Disclaimer: This story is pure fan fiction, and I do not own any of the characters in it. The Zelda characters are all property of Nintendo.

A/N: Next chapter, people! Thank you so much for the reviews I received for chapter 10. I would like to give my special thanks to Selah Lahai Roi, for your long, nice review, and GuruGuru214. But, of course, every review is very appreciated. Anyway… one of you who reviewed told me that Marth actually is from a game called Fire Emblem. I didn't know that, I just know him from SSBM, but thanks for telling me.

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Chapter eleven: Reunion

Nightmares. They had been haunting Impa in her sleep for four long years now. They were nightmares about events that had taken place over forty long years ago, though she remembered them so well. She had been a young girl at the time, perhaps nine or ten years old. She'd had those nightmares frequently ever since it had happened, but when she first had met Zelda, the nightmares had ceased… But now, they were disturbing her sleep once again, and they had been ever since that day when the Princess disappeared.

She tossed and turned in her sleep, stirring, but not waking up…

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Flashback, 42 years ago, Kakariko village

"Impa?" A woman with dark brown hair, soft, chocolate brown eyes and a gentle voice, was calling for her nine year old daughter.

"Yes, Mother?" A young girl appeared in the doorway. She had brown hair just as her mother, but hers was a bit lighter. She had big, beautiful blue eyes and her skin was pale and smooth. She wasn't dressed like other Sheikahs were, since her family, Shakin, thought it would be safer for all of them if they pretended not to be Sheikah. Impa had never understood why, but if her mom and dad told her so, it was probably right.

"Could you go and get some water from the well, sweetheart?" asked her mother, Threa. She handed her daughter a wooden bucket. "I need some for dinner."

"Okay", the young girl said and left the house. Outside, she could hear the cuccos, voices talking and children laughing. The usual sounds. The Shakin family was only one of the Sheikah families that had settled down in this village. It was Kakariko, the second biggest town in Hyrule. It was a very peaceful and cosy village, situated on the slope of Death Mountain.

When the bucket was filled with water, it was very heavy, and it was hard for the young girl to carry it. When she almost was back at the house, however, a boy and girl appeared as if out of nowhere, and the boy, not watching where he was going, bumped into Impa with such force that they both fell to the ground and Impa dropped the bucket.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sis", the boy apologized and reached out a hand to help her up. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't see you…"

"It's all right, Khiro", Impa said. "But now I have to go back and get more water…"

"Don't worry, I'll do it", Khiro said quickly and took the bucket, heading to the well. "Take Weara with you and go home, Impa." She nodded firmly. Khiro, thirteen years old, and Weara, seven years, were her siblings. She also had another elder brother, who was in guard duty at Hyrule Castle. Sometimes Impa thought it was quite hard to have so many siblings, because she could never be alone. If she wanted to be alone and just think, she used to go to either the graveyard or the windmill. But when she thought about it, she loved her family and couldn't think of what she would do if she wouldn't have them.

She could not live without them. Little did she know that soon would happen. In a few months, her worst fears would come true.

About an hour later, the Shakin family had gathered to eat their dinner. There were Impa, Khiro and Weara, and also their mother Threa and their father Shiru. Today, Impa thought that her mother seemed very happy, for some reason she didn't know. She wanted to ask, but her parents started talking about it at the same time. Shiru cleared his throat and said: "Your mother and I have something we want to tell you."

"What is it, Dad?" asked Weara curiously.

"You'll see, Weara. Just be patient."

"In about seven or eight months, we'll have another member in this family", said Threa happily.

At first, the three children gazed at their mother without saying anything, until they realized what it meant.

"Are you going to have a baby, Mother?" Khiro asked. She nodded.

"And I'm going to have a little brother or sister?" Impa asked, unable to hide her enthusiasm.

"That's right, Impa", Shiru answered with a smile.

It was true that Impa wished she hadn't had so many siblings sometimes, but the thought of a baby… It would be just wonderful, and she would help her parents in finding a name for the new-born, raising it and playing with it. She thought about it for a moment, and then decided that it wouldn't matter if the new baby was a boy or a girl. She was just excited at the thought of another little brother or sister.

Some months passed, and nobody in Kakariko had any idea of what had happened in Hyrule Castle Town. An evil man from the western Desert had come and threatened to conquer Hyrule Castle. And now, he and his underlings were on their way to Kakariko.

Impa had to help her parents with a lot of things. Her mother had morning sickness every day and was now five months pregnant. Her parents had told her that it soon was time to prepare for the new baby's arrival. Impa would turn ten in a few weeks, and then, her father had told her, it was time for her to learn more about the Sheikah culture.

