Link dusted himself off, having landed directly on his backside. Pulling a nasty thorn from his forearm, he blew his cap out of his eyes. Suddenly he heard the exited nattering of the prince. His mouth forming a perfect little 0, he dove back into the bushes.

Zelda tried to nod and pretend to be listening to the Prince's gloating while ignoring him and trying to break away from him at the same time. She wanted to see what that noise was. She decided to put her Prince to better use. "Syhier, dear. Would you pick me a rose from my rose bush?" She asked sweetly, pushing him towards the rather squashed looking bush.

Link bolted to his feet, startling the prince and Zelda both. " Yes, princess, these roses are coming along nicely. Should have bloomed within today, don't you think?" he looked her straight in the eyes, smiling.

Zelda just stared. Why was HE here? So...she asked. "What are you doing, fishing around in my rose bushes!?" She asked furiously.

He smiled, hoping that she'd catch on soon. " Why, my lady, I'm the gardener you hired, REMEMBER?" he glared at the prince, who was busy trying to remember where he had seen the boy's face.

Zelda didn't know why...but she went along with it anyway..."Oh...yes....right..." She grabbed Syhier's arm and tore him away from site. "Syhier, how about you go in and get me a glass of water? I'm thirsty."

"But I'm a Prince--"

"I know you are. Please go get me one." She smiled convincingly. "For meeee?"

Syhier growled and stomped off as if he were being asked to haul coal.

Link winced at the accusatory gaze Zelda gave him. " He seems...nice," he said, watching the prince go.

Zelda walked straight up to Link and slapped him as hard as she could, making him stumble back into the Castle Wall. "Don't you EVER come to my Castle again, do you HEAR ME?!" She yelled. "You dare not show your face after the way you treated me last night. You have no idea the humiliation you put me through this morning..." She growled.

He raised a hand to his face, unable to take her gaze. " I just thought...if you had some idea that I wasn't so crazy about you, then maybe you'd go with him. You know I think its wrong me being here." he looked at her apologetically

"I just wanted to explain..." his words trailed off.

"If you were half as crazy about me as I was about you last night, you wouldn't have even taken a thought to shoving me off into that stupid Prince's face! And you're right. It's wrong for you to be here. I can't forgive someone who's broken my heart into more pieces than I can count..." Her eyes accused him more than her words. "There is nothing to explain..." She muttered coldly.

Link looked away from her again. " Well, if I can't leave here with an apology, could I at least get back my locket?" he looked down at the ground. " Just so I can remember that time we still had each other."

Zelda was silent. The locket. Memories flooded her mind. She turned away...she couldn't stand to have him see her crying...not after what she'd said and done. Finally, she did what first came to her mind. "No. You may not have the locket...it was never yours in the first place..." She said, still not turning around, her fingertips to her forehead.

" He stepped over to her, every bone in his body urging him to comfort her. He placed a hand on her shoulder gently.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She spun around and slapped his hand off of her shoulder. "Don't you understand?!" She said through clenched teeth. "What you did was unforgivable..."

he looked into her eyes, this time grabbing both of her shoulders. " don't you dare accuse me of meaning what I said then," he said through gritted teeth. " I did it so that letting you go wouldn't be so hard. but it didn't work." his face softened, his eyes filling with tears. " I did it because I don't deserve you. I did it so that you could get on with being you, without having to worry about me. don't you understand?"

Zelda looked at her hands, searching for words. "I can't go on with being me...you are part of me...and losing you means I'm not who I need to be..." She whispered softly.