* * *
It had been two years. A whole two years which April had spend in Zelda's body, learning the ancient art of Sheikah combat from Impa, Vaiya and others. She learned something about the area of "solid" air that she and Malon had stood on, too. Actually, it wasn't very much different from some of the invisible things in the shadow realm that could only be seen with the Eye of Truth. The magic that had occurred had been done almost automatically from the energy which the ancient Seer helped her obtain. Magic, too, was something she learned a great deal about.
It had started with the Book, which April knew would be coming into use at some point. The ancient Seer that shared the present Seer's name still commented throughout the book, mostly referring to Zelda and things she needed to do. April found it annoying at some points, because her tone was entirely too much like Vaiya's. Vaiya had become sort of like a older sister to April. The protecting bit, and then the bossing around, too. Her nickname for her had become ajitu, which April knew through the Triforce was the Sheikah word for pip-squeak. It refereed mostly to the fact that Zelda was pretty much useless in the area of physical strength against most, though should could defend herself if need be, and also the fact that she was now twelve (and a half, April would insist) and she hadn't grown an inch from when she first arrived at the village. Her face had changed, and she actually did start to look more like the adult version of herself. Her hair darkened a few shades, as well, which left her very confused as the adult Zelda in the game was practically platinum blonde.
She also had another visit from Nayru one night, and she had helped her learn a bit more about controlling the power of the Triforce. Apparently she would be needing it when the last battle came between Ganondorf and the Sages and Hero of Time. Also speaking of the Triforce, Vaiya had told the Elders about the breaking of the Triforce that had come true, right out of their legend. They reacted surprisingly well to the idea that a little girl possessed a third of the power it had taken for the goddesses to build Hyrule from scratch.
The Triforce also helped April in gaining a new skill. This was the equivalent of a mind conversation. With certain people who were sensitive to it, like Impa or Vaiya, she could communicate on another level without needing words. The thoughts sometimes came out very abstract at first, but she had started to perfect the technique through time.
At this point, April was getting restless, however. She wanted to visit Hyrule again, because a part of her soul was attached do it and it affected her metaphysical state. Surprisingly, Vaiya helped her win the argument she had with Impa over whether she could exit the realm and go to Kakariko for some 'shopping.' The condition was that Vaiya would go with her. Impa knew that Vaiya would protect the Princess with her life, though April knew she might try to get in her way of doing anything but looking in shops, including talking to people. Surprisingly, though, she didn't mind that so much.
* * *
April made her way carefully through the Kakariko market, thanking Nayru and her gift of cunning to Hylian kind. She never would have gotten Impa or Vaiya to agree to this without it. Even if she had to wear this cloak that was too big for her with a hood that hid her hair and most of her face, it was better than not being able to go at all.
It was extremely nice to be able to get out of that secluded little dimension. In it, she did feel somewhat at home, but usually she felt...isolated. Cut off from the land she was supposed to be helping. She knew the things they were doing actually were helping Hyrule to an extent, but she couldn't help feeling guilty about staying there, as odd as it felt to say it, in the past, while Link battled it out in their future. Guilt was a terrible feeling, and it haunted her during the night when she had no training to distract her mind.
She grumbled a bit as she shifted the heavy skin shopping bag from her left to her right shoulder. Now, it had only half of the things she needed, yet she was already beginning to feel as if her arm was going to fall off. She sighed under her breath. Now, she had to go visit the creepy lady in the potion shop. Then, she had to go to that new armory ...Vaiya would have to assist her in there, as they would never let a child like her buy heavy, expensive, and dangerous things such as weapons.
'Zelda.'
The sudden though entered her mind, cutting off her train of thought and nearly causing her to drop her bag. Speak of the devil...she thought.
'What was that?'
April smacked her forehead. She really needed to perfect the skill of keeping her private thoughts from these mind conversations.
'Nothing...What did you need, Vaiya?'
'Are you ready to go into the armory yet?'
April shrugged the bag higher onto her shoulder. 'No, but I will be in a minute. I wanted to go to the potion shop first.'
'So you can break the glass bottles when you try to put in the metal objects. Yes, I see the logic.'
Actually because I'm nearly standing right in front of it...but yeah....
'That logic works, too, I suppose. As long as you get a different bag for the potions.'
April didn't bother smacking her forehead.
'So, yeah. I'm heading over to the armory now, then.'
'I can see that, ajitu. I'm watching you, you know, and I'm not blind.'
'Then why'd you ask me where I was going in the first place!?'
'I'm not very familiar with the layout of this village, and I can't read your mind.'
Even though our city is a lot like this and you can understand perfectly what I'm thinking on my own most of the time.
'There's no need for sarcasm, Zel. Okay, perhaps I can usually read your mind...'
'Because you're a seer, I know!!' she mentally screamed, exasperated. She couldn't even escape these people and their antics when she had an escape in body.
She could feel Vaiya's surprise, though. '...See you in a moment, I suppose.'
Din, April heard her mutter as the connection was broken.