"It's a Sheikah's duty to serve the Royal family", Shiru told her. "We Sheikah's have done so for centuries. When you're old enough, it's time for you to take a job at the Castle, just like your brother. It's our tradition that the heirs to the throne have a Sheikah attendant. You will learn more about that later, when the time comes. Until then, I have something for you."

"What is it, Dad? What is it?" Impa asked curiously. She was a child, and like all children, she loved surprises. Shiru showed her an old harp, a lovely instrument, made of pure gold. Its strings rang with a magical sound, and when she touched it, Impa knew this was a magical harp.

"Oh, Dad… It's beautiful."

Her father nodded. "It belonged to your grandmother before she passed away. I want you to have it. Take good care of it, and I want you to practice with it often. Maybe you can become as good as your grandmother with the harp. It's one of instruments that are special for the Sheikah people."

She hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I want to play it right now", she said cheerfully. She left the house and headed for the graveyard, one of the places where she went if she wanted to be alone. Most of the children in the village were afraid of the graveyard and the gravekeeper, Dampé, but Impa wasn't.

In the far end of the graveyard, there was a big, ancient tombstone, and beneath it was the tomb of Hyrule's Royal family. Impa liked that tombstone, though she didn't know why, and she used to sit behind it when she wanted to be alone. The surface of the tombstone was covered with strange letters, letters she didn't understand, since she could only read Sheikah. Above the inscriptions was a pattern of three tiny triangles, forming one bigger triangle. She guessed that it was the sacred Triforce. Threa had told her about it.

Impa sat down behind the tombstone, and placed the harp in her lap. She started pulling the strings, and was surprised that the sound was so clear, it really sounded magical. She would ask her parents if they could teach her some songs later. When she sat there, playing on the instrument, she felt completely happy. From that moment, she loved her harp more than anything. She loved playing music with it, and as she sat on the graveyard, she came up with a few songs herself. When the sky started turning dark, she decided it was time to go home. Her mother would probably have made dinner already, and now she felt guilty for not helping her.

The first thing that made her feel suspicious as she approached the village, was the smell of fire. The second thing was the frightening scream of a young woman, a scream of agony. Impa had never heard a scream like that before, and she wanted to cover her ears and scream herself. She had no idea what had happened, but she had to find out. Clutching the harp tightly to her chest, she looked around at what had been the peaceful Kakariko some hours earlier. Now, it was like hell. Some of the houses were on fire, others had burnt down to ruins already. Women on horses were riding through the village, killing or hurting everything that moved. Impa had never seen women like those before. Their skin was darker than hers, and their hair fiery red. They had scimitars in their hands. Their clothes looked also different. It was clothes made for a life in a hot desert. Impa had almost never seen a woman wearing pants instead of a dress or a skirt before, but these women did. They also had big, valuable gems on their foreheads and all in all, they looked very spiteful. Impa wanted to hide somewhere, though she didn't know where. She wanted to go home, to her parents, her brother and her sister, but their house was too far away, and it would be too dangerous. But she couldn't leave her family.

She prayed to the Goddesses that the desert women would not find her, as she tried to get to the house of the Shakin family. Luckily, she was small for her age and none of the women on the horses saw her. They were probably too busy searching through the village for survivors and kill them, too. Impa succeeded into getting to her home, but was horrified at the sight of it. It had not been burnt down, but the door had been destroyed and she couldn't see anyone.  Her worst fears came true as she realized that the house was empty. They were all gone, probably killed by those evil women… But she couldn't see any dead bodies, and guessed that her family at least had tried to escape.

"Mother? Father? Are you here?" She decided to try. No response, but a tiny sound… Where? It came from one of the rooms upstairs… She literally flew up the stairs and into her parents' bedroom. The room was a mess, but she did not care. Her father sat on the floor.

"Dad!" She exclaimed, relieved. "I'm so glad to see you! Are you hurt? Where are the others?"

"Impa…" Shiru fought with the words. "Don't worry. Not hurt… Badly. Do not worry about me. They are… captured, I think. Don't look for them, Impa… Too late."

"No", Impa said, deadpan. "No. This can't be… it's not true."

"I know how you feel", her father said quietly, and it took almost all of his strength to say those words. "Listen. Go to… the Castle. Go there. Talk to someone. Tell… them… what have happened."

Impa hugged him tightly, though he cried with pain when she touched his wounds. He had been stabbed with a knife, and his clothes were covered in blood. Impa cried silently against her father's shoulder.

"I'm sure there's someone who can help you", Impa said, though she knew it wasn't true. "Please, don't give up…"

"I will never give up, Impa", her father managed to say. "Never. And… You won't, either. Go… The Castle… Tell… Believe in the Goddesses… They'll guide you… Never forget about your family, Impa, or who you truly are… Promise?"

