4. The Cold Shoulder

I swore. Zora's Fountain was frozen solid. Not even Kotake was capable of this, most likely Ganon had learned some ice spells from her and adapted them to his own needs. The bastard.

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift. I opened myself up to the Triforce on my hand, and the power that flows through my blood.

There. The Zoras were trapped, frozen, under that ice, but I could sense a weak point somewhere in the ice's surface. Someone with enough power to, not conquer or match, but at least dent Ganon's power. A sage maybe, or perhaps the princess. Either way, I would check it out.

It was in a fairly random corner of the Fountain. It felt like a dent in the ice's power, but looked the same as the rest of it. A solid sheet of ice. You couldn't even see the Zoras underneath it, but I could feel them. Trapped, crying in pain, sorrowful, dammit.

I laid my hand on the "dent" and went probing with my power. Another power met mine. I could sense the ice getting weaker as my power delved into it.Whoever was down there had been pounding on the ice with their power since they had been put down there.

Well, nothin' to it but to do it. I formed my power into a battering ram of sorts and put the smack down on that bit of ice.

Surprisingly quickly the ice shattered, sending needle-like shards flying everywhere. Several of them cut my face and clothing, but they were superficial wounds and I paid them no mind. I had plenty of scars already, a couple of tiny ones wouldn't matter.

A blue figure burst from the ice, shouting incoherently. It landed on the firm ice beside where it had been held and looked around quickly, still shouting random syllables. It was Ruto, princess of the Zoras.

She said a very un-princess-like word (one that I am particularly fond of) then added, "what was that?!"

"Has Ganon been by here?" I asked.

She said that word again, plus "yeah! He threatened my dad, then cast some kind of weird spell, then everything got seriously," she said a variation the word, "cold, so I started screaming my head off because that usually works. And then you came along." She blinked and looked me up and down slowly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sheik," I said. "I'm a minstrel. Well, that's what I tell people anyway."

"What are you really?" Ruto asked, blinking.

I smiled. "Pretty much the exact opposite of what I seem. Oh, and Princess? The Water Temple's probably in danger, you should check it out."

She nodded mutely, still looking at me strangely, and I threw a deku seed on the ground to escape.

The Ocarina of Time came to and through the Fountain fairly quickly, not long after Death Mountain blew its guts out. Oh yeah, it erupted. Scared the shit out of me too. A volcanic eruption doesn't seem like a good sign, but since it was shortly after Darunia had awakened as a sage I just waited and asked Rauru to ask him for me. The Sages all knew who Zelda was, or who she would be, but I wasn't her...right?

(Damn, I was still so conflicted!)

The Ocarina was in the Ice Cavern, which meant Link was too. I was not a big fan of the Ice Cavern, the line between my male and female forms was tenuous at best, and when I got cold and my nipples stood out the line sometimes...blurred, or was erased completely. In short, the spell simply couldn't handle the discrepancies between Zelda's C-cups and Sheik's pecs. It just didn't work.

Other than that the Ice Cavern was kind of useful. All the shadows and reflections made it easy to fade into the background and watch invisibly, which is what I did once I caught up to Link.

Damn he was fine. I loved the way he moved, so fluid, but so solid at the same time. He was strong and smooth in his fighting, he would be fantastic in bed with a little training.

Augh! Where did that come from?! Focus Shiek, focus! You are here to help him, not to fantasize about him.

Oh god, he has such a nice ass...

He turned and saw me standing between him and the door of the last room of the Ice Cavern. He jumped in surprise.

"Dammit Sheik!" he exclaimed, looking embarrassed. "Why do you keep doing that?!"

I couldn't help grinning at his expression, but I ignored the question. "If you came here to see the Zoras, you wasted your time," I said. "The frozen Domain is all that is left. If you have courage enough to confront the danger and save the Zoras, I will teach you the melody that leads to the temple." I pulled out my harp and spoke solemnly. "Time passes, people move… Like a river's flow, it never ends… A childish mind will turn to noble ambition… Young love will become deep affection… The clear water's surface reflects growth… Now listen to the Serenade of Water to reflect upon yourself."

