I wish I hadn't dreamt of anything that night. Normally I don't dream at all and when I do, it's never a good one. I'm a bit of a clairvoyant. Every time I have a dream, it comes true sometime in the future. This night I dreamt once again of Ganondorf. He was riding trough Hyrule on his Gerudo stallion with the power of the Triforce. He seemed unsatisfied and was causing destruction everywhere he went. He was searching. Then I saw Zelda and myself running. Our hands seemed to be on fire. After this I awoke. I had shaken myself from my slumber and fallen out of bed. I rose to my feet and shook my head. There's no rest for the weary I suppose. I thought as I walked outside onto the balcony. From there I could see that the forest had finished stretching and yawning and was now in full swing. The children were now all busy doing various chores (assigned to them by Mido of course) as movement and sound filled the air. I noticed that there was now a horse standing outside Saria's house. Zelda and Impa must be inside, I thought to myself. I jumped off the balcony and immediately wished I hadn't. Not just because every muscle attached to my bones was aching, although that was a factor, but because the rustling thud brought everyone's attention directly to me. It was as though I had some terrible growth protruding from my face. Everyone simply stared and not a word was shared. I didn't waste time trying to figure out what it was and instead rushed to Saria's house to escape their penetrating gazes. Inside I saw Zelda sleeping on the bed. She didn't seem to be resting, however. She had a solemn look on her face as though she was afraid but was trying desperately to hide it. Then I noticed that her hand was glowing. I ran to her side and shook her out of her groggy state. When I jumped back I had a nice sized red mark on my face from her hand.

"What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry Zelda but I have to know: what were you dreaming about just then?"

She began to blush slightly. "I don't see how that is any of your concern. What do you want to know?"

"Was Ganondorf in it? Were you and I running from him?"

"With glowing hands... What does it mean?"

"When you gave me the ocarina of time, I used it to open the gate to the Sacred Realm. When I did, I was locked away for seven years. During that time, Ganondorf gained the power of the triforce. Once in the future, I found out that you and I each hold a piece as well. I think that's what the glowing is."

"Then Ganondorf must be searching for us to gain the full power of the triforce. Link, we must run! If he finds us, there is nothing we can do to stop him from gaining the full power."

"Don't worry. I'll stop him."

"You were locked away for a reason Link. You don't posses the power to beat him yet."

After thinking about it, she was right. The hookshot, the fairy bow, the light arrows, all of them were still in the future. It was possible that they didn't even exist yet. "So we run then? We just take off like cowards?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Rather than give a real answer, I began to leave. My escape was halted, however, when I collided with Impa. "Stay out of my – gasp" Impa vanished before my eyes. Zelda began to scream. The Kokiri children came to investigate. Mido came to accuse.

"So you're done with tormenting Saria and now your harassing this poor little girl? Is there anything you won't destroy?"

"Shut up."

"I figured that after killing the Great Deku Tree and banishing your own fairy you'd learn some respect for something. I figured you couldn't possibly get any worse."

"Shut up!"

"But I should have known that that was too much to ask of you, Link. You aren't even a real Kokiri."

The last remark from Mido was met with a fist. Time seemed to slow down as he went reeling back and Zelda's screaming halted. I was so shocked myself that I almost forgot to pull back my fist. Looking around at the horrified Kokiri children and the chagrin on the face of Mido, I realized that there was only one thing left to do. I ran as fast as I could out of the forest. When I reached the bridge, I noticed the sound of footsteps following me. I spun around to face my unseen companion.

"I apologize for startling you," said Zelda softly. "I want to come with you." I could see how scared she was by the way that her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. There was no way I was going to leave her here alone.

"Fine," I replied much more gruffly than I had intended, "but you'll have to keep up."

We walked on in silence for the next couple of hours. I tried desperately to sort out what had just happened in my head. I decided to take it all one fact at a time. Mido is not a problem, I thought to myself. He's had that coming to him for a while. However, what was he talking about when he said that I had banished my fairy? Navi must have returned to the forest and told them what occurred. I'll have to come back to straighten things out. The top priority right now is Impa. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I know I need to correct it. If there is no Impa in the past, there is no sage of the shadow temple.

"What do you think may have happened to her?" Zelda said.

"Not a clue," I replied. "But don't worry. I'll find out. Somehow." At this point I noticed that Zelda was slowly falling behind. "We should rest soon," I said, "night is falling. We'll head for Lon Lon Ranch." Her only reply was a slight nod of her head. We pressed on through the rest of the day.

We came so close. Only 100 yards from the ranch we heard the sound of a baying wolfos. Night came before we had reached shelter. A stalchild, a reanimated nocturnal skeleton, sprang out of the ground in front of us while its comrade appeared from behind.

"Zelda," I said, "when I cut down the one in front, make a run for the ranch understand?"

"No. I shall fight as well."

"You don't have a weapon to fight with. Just run!" I performed one of my much-feared jumping strikes on the first stalchild, shattering him to pieces. "NOW!!" I yelled.

But my words were wasted. With a wave of her hand, Zelda cast the spell called Din's fire. Her spell casting was not like mine. When I cast Din's fire, it is a simple swell of flame with little use other than lighting torches. Her version of the spell came from within the monster itself and caused it to burst in a fiery explosion. By this time, even more stalchildren had appeared. Zelda wiped out a metal chain and decapitated both with one swing. Then I finished them off with one 360-degree swing.

"When did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"Impa taught me while we were in hiding. I wanted a little practice."

"Judging by what I just saw, you don't need – Look out!" as we spoke a giant version of the monsters we just defeated rose from the grass behind the princess. With those last two words as my only warning, I grabbed Zelda by the waist and quickly jumped back. The monsters slow reaction time caused it to miss and it threw itself off balance for an instant. I released Zelda and attacked while it was still reeling, removing his head. Just then something blue caught my eye. "Princess, the ocarina! Throw it here!" I shouted. The stalchild was wandering aimlessly with four less senses than before so once I had the ocarina I took the time to play The Sun's Song. Time rushed forward and the sun rose, obliterating what was left of our decrepit foe.

Zelda looked at me in awe. "You've learned to control time using the ocarina?"

"That's not important. What is, is how you got the ocarina in the first place."

"I was hoping you knew; I entrusted it to you after all."

"The ocarina was left in the future. You have it. Or will have it." As my sentence ended, the color seemed to drain from Zelda's face. "Yeah," I said, "the whole time travel thing confuses me a little too"

"This is a terrible omen..." she said quietly. "The ocarina would not have returned unless the flow of time had been disrupted somehow and... I was...."

"What!?" I asked urgently. From the look in her eyes, however, I already knew the answer. Zelda was no longer a part of Hyrule's future.

We stood in silence for what seemed like hours. Neither of us had the courage to say a word. I looked at Zelda but she never returned my gaze. How can she just sit there and say nothing? I wondered. What could be going through her head...? I can't take much more of this...

"I guess we should head into the ranch then, right?" I said. Zelda looked up and seemed to be completely unfazed.

"Yes, we will go to Kikariko Village tomorrow. If we are to find Impa that is the best place to begin our search."

"No need to waste time here then."

That being said, we proceeded to waste time there. After another long moment I turned away and began to move. As I expected I was soon interrupted.

"Wait, Link... take this. If I –"

"Keep it." Without even looking back I knew what she was offerings me. "The ocarina returned to you, remember? The way I see it, it's there for safe keeping." I looked back at her and smiled. She returned my smile and we continued walking.