"I promise, Dad", she said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks and onto her father's bloodstained clothes.

"That's my girl." He tried to smile and say something more, but the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't say anything. His body grew limp, and he shut his eyes with a silent sigh.

"I love you, Dad! Can you hear me? I love you…" Impa gave her father a kiss on his cheek and cried even more as she realized that she couldn't give her father a funeral or anything he had wanted to have… She couldn't do anything for him.

Her life changed right then, and she became somebody else. She would grow up to a tense and strong woman, a woman who never showed her feelings. But for the rest of her life, she would carry the grief of what she had lost at the age of ten.

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Impa woke up the way she always did after one of her nightmares. Panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat. She was used to it now, but those nightmares had begun to change her life. She wasn't as tense and self-restrained as she once had been. And now, ever since Zelda's disappearance, she had begun to think of the events in her childhood once again. She did not know what had happened to her sister, her brother and her mother. There was a possibility that they were still alive, but she highly doubted that.

She had never thought that they could still be alive. She had always thought that they died that day when Kakariko was attacked, but what if they hadn't? She remembered her father's words so well:

"Never forget about your family, or who you truly are…"

The next morning, Impa sat in the Castle courtyard again, but this time she had her old harp in her lap. She had found it after hours of searching, and when she looked at it, it felt as though she had got her childhood back. She pulled one of the strings carefully, and listened to the clear, high tone. She pulled another one, and this time it sounded darker. She tried to play one of Princess Zelda's favorite songs on the harp. It was called Zelda's Lullaby, or that was what Impa liked to call it, since she had played that song for Zelda every night before she would go to sleep. Zelda had loved hearing her nursemaid reading her stories or playing songs…

Impa lowered the instrument and put it on the bench beside her when she saw the crown Prince, Marth, approaching. "Good morning, Your Highness", Impa said, but Marth shook his head. "You know you don't have to use titles, Impa. I think they're disturbing and they're just driving me crazy. It's like you were less worthy than me or something."

"All right, Your… I mean, Marth. I… I wanted to talk to you…"

"Sure, go ahead."

"There is a list over the citizens in Hyrule Castle Town, right?" she asked anxiously. The answer could mean a lot for her.

Marth furrowed his brow slightly, and then he said: "Yeah, I think so. Why exactly are you asking?"

"I lost my family long ago, and I've never thought about the possibility that some of them could still be alive. I want to find out, and that's why I'm asking you."

"I think I can get it for you. My Father once explained for me that you have to get your name written on the list when you're moving to this town or Kakariko, or something like that. If anybody in your family lives here, their name should be on the list… But if they're not…"

Impa nodded firmly. She really hoped that they would find a name, just a name… "Do you want to take a look at it right now?" Marth asked her.

"Yes, if it's not too much trouble", she said, and managed to stop herself from adding a 'Your Highness'.

"Of course not. I don't have anything to do now, anyway."

One or two hours later, the Prince and Impa were sitting in the Royal library, turning over the pages of countless books. Impa stared at the thick tome in front of hear, and right then, she thought it seemed quite hopeless…

"What's your last name?" asked Marth suddenly. He was checking the Hyrule Castle Town list and the list over the citizens in Kakariko village, too.

"Shakin. Have you found anything?"

"No, not yet. Wait… T… That's too far, S… Here, and I think they're all Sheikah names… Sattin, Sezai, Segun… Here it is! Shakin…"

"You found it?" Impa was unable to hide her enthusiasm. She hadn't felt that way in a long time.

"I'll read the names to you… There are two Skakin families, obviously; on here in town and one in Kakariko village. Here we go: Shakin Amon, Shakin Kiona, Shakin Oviae… They live here in town. Do they sound familiar to you?"

Impa shook her head. What if they didn't find her family? Maybe she had been hoping in vain?

"All right, then, I'll read the names of the family in Kakariko, then… Shakin Esthe, Shakin Ryla, Shakin Tato, Shakin Weal…" He looked up from the book. Impa looked very disappointed. None of the names sounded familiar to her, except for the last one. That could have been Weara, but it obviously wasn't.

"I don't recognize any of those names", she said heavily.

Marth didn't know what to say, so he just said: "Oh. Um… That's too bad…"

"I'll visit them, Marth", said Impa suddenly. "Maybe they know something…"

The teal haired Prince looked at her. Impa suddenly realized that Marth and Zelda didn't look like they were siblings, there were hardly any resemblances between them. Then Marth nodded. "All right."

"Thank you, Marth", Impa said with a smile. Her first smile in a very long time.

