NOTE FROM ALUNAER:

That last chapter was kind of long. There was a lot to fit in. To refresh your memory . . . go read the chapter again in you forgot! :p Ehehe . . . anyways. This chapter is a little filler-in-thingeh about Jaeil's life during Hyrule Field. However, what happens when she meets our hero (no, this story is NOT a romancey Mary-Sue! There is NO romance in this story)? Find out!

Chapter Two: Grass and A Green Boy

Jaeil rode hard.

She didn't know where she was headed. She just knew she had to get away from the place she used to call home.

It was nearly dark when Jaeil pulled the mare up short beside a stream. After chasing round Hyrule Field all day, not knowing what to do, the little mare deserved a drink at the very least. Jaeil stroked the mare's long neck. "What do we name you, then?" Jaeil asked, more to herself than the beast. She sat by the stream, watching her horse drink ravenously at the stream, occasionally blowing bubbles in her direction. Jaeil smiled, looking over at the animal. Her coat was silky smooth and blacker than the night sky. Some parts of her flanks were so black that they gave off a deep blue light.

Jaeil sat up sharply as a name came to her. It seemed to have been spoken by a voice; warm, mellow and full of music.

Syrilee.

Jaeil smiled. Syrilee was the name of the black, winged mare that pulled the chariot of the Mistress of the Night, the one whom the Goddesses had appointed to guard the stars in the old Gerudo legends. Syrilee pulled the chariot of stardust with her mistress in it, drawing the Veil of Night across the sky, pulling the Moon from her resting place and telling the Sun that it was time to sleep.

It seemed fitting for a mare of her color, Jaeil decided. She smiled again, standing and walking over to the newly named Syrilee. The mare had stopped drinking and looked at Jaeil with her large, black eyes. Intelligence and understanding radiated from them. Jaeil hugged her warm neck, resting her cheek on the mare's own.

She had found a friend in the world outside.

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Things went on quite uneventfully for two years. In fact, sometimes Jaeil became so bored that she would have welcomed a Stalchild attack. The only action she got was hiding and running from search parties, Hylian and Gerudo alike.

Jaeil had built a little encampment right beside the rushing waters of Zora's River. She had spent many a night digging the large hole and planting the wood firmly into place until she had a small, comfortable room. On cold nights, she would sleep inside the hovel, and on warm ones, she would snooze beneath the starlight, becoming instantly awake at any unfamiliar smell, touch, or heavy vibration in the ground. One of these instances was when a Gerudo hunting party was riding nearby. Jaeil, who had been sleeping soundly beside a riverbed, felt the trampling of hooves and bolted upright, left hand clutching at her dagger. Their loud voices, which they made no effort to disguise, woke Jaeil up rather quickly.

Thud! Thud! Thud! The hoof beats were growing louder. Syrilee whickered and pawed the ground. Jaeil rose silently to her feet, taking Syrilee's jaw rope and leading her to the cover of a few nearby trees. Jaeil was about to turn and run when she heard Damare's distinct voice.

"Listen, all of you. If the Princess was still alive, then we would have found a trace of her presence. She was always a dunderhead when it came to hiding her tracks. We should know; how else were we able to find her in the ranch? There was no trace of the slain guards, but there were plenty of bruised leaves and scuffs in the dirt. A piece of her leggings had torn off as well, too."

Another spoke. "So you say, Damare. She was always an excellent hider, just not very clean about it. If Jaeil didn't want to be found, she was never found until she revealed herself. You could track her right to her hiding spot and not find her. I know from experience that that sneaky little rat of a Princess can . . . " The woman continued speaking, but Jaeil didn't listen. Her stomach lurched with horror as she recognized the voice;

Arenth. Oh, Goddesses above, please, please, please don't let them find me! But it seemed that the Goddesses' minds were elsewhere; the team was nearing her hiding spot and there was nowhere to run without risking exposure. In desperation, she threw her prized dagger, twisting her arm so that it would appear to have come from a more westerly direction.

The dagger curved sharply, cutting a cruel gash in Arenth's arm and burying itself in the dirt. Quickly, the team wheeled and headed west after snatching up the dagger, Arenth staunching the blood flow with the torn sleeve of her cloak. Jaeil cursed mentally; there went her weapon.

