A/N: I had posted this earlier, but took it down shortly thereafter because of the formatting was sloppy. Thank-you to everyone who reviewed!

[Tetra]

Link finally made up with Aryll, which was good on the account that all was well and mended, but now he had his mind free to better harass me about every, tiny, inconsequential detail of our coming voyage. It was neither his place nor responsibility to fret over provisions and charts, and yet he was doing just that. The hours running up to out great departure were positively painful. He had himself twisted into such a knot with worry that his anxiousness was rubbing off on me. It was chore in itself to try an keep him occupied but the deck had been swapped twice already and there was nothing for Link to do but lump around idle and irritating.

It was our final evening on the Great Seas and if I had known it would be the last time I ever saw the sun paint the waters red, I would have shut Link up long ago. I can't remember what everybody else was up to—in all probability nothing good—but we had some time to ourselves, high in the shrouds at our usual perch. Link was quizzing me on some technicality. Good Goddesses! Frankly, I think he used to ask so many questions so he wouldn't have to just shut up and kiss me already.

"So, where in Hyrule are we going to end up when we go back in time?"

A question not without merit I supposed, but I could scarcely imagine how he could appreciate my answer.Link knew next to nothing of the geography of Hyrule—rather, he knew next to nothing about Hyrule in general. He wouldn't know a Gerudo from a Goron and the most Ancient Hylian he ever learned was a few swear words crude fishermen liked to paint on their boats. Link preferred it like that; it was his way of distancing himself from the land of fate that had ruled him these past ten years.

"The Sea of Green," I told him. "We'll be directly on top of where it used to be by tomorrow. And then it's just a matter of playing the ocarina."

He frowned. I asked him what was wrong.

"It just sounds a little vague to me. 'Sea of Green?" What's the 'Green?'"

I rolled my eyes. "It's obviously just the color of the water. "

"No, it's not obvious just anything. Fact is, you don't know. You've only got half a clue about this whole thing."

I had just about enough of Link and his endless worries but I was too tired to even dream of firing back. I was losing my edge around him. If he wanted to think I had a death wish for the entire crew, let him think that. I bade him goodnight through clenched teeth and dropped down to the deck just as Senza emerged from below deck to assume the night watch.

"Retiring early, Miss?"

"I think so, Senza. But I'll give you a hand lighting the lanterns before I do."

Senza was not as tall as Gonzo but just as wide, giving him a squat, sturdy bearing that was common of the dark Northerners. He kept his beard short and his shirts clean, serving as our cook and surgeon. He wasn't particularly talented at either practice, but he was reliable and knowledgeable—traits hard to find in a seaman.

Senza brought out a box of matches from his pocket and gave me a few. We worked our way up and down the ship, striking matches off the wood masts. Mako climbed down and retrieved a lantern for the crow's nest and strung several more along the sails, the warm light glowing across the vast canvases. Once the blackness of nightfall had been party alleviated Senza and I strolled to the helm.

I leant up against the rail and saw that Link was gone from the shrouds.

"Is he giving you grief, Miss?

"Who? Link?" And when he nodded I said, "Well...he's trying to. Senza...do you think I'm crazy too for doing this?"

He laughed oddly. "All I can say is that you are more and more your mother every day."

My chest swelled with pride. My mother had been a famous buccaneer, emerging from the male-dominated world of pirating to become the most successful lady pirate ever. But once we acquired the loot from the Lost Trove, not only would I surpass her as the most successful lady pirate ever, but also the most successful pirate period. I grinned.

"Of course, you mustn't forget what happened to her," he continued, deflating my newfound confidence.Thanks Senza. She had died on a treasure hunt, barely thirty, falling from the crow's nest when a cannon blast rocked the ship. I had been eight and the sight of her body bent unnaturally on the ship deck still blazed in my memory.

I scowled at him. "This is entirely different." My mother had been after a trifle—mere shavings compared to what I was about to swipe.

He didn't contradict me, but in his face I saw he didn't think so. Was anybody with me on this?

"Stay the course," I ordered, jerking my head towards the helm.

"Aye."

Furious, I slunk off to my quarters. Heads turned as I stomped past. Didn't they understand? The gold? The revenge? The glory? No—my crew were a simple lot, content as long as there was enough coin to pay for the next round of drinks. And I...well, I was a princess who hadn't found her kingdom. A vault of priceless treasure would have to do.

My cabin was devoid of Aryll when I got there. Thankfully. I needed the dark and solitude to think. I moved towards the vanity, my reflection emerging out of the shadows. A proper, regal nose and lips, eyes that had been passed on through the millennia, a high, alabaster brow hidden beneath the grime and sun of a pirating career. A royal heir of an ancient line, and what did I have to show for it? A ragtag crew and a wooden ship. Would the Zeldas before me have shaken their heads?

"Stay the course," I told my reflection, steeling myself in the humbling darkness of the cabin

If I had only known what I was getting myself into...

Three years ago I traded in that useless, one-mast ship for a handsome vessel that was sleek if not ornate. Three masts are infinitely better than one and I couldn't think of a ship better suited for the quest we were about to undertake. We ran checks from bow to stern all that morning and I had the crew securing everything in sight.