"You're welcome."

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Link's POV

I really enjoyed the time Zelda and I spent on the ranch. We started getting closer than we had ever been before, and I was sure that the event in the corral that night was one of the reasons. Maybe we were ready for a serious relationship?

It was hard to say goodbye to Malon and Talon, though we all knew that Zelda and I would be visiting them again. Malon and Zelda had become really good friends, and neither of them wanted to part when they had begun to know each other.

Malon and I were standing in the corral, and I whistled loudly. Epona, who was at the far end of the corral, lifted her head and began trotting towards me and Malon. "Hi, girl", I said softly and patted her on the neck. She looked right at me with her dark, understanding eyes, and I felt that I didn't have to say anything to her. She understood everything I said to her, and I felt as though she could read my thoughts, too.

"I'll miss you, Epona", I said sadly. "But I promise I'll come back someday."

Malon looked at me with a mischievous smile. "Surprise", she said simply.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and then smiled. "Epona, silly! You've grown so fond of her, and she of you, obviously… And I thought that you could keep her. She's fully grown now, so we would have sold her anyway."

"Really? I can keep her? Thank you, Malon." I gave her a hug, and I noticed that she blushed, but apparently she didn't want me to see it.

"You're welcome", she mumbled shyly. "It's no big deal, you're my friend, and…

"I'll return the favour someday", I said with a smirk. "I promise. Come on, Epona, I bet Zel is waiting for me… us."

Zelda and I spent the ride to Kakariko imagining how our future would be. She thought we would be living with Impa in the village for some years, and we would have animals, cuccos, dogs and cats and the Goddesses know what more. We would end up marrying each other and live a peaceful and happy life… Girl stuff, I thought, but I didn't know whether she was joking or not. Well, we probably would live in Kakariko for a few years, I thought, but after that, I would move to Hyrule Castle Town and try getting a job as a soldier or a knight. I had always thought that being a knight seemed so cool, and I had become really good with the sword by now. I guess you could say that fencing was my passion.

When we left Lon Ranch I sat in front of Zelda on Epona's back, and I could feel her gentle hands wrapped around my waist, a feeling that sent chills down my spine. Epona could easily carry us both, since we almost hadn't any luggage at all. Navi and Tatl had made themselves comfortable between Epona's ears. I could hear them talking to each other, and by judging of their voices, they were also excited over going to Kakariko. We arrived to the village about three in the afternoon. It wasn't very big, but it was the biggest town I had seen so far. There were a lot of small, cosy brick houses, some stores, a watchtower, a big windmill and a well in the middle of the village. I could see cuccos and people, hear voices, laughter and a soft creaking from the wheel of the windmill, a sound that obviously could be heard in the whole village.

"Impa told me about her old house here in the village", I heard Zelda say. "But I don't know where it is, though. I think we have to ask someone."

"All right", I agreed and urged Epona forward. In the middle of the village, under a big tree, stood an old man. He looked quite irritated, and was muttering to himself.

"Excuse me, mister?" I asked. He looked up at me, and was apparently surprised at the sight of a horse. "Who are you? I've never seen you two around before", he stated, his voice irritated, yet curious.

"We have just arrived", I explained firmly. I didn't want to elaborate. "Do you know anyone here in the village called Impa?"

He seemed to think, but then he shrugged. "Nah, don't think so. Do you know the last name? That might help."

I looked at Zelda, but she slowly shook her head. "Strange, I don't know her last name", she mused.

"I've never asked her…"

"No, unfortunately we don't", I said to the old man.

"Well, I don't know anyone with that name", he said with another shrug. "I'm pretty busy right now… I'm the leader of some carpenters in this village, and they're supposed to work with that building over there. See?"

He pointed at what would become a red brick house. I couldn't see any workers around it. "It'll be this village's Shooting Gallery", the carpenters' leader told me. "But my carpenters think it's more fun running around and killing time instead of working", he continued with a sigh. "You know, I don't think that Gallery will ever be finished."

"Um… That's too bad", I said quickly. "Sorry for bothering you."

"What shall we do?" I asked Zelda. She had furrowed her brow and seemed to be thinking. "I think Impa once told me that her house was situated in the upper part of Kakariko, the part near Death Mountain… Maybe we should go up there and take a look."

"All right. I'll leave Epona here, I don't think she would want to climb all those stairs…" I tied Epona's reins to a nearby tree, and then I followed Zelda up the steep stairs. I hoped silently that we would find something, anything. But what if we had come here in vain?

