A/N: To reiterate, I don't know a thing about sword fighting, so forgive me for the 'imperfections' in this chapter. (Yeah, I know, bad pun...)

Chapter 5

"Link!" Zelda calls. I really wish she would call me Jordan. It feels weird being called Link.

"Yes, Princess?" I call back.

"I've been looking for you. There's something else you need to learn." Great. Another thing on the list of things I'll never really learn.

I've just gotten back to the bedroom wing from my little escapade in the armory. No mean feat, let me tell you. This castle is so huge, I'm surprised Zelda doesn't get lost.

"What else do I need to know?" I call back. I don't know if I can squeeze anything else into my already crowded brain.

"You might want to sit down..." That sounds ominous.

"I don't need to use my muscles to learn it, do I?" If I do, there's no way I'm learning it tonight.

"No, but follow me." I follow. We must be going to her room. For a moment, I'm really excited. I'm going to see the inside of the princess's bedroom! My friends back home would kill for this opportunity. Once we're inside, the feeling stops. This looks like a more expensive version of my sister's room. A wave of homesickness washes over me.

"Link? Is something the matter?"

"This looks like my sister's room." Zelda looks at me. I can see the sympathy in her eyes. She doesn't want me to be unhappy. I wipe all thoughts from my mind when she pulls out a blue glass potato with holes in it. A vague memory triggers in my brain, but I'm not sure from where.

"Link, do you know what this is?"

"A glass potato?" She sighs.

"No. It's an ocarina." She looks at me, trying to read my expression, but I have no clue what she's going on about.

"What does this have to do with the new skill I have to learn?"

She sighs again. That can't be a good sign. "You have to learn to play it."

I give a start. "WHAT! Me, play an ocarina? I don't have any musical talent, Zelda! None! I can't even hum! How am I supposed to learn something as complex as the ocarina?"

"It's not really that hard, Link. Just give it a couple days. You'll get the hang of it."

I continue to stare at her, not saying anything.

"Try it. It's fun!" she says encouragingly. "Please?" She's looking at me like she does. How does this girl know my weak point?

"Okay, I'll try it. But don't say I didn't warn you!" I take the ocarina. It's very pretty really. It's deep blue, and fits perfectly in my hand. It's the color of Zelda's eyes. I love her eyes...

I put the mouthpiece to my lips, and blow as hard as I can. Bad move. The instrument gives a loud squeak, and I drop it and cover my ears. I notice Zelda doing the same.

"Not bad for a beginner!" she says. Yeah right. That was awful.

"I'll be playing better than those who've been playing their whole lives in a little while. Give me a week!"

============

It's the next day, and I'm standing in the training room again. Somehow, Zelda managed to drag me out of bed and get me to get up and train again. I can barely stand, my muscles are so sore. I've been trying to pay attention, but half of learning is doing, and I can't do much of anything. Zelda's in the corner, trying really hard not to laugh. My trainer isn't so polite. He's laughing outright.

"It's not my fault you overworked me yesterday! I need to sit down."

"Haven't you been sitting enough? Do I need to knock you down again?"

I glare at him. "That's okay, I can knock myself down, thank you very much."

Zelda can't hold back any longer. I turn my glare at her. "It's true, you know, Link. You can knock yourself down very well." She then bursts into laughter. It's contagious. I can't help but laugh at myself too.

"I think I've mastered the art of falling down. I've done it enough."

My trainer looks up at me from where he's sitting on the floor, helpless with laughter. "Maybe you can finally move on to knocking yourself out!" Everyone breaks out in laughter again. I can't help but agree. Maybe I will get good at knocking myself out...

"No! Block with your sword! Hold it up, you're letting it hang too much. And put your body behind it when you swing!"

Zelda's gone to do something princess-like, and the training's back on. No one's laughing anymore. I really need to get better...

"How am I supposed to hold it up when you're pushing it down? I've never done this before, give me a break!" I'm practically yelling. I need something to vent my frustration on.

"How are you going to learn if I let you win?" he yells back. The clanging of metal on metal is starting to drive me crazy. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

"I might learn if you made it possible to win!"

"It is possible! You're just not trying hard enough!"

Trying! I'm trying as best I can, and he says I'm not trying hard enough? I'll show him...

I swing my sword, bringing it crashing onto his. The vibration kills almost all feeling in my hand, but I'm too stressed out to notice it. I expertly flick my wrist, and we break the hold on each other's swords. I use this opportunity to catch him off guard. I follow through with my sword and swing it as hard as I can toward his, catching it on the edge closest to him. The force of the blow forces the sword out of his hand, and I flick my sword to catch it near the hilt. With an upward motion, I toss it into the air, and catch it as it comes down. My trainer's staring at me in amazement. I'm pretty amazed too.

"Did I just..."

"Yeah, you did. I surrender. Link, you did it!"

"Yeah, but how?" I gape at him. How in the world did I know to do that?

"I don't know, but it worked! That's amazing! All you need now is to be able to do that without getting worked up into a rage."

============

It's after dinner, and somehow Zelda convinced me to try again with the ocarina. I'm not sure how it works, exactly, but Zelda's determined to teach me. She's out of her mind if she thinks I'll ever get how to play this stupid thing.

"It's simple, really. You're just blowing too hard."

Simple? Yeah. Right. "It's a little more complex to those of us who've never even seen an ocarina, let alone tried to play one."

I try blowing into it again, but all that comes out is a very loud squeak. I cover my ears again. Everything seems louder in Hyrule.

"No, Link, don't blow so hard. Just a little air. Like this." She takes the ocarina from me, and blows softly into it. It doesn't squeak. There's no way I'll be able to do that.

"Just blow into it softly." She hands it back to me, and I try it. A soft, pleasing note emerges from the instrument.

"That's not bad! Cover all of the holes and try it again."

I try and cover all the holes, but my fingers are too clumsy, and it shoots out of them and into my lap.

"Oops." I reach to pick it up, but Zelda gets it first.

"Let me show you." She places her fingers delicately over the instrument, and blows a soft, sweet note. "You try." I take it back from her, and mimic her movements. I just manage to get a note like hers out before my finger slips and it lets out a loud squeal. Once again, I have to cover my ears. Zelda's doing the same. She smiles at me.

"Better than your first time," she says. I smile. "Try again."

I try, and manage to hold the note. "Good! You've got the basics down, so it won't be long before you're playing like a pro. Just keep practicing." I look at her. Basics? They must be very basic.

"Thank you. It's so nice of you to be doing all this for me. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Don't worry about it. I wouldn't have left you on your own. Now, you'd better rest if you don't want to fall over again during training tomorrow."

"Yeah." I'm not thinking about training though. I'm thinking about the offer to join that brotherhood thing. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably never get in. "Well, see you in the morning." I go to hand her the ocarina, but she pushes my hand back toward me.

"It's yours now. Keep it." She looks at me. "It's yours by right anyway."

"It's pretty. Thank you! But what do you mean, it's mine by right?" I ask.

"It belongs to the Hero of Time. It's the Ocarina of Time."

The Ocarina of Time... So that's what it is...

"Take good care of it."