So yeah, a note to everyone. Sorry for not updating this story for a while, I lost my train of thought for this and I didn't want to keep going and write a story that might disappoint all of you and that didn't even meet my own standards which I think are lower than most to start with. But hopefully with this, I will get back on track again and please review, review, review!

Again sorry about not being able to respond to your reviews but as it is now against the rules, I cannot put those in the chapter, I don't know why, but it isn't my place to question the rules. So, if you wish a response to your review, just say so in your review and I will use the new review link system via the alert e-mails. Additionally, please review my latest chapter of Legend of Zelda Freedom's Cry as I posted it and there was a paltry number of reviews. Thanks.

The ball was still continuing into the late hours of the night. Link was thoroughly not enjoying his time here. He had been dragged to the dance floor again multiple times by the daughters of several prominent Tories and British families who were quite taken with him after setting eyes upon him. During the whole time, he labored hard to stay near the officers, picking up tidbits of information on the upcoming British move such as the regiments involved that could be passed on to Sheik. After politely declining another request for a dance he moved over towards the table laden with the punch bowl and poured himself a glass of the sweet yet tangy beverage. Link had gathered all of the information that he felt that he needed and that he could obtain without appearing too inquisitive and this attracting unwanted attention towards him. As a result he just stood near the table watching as couples continued to dance.

At that moment his eyes were attracted to the whirling blue of Zelda's gown as she was dancing with a particularly dashing light infantry Lieutenant. She looked to Link as if she was having a good time, laughing whenever the Lieutenant was saying something. A very reluctant feeling began creeping into Link's chest, and he struggled for a moment to identify what it was. After a couple more moments of internal struggle, it dawned on him that the emotion that he was now experiencing was a pang of jealousy. That set of an internal struggle within himself as he tried to grapple with his own feelings.

"Why do I feel jealous, its not as if I have any feelings for her right?" he asked himself.

"Of course not, I mean she looks really nice and all now, but her real personality isn't like that."
"Its just that she's a beautiful girl that's all, it would be natural for anyone to feel this way when they saw a beautiful girl with a guy other than himself, that's it." Link told himself with a finality that didn't entirely convince himself.

Meanwhile, Zelda was doing some thinking of her own while she was dancing. This was what she hated the most about her life, having to pretend to smile and laugh to make men feel good about themselves because that's what her father wanted her to do. Lately he had been pushing her harder than ever to find a husband, yet none of the officers which her father greatly approved were ones she desired. This particular one was quite annoying. He had terrible breath, and the multiple drinks that he had consumed did not help the situation at all. She forced herself to laugh at another joke that he had cracked which only encouraged him more. Zelda then felt her eyes wandering around the room, eager for anything that would get her away from this man. As her eyes wandered, she noticed the figure of Link leaning on the table upon which the punch bowl sat. He cut quite a figure in the clothes that she had bought for him that very morning. His brow was furrowed as if in deep thought and made him all the more mysterious and appealing. For some reason, she found herself somewhat attracted to him. Some part of her berated herself for experiencing such feelings however a more curious part was asking herself why she felt this attraction. Perhaps it was because he seemed more like a real person than these fawning officers she had to deal with day after day. Nevertheless, she reminded herself he was the enemy and she shouldn't have even the inkling of attraction to him.

By then, the music had ended and the clock had now struck past midnight. The ball began breaking up as various people began heading back towards their carriages. Zelda, her father, and Link all met at the door from where they came in and Zelda's father gave Link an evaluative look as if trying to deduce whether Link had stepped out of line or not. Their carriage pulled up as they stepped out of the door from the grandiose building and the servants again helped them up into the carriage.

The ride back was quite uneventful as the three were quite tired. They arrived back at the Harkinian residence moments later. Zelda's father entered the house first making his way towards the study, in order to examine some of the business papers that he had received that night which left Zelda and Link to walk into the house more slowly.

The two stood in the entryway to the house after been shown in by the servants and were standing for a moment awkwardly before Zelda broke the silence.

"Umm, I'd just like to say thank you on behalf of my father and I for your attendance of the ball." Zelda stated softly, breaking the silence between them feeling that she should say something before she left for bed.

"Oh, thank you for the clothing, it was quite nice." Link replied with a weak smile feeling that he should at least reply with some sort of pleasantry out of politeness more than anything else.

"Well, I'm tired, I shall be heading to bed now." Zelda dismissed herself before turning about and leaving Link standing in the entryway.

He stood there fore a moment, noticing the sweet lingering scent of Zelda's perfume before heading up the staircase towards his own chamber.

When Link got up to his room he felt his eyelids droop with the desire to sleep yet he remembered the important task that he has been charged with. Walking over heavily ot the desk, he pulled out a piece of parchment, quill, and inkpot and hurriedly began to write all that he had heard that night at the ball. He detailed the British plan to take Forts Lee and Washington as best as he could and finally when he had pried all the pieces of knowledge from his own memory and had committed them to the paper he folded the parchment, set it aside and found his way under the covers to a deep sleep.

Link woke up the next morning to find the sun streaming through the windows. He hurriedly pulled on his worn work clothes having left the previous evening's finery folded up on one of the couches in his room. He tucked the parchment that he had written on before into one of the pockets of his trousers. Subsequently, he then made his way down to the dining room where the servants had already laid out food and where Zelda was eating and deeply engrossed in a book at the same time. Just when Link sat down and took his first bite into a warm roll, he was interrupted by the call of a servant.

