A/N: geez!! that took 4ever 4 me 2 come up w/ more ideas!! (sry, finals week. i've gotta b working!!) neway, more lz romance in this chapter!! i hope u like!

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"ROLE CALL!!" Malon shouted, holding out an old piece of parchment. "SARIA!"

"Present."

"LINK!"

"Here."

"PRINCESS!!"

"Present."

"MALON!!" ............ "MALON!!..........oh yes, that's me." Malon rolled up the paper and put it away. She mounted her horse. "Now that that's out of the way, let's get a move on, eh?"

Link climbed onto his horse and held out his hand for Zelda. She smiled and took it, mounting behind him. Saria was quite relieved that the two were back together again, and she got onto her own horse.

"Let's see....now that we've reached this area, we'll need to move east," Link said, tracing the map with his finger. "All right then, follow my lead, you two."

For a long time, they galloped along in silence. Then, to their surprise, they came across a tiny town that had not been marked on the map. It looked to be small and primitive, made up mostly of small huts.

"What's going on over there?" Saria asked curiously.

They could all hear loud music and cheering coming from the center of the town; they appeared to be having a celebration of some kind.

"Hmm...." said Malon, squinting her eyes. She repeated the author by saying, "they appear to be having a celebration of some kind." The four of them ventured a little closer, then stopped as one of the people saw them.

"LOOK, IT'S MORE PEOPLE!!" the thing shouted with happiness, bounding towards them.

"Hey, it's a Goron!" Link said, immediately recognizing now that it had come closer. "Hi!"

The Goron looked up at them curiously. "You're from Hyrule, aren't you?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" Saria inquired.

The Goron grinned. "Is that not Princess Zelda sitting upon that horse?"

"Um, yeah, that's me," Zelda said, blushing a little, wondering how this living rock knew her name.

"We have been awaiting visitors from Hyrule!" the Goron shouted.

"No you haven't," said a larger goron. He saw Link, then burst into a giant smile. "Link!"

"Darunia!" Link said, getting off of his horse (the other three followed suit). He shook the Goron King's hand. "How's it going?"

"Just fine, boy, fine," Darunia said, clapping him on the back and nearly causing him to fall over. "I was just here visiting my Goron cousins. They're celebrating the fact that the autumn season has just finished." He leaned closer to Link, saying, "They like winter. A lot."

"Come, come!" said the other Goron. "You must join us!!"

"Well, you know us, Link!" Darunia laughed. "Nothing we like more than some friends! The more the merrier, right, Norad?"

"Yes, yes!" answered the Goron apparently called Norad, jumping up and down from anticipation.

"What do you say?" Darunia asked. "You four think you could take a break from your mission to have a rest?"

"Well actually, we only just continued on our way from a holdup--" Saria began.

"But we'd love to stay for the night," Link interrupted, smiling. As Darunia and Norad lead them to the bonfired, he muttered to Saria, "they might be insulted if we don't accept. Besides, it could be dangerous to travel this road at night."

"My friends!" Norad boomed, addressing the other Gorons. "I would like to present to you Princess Zelda of Hyrule!!"

The Gorons broke into tremendous applause. "And Link, her...escortee!"

Link smiled uneasily as the Gorons clapped again. Norad turned to Link and asked something. Then he faced his people again, declaring, "And these are their noble companions, Malon and Saria!!"

"YAYYY!!!" came the roar of approval from the Gorons. One of them rushed up, holding what appeared to be a bundle of rocks and leaves.

"Here ya go," he said, handing each one of them a necklace made of jasper. "And for the Princess, we have made you this crown of leaves and flower petals."

"Oh, thank you so much," Zelda laughed, taking the "crown" and putting it on. The leaves were a deep crimson color, and the petals a light pink (Link couldn't stop staring at her).

"Say, Darunia," said Link. "You know that song I played for you once, the one you really really liked?"

"Yes, yes!" Darunia laughed.

"Well, Saria's the one who taught it to me, and she's even better at it," Link said. He took out his ocarina and threw it to her. "Go on Saria, play your song. They'll love it."

"Um, okay," Saria said with an uneasy smile. She took the ocarina and began to play. Darunia's smile covered his face.

"WOO!! WOO-HOO!!! OH YEAH!! HOT!! WHAT A HOT BEAT!!!" He was dancing like crazy, and the other Gorons had done so as well. "YEEEE-HAW!!!!"

Link laughed loudly. Zelda and Malon stared at them, their faces quite expressionless (but getting the point across that they were scared). Link laughed even harder at this.

Saria eventually lowered her ocarina, and Darunia wiped a tear of joy from his eyes. "Ahh, excellent! Nothing like a bright, chipper tune to get you out of the duldrums, eh? Ah, but what am I doing? ORCHESTRA!! If you please."

The Hylians turned their attention towards a small group of Gorons, all of whom appeared to be holding crude instruments. Once they started playing, the whole population began to dance about around the giant fire.

One Goron came up and asked Malon to jump about in a circle with him. She flushed red, but accepted. Another Goron came up, and grabbed Saria by the wrist, not even bothering to ask for the dance. He rocketed around the site, with Saria barely managing to hold on.