I cursed mentally as I played the song. Why did I keep saying things like that? I couldn't let him know that I loved him, I was Sheik, a guy, I had to remember that.

When we stopped playing he started toward me. "Hey, what was that stuff you were saying before the song? Something about…a childish mind and deep affection?"

I shook my head, feeling a blush rise up in my cheeks, and stepped back. "Link…I'll see you again." Then I ran away (figuratively).

Damn I sucked.

Once outside I looked around and realized with surprise that it was already dark. Late evening, early night, something like that. Chances are Link would be in the Water Temple all night, and the worst, most pathetic, and most useless thing I could do would be to go to the exit point of the Temple and wait for him to show up.

So, of course, that is exactly what I did.

I didn't sleep for more than a few hours, and even that was by accident. It wasn't until just before dawn that Link landed on the island that was above the Water Temple in a swirl of light.

"You did it," I said, standing at a distance behind him.

He turned around, smiling. "Didn't feel like scaring me that time?"

"I just came to congratulate you," I smiled back. I was keeping my distance, I really wanted to congratulate him with a kiss, and maybe more, but I managed to stop myself. "You did it, again."

"You're the one who deserves congratulations Sheik," he grinned wickedly. "I think my fiancée is into you."

"Into me?!" I exclaimed. Then something else he said came through. "Wait, what was that?!"

His grin spread, but I hardly noticed.

"You have a fiancée?!" I exclaimed, completely shocked. A fiancée?! It couldn't be true, it just couldn't! How could Link be engaged? Did this mean... Could this mean...

Link laughed. "Oh man, you should see your face!"

"You have a fiancée?!" I couldn't get past that. My heart was ripping in two.

"No. Well, not one that I knew about."

"You have a fiancée?!"

"You okay Sheik?" He was looking at me, concerned.

"Umm…" I shook my head to clear it. Get a hold of yourself, you are Sheik, a guy, and have no romantic interest in this man-babe. "Yeah fine, sure." My persona shattered. "YOU HAVE A FIANCEE?!?!"

"Calm down, geez." He sighed. "I do not have a fiancée. I never had a fiancée. Princess Ruto had a thing for me and seemed to think we were engaged. I think she's over her delusions though, because she told me to give you her thanks."

"Oh hell." So that was it. I sat down on the ground, rather abruptly. "I remember Ruto from when I saved her. She's a bit…" I trailed off, not really knowing how to describe her.

"Yeah," he agreed.

I stood up again and looked at him, what would Sheik do in this situation…?

I cocked my head. "So… how far did you get?"

"Sheik!" Link blushed furiously. "Are you kidding?! I didn't- I wouldn't- I don't even like her!"

I laughed. "I got the upper hand again!" I crowed.

Link muttered angrily. "She likes you now, remember?"

"Yeah, but I've got a legitimate reason for dumping her."

"Really? What?"

I gave him my mysterious smile. "Maybe I'll tell you someday."

"Dammit Sheik!"

"I love making you say that," I grinned.

"You…"

Then I saw something over his left shoulder. My eyes widened. "Woah."

He turned and looked. The sun was just rising over the mountains in the east and was reflecting off the water in the now-full lake in an incredibly beautiful way. "Woah," he agreed.

As Link stared at the water I stared at him. He was so hot, but so sweet, almost innocent. The light of the rising sun was reflecting off his hair and the curves of his face, making him look like some kind of golden god. As soon as I realized I had the urge to wrap my arms around him from behind and whisper my feelings into his ear, I turned, climbed up a tree, and dove into the water.

The water was cool and soothing, and it calmed my urges. Water is a blessed thing.

Wait a ? I surfaced and took several gulps of air. Ruto had awakened as a sage?

Oh hell.