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After visiting the Shakin family in Hyrule Castle Town, Impa was even more disappointed. The Shakins hadn't known anything at all, but they had been very hospitable and almost forced her to drink three cups of tea, though she hated tea. The father in the family, Amon, had told her to go visit the Shakin family in Kakariko. They didn't know them, but there was a possibility that they knew something about her lost family.

So now she was on her way. She didn't use magic, because she needed some time to think it all over once again, and she did it while she was riding to the village. She had borrowed one of the Royal horses, but didn't even think about what the Queen would say if she found out. Impa tried to goad the horse to go faster, she wanted to arrive to Kakariko today, after all. When she didn't succeed, however, she gave up and let the animal have it its way. She could always spend the night on the Inn in Kakariko and visit the other Shakin family the next day. She didn't want to go to her own house, it just reminded her of the happy memories of the time when Zelda had lived in the Castle…

She indeed wished that she'd had a picture of her family, so she could have showed the Shakins what her family had looked like. They maybe did remember that – if they were the right ones… Everything Impa had owned in her childhood had been lost during the attack of the Gerudos, so she hadn't anything that could remind her of her family. But she could never forget what they looked like. Nobody could ever erase the pictures that she kept in her mind. Now she knew that the evil women with the fiery red hair and scimitars in their hands were the Gerudo people, and she had loathed them ever since she found out.

She arrived to her home village in the late afternoon, and it was almost dark already. She saw the setting sun disappear behind the mountains around Gerudo Valley. The moon rose beyond the Lost Woods, but Impa didn't want to think about the forest right now. That always reminded her of another person she had lost.

She thought it was too late to visit the Shakins, so she decided to spend the night at the Windmill Inn. She had been there before, and it was a cosy inn, situated near the windmill. It was a white brick house with a red roof and three floors. On the first floor were the lobby, a restaurant and a pub. When she entered the Inn and asked for a room, one of the receptionists offered to take care of her horse, but she answered that she wanted to do it herself. She went to the stables, which were situated next to the Inn, and looked for a place where she could leave her horse. She found an empty stall and left the horse there, making sure that it had hay, oats and water. When she was on her way out, however, she noticed the horse in the stall next to her own.

It had a peculiar color, with reddish fur and white man and tail. She hadn't seen a horse with that color before, had she? She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged it off. She was tired, but she would order something to eat first.

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Zelda's POV

It was Link's idea that we would spend the night at an inn in the village. There was just one, named the Windmill Inn. It was better to spend a night there for 15 rupees than sleep outside anyway. We had found the house we thought was Impa's, but it was empty and dark, and when I peered in through the living room window, I found the room inside very dusty, and realized that the house had been empty for a few years. What had happened? When I lived in the Castle as a Princess, my nursemaid used to spent her days off in that house…

We sat at a table furthest from the bar, drinking a bottle of Lon milk each. I had learned to really like that drink during our time on the ranch. We didn't speak to each other. I was lost in my own thoughts, half asleep, and maybe that was why I blamed my imagination when I spotted a tall, grey-haired, armoured woman enter the Inn and walk over to the bar. That's funny, I thought, she looks just like Impa… I yawned widely and looked at Link. He was watching me with a concerned look in his blue eyes.

"Do you see her? The woman over at the bar?" I asked him.

"You mean her with the armor? Yeah, I see her… She looks a little… Different."

"She looks just like Impa. If I could see her face, I could tell if it was her or not."

He nodded thoughtfully. Right then, the woman turned around, apparently looking for a free table, and our eyes met. Though she was at the far end of the room, I could easily see the look in her eyes, a mix of a lot of emotions: surprise, concern, glee and fear. I guess she could see the same in mine. I let out a loud gasp of surprise.

"Zel, are you okay?" I heard Link ask.

"It's her, Link! It's Impa!" I exclaimed. I saw that Impa began making her way through the crowded room, towards our table.

"Really?" I saw Link watch Impa closely in the corner of my eye. But most of my attention was at Impa. It really was her, and after four long years I was finally going to meet her again!

Impa made her way over to our table, her face as deadpan as ever, but I thought I could spot a tiny smile in the corner of her mouth. I watched her anxiously and I held my breath without realizing it. How would she react? What would she say? Would she tell everybody at the Inn? No, if she still was the same trustworthy Impa I knew, she wouldn't.

Impa stopped right in front of me, looked around anxiously, and then knelt down and gave me a giant hug.

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A/N: There's another chapter done, and it's number 11 already! I'm sorry if this chapter was a little dull, but I had to explain a lot of things in it. I'm pretty happy with this chapter. You like? In that case, please review! Dislike? Review anyway, so I'll know what I can do better until next time. That's it for now, Happy New Year and see you in the next chapter!

..::Hylian Heroine::..