4. New Friends and Familiar Faces

One day near the beginning of Link and Sheik's third year in juvie, as they, Mikau, and Darmani were hanging out in the visiting room, there was a disturbance. Nothing spectacular, but it would change more than anyone could have suspected.

It started simply. A red-haired girl came into the visiting room, spotted a dark-haired boy who'd wanted the name Spider,marched up to himand slapped him, hard.

"You little bastard!" she cried. "How dare you try to talk to me after what you did!"

"What!" the boy exclaimed, rubbing his cheek. "You bitch! Why did you-"

She slapped him again. "You stole from my farm, you lied to me, and you had the nerve to call me today! You don't deserve to be in juvie!"

Sheik snickered under his breath.

The guards arrived right about then. They sent the boy back to his room and started to lead the girl, fighting and cursing, back to the entrance.

Sheik climbed over the back of his seat and ran toward the guards. Darmani and Mikau were deep in a debate about legends (specifically, who would win in a fight; the Hero of Time or the Hero of Winds?), so they barely noticed. Only Link watched Sheik's strange actions.

"Hold up!" he called. "I want to talk to her."

"You know her?" one asked.

"Y- yeah, um," Sheik put his arm around the girl. "Malon and I go way back."

The girl looked at him in surprise, then nodded furiously at the guards.

"Well, all right then," the guards released her, but one wagged a finger at the girl. "Don't slap this one."

"Oh, I won't," she said, rather nervously.

The guards left and Sheik led the girl over to some chairs.

"How did you know my name?" Malon asked. "Do you really know me?"

"Not really," Sheik smiled apologetically. "I went to your farm once or twice when I was a kid, and I have a good memory for names."

"So what's your name?"

"Sheik. So, uh, what was that thing with...Bronco I believe."

"Bronco?" Malon repeated. "His name is Reggie."

"Ah, yes, well," Sheik grinned nervously. "It's a bit of a tradition around here for people to get nicknames as soon as they arrive. I'm, uh, kind of in charge of that..."

"Kind of?"

"It was my idea actually. I keep the record of who has which nickname and which ones have been retired."

"Retired?"

"Like sports stars jersey numbers."

Malon looked at him oddly. "So you're like a gang leader."

"Huh?" Sheik looked startled. "What? No! I've only got like three followers and they're not... well Rock is kind of like a goon...and Link... Never mind, point is I'm not a gang leader. I just nickname people."

"Can I have a nickname?" Malon asked nervously.

Sheik stared. "You really want one?"

She nodded, then shrugged. "I don't have many friends, so I haven't got anyone to give me one. And you can't give one to yourself..."

"True," Sheik agreed. "Okay then, how about..." he looked at her thoughtfully. "Bonanza."

"Huh?"

"Well, that sounds like a cowboy, or girl, kind of thing, so why not?

"Bonanza?" She thought for a moment. "Bonanza?" She frowned a little, then smiled. "Okay, Bonanza it is then."

"So you wanna tell me what was up with that guy?"

Malon glared furiously at nothing in particular. "That...bastard! He got a job on the farm, pretended to be my friend, and in the end he planned to rob us!" She clenched her fists so tight her knuckles turned white. "We don't make much money form selling our milk, eggs, and horses, and most of what we do make goes right back into the farm. And he was going to steal all that!"

Sheik thought that she was being a bit melodramatic, but had the wisdom not to say anything. Instead he let Malon rant for a bit, then when she was finished he patted her shoulder and said something suitably comforting.

Malon smiled warmly at him and asked him what he was doing in a place like this. Sheik smiled back and told her.

Half an hour later Sheik finally came back to where Link, Mikau, and Darmani were now arguing heatedly.

"What do you think Sheik?" Link asked. "Who would win, the Hero of Time or the Hero of the Winds?"

Sheik shook his head. "Don't you guys know your legends at all? The Hero of the Winds was the Hero of Time reborn."

"No shit?"

"No shit. That's how it works. Whenever the world is in danger a hero will be born and his name will be..." Sheik trailed off.

"What?" Mikau asked. "His name will be what?"

"Um, remembered. His name will be remembered." Sheik glanced at Link nervously.

"Then how come we don't know the Heroes' names now?" Mikau pressed.

"Well, we do."

"I don't."

"Well I do. It's a Sheikah thing."

"So what were their names then?"

Sheik got up and started to walk away. "Like I said, it's a Sheikah thing."

zzz

They were gardening that day. Link made a show of grumbling and complaining along with the rest, but the truth was; Link loved gardening. When the gray walls were closing in and Link could barely breathe, the only thing that helped was to get out in the sun and dig in the dirt for a while.

Link had, of course, grown up in the forest and wasn't used to being indoors all day every day. He and the others in the Kokiri forest grew their own food, so Link knew plenty about gardening, and it was a very soothing and nostalgic experience for him.

Sheik didn't get it. Link didn't expect him too. Link didn't understand Sheik's unwavering dedication to the royal family and Sheik didn't understand Link's unwavering love of the earth. They didn't disagree with each others' opinions, but they didn't pretend to understand them. Sheik explained it away as "cultural differences."

