The sun slowly set as the boat arrived back in the Hyrule docks. The first off the boat was Ruto who stumbled off onto the short wooden pier and stretched up her arms yawning loudly.
"Thank Din that's over with." She said out loud to no one in particular. She then turned and spotted the guard that had taken her bag away before the challenge. "Hey you! Hey you heard me! Get me my bag back or I'll have your head on my wall!" The fish princess screamed as she ran after the startled guard.
Mido who had been standing near Ruto took off after her, tripping over loose wooden planks as he went.
"I'd love to see what their kids turn out like." Saria said to Link as they headed for the castle.
"Don't even put that thought into my head, I'd be terrified of anything that those two made." Link grinned.
Soon they had arrived back inside the castle. A maid came into the hallway and escorted them into the dining hall for some food. Saria suddenly grabbed Link's arm.
"Link I'm scared." She whispered. Link turned to her with a serious expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" He replied.
"I'm scared of what could happen in that dining hall! I mean last time they left us out of the food fight!" The two burst out laughing and carried on walking into the big room with the long table and red carpet.
The king was standing at the top of the table ready to congratulate Link and Saria on their winning of the island challenge and to the rest of them for taking part.
The king then called to one of the guards to bring in the list for the final round of battles to be held in the battle hall. The guard fumbled around in some cupboards knocking a few things out of it.
"Oh come on man, how long does it take to find a piece of paper?" the king growled as he grew impatient. The young guard stumbled over and the king snatched the paper out of his hand. The guard then hurried out of the room tripping over the things he had knocked out of the cupboard. The king shook his head then began to read out the list.
"Hmm ah right! Now then, tomorrow shall be a free day for all of you which means you may stay here or go where you please. The day after will be the final set of battles. Hmmm let me see…" After he had read out a few names he got to Link. "Then we shall have Link against Zelda and at the same time we shall have Saria against Alfos Red!" He then threw the paper behind him and sat down with his glass of wine.
Everyone began to talk again as the feast went on, everyone but Saria that is. She just sat there staring at the table and fidgeting with the edge of the table cloth. Link who was next to her had noticed this and knew exactly what she was thinking about.
"Hey don't worry Sar, that old weirdo will probably never show up anyway, since he didn't win the 50 points he wanted there's no way for him to win so he did a runner instead."
Saria looked up and let the table cloth drop from her hands. "Yeah you're probably right." She said with a weak smile.
Link retuned the smile. " Of course I am! And if he does turn up and gives you amnesia or something, don't worry I'll make sure to lock you up in a nice safe room so you don't go wandering away and I'll send some food under the door once a day." He started laughing as Saria gave him a whack on the arm and a 'that's so not funny' look.
When Link had finally calmed down he remembered he still had Saria's locket in his pocket.
"Oh I almost forgot I've still got your locket." He took it out of his pocket but as he was handing it to Saria Zelda got sight of it.
"Hey that's really nice, can I see?" Saria agreed and gave Zelda the locket. The princess stared at the golden object for a few seconds then said something.
"Wow this is very unusual but I've got a feeling I've seen this exact locket somewhere before." Link thought Zelda had the same look on her face that Rauru had done when he had seen the locket. Zelda shrugged and handed the locket back just as there was a loud thud and the hall doors flew open to reveal a panting Ruto carrying her massive bag.
"I got it!" She shrieked as she struggled to walk to her chair while holding the bag. The Zora princess slammed the bag down behind her seat and hopped into it, two guards came up to take the bag into another room but Ruto quickly turned around and made a fuss.
"Uh I don't think so pretty boys! It took me ages to get that thing away from your kind and I don't intend doing it again. Please step slowly away from the bag and no one will get hurt." The guards didn't hesitate in not moving away as they ran out of the room.
A few minutes later the maids began to clear the table just as Ruto was getting started on the main course. She made a pouting face as all the plates were taken away and quickly grabbed some food to take away with her.
The king eyed the table then spotted his daughter at the other end talking to Impa about the island adventure.
"Zelda! Oh Zelda dear! Why don't you come up here and tell your father all about your adventures?" Zelda went bright red because of her father calling her like that in front of a load of guests. She pushed her chair out and let out a long sigh. "Yes father as you wish." She mumbled slowly heading towards him.
