Sorry I haven't updated for a while, but I got bad writer's block, and I've had to do a bunch of chores. I'm back now, and here's chapter 4 of A Repeat of Past Events. Enjoy!

Tarin kicked the door as hard as he possibly could, but nothing happened. Well, nothing happened except that he hurt his foot a lot and was slightly angrier than he had been five minutes prior. He moved away from the door and over to the wall underneath which the moat ran and sat down.

"The door's locked, so I can't go in there. How am I supposed to get in? I don't even know why I want in there!"

Tarin looked towards the town. He had left only about half an hour ago, but it felt like half a day. That was probably due to boredom on his part. He picked up a loose stone that was sitting beside him and chucked it at a large hole in the wall. He turned to look for another stone and stopped. A large hole, in the middle of the castle wall was kind of suspicious. It was square and might have been designed for drainage, but no water was coming out of it currently. There was a design above it—Tarin recognized it as the Triforce. He had seen the design elsewhere, but didn't know what it was, only what it was called. Tarin wondered if everyone was trying to get him into the castle—how the guards failed to notice him sneaking it, and now the square hole. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Tarin dropped down to an empty ledge below so that he was directly beneath the hole, reached up as far as he could, and managed to grab the edge. He pulled himself up and peered at the hole. It was just his size, and he was glad he wasn't a very tall or heavy. He climbed up and crawled through the hole.

Inside, Tarin ended up in a small dry pool. As far as he could see, the inner courtyard was comprised of a bunch of hedge gardens. And lots of guards. Not far away, to his disappointment, were two guards. He stayed crouched down and moved to the edge of the pool. The guards didn't move. Tarin took out his newly acquired slingshot and searched around for a couple more loose stones. He found one and loaded it into the slingshot, took aim, and fired the stone into a far wall, where it made an dull pinging sound. Immediately, the guards sprang to life and dashed off to investigate the source of the sound. Tarin, meanwhile, leapt from his hiding place, ran full-tilt past the first hedge garden and jumped into a bush in the second garden. Here, two guards patrolled back and forth past a fountain. Tarin waited for the nearest one to turn away, then followed stealthily behind him, continuing past him into the third garden.

This garden was Tarin's immediate favorite. A lone guard patrolled around an open chest full of rupees. Unfortunately, Tarin didn't think he could get close enough to take any, so he dashed past when the guard was turned away.

The last garden was by far the easiest. Two guards patrolled around a square-shaped hedge. Tarin waited, then ran and launched himself into the center of the hedge and ran crouched to the other end of the garden. This time, however, he wasn't so lucky. Tarin tripped over a root and started to swear out loud before clapping a hand over his mouth. Too late.

"Hey, there's a kid in here!"

"What? How?"

"I have no idea. Just get him!"

Both guards were far behind Tarin, but they were adults and he was only a kid. He ran for his life to a clear area and turned with both guards catching up. Tarin saw two people, a woman and a girl, and ran for them. Zelda, meanwhile, had gotten up and was just about to go to her room when she saw two guards and a boy running towards her. She recognized the boy.

"What are you doing!" she demanded of the guards, who immediately stopped. Tarin stopped also, and then backed up, nearly into Impa.

"Your Highness, ma'am, this boy was attempting to sneak through the gardens. We were told to do away with trespassers."

"I don't care what you were told. I'm telling you to leave him be," Zelda said, waving a hand at them as if to shoo them away. "Go on, back to your posts." The guards left. Zelda turned to Tarin, who was staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He tried talking.

"You…you're…you're the…Princess? I mean, Your Highness…."

"Please don't call me that," Zelda replied. "My name is Zelda. Just Zelda."

Tarin continued staring at Zelda. She looked to be about his age, maybe a bit older, and was fairly pretty. She was wearing a light pink short-sleeved dress with a darker pink smock over it and a long-sleeved blue dress underneath. The smock had the Triforce design on it, as well as something red that resembled a bird. Around her neck was an ornate gold necklace that matched the belt around her waist. Her hair was covered with a cloth of the same color as her dress and smock, and it too had the Triforce on it. It must be the family crest, Tarin thought. The woman looked like a warrior, with blue-grey tight-fitting armor. Her hair was grey, making her appear fairly aged.

"Nice…to meet you, Z-Zelda. I'm…Tarin. Just Tarin," Tarin said, mimicking Zelda's introduction and holding out his hand. Zelda giggled and shook the proffered hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Tarin. I'm glad you could come."

Something clicked in Tarin's brain. "You were the girl in the marketplace!"

Zelda blushed and looked away. "Yes…I was. I have been disguising myself as a commoner and going into the marketplace every day for weeks, hoping I would run into the person from my dream. Finally I have!"

"Huh? Me? You were looking for me? I was in your dream?" Tarin was confused.

"Yes," Zelda replied. "You see, in my dream, the whole land of Hyrule is enveloped in darkness, and then a young boy with a tail appears in a beam of light. He is holding two stones—a red one and a blue one. Then he is enveloped by the light and joined by seven other beams of light, each a different color, and the darkness is lifted. The dream seems…familiar somehow."

Tarin didn't say anything. He wanted to tell her about his dream, about the one with the fog and the white horse, but he didn't. Instead, he asked if Zelda knew what the stones were supposed to mean.

"Yes, I do know what they symbolize. They are the Spiritual Stones. I am in possession of one of them, given to me by a close friend to watch over." Zelda reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a large, round green stone. It looked to Tarin like a leaf. Zelda handed the Stone to Tarin.

"What about the other two Stones?" Tarin asked, carefully putting the Stone in his pocket.

This time, Impa spoke up. "They are in the possession of the Goron and Zora tribes. One year ago, they were given back to those people in order to keep them safe. Her Highness wishes you to retrieve them."

"Impa, don't call me that…" Zelda started, but gave up. "Here, I want you to have this." She took out something else, a dark blue oval-shaped object with holes "This is my ocarina," Zelda explained, pressing the ocarina into Tarin's hands. "Take it with you." Suddenly, she glanced toward the large window far behind her.

Tarin followed her gaze, but saw nothing.

"Princess, is something wrong?" Impa asked, also looking that direction. Zelda motioned for her to bend down, so she obliged, and Zelda whispered something in her ear. Impa's face became worried, and she grabbed Tarin's arm.

"You must leave. I will escort you back into town. Please retrieve the Stones as soon as possible."

Later…

"Tarin! There you are! I told you not to go near the castle!" Kira caught Tarin in a bear hug, threatening to crush him.

"Ki-Kira…s-stop it. I was only gone…for a little while." Tarin said. Kira let him go and stood up. "Did he cause you any trouble, miss?" she asked Impa. Impa shook her head and managed a small smile. "No, he did not."

"That's good. Tarin, we're going home now." She started walking away.

Tarin started to follow, but heard a loud crack and then turned around. He remembered that he wanted to say bye to Impa, but she was gone.

Ah. Done. Next chapter is when the action starts, I hope. Is it just me or are the chapters getting longer and longer?