She rolled her eyes and changed direction in the way of the armory. It was more towards the entrance to Kakariko than the potion shop, and so it wouldn't be difficult to find even with the midday crowd, the many streets, and carts who weren't looking for small children. She tried to remember what it was that Sheik has asked her to get as she jumped out of the way of one such cart. Though she might not remember now, she though, she'd know probably when she saw it.
The crowd slowly but surely began to thin out. She was glad, and finally began to feel less claustrophobic. The relief seemed to get to her head too soon, though, as she felt herself being knocked out of the way. Quite violently, really.
She squeaked as she hit the ground, unexpected as her fall was, and began to turn around to see who it was that had pushed her. She was about to shout something not quite Princess-like at the large man, not really caring at the moment if Vaiya heard her or not, when she suddenly heard another voice over her own thoughts.
"Hey. You don't need to go around knocking people out of your way."
This is an oddly familiar voice, April thought.
"The whole road is practically open. It's not as if you have nowhere else to walk."
The words were obviously aimed at the person who had knocked her over. April strained to hear the voice further, though the sides of her cloak muffled the sound slightly despite her sharp hearing.
"P'sh, and whaddya gonna do 'bout it?" a different voice, the other man obviously, answered.
"You could apologize to this girl," the familiar voice said in a seemingly harmless tone. Though, April heard under it a deadly quality like that of a hidden blade. The way the 'could' had been accented even felt to her somewhat like cold steel.
She heard the large man shift and turn away, deciding it not worth the trouble. He mumbled some kind of apology as the lumbered off towards the crowd of people. She felt the owner of the voice, an oddly familiar presence, start to walk towards her as they made an annoyed sound.
"Some people can be so rude. Need a hand?"
The familiar voice stopped in front of her. She unconsciously pulled the mask under her hood farther up on her face as she glanced out of it to see who it was. Time froze and her heart stood still.
She saw the boots, first. Familiar ones, though she had seen ones like these several times. Craning her neck upwards in a painfully slow way, to her at least, she saw at first just a shade of forest green. It revealed itself to be a tunic. She the noticed a sword she knew she had seen before.
It's impossible, I know it's impossible.....!!
If it was possible, time seemed to stop even more as her mind dared to her look at this person's face.
When she did, she saw the eyes. They were a brilliant shade of blue. Like water, and the crystal blue color she had come to associate with Time.
Needless to say, this was Link.
Her mind spun with disbelief, her heart seemed to soar and fall to the pit of her stomach at once, and she suddenly felt very dizzy. She wanted to run, or scream, or cry, but she wasn't sure which. She wanted to disappear, or to get up and embrace him to make sure he was real.
Unfortunately, she could do none of these.
The frozen second in time collapsed, and April knew that though it felt like a long time for her, she wouldn't look suspicious when she answered him now.
"Yes, please," she said, disguising her voice with the Sheikah accent she had heard Vaiya use.
He reached a hand out to her as she attempted to keep herself from staring at his face. When she was again on her feet, she attempted to dust herself off and again adjust the hood without looking conspicuous. The last thing she wanted to do was to be recognized. It wasn't as if she had heard enough horror stories about what would happen to her if someone found out about her identity who wasn't in the er...other Kakariko. And if Ganondorf found out about her.
Plus, she didn't know how Link would react to her. Apparently, he wasn't supposed to see her until the seven year period was over. She didn't even know how he and Princess Zelda were supposed to meet. She had tried imagining the scene in her head, but it never seemed to want to cooperate with her. And the thing she secretly dreaded was that he would be angry at her for what had happened. She didn't think she'd be able to live with herself anymore if she knew that.
She figured that he was in Kakariko to get the Lends of Truth, which she recalled getting from the game as a child. She didn't know how Time worked in relation to how far he went back, such as if it had been two years that it took to complete the quest from when he first arrived in the future. She secretly hoped that wasn't the case, because she didn't want to have to wait that long to see Ganondorf dead and his reign ended. As it was, she had a feeling that he had seen a lot as an adult in Hyrule's future.
"That seems to be quite the internal monologue you've got going there," Link said, seemingly on the verge of laughing.
She blushed suddenly, realizing that she was still holding onto his hand. She had obviously been spacing out again, and this time...Time didn't seem to want to let her. Then she suddenly hoped that he was joking and didn't really know what she was thinking.
"I'm sorry!" she squeaked, trying to keep the accent and keep from laughing or something of the sort.
"That's fine," Link said, smiling a smile that she could avoid looking at. She felt like a puppet. A really stupid puppet that had no control over its own actions. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" he asked after a moment.
April looked up at him again, in a resolve not to let him know who she was. "No, we have not. You never knew me." She added that last part under her breath.
"Funny...I could have sworn..."
'Her eyes look exactly like Sheik's, that's why. Despite the color...' He thought to himself.
"Maybe we've met in a previous life," April added with a note of humor.
"Maybe..."
"Well, I've got to get going," she said, painfully though it felt to her. "Thank you, again."
With that, she turned on her heel, though not without a last glance at his face, and left him. She headed to where she was going to meet Vaiya, though something made her want to walk slower. The rest of her stay in Hyrule went by in a blur for her, though she tried to enjoy it. She knew it would probably be years again before she was allowed to come to this land that had somehow become a part of her.