Disclaimers are in Chapter 1. And kudos to my first reviewers: thanks for giving me a chance.

Ch. 3

Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed labyrinthical soul!

-John Donne

Afterwards, both of them sat on the fountain edge, and had a small lunch of cheese and bread. Malon coaxed him into small talk, to take up the silence he'd fallen into.

"Remember this?" She asked, "This was where we met. I was looking for my father, and I stumbled upon you instead."

He nodded slowly, grateful for distraction. "You wanted me to see if he was sleeping at the castle, and gave me the little cuckoo to wake him if he was... I snuck past the guards on the hill side... and swam across the moat to find him..."

She smiled back. "And you didn't get caught. But boy did he hurry back! He thought I was going to be angry!"

"And you were," He grinned back. "Furious, if I remember."

They both were quiet for a moment, in a comfortable silence, before Malon looked up curiously.

"Did you meet the princess?"'

He halted a piece of bread at his mouth, and thought about it carefully.

"I know you came back a second time, before you came to the ranch, and before father quit that silly job at the castle. I saw you talking to the guard at the gate. Did you bribe him?"

He shrugged, slightly embarrassed that she knew, and had kept it secret for so long. "I did come back. I wanted to see what she looked like."

"And?" Malon pressed.

"And... she looked like a girl," Link said very casually, before quickly shoving the bread into his mouth. Malon laughed, letting the conversation drop to save him further embarrassment.

*************

As it always did, the shopping took the better part of the remaining day, and Link settled them a room in the town's inn. Malon moved their supplies in, while he found a stall to put Delka in.

When he came back, Malon was watching him with a strange expression.

"What?" He said, looking down at his body self-consciously.

She shook her head, and frowned. "I'm just worried about you, Link."

"Well don't be," He said, going over to one of the soft beds, and stretching out on it. She followed suit, but only sat on her own, peering over at him.

"Will you dream again tonight?"

"Who knows?"

"I'm asking you Link... Will you dream tonight?"

He stared at the ceiling with the vague feeling of impending danger.

Or was it another illusion?

"Yes."

*************

He awoke in a startled state, eyes wide open. He stopped breathing, and focused his senses on what he had heard. It was gone now, replaced by the soft breathing of Malon's slumber.

The night was silent.

Link stayed rigid, not daring to even blink, lest he miss something. There! Again!

It was soft, and echoed in a strange way, as if through a valley, or cave.

Singing...

He carefully moved out of the bed, creeping slowly to the door, where he pressed his ear against the wooden frame. No, not nearby. It was as faint here as it had been from his bed. There was only one place that he had ever heard this haunting tune. But how was he able to detect it from here?

Link opened the door as quietly as possible, and slipped out onto the staircase. He peered through the foggy night to the castle, and felt like something deep inside had grabbed him, and then he was moving.

He took the stairs in a swift bound, and crouched in the shadows, to hear the haunting voice raise again. Moving at a lope now, he cleared the town square, and eluded the attention of several lethargic guards. The only watcher he had attained, was one of the roaming dogs that ran boldly through the empty streets at night. It followed him from a distance, and he paid it no mind.

Link left the paved town road, and took the open trail that led around a bend to the castle. The site was set up perfectly so any traveler could suddenly come upon the full view of the castle in all of its splendor. Link paid it no heed, and ducked around a tree to see the lone guard, leaning against gatehouse wall. Though he had bribed this same guard once, it would be a riskier chance to take now, as he was fully a young man, and creeping around at night at the castle could provide some alarm.

He instead headed for the hill that sloped down and became a natural wall around the castle's front. He climbed wild vines up a rock wall as he had done before, and found himself face to face with a strange stone statue. He did not dare thump it to attain the time, though somehow he felt he needed it, for its jarring chatter would surely raise alarm.

Instead he passed it, and ran on down the slope, careful to keep an eye on any guard he could make out. He jumped onto the roof of the gatehouse, careful to not make a noise, and slipped through the roofhatch on top, climbing down to find himself in the flickering light of a torch, set high in a sconce above the room. The inside was sparse: a thick, horse blanket spread out on the floor, and a door immediately in front of him.

He opened it, and looked around to see the guard standing unknowingly on the other side of the gate. The singing was more concentrated now, and had lost the echoing sound, leaving its natural clearness to be heard. Link knew this song. Knew it well enough to take out his ocarina and play right along with it, but he suppressed the dangerous urge, and moved on down the road. There were no guards lining the rough dirt road here, but there were on crest of the hill above him, and he ducked down as he ran.

It had been a long time, and now he had to move cautiously. He mounted the hill in a scrabbling crawl, and was glad to see that several tall trees still lined the uphill road to the castle. He slipped behind one of the trees, and knelt, waiting for a guard who was standing nearby to move on.

From here, it was up another rock wall, to above the most heavily armed gates, to where he could dive into the moat, and swim until he attained the rear tower door. There he could climb out, and crawl through the water channel, if, and only if, it wasn't too small. It was the only setback in the plan, but he did not stop to dwell on it.

When he had reached the channel, he crawled out of the moat, and was barely able to squeeze through it. He ignored this fact, still caught up in the strange pull that had gripped him earlier. Now, it was through the gardens, where, if it hadn't changed, the guard system was much heavier.

