Over the next few days, Zelda made many marked improvements in her studies. She was again deadly accurate with the spikes, and had greatly improved in hand-to-hand combat, even disarming Sando once or twice during their sparring matches. Link and the others regularly watched the fights, enjoying the echoing clangs of swordplay on the night air, and the demonstration of the technique that was just as much an art form as it was a combat style. Link and Ruto had yet to find anything in the Temple, but they guessed it a mere mater of time. The other sages had reported similar findings- "Nothing yet, but something tells me to keep looking."
Tonight was no different. They sat around the campfire, resting after the day's training routines, when Sando drew his sword. That was the cue for Zelda to prepare for a practice fight. Zelda stood, setting her bowl aside as the others looked on, getting ready for the mock-battle. She and Sando moved away from the fire and their friends, stepping into a large circle of tall grass. Zelda assumed her stance, activating the gem that controlled a physical manifestation of Nayru's love. The shimmering diamond surrounded Zelda once more, and as soon as Sando was in the circle, she was on the offensive. She lunged forward, battering his weapon aside for an open palm strike to the face, but he was no longer there. He had somehow moved to the right, using the blunt edge of his sword to knock her legs out from under her at the knees. She fell on her back and immediately shifted her weight, rolling backwards again as the Sheikah's blade came down where she had been moments before. She had rolled to her knees and sprang at him from a crouch. He got his blade up in time to stop her with it's point as she closed the gap between her. The weapon didn't pierce skin, but rather it felt like she'd gotten punched hard in the gut. She fell back, wheezing, clutching her chest. Sando's sword was away, the signal that practice was over. He didn't want her to get hurt.
He helped Zelda back to the fire, and sat down beside her, once more offering the tin of salve. "Thanks." she said, gratefully, sliding a hand into her body suit and rubbing the stuff into aching muscles and red, angry bruises. "You know, I'm gonna go take a dip. It'll help cool me off, clear my head a little." Sando nodded. "Good thinking. Just don't swim out too far." She stood to leave, looking back over her shoulder grinning widely. "I wont..."
Zelda headed down the shoreline past Pierre and Bonourou the scarecrows. She couldn't wait to slide into the waters, ease her bruises, reduce the swelling. She had nearly come to the shore of the lake when she realized she was not alone. Down closer to the water's edge sat Link and Malon, holding each other tightly. She saw a short kiss, witnessed it deepen. As Malon melted into Link's arms, Zelda turned around, her legs bearing her away as fast as they would carry her. She ran to the other end of the shoreline, running out across the wooden bridges into the middle of the lake. When she came to the island in the middle of the lake, she fell to her knees, trying to block the pain, make it stop hurting, anything. The image replayed itself over and over in her mind, wishing she could be where Malon was, but knowing she never could be. The tears came in trickles, then streams. Sobbing softly into the darkness of the lake, she looked into the water to contemplate her reflection, to see what she had left in life without Link.And saw someone gazing back at her.
She turned like a blur, throwing spike in hand, but no one was there. A voice echoed softly on the wind. "There is no pain in battle nor punishment greater than what you feel now, Zelda. It is a sorrow that never truly goes away. It lingers, long and often, reminding us of what could have been, of what might have been." The voice was eerily familiar, and yet she couldn't place it. "No emotion has greater strength than love. You are not weak because of this pain. It shows you are strong. You are one of the strongest people I have ever met. You have fled your home; had to witness your homelands degrade into evils unspeakable, and even when all this was said and done, the man you love did not share that feeling. And yet, you do not flee from the pain. You hide it, quietly keeping it within yourself, until you think no one can see you, then you let it all rush out at once. Every time you see Malon and Link, it reopens old wounds. Someday, you will feel this pain begin to fade. Someday, you may find another love..."
Zelda could no longer hold her silence, somehow stung by the last remark. "Who are you to claim you can understand what I go through in the slightest?!? What makes you think I could ever love again?" Balling her fist in rage, Zelda whispered, "What makes you think I want to?" The voice, now recognizable, was directly behind her. "Because I have been where you are. Because I too have felt the one I love slip through my fingers. I feel it's time I explained how I came to be in the Haunted Wasteland." "S-Sando? How do you know all this?" Zelda stuttered. He walked slowly to the stone tablet lying at the base of the tall tree. "We Sheikah aren't blind. Why else would we have the crest of an eye on our chest? Your feelings are clear to anyone who knows how to look. Have a seat. This is going to take a long time to tell."