Damare lingered on her mount, surveying the general area. She spotted the dense bush thickets where Jaeil hid, her piercing amber eyes that were trademark to the Gerudo women seeming to look past the foliage. Jaeil looked up and locked her gaze with Damare for a moment.

Damare narrowed her eyes and turned, following the rest of the band. As she passed over the hill, she dropped a bag. Jaeil's curiosity was peaked as she watched her disappear.

It was not until mid-day had settled that Jaeil allowed herself to emerge. Snatching the bag, she fetched Syrilee and rode back to her camp.

Reaching into the bag, Jaeil felt dried meat and fruit. Obviously, they were a few of Damare's survival rations. Beneath the food, she felt a scrap of paper. There was a note hurriedly scrawled on the coarse parchment.

Jaeil, if you're still alive;

Writing this while on night shift. I can't say much. How are you? I'm in a tight position here, seeing as I brought you back to base after you-know-what happened.

Two years seems like a decade, doesn't it? Well, I'll give you a filler-in. Ever since you left, your dad's been in a thunderous mood. He rages and throws things, much like you do when you're mad, cursing Arenth, Teiya and the rest of the committee with the wrath of the Goddesses. I bet Din herself couldn't get madder.

Oh, and one more thing . . . your friend, Yarael what's-her-face . . . she's run away. She went to find you and I haven't heard from her since. Is she with you? If not, hope she's all right.

Just stick to the plan; eat, sleep and watch. I'm working to prove your innocence, but there's a plot somewheres. I have to pretend that I'm searching for you to kill you, or else I'm the one who'll be killed. Bang! There goes your free ticket out of exile.

Your dad can't even overrule the Council; the Twinrovas Koume and Kotake, your step-grandmothers, are backing them and you know how the King is about them . . . crud. Can't say anymore here; Nabooru is trying to read over my shoulder. Gotta go!

Oh . . . happy birthday for whenever you celebrate it. Sorry I can't tell you in person.

Best, Damare

Jaeil slowly folded up the note, putting it back in the sack, wiping a tear away. She silently thanked Damare for the news, but now she was worried. What had happened to Yarael? The girl couldn't track if her life depended on it and she could hardly lift a standard-issue sword, let alone fight with one; her only advantage was speed. Yarael was the fastest message-runner in the Fortress; she could take and bring back a message in half the time it took Damare to deliver one. And that is saying something.

Tossing the bag into her little burrow, Jaeil rolled onto her back, staring at the stars. The night was warm and humid, smelling of summer. Syrilee whickered softly, nuzzling Jaeil's cheek. The ex-princess reached up and stroked the mare's fuzzy snout before closing her eyes. Soon, Jaeil's breathing grew deep as she slept lightly. Syrilee trotted away from her mistress, staring into the sky. The starlight rebounded in the mare's wise eyes, and she stood motionless for a moment. Then she trotted back, folding her legs under her. Making a kind of wall around Jaeil as if to shield her, Syrilee bowed her head and slowly closed her dark eyes and she, too, slept lightly, ears pricked and listening even in slumber.

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Jaeil's birthdays were celebrated quietly by Syrilee and herself. The mornings were always rosy and the weather just right for adventuring, so on these days, Jaeil would take Syrilee to an unexplored area of Hyrule. Something odd would always happen on her birthday, too, but it was always welcome.

On the dawn of her fifteenth year, a ball of blue fire streaked across the sky and landed not too far off from Jaeil. Her eyes flew open and she leaped to her feet, swinging herself onto Syrilee's back. The horse reared and took off, Jaeil steering her towards the spot. A glowing pit banked sharply down at the site of landing.

Pulling Syrilee up short, Jaeil cautiously dismounted and peered into the small crater. A deep blue glow pulsated in its depths, and Jaeil jumped in, just managing to keep her footing as she slid sharply down.

A beautiful sword-like dagger with a green pommel stone stuck point-first into the ground. Her eyes grew wide; this was a weapon of true power. The air seemed to hum as she reached out for it. When her fingertips came into contact with the hilt, it whistled slightly and a flash blinded her for a moment. Something burned her hand and she cried out; but then, as her vision cleared, she found herself out of the pit holding the dagger.