Ruto snorted being thankful her father wasn't around to boss her about. She let her gaze fall upon Saria and the locket. "Hmm now that I think about it, I'm sure I've seen that locket somewhere before, but I can't picture where." She then jumped up, grabbed her bag and wobbled towards the door.
Link had been thinking about Alfos Red when he remembered Impa had taken him off the island when his whistle had been blown. "Hey Impa." Link started as he moved over next to her. "What happened to Alfos?"
Impa lowered her voice and leaned in towards to young hero. "To tell the truth, I have no idea. Mr. Red vanished in a cloud of smoke as soon as we returned to the beach." Link's face turned into a startled expression as Impa left the table to go and see if Zelda needed anything.
Saria wandered around the enormous castle taking in all the amazing things it had that the people of the castle took for granted. The tall grand walls, the beautiful paintings and the lush carpets could make a person feel very small in comparison to it all. She continued to stare at how high the walls were when she collided with someone who seemed to be in a bit of a panic. Saria who had fallen on the floor along with the other person rubbed her head then looked up.
"Mido? What the heck were you doing?" She asked watching an over reacting Mido get off the floor.
"Wha? Oh I'm sorry Saria, I didn't see you." He reached a hand downto help herup. "Eh heh I was kinda' lost and I was getting into a state because thoughts of never finding the way were running through my head and I uh…" Saria gave him a weird look then burst out laughing. Mide went beat red and sat on the floor. "It's not funny!" He whined pulling threads out of the carpet. Saria stopped laughing then held out her hand. "Come on let's go find Ruto for you."
Link sighed as he strolled along one of the long corridors of the castle. He couldn't wait until this whole tournament was over and he could just go home. As he turned a corner he saw Saria and Mido dashing along the carpet but it wasn't just Saria and Mido, it was Saria and Mido holding hands. Link stopped and rubbed his eyes while wondering if he had just seen that right. He saw the two enter one of the guest rooms so he stood outside as voices began to be heard. Some words he couldn't make it but he knew he'd heard this line clear enough.
"I'll always love you and don't forget it." Link was horrified at this and ran off down the passage locking himself in one of the rooms.
Ruto hugged Mido as she had said this and thanked Saria for helping him find his way around the castle. Saria left the room and went off to look for Link.
Link locked the door behind him and fell onto the bed. He lay on his back while putting his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. The moon was looming high above the land as a light breeze swished through the blades of grass outside the castle. Link didn't notice any of this as he was deep in thought.
"How could they do this to me? What do they think they are playing at?" Were his first two thoughts but he realised he shouldn't overreact, he needed to get the full story.
Link stepped out of the room and headed back the way he had came. He noticed Ruto and Mido coming out of another room and his anger began to rise when he saw Mido. Link didn't know what came over him, he ran down the passage and sent a fist into Mido's face.
"You jerk! You've always wanted Saria for yourself. You wanted her so much you sank to cheating behind mine and Ruto's backs!" Mido put his hand to his bleeding face which had an astonished look on it. Ruto also looked shocked and wondered if Link had been taking something.
"What in all of the land are you on about?" Ruto demanded stepping in front of Mido.
Link pointed an accusing finger at Mido yelling something about hearing him and Saria talking about loving each other forever earlier on. Ruto thought for a minute then hit Link over the head.
"You doofus! That was me and Mido talking, not him and Saria. She had helped him find me and she was just leaving when we were talking about that. I'm ashamed at you for even thinkingMido and especially Sariawould do something like that!"Link let his finger drop and took out a cloth which he gave to Mido.
"I'm really sorry, I guess I overreacted."
Ruto let out a cough. "Yeah you did just a tiny bit." She answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes and walking off closely followed by Mido.
Saria stood on the balcony of one of the guest rooms. There was a great view of the whole of Hyrule stretched out in front of her. It was getting late so she decided to get some sleep in a few minutes. Link slipped through the door without her noticing, he crept up behind her and put his arms around her.
"Hey Link." She smiled. He looked startled.
"How'd you know it was me?"
She turned around and flicked his nose. "Well I didn't think someone like Ruto or Zelda would come up and do that, you were the obvious answer." She then grabbed his hat and took off out the door. Link span around and ran after her. "Hey! Why'd you have to take my hat, couldn't take a shoe or something? Nooo had to be the hat!"
In the middle of the dark Hyrule fields a dark figure travelled slowly towards the castle. "I may have lost the island challenge but I refuse to lose the tournament. Make no mistake, the prize is mine." The figure then disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
