, mind you."

Rocco growled, a sound barely perceptible to Zelda alone. She was glad Roy didn't have a Hylian's sharp sense of hearing.

"And how's that working out so far, your highness?" asked the Queen.

Roy thought about it for a moment. "All right, so far. Not at all what I expected. Your 'Sir Link the Invincible' is a very strong individual." He glanced over at Zelda, and then at Rocco, who had been trying as hard as he could to blend into the background. "This is going to be a very interesting four weeks."

Zelda wholeheartedly agreed.