Looking it over interestedly, Jaeil saw a message carved into the metal blade. Written in ancient Hylian script, they morphed before her eyes into Gerudo runes that she could read. She passed a hand over the writing; it thrummed under her skin.

Remember the Princess said one side. The words swirled with an intense myriad of color.

Turning it over, an inscription read Become the Warrior. Each beautifully executed letter swarmed with bright golden light.

Jaeil stared at the beauty of the blade as she turned it over and over in her hands. She had been brought up around all kinds of weapons, but this blade was an entirely different design. It was an assassin's blade, honed to kill with one strike.

Although Jaeil didn't notice before hesitantly sticking it in her belt, the writing disappeared to make way for line after line of poetry, glowing with the truth of prophecy.

Wielded by one cast out not long ago
I am a blade of divine get.
Speak to the wind and see Time's throes
I tell my own tale of promise and threat.

I tell of what will lie ahead
But with whichever way, is either your friend?
I, Blood-sapper, a Blade of Din
Will show the path to the very end.

Bear the Heart of the First
Share the Destiny of the Second
Spill the Blood of the Third
And with History reckon

But there can only be Three; those who Wield the Divine Force
And put an End to the Dragon's wrath
So the Hero's Triumph
Will End the Last One's Path.

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Today, Jaeil and Syrilee were going to go explore the Kokiri Forest. No Gerudo had ever been there before, and Jaeil wanted to be the first.

Quietly, the twosome plodded across the precarious bridge. Jaeil could feel the hum of magic in the air. Tiny fairies watched them silently cross.

The bridge creaked under their combined weight, and Jaeil froze. Dismounting, she turned to Syrilee. "You go back now, beauty. Wait outside the tunnel; but please, can you come if I call you, Syrilee?"

The mare's dark eyes were gentle. Syrilee batted Jaeil's hand with her nose before trotting back the way she came. The soft ringing of hoof on wood sounded too loud to Jaeil. She could not suppress a slight shudder as she watched Syrilee traipse out of sight.

Jaeil took a deep breath in. The air was sharp, clean. It seemed . . . alive . . . somehow, too. She lifted her head and gasped; there seemed to be no end to the foliage above her. Sunlight shone down through cracks in the leaves, leaving warm spots on the ground and illuminating the grass. Jaeil stuck her hand in front of a beam and watched as the light danced across her dark honey skin, playing across the fine scars that wove across her palm.

She studied the ground beneath the bridge. It was green and grassy, dotted here and there by small trees. Walls rose up on either side; these were obviously man-made, not something that Nature had created over several thousands of years.

Grass was by now a familiar concept, having spent years away from the sand and heat of the desert. Jaeil swung herself from the bridge and landed softly on all fours. The grass made a soft carpet on the ground, like the plush rugs that littered the sleeping quarters of the guards. Jaeil ran a hand through the small blades, remembering the first time her father had taken her outside the Fortress.

It was a beautiful clear day, and it was then that Da' had decided to go hunting. He took me, his four-year-old princess, along with him. "We don't spend much time together, Jay-jay," he'd said to me. And it was true. His kingly duties separated him from his children more and more often. I knew him best, so I missed him most. Any chance to be with my father, just the two of us, was one memory that never left, no matter how young I was at the time.

Swinging me up on his prize coal-black warhorse, Thyundhar, he sat me in front of him on the saddle. Grasping the reins firmly in his hand, he gave the horse a slap on the hindquarters and shouted, "Yah!" With a roar like a thunderbolt, the horse took off! I clung to Thyundhar's mane, frightened of falling off.

When we entered Hyrule Field, Father slowed the horse to a trot. Thyundhar took us up a hill and stood at the top. I gasped as I saw the sea of green around me.

Da' dismounted and lifted me off, where I immediately threw off my shoes and catapulted down the hill. At the bottom, I leaped to my feet and dusted grass clippings out of my long red hair. I saw my father at the top of the hill, with the sun behind him. He called for me to come back, but he was laughing.