Here he tried to stop and ponder his sudden flight into the night, but the pull would not give him a moment to be rational, and he was urged on. The singing was louder now, and now he ducked and weaved his way through the garden flora. Bushes of elderberry and thistles provided hiding places, and he moved quickly and soundlessly whenever possible. Nonetheless, the sky was becoming a lighter gray even as he cleared the last obstacle, and stumbled into the small, secluded sanctuary of Princess Zelda.

"You!" He rasped, when the singing suddenly stopped, and he was in control of himself again. The princess had turned in utter surprise, and was now watching him with a strange expression on her face.

Beyond anything else, Link was furious that he had been dragged here, against his will. He stormed up to her, and she held out pale arms to halt his movement.

"No, Link, wait!"

He froze. "How do you know my name?"

"I remembered it," She said quickly.

Link peered at her features angrily in the dark. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I didn't bring you here, Link, you came of your own will!"

"You're lying," His eyes narrowed. "It was that lullaby...is it magic?"

Her head suddenly tilted, and he was aware of her smiling in the dark.

"You remembered it," She said softly. "I wasn't sure if you would... No, its not magic, Link. I didn't force you to come here. You came because... you're looking for something."

He paused, and let some of the anger fade. Uncertainty replaced it. "Looking for what?" He countered.

"For something you...lost," Zelda said carefully, testing the waters.

His expression gave nothing away in the dark, though.

"I haven't lost anything, Princess Zelda. And something did bring me here, because I certainly didn't sneak through the castle just to come and see you."

It was said with a little more harshness than he intended, but he was confused and uneasy now. Zelda held out a hand, as if to calm him, and then led him over to a seat that sat above the sanctuary's clear pond. He sat down, and waited for her to speak again.

"Link... you must believe that I didn't force you to come. You came because you were lost, and somehow you knew that if you came here, then you would find your way."

This somehow made sense to him, and he calmed slightly.

"Tell me," She said, the same careful tone in her voice as before, "Have you had any...dreams, of the late?"

He looked up in surprise, but then remembered that Zelda came from the direct line of the Hylian Royal family, and had some magical powers, prophetic notions rumored to be one of them.

He nodded. "I did... the night before last."

She leaned in to listen intently, and he felt strangely comfortable with her, as if this kind of thing happened a lot. In truth, he'd only been this close to her once before, and that was when she had introduced herself to him, and taught him her lullaby.

"There was fire," He finally said. "And a dark laughter from beyond it."

She nodded, her expression again unreadable in the dark. "Go on."

He shrugged. "That was all. A dark form came towards me, and I thought it was a man, but I awoke before I could make it out." On a strange whim, partly because of his residual anger at being forced here, he did not speak of the weeping.

"Was this the first?"

He shook his head. "No, but it was the first time I saw the outline. Before there was only the laughter..."

"Have there been any... other strange occurrences?" Said again in the same careful tone that was beginning to wear at his nerves.

"Today, I... thought I saw a dark, cloaked man coming towards me... his eyes were glowing, and he was riding a pitch Gerudo stallion."

She raised an eyebrow, unseen in the dark. "You have a keen knowledge of horses."

"I should," He said in a clipped tone, "I'm a ranch hand."

She nodded slowly. "Of course, I apologize. But tell me, what happened?"

Link was growing annoyed with her careful words and probing questions.

"He just... disappeared."

"You were in the market when this happened?"

He glanced up sharply, but realized again that she was the princess of Hyrule, and had eyes and ears everywhere.

"I was waiting for a friend when it happened. No one else saw him. It was as if..." He trailed off, and again questioned his sanity. Was he falling ill to some sickness of the mind? The question disturbed him deeply.

"Did you consider that it may have been a vision, though?" She finally asked, as if somehow reading his mind.

"A vision? No, it was more like..." A memory?

The thought came unbidden to him, and he shook himself mentally to dispel it. It couldn't have been a memory. He had never seen anything like the evil-looking man on the horse.

Zelda watched him carefully, but when he said nothing more, she reached out to pat his hand comfortingly. "You should come to the temple, Link, and perhaps speak with the priests. If these are visions, or perhaps merely apparitions, then maybe they can help you to be rid of them, or even understand them, if necessary."

Her questing and careful tone had disappeared, and Link felt himself relax his anger and uneasiness.

"Why were you singing?" He finally said, surprising her.

"To sleep, like always," She responded with a smile, giving him the same answer as she had the first time. That, he remembered, and it was a peaceful memory, which finally calmed him. He nodded, and reached for his ocarina automatically, only to remember that he was wearing only his under tunic loosely, without the belt.

She shook her head, and rose.

"It's time for you to go, Link," She said, "My guardian has been watching us now for sometime, and I believe she's growing impatient."

Link stopped himself from looking around suddenly, and nodded, rising also. He felt unsure of how to excuse himself, but finally settled for a nod.

"Good night, Princess."

She smiled gently at him as he turned to leave.

"And good night, Hero of Time," She whispered softly to his form, already disappearing from whence it had come in the shadows.

*************

Colorful streaks of dawn were already appearing overhead as Link slid down the vines, and tiredly made his way back down the road to town. The guards had changed while he was gone, and now watched him suspiciously as he openly walked into the town square.

Several early rising market-keepers were already setting up for the day's hustling crowds, and he walked past them without a glance in their direction. His thoughts were jumbled and full, confused about all that had happened so recently. He pushed the questions away, though, and trudged wearily up the stairs.

Link opened the door as softly as possible, and slipped in, relieved to find Malon still sleeping. Sitting down on his own bed, he pulled off his dew-sodden riding shoes, and slipped under the quilt, falling asleep before he his head touched the pillow.