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Disclaimer: I own Zelda... in my dreams...

Chapter 4: Meeting a New Friend

"Zelda, are you absolutely sure about this?"

"You don't believe me?"

The two had been walking rather aimlessly through the many hallways of Hyrule Castle when Link suddenly paused, asking that question as he did so. "No, no! Of course I believe you, Zelda," he answered hastily. "It's just that things have been peaceful for so long; and now..."

"Conflict is not yet certain; I've merely felt some signs of resentment rising, that's all. It's nothing to be worried about," Zelda finished, continuing with her stroll through the castle.

Link sighed, taking a few larger steps to catch up with the princess. "Let's hope it stays that way; I'd rather not have to go through that again."

Zelda merely nodded, not wanting to think of the consequences if the little bit of "resentment" she felt turned out to be the devious plots of yet another madman... like Ganondorf.

"What about the girl?" the Hero of Time asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Will she be a part of this... this whole resentment business?"

This time, it was Zelda who stopped. "Yes," she finally answered, after a moment of stillness. "I'm not quite sure what role she'll play though. Most likely simply an innocent who'll be swept up in the fight. She doesn't seem like much of a fighter."

"Yeah," Link agreed. "The blade of her sword doesn't seem to have a lot of nicks and scratches on it, even though the hilt seems well worn. I can't judge the staff - never used one." He looked at the ceiling thoughtfully before continuing. "There's something strange about the fix she was in though. Stalchildren NEVER attack in the day, and NEVER in such huge numbers. In all my rounds around the field, I've never seen or heard of it happening before. Unless she's just plain unlucky, the only other explanation would be that someone with a good amount of magic ability and knowledge actually ordered them to attack..."

The Princess of Hyrule shrugged. "Appearances aren't everything, but I still don't think she's the type who would order an attack on herself. Plus, she'd have to be quite the magic user..." Zelda paused for a moment, thinking over what she had just said. "Well... we'll just have to find out ourselves, won't we? I'm pretty sure that she can be trusted though, seeing that, if we were to have any problems, she would be on our side."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Wouldn't hurt to be careful though, would it?" Link grinned.

"No, it wouldn't. But it'd probably be better for us to gain her trust too; that way we can find out a bit more about her," Zelda retorted, smiling.

"How come you're always right and I'm always just a bit off?"

"Define 'a bit', Link."

Meanwhile, in a dark room, the girl slowly opened her eyes. She gradually propped herself up, aware of the burning pain in her arms. She couldn't understand why for the love of Nayru she was in a large canopy bed with velvet blankets. And why she was in a spacious, elegant room and not in a prison cell with straw in her hair and all of her belongings gone. She glanced around the chamber. The sun's last rays, seeping through a window, provided barely enough light for her to see that her sword and staff were still on her shoulder belt, lying on a shelf. She jumped out of bed, and was just about to grab her weapons when the door opened.

"You're finally awake! But you shouldn't be wandering around! Your wounds aren't healed yet!" A figure walked in, holding a lit lantern. She swung her arm in front of her once, and immediately, all of the conveniently hanging lamps on the walls lit up by themselves.

Gasping, the girl asked, "How did you do that?"

"Magic," answered the figure, a bit too mysteriously for the girl's comfort.

Hurried footsteps accompanied a second, deeper voice. "Zelda! Where are you going with that lamp! She's not- oh."

The new figure, who the girl recognized as her rescuer, stopped at the door, a little surprised, but he quickly overcame it and walked in with a grin on his face and in his bright blue eyes. "Hi! Glad to see you're awake! My name's Link! And this is Zelda," he gestured to the first figure, who smiled cheerfully. "What's your name?"

The girl stammered a bit, "M- my name's Kira. Um... are you by any chance the Princess of Hyrule?"

"Yes, but you really don't have to treat me any differently than you would treat others. I hate it when people do that," Zelda replied, still smiling.

Kira sighed wih relief, "Wow... I guess that's good news for me... I... don't really know what I would say to a princess."

"Well... You have to say 'yes your Majesty this' and 'yes your Highness that' and you have to bow and you have to- OW! Hey! What was that for?" Link complained, gingerly clasping his throbbing ear.

"I needed to shut you up," Zelda answered curtly.

Kira could only stare at the strange display of complete disrespect for a princess and complete lack of manners on the princess' part.

Link was the first to break the awkward silence. "Um... Kira... Why were you in that tree? And was there anyone else with you?"

