i do not own zelda.

Chapter 2:

When I awoke, I was lying in a soft bed, and at first I thought it had all been a dream. But I slowly became aware of the aching in my arm, and when I opened my eyes I was in a room I had never seen before. The room was very small, and aside from a tiny dresser in the opposite corner, the bed I lay in was the only thing in the room. I sat up slowly, carefully avoiding the use of my left arm, and sat still for a moment to let the dizziness that swept over me clear away. When the dizziness was gone, I examined myself. My left arm was wrapped in bandages, and I was wearing a white, cotton nightgown that was somewhat too big for me.

As I sat there, I heard a voice say, "Oh! You're awake!"

Looking over to the doorway, I saw that it was a rather large, brown-haired woman who appeared to be in her early- to mid-thirties. She was carrying a bowl of water and a rag. "That's good," the woman continued, bringing the bowl and rag over and sitting on the bed next to me. "You've been sleeping for almost two weeks now. We were beginning to think you would never wake up."

"W-where am I?" I managed to stammer out.

"Lay down," the woman commanded, ignoring my question.

I obeyed. The woman dipped the rag in the water, and began dabbing my face with it. The water was extremely cold, and for some reason it stung my skin. I flinched. The woman muttered something under her breath, and made a strange sign with her fingers. "Come on." she said cheerfully, walking to the door. "Up! Up! We must get you something to eat!"

Confused, I climbed out of bed and followed her. Outside of my small room was a larger room that appeared to be a kitchen/dining room. Inside the room were a table and chairs, and something that looked like the old fashioned stoves I had studied in school, and cabinets lining one of the walls. On the stove was a pot, and the woman took a bowl from one of the cabinets and filled it from the pot, bringing it over to me. "Eat up!" the woman said, handing me the bowl and a spoon.

I examined the contents of the bowl. It looked sort of like oatmeal, and the smell of food had made me realize how hungry I was, so I decided to try it. It tasted quite good, and I was tempted to scarf it all down, but I knew that would be stupid, and I ate slowly.

The woman sat down next to me, and watched while I ate.

"So, where am I?" I repeated my question from earlier, after I had finished eating.

"You are in the village of Amevia." she replied.

"Amevia?" I asked.

"Yes, Amevia."

"Okay...umm, who are you?"

The woman chuckled. "I am Barbara. But you may call me Barb." I nodded. "And may I ask what your name is?"

"I'm Rachel."

"I see. Rachel." We said nothing for a moment.

I broke the silence, saying, "What kind of place is Amevia?"

Barb looked surprised at my question. "You mean you have never heard of it?" I shook my head. She eyed me curiously for a moment, then went on to answer my question. "We serve the great goddess, Nayru." she said.

"Nayru?"

"My! Don't tell me you have never heard of Nayru?" she exclaimed. Feeling somewhat abashed, I shook my head. "What a strange place you must come from." she said thoughtfully. I just shrugged, since I couldn't think of anything to say. "Well," she said, standing up. "First things first, let's get you some clothes. Then I'll explain everything."

I nodded, and followed her as she went into a third room. It was another bedroom, slightly larger than mine, with two beds and dressers, and some paintings hung on the walls. Barb went to the smaller dresser, and began rummaging through it. "Your rather small," she said, more to herself than to me. "All the older girls in the village are much taller than you, and of course you won't fit in any of the men's clothes." She pulled out a pair of light brown trousers and a white shirt and handed them to me. "These are some of my son's clothes. He's twelve, and small for his age, but they'll probably still be a little big for you. Unfortunately, he's the closest to you in size, so you'll just have to deal until I can make you something else." I nodded, and Barb stood up. "Well what are you just standing there for? Go to your room and change!" she said.

Barb had been right about the clothes. The trousers weren't too bad, except that they were slightly loose around the waist and I had to roll them up about three inches, but the shirt came almost to my knees, so that I had to tie it in a knot at my stomach, which didn't keep it from constantly falling off one of my shoulders. After trying several times to fix that and not succeeding, I had given up and went back into the kitchen.

Barb was waiting for me, and she took me on a tour of Amevia while she told me what I didn't know, which was pretty much everything, about the place I was now in. She explained that thousands of years ago Hyrule (apparently the name of the world I was now in) had been created by the three goddesses. Din, the goddess of fire and power. Farore, the goddess of wind and courage. And Nayru, the goddess of healing and wisdom, who the people of Amevia served.

Every year, on the first eve of summer, the people of Amevia held a ceremony honoring Nayru. The young unmarried girls of the village (young being age eight to twenty) would bathe in purifying water to cleanse themselves and adorn the special clothes created for the occasion. They would then perform the ritual dance, while others of the village played instruments. Afterwards there would be a great feast that continued through the night. I asked Barb what purifying water was, and she explained that it was a special water found in a spring that ran through the village. It was said to purify the body and soul, and was usually used for healing. I realized that must have been the strange water she had dabbed on my face that had stung so much.

As we walked about the village, Barb introduced me to many people, including her son, Hogan. Hogan had been playing around the well when we ran into him. He was thin and short, though still several inches taller than I. He had dark red hair and blue eyes that reminded me with a pang of Jenni.

Hogan blushed when his mother introduced me to him, and he immediately demanded to know why she had let some girl wear his clothes. Barb scolded him, and apologized to me for his rude behavior, but I was hardly paying attention, for now my thoughts were filled with everything that had happened. Things I had almost forgotten about in fascination of my new surroundings. But when I saw Hogan's eyes, that sparkling blue that was so much like Jenni's, everything had come rushing back. And ever afterwards, every time I saw Hogan's eyes, I would instead see Jenni, who I had abandoned when she had needed me most.

My emotions must have shown on my face, for when Barb looked at me she became extremely worried about me and asked if I was alright. I told her that I felt ill, and asked if we could please go back to her home. She nodded, and hastily took me back to the little house and put me to bed.

After that, I did not leave my room for a week, despite Barb constantly telling me that I must come out, I would never get better if I didn't get some sun. But I shut her out, and when she brought food in and tried to coax me to eat, I shut my eyes tight till she gave up and left.

I was consumed by guilt, for I blamed myself for what had happened to Jenni. If only you weren't such a coward, Rachel. I told myself over and over again. If only you had tried to stop those birds sooner, you could have saved her. In fact, even before that. You should have listened to Jenni when she told you to calm down, instead of running off like a frightened animal. Then you would both probably be safe at home now, instead of this dreadful place with their monsters and their pagan people.

I slept little, for when I did I dreamed of Jenni being carried off by monster birds, screaming for me to help her and reaching out towards me, and me just sitting there, watching her be taken away. In other dreams I would hear Jenni speaking to me, asking Why hadn't I helped her? Why had I abandoned her? Hadn't she always been there for me? Why hadn't I done the same for her? And I simply listened to her accusations, saying nothing, for I knew she was right.