(A/N: have any of u seen disney's cartoon, the legend of sleepy hollow? u know that part where the fat lady is dancing w/ brom bones at katrina's party? that's how this goron is dancing w/ saria.)

"Come on, Link," laughed Zelda. "Let's go!" She took his hand, and the two of them flung themselves into the group of Gorons.

The came to a stop, and Link took both of her hands. "This is a dance move I used to do with my sister all the time," he said. He began to spin in a circle, and Zelda began to do the same, so as not to fall.

"When does it stop?" Zelda asked, as they continued to hold onto each other's hands and spin around.

"It doesn't, really!" Link answered. "Just when you want it to!"

Zelda grinned and closed her eyes. "AHHH!!!"

"WOAH!!!"

Soon, they were twirling so fast that tears were clinging to their eyes. Finally, Link collapsed to the ground, making Zelda fall as well.

"Agh, stop the ground, I want to get off!" Zelda laughed, trying to stand up. But the world was too distorted at the moment, so she settled for crawling towards Link. "How on earth did you two come up with that move?"

"I don't know," Link panted. "We just sort of started doing it one day, when we were really bored. Just to see how long we could do it for... Phew, I'm dizzy."

"So am I," Zelda panted, wiping her brow.

Link smiled, and Zelda blushed. He looked so perfect right now; his face illuminated by the light from the fire, his hair falling in his face and also onto the ground. Zelda reached down and slowly stroked his face

"Zel..."

She leaned downwards and softly kissed his waiting mouth. Link reached up and pulled her closer, as her arms closed around his shoulders. Sitting right by the huge fire, the temperture was suddenly sweltering; but neither of them seemed to notice.

The Princess kissed him one last time, then sat up. Link followed suit, unable to keep a grin off his face.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" came a loud, familiar sounding voice.

The two of them looked up to see Darunia walking towards them, laughing. "Looks my little brother's grown up a bit, eh?"

"Uh--"

"Anyway, a few of my men have just finished setting up tents for you guys," Darunia said, as Link and Zelda stood up. He grinned. "Maybe I should've told them to get just three tents instead of four!"

"Darunia!" Link said, blushing.

"Ah, sorry boy," Darunia chuckled. "Anyhow, I'd better be going. Good to see you again, boy."

"Good to see you, too," Link responded.

Darunia shook his hand, then turned to leave. "Name the baby after me!"

Zelda's mouth dropped and she turned crimson from embarassment. Her only consolation was that Link was too. "Erm...Sorry about that," Link muttered, holding out a hand.

"S'okay," Zelda laughed softly. She took his hand, and they followed Malon and Saria to where their tents were. "Goodnight."

"Night."

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Link stirred as he saw light briefly flood into his tent. He stiffened: someone just came in. Instinctively, he reached for his sword, then heard the distinct sound of female laughter.

"Relax, it's just me," said Zelda.

"Oh." Feeling a bit silly, Link put the sword back in its sheath. He suddenly felt very apprehensive. "Um...what is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, not really," Zelda said lightly, making her way towards him. "I just wanted to see something." She reached out and punched Link's arm.

"OW!!"

"That's what I thought," Zelda sighed. "I barely touched you, and you're freaking out. I think you got an injury in that battle against the sea monster."

Link rubbed the spot. "....yeah, it was hurting a while ago. There's a scar there."

"Oh..." Zelda said, feeling a little guilty for some reason. "Do you-- do you want me to heal it? I could use magic..."

"No, no, that's all right," Link said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's just a scar, it'll go away."

"All right." There was a short silence. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." A few moments later, Zelda made to leave the sent.

Link sat up and took hold of her arm. "Wait a minute, Zel." His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark, and he saw her look back at him innocently. "D'you--d'you think you could just stay here?"

Zelda stared at him a moment longer, then looked a little crestfallen. She sighed deeply. "Link, I'm too afraid of what might happen. I don't think we'd be able to... to..."

"What, control ourselves?" Link asked, with a grin. He gently pulled Zelda down next to him. "I think we could."

The Princess breathed in sharply when Link suddenly pressed his lips down onto her neck. She didn't fight when he held down her arms and moved his kisses up towards her face. Zelda moaned very softly as Link moved his hands to her waist and his tongue to her ear. She shivered; he seemed to be succumbing to some animal instinct that had come up a long time ago.

"Link..." she whispered hoarsley, when he started moving his hands up the curves of her body.

Horrified, he came to a stop. Why couldn't he stop touching her? She looked up at him with fear. "I....told you," she whispered. "We cannot do this, Link. It's not honorable. Not in the least." She sat up slowly and faced him as he hastened to move off her. "I know it's what you want, Link. And it might even be something I want, too."

Link looked up at her, a little confused at what she was saying.

"But if you want to be brave, and if you want to be a hero...." The Princess closed her eyes and sighed. "You will wait."

He looked at her, then nodded. "You are right, Princess. I'm sorry."

Her heart rate slowly began to beat normally again, and her breaths were no longer sharp. "I forgive you, Link," Zelda said seriously. She saddened when Link looked hurt and offended. The Princess smiled wistfully, then kissed him one more time.

"Good night."

"Good...night."

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A/N: ahhhh, yes! abstinence! i hope that was ok!! PLZ review!