Sometimes Link really wished he could share Sheik's culture. Maybe then he would understand him more.

What with the fighting lessons all, Link and Sheik were spending more time than ever together, and time alone at that. They didn't talk about their pasts, or their feelings, (why would they?) but they were closer than they had ever been. And that was kind of depressing. Since Link still knew so little about him.

The plus side was that the lessons were paying off. Link was starting to develop muscles, not much but enough for now. He could hold his own against Mikau in arm wrestling, and had actually knocked Sheik off his feet once in practice. This was quite an accomplishment, since Sheik, who was shorter than Link, had a lower center of gravity and knew how to use it.

A couple of days after Sheik met "Bonanza," Link got an opportunity to show off his new skills.

The boy called "Bronco," still trying to regain his manhood in the eyes of the other boys, was shoving some ten-year-olds around. He and a couple of his buddies, whose names Link didn't know, had gotten hold of one of their shoes, somehow, and were playing keepaway.

Sheik was explaining to Darmani, very slowly and carefully, the concept of "tact." For some reason Sheik was a strong believer in gender equality, and Darmani couldn't seem to break the habit of thinking of women in terms of body parts.

Darmani was getting out in three weeks and they were all going to miss him. Mikau still had almost two years left, but Sheik was already on the lookout for replacements for them both.

Link, meanwhile, had noticed the "game" that Bronco and the others were playing, and wasn't pleased. One of the ten-year-olds, not the one who owned theshoe, leapt for it, missed badly, and fell flat on his face.

The bullies laughed.

Link got up.

"Want it?" Bronco asked maliciously, waggling the shoe in range of the boys' arms. One of them tried to grab it and he jerked it back. "Too bad!" He pulled back his arm and tossed the shoe to one of his friends.

It never made it.

Link stood between the two boys, the picture of calm. He lowered his arm, shoe in hand, and handed it back to the boy. "Y'okay?" he asked.

"Sure," the boy said.

"Okay." Link turned to the bullies. "Not cool," he said.

"Hey man," Bronco puffed up his chest and stepped toward the interloper. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Getting that kid his shoe back," Link said simply.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"Yeah, I know."

Bronco was now very close to Link, obviously trying to tower over him. He was tall enough, but Link's perfect serenity made it difficult. He clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times, all while trying to stare Link down, then finally drew his arm back and swung.

Link ducked under it easily and gave him a quick jab to the stomach.

Bronco doubled over, breathless and wheezing. His buddies started to close in, and Link, remembering his lessons, backed away slowly. Grinning, one of the boys went toward him.

When the boy tried to throw a punch Link grabbed his arm and usedthe attacker'sown momentum to hurl him to the ground.

One more boy tried it. He shouted, "Hey!" and ran toward Link. This boy was smaller than the others, and a bit smarter, so he started to throw a punch toward Link's face, then when Link tried to dodge it the boy dodged his counter attack and grabbed his shoulder. They struggled for a moment, until Link elbowed him in the ribs to make him let go, and back-handed the side of his face as hard as he could.

By this time Bronco and the other boy were back on their feet, but the fight had already drawn too much attention, and the last boy had run for it long ago.

Link helped the boy he'd back-handed to his feet then glared at Bronco.

"Not cool man," he said. "Just not cool."

Bronco snorted, then turned around. "Come on," he said. His buddies ignored him and went their separate ways.

Link returned to his friends.

"Link," Sheik said with wide eyes. "You're my hero."

Link laughed.

zzz

No one was laughing three weeks later. Darmani was gone and their little group felt smaller than ever. They were all happy for Darmani, but it was still a sad day.

"You know the worst part?" Sheik sighed.

"What?" Link asked glumly.

"We lost our muscle."

"Is that all you care about?" Mikau snapped. "That his muscle is gone?"

"No, I'm just worried 'cause people might try to mess with us now."

"No one's gonna mess with us." Mikau clapped Link on the shoulder. "We got us a hero, remember?"

"I'm not a hero," Link muttered. "I'm a little punk, ask anyone."

"Sheik, is Link a hero or a punk?"

"Hero."

"See?"

"Be quiet Sheik," Link sighed. He leaned on the table, his head almost vertical resting on his hand. "This sucks. I don't know how it could be worse."

"Mikau, when do you get out?"

"Twenty months."

"Oh joy." Link dropped his head down on the table completely.

In the silence that followed a voice could be heard, coming from the other side of the room.

"...and the best part is that I'm only in here forsix years! That's like nothing for what I did! And considering that I'm immortal, this hardly means anything to me at all."

"Shit," Link muttered to the table. "Shit, shit, shit."

"What now?" Sheik sighed.

"Can you look and see if there's an ugly kid with freckles and a hat like mine over there?" Link pointed limply. "Probably looks about ten."

Sheik looked. "Hey, yeah. There is! You know him?"

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!"

"So...I'm gonna take that as a yes."

"His name is Mido." Link sat up. "And please Nayru, for the love of all that is good in this world, don't let him recognize me."

"Hey Link, is that you!"

"That's it, I'm an atheist."