"No. Just me and Areon. We're travelers." Seeing her audience's confused looks, she quickly added, "Areon's my stallion. We were just... um... returning from a far away country... uhh... after a couple of years of training there... and... and... we got lost while trying... to find some relatives of mine so I... climbed in the tree to... get a better view and then the Stalchildren attacked... and that's how I got stuck in the tree." She beamed innocently at them.

Link was very confused now. The more he listened to Kira's story, the more he was convinced that she was lying, despite what Zelda had said.

She's keeping something from us; I just know it.

He pretended to fix his hat, while glancing at Zelda to see what she felt. She blinked at him and said to Kira, "I know you're probably in a hurry to get home, but please stay here until your wounds heal."

Kira accepted the offer graciously. Link understood what Zelda was trying to do. They would just have to play along with Kira's story. He fished around in his pouch, mentioning, "I found this on the ground near the tree. I think it's yours..." He held out a Triforce-shaped pendant.

Kira eagerly snatched it out of his hand. "Oh! My pendant! It must have dropped out of my sword sheath when I drew my sword! Thank you for finding it!"

She checked the delicate pendant to make sure that the three golden triangles were still firmly welded together. Satisfied that they weren't about to fall apart, she looked up with a confused expression and asked, "Did you put this black string on it?"

"I did. I figured that it would be harder to lose it if you had it around your neck all the time. And the string's been magically enhanced - it won't break," answered Zelda. "Do you like it?"

"I really do! Ahhh! Thank you so much! The old cord I used to have snapped, so I just kept the pendant in my sheath all the time." Kira slipped the string on. It was a perfect fit.

"Oh, by the way, Kira, I polished your weapons. I was a little bored... Hope you don't mind." Link added.

"I don't mind at all! In fact, I've been meaning to do that for a while now... Th- Thank you!" Kira retrieved her weapons from the shelf. Her short sword's blade glowed in the light, and the silver Hylian emblem (A/N: the phoenix symbol) engraved on the black hilt sparkled brightly. "Ahhh... I- I... You're all too kind..."

Noticing that the girl's eyes were starting to brim with tears, Zelda decided to change the topic and asked, "Isn't that the emblem of the Royal Family? Where did you get that sword?"

Kira paled a bit at that. "Um... my father gave it to me. He was... he was... a Hylian knight."

"Was? What happened to him? Was he killed in the line of duty? I'm sure Father can arrange a memorial for him if you want... He must have been a very distinguished officer to have a silver emblem. Normally only the high ranking officials get silver ones; knights typically get bronze."

"Oh no, he's not dead. He's just... uh... retired. And he accomplished... many great feats during the war so the King rewarded him," Kira returned hurriedly.

"That's good to know. What about your staff? Did he give that to you too?" questioned Zelda.

"He didn't. Someone else gave it to me as a gift," answered Kira. "Um... Would you like to hold it?"

Zelda nodded. "May I?"

The staff's polished hardwood handle gleamed in the lantern's light. The Princess of Hyrule held it up admiringly, her delicate fingers curving around the strips of worn cloth wound on the rod to give it a better grip. A large and flawless pearl, clutched by an angular golden talon, shaped roughly like that of an eagle, adorned the top. A golden knob embellished the bottom.

"It's such a lovely staff," Zelda exclaimed, handing the weapon back to Kira.

Link agreed, "Yep. I've yet to see one that looks better. Do you know any spells?"

Kira blushed. "Just a few. I'm not that great..."

"Princess! It's time for dinner!" Impa's voice sounded from the open doorway.

"Yeah! Finally! I'm starving! What's for dinner?" Link exclaimed.

"Hmph. You're always hungry, Link. It doesn't matter what we're going to eat because you're going to eat it all anyways!"

"So?"

"So you're just an useless pig we should throw into the streets!"

"Hey! What happened to the kind princess I used to know?"

"What happened to the quiet boy I used to know?"

"Well... EXCUUUUSE ME!" (A/N: I had to add that)

"For what? For being the most annoying person in Hyrule?"

Again, Kira could only stare and sigh as she followed the two mock debaters down the stairs toward the dining room.

A/N: Didja like it? Starting with this chappie, (and ending with the 6th) bits of Kira's history will be hinted at and anyone who can guess part of it in their reviews will get... um... an imaginary thingymajiggy! Hehe. Anyway... Please review!