Climbing back up was a lot harder than going down. When I reached the top, Da' stooped down and grabbed me into a bear hug. In the doing of it, however, he toppled over and we rolled down the hill. Laughing, Da' jumped up again, pulling me to my feet. I fell onto my back, cushioning my head with my arms. Da' sat down beside me. I picked a stalk of grass.

"Da', what's this?" I asked him.

"That's grass, Jaeil. We don't have it in the desert." I nodded seriously.

"Yeah. All we have is sand." I paused. "Did we use to have grass in the desert?"

He sighed. "Yes, Jaeil. But the sun was so strong and so bright that the grass became the sand."

I looked the blade of grass over. It was soft and slightly wet from when I had picked it.

"Da'?"

"Yes?"

"Will this grass become the sand, too?"

Da' was quiet for a moment. He ran his hand through the soft carpet of grass.

"I don't think so. I hope not."

Standing, he scooped me up and put me on his shoulders. From this high vantage point I could see the entire field and further. Da' sighed.

"I love this land, Jay-jay. Don't you?"

"Yeah. It's so pretty." I was seized by a sudden thought. "Why don't we live here? Then Yarael, Zaneiri and me could play in the grass and not get sand in our eyes. And everybody would like the nice sun here."

My father laughed at my naivety. "Because this land doesn't belong to us."

"Does the desert?"

"Yes, Jay-jay. The desert is ours."

"Then . . . why can't we have the grass, too? There's no one else here . . . " I saw no reason why we didn't move here. It was all perfectly clear in my mind.

Da' reached up and took my hand. "Because there are others who have this place. The King of Hyrule does. The Hylian people do. The Zora People do. So do the Goron People and the animals of this land. Sometimes, some of us do live here for a while, but they always have to come back."

I was quiet. My father was leading me to new concepts.

"Oh."

We were both silent for a while, looking out at the vast expanse of green. Then he laughed.

"We were supposed to go hunting today!" Taking me back over to Thyundhar and swinging me onto the saddle, he said, "Come on, I'll show you how to use a crossbow."

We returned to the Fortress victorious with two bags full of Guays and Gakkows that we had shot, six of whom I had felled. Da' ruffled my already mussed ringlets. "You're going to be a warrior of warriors when you grow up, Jay-jay," he said softly. I smiled, hefting the heavy crossbow over my shoulder. I had a feeling that Da' was right.

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Jaeil smiled, picking a short blade of the jade-green grass and sticking it into her pocket. Straightening up, Jaeil leaped onto a short stump, springing onto a short outcropping. Two log tunnels loomed before her. But before she could decide which one to take, a green-clad boy rushed from the northernmost one and attacked with a yell.

Jaeil met the boy head-on, her long dagger out, parrying each bone-shocking thrust. His strength was extraordinary; her father would have a hard time parrying his blows. But Jaeil met his battle rage with her own; she struck with unbecoming ferocity as sparks played off of their blades.

The green boy was surprised, she could tell. But he was a seasoned fighter, and kept up with her battle dance with surprising intensity. Jaeil found time between a blow to yell, "Who the hell are you?!"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?!" he yelled back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jaeil spotted several children coming towards them. Both her and green boy ceased fighting as they came up. Jaeil stared for a moment, but it was enough time for her opponent to hit her on the head, none too lightly, with the sword hilt.

Slowly, Jaeil turned around. "Ow. That hurt."

Facing the bridge, she yelled, "SYRILEE!" and collapsed at his feet. The black horse thundered in and made an amazing leap from bridge to ledge. Green boy wasn't sure, but he thought that he saw wings sprout from the horse's back, enabling it to glide over. He shrugged it off as they faded into nothingness.

"Come on. I need you to help me carry her." Green boy held out a hand to the horse. Syrilee batted his hand with her nose before nuzzling Jaeil's cheek. The green-clad boy sighed, hoisting the unconscious Gerudo girl onto her back. Taking Syrilee's bridle, he led her through the maze of tunnels and into the heart of the Kokiri Forest.

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Ah! So Jaeil's survived those years in exile. Seems a great place to end, so . . . bye!