At noon I declared it time and the crew assembled into a ring on the poop deck. Only on my orders would they link hands and then only begrudgingly so. Niko and Mako squabbled over whom would get to hold hands with Aryll, but Link quickly settled the dispute by placing the girl in between him and I, throwing them a nasty look.

I turned my attention to the ocarina. Polished just that morning, its surface gleamed in the midday sun, the rays seemingly charging its awesome, ancient power. I was trembling, hoping the crew couldn't tell that their captain was terrified. They were numbing their varying degrees of anxiety with a bottle passed from man to man. Link was oddly mellowed, probably he result of a sleepless night. And Aryll, she appeared ill.

My stomach made a jump for my throat. Oh Goddesses, I thought. Here we go.

I closed my eyes and brought the Ocarina of Time to my lips. The last, solemn notes of the Song of Time had faded before I realized that I had begun to play. The instructions in the text had been concise: Play song. Touch item(s) or person(s) wished to be brought along. Wait.

I braced myself for a spectacular jolt as we were about to be thrown back through the ages. Nothing of the sort came and after several minutes with teeth gritted and eyes scrunched shut, I relaxed my face and took what was supposed to be my first look at Hyrule.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, had changed.

Stunned, I glanced around. Everybody else appeared to have the same question on their mind as I did: what the hell was going on? I don't know what I expected to happen, but it sure wasn't this.

They were all looking at me now, wanting to know what had happened when I had nothing to tell them. I stepped back from the ring. All my planning, all my preparations...and nothing. We bobbed, stationary by the anchors, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. And then I though, nothing out of the ordinary had transpired—I had just played a fake ocarina and the notes issuing forth held no power whatsoever.

The disappointment burned like acid in my throat. I hurled the ocarina at the deck, and when it didn't shatter it only vexed me more. I stormed off toward the mainmast ladder.

"Capt'n?" Gonzo began, sounding concerned. It was considerably brave of him to ask, for he knows how I am when I'm in one of my tempers.

I whirled around, but stopped myself from barking at them. It was my fault anyway. "Everyone," I began ina low, terse voice. "...is too return to their usual posts. There are no further orders."

Numb, I climbed to the lookout with their quiet murmurs of dismay buzzing in my ears. Had I been duped—no, Cagway wasn't smart enough to pull a trick like that. And if he did, well, he'd better thank his stars that he was already dead. The how...how after all my work had I ended up with a dud ocarina. I was Princess Zelda! I had a birthright to the damn thing!

Reaching the crow's nest, I sat on the floor. As for a conclusion as to how I failed, I drew a blank. I sighed.

A noise, one stranger that the one Gonzo emitted when he accidentally drove that nail through his thumb, jostled me out of my bitter musings. It was a kind of backward screech. I peered over the rail and the sight that met my eyes put my dilemma to the backburner.

It was a seagull, climbing out of its dive in the most peculiar fashion. Backwards. At first it appeared to be frozen in mid-flight, but, with a painfully drawn-out flap of its wing, it ascended tail first, dropping its catch back into the water. It looked almost as if it were...no...

Yes!

"Yeeeehahaha!"

And with that crazed cry of delight I leapt from the crow's nest and swung to the deck below on a loose length of rope. Not even the rough impact of my boots on the deck, which sent me stumbling, could jar me out of my ecstasy.

"It worked! It worked! The ocarina worked!"

The crew, plus Link and Aryll, came rushing towards me like I had just suffered an injury. They clustered around in a tight knot, faces creased with worry. I couldn't imagine what on the Great Sea could be the matter at a time like this—hadn't they heard? It worked!

Gonzo grimaced. "Capt'n, ye alright? Ye haven't a concussion of some sort, have ye?" He reached out to feel if I had a temperature, but I ducked under his arm and pushed away.

"No, no...are you deaf? I said, the ocarina worked! We are traveling back in time as we speak!"

They looked at me like I was completely off my rocker. Looking back, I can't blame them.

"The sheer disappointment seems to have rattled her brain," Link muttered blankly.

I dove for the ocarina that I had discarded so carelessly earlier. Oh, thank-you! Oh, thank-you. I'm not sure, but I may have thanked the instrument aloud. I admit it; the excitement was getting the better of me.

"Let's get her below deck and let her sleep off that bump to the head," I heard someone say.

"What bump?" I snapped. I needed to prove to them that I was sane or they would lock me downstairs with a cold cloth and some tonic. I glanced around frantically for a way. Of course—the sun: nature's natural clock.

"Wait," I cried, pushing Link whom was attempting to steer me towards the door. "Give it an hour or so. Watch the sun; it's our best sign of the flow of time."

"Capt'n..." began Niko, doubtlessly trying to reason me into lying down. He stopped short when I rounded on him.

"You're right, Niko. I am the Captain. And on this ship what I say goes."

He stumbled back from me in disbelief. It was a rare thing for me to use my authority so brutishly, but I had no other choice. My words were words to evoke a mutiny. I saw resentment and doubt in all their eyes—two things that scares a captain more than any sea monster or sea storm. Their faces were set like stone. I felt a chill extinguishing my previous joy.

This would not be the first time on our journey that the crew would come to doubt their captain. It was only early in the game and many more times after would I feel their unsettling, untrusting gaze until even I began to doubt myself.

REVIEW! Pretty Please!