"Mr. Link, there is a young boy here to see you, he say's he's from Sheik's Bookstore," the maid announced.

"Oh, of course tell him that I'm coming right away," Link replied.

"How does the owner of a bookstore know that you're here?" Zelda inquired suspiciously evidently not as deeply engrossed as Link thought she was.

"I met him when I went on the walk the other day and I asked him if he had a certain volume of Shakespeare that contains a certain passage that I was interested in, besides where I go and whom I associate with is none of your business," he replied in a slightly cutting tone before walking off towards the door.

In the open doorway stood a young lad of about nine years of age, with a mop of dark brown hair and in his arms he held a large bound volume.

"Master Sheik says that this might be the volume that you are looking for sir. He says to check page 56," the young lad piped up before handing Link the heavy book.

Link accepted the book and checked to see if the maid was gone which she was and opened the book to the page that the boy had suggested. Tucked neatly into the folds of the pages was a piece of parchment which Link deftly plucked out. He then reached into his pocket and slipped his own parchment into the volume as quickly as possible before speaking to the young boy.

"I'm sorry, tell Master Sheik that this volume does not contain what I am looking for, so if you could please take it back to him, it would be much appreciated." Link replied.

With a wink that suggested that the boy knew the true nature of what was going on, he repossessed the volume before turning back along the path to the house and heading towards the direction of the bookstore.

Link returned to the dining room only to meet the icy stare of Zelda's pale blue eyes. He felt immediately uneasy due to Zelda's piercing gaze. It seemed as if she was trying to search into his mind with just her eyes in order to determine the reasoning behind the odd meeting that had just taken place.

"I understand that the boy was from the bookstore and the maid told me that he was carrying a large volume evidently to deliver to you, however you have just returned without the said book, may I inquire as to what just happened?" Zelda inquired using words that on paper seemed polite however her tone of voice and body language totally offset the words.

Link was very disturbed by Zelda's sudden suspicions and felt a bead of sweat beginning to form upon his forehead.

"It was not the volume that I had wanted. I was looking for a specific passage from Shakespeare and I went into Sheik's store to see if he had the passage I was looking for in one of his books. He said that he would have to look amongst his collection and would send the boy when he thought he had found it, but the book the boy brought didn't contain what I wanted so I sent it back with him," Link lied as best as he could while reciting every prayer that he knew so that Zelda would believe him.

Zelda sat silently digesting what Link had to say before speaking once more.

"Hmm, why did you have to go to the bookstore. My father keeps an extensive library right here and we have many books. In fact the book I am reading right now is Shakespeare, perhaps it has the passage you are looking fore yes?" Zelda prodded, as if trying to extract more information from Link.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a library," Link commented, deeply shaken by Zelda's pointed inquiries that seemed to be peeling back his layers of lies one by one.

"In fact, why don't we look through my book right here so that you wont have to buy another book. It's everything that Shakespeare wrote, so I believe the passage you sheek should lie within these pages." Zelda stated in a tone that dared Link to refuse, while laying down the book in front of her and beckoning Link to come closer so that he too could see the contents of the book.

Link swore to himself at this sudden turn of events. He was trapped, if he denied Zelda her request it would only make him seem more worthy of suspicion, and if he did then he would lose his means of communication with Sheik as he could no longer have the boy from the shop come with books. Forced to make a decision, he decided to not risk being discovered and assented to her request and as such walked over to where she sat.

The young woman had pushed her platter of food aside and was sitting seemingly serenely with the book in front of her waiting for Link.

"Well are you going to tell me what we are looking for?" she inquired, in a sweet yet dangerous manner.

When Link was a child, he had been forced to learn how to read by his mother. It was something he disliked because he always preferred running outside in the fields but because he hated to disappoint his mother he agreed to her lessons. His mother carried out these lessons with a well worn volume containing a compilation of Shakespeare's works. It was now, years later that Link was grateful for his mother's teachings. Searching his memory rapidly he described a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Zelda began flipping through the pages and before long she found the passage he was describing and then moved the book so that Link could read it without leaning over her.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Zelda asked rather smugly.

"Yes, it is." Link returned with a slight bit of resignation, his last hope that somehow what he described would not be found in her volume dashed.

"That's good. From now on then if you feel the urge to read or look up anything please go up to the library to see if its there first, ask either the maids or I to show you there." She remarked.

Link only nodded in assent as he tried to contemplate ways in which he could continue to keep the flow of information to Sheik alive. He needed to get out of the house and contact Sheik in person somehow Link realized to himself. He began to formulate a plan to see his lone ally in the city but his mental planning was rudely interrupted by Zelda's voice.

"What were you planning on doing today Link?" Zelda asked of Link.

"I was thinking of taking a walk around the city perhaps to get some exercise and fresh air." He tried as a veil to go and see Sheik. Unfortunately for Link, his luck then was no better than it had been just a few minutes ago.

"Excellent! I was thinking the same thing, perhaps we could go together," Zelda suggested pointedly.

Link hated how Zelda kept coming up with questions and statements that either set back his plans or would force him to reveal himself.

"Why do you want to come with me, I thought I was below your station and notice." Link shot back in an attempt to get Zelda to shy away from her suggestion.

"Yes, well someone must educate the savages mustn't they?" she replied in an airy tone that infuriated him more.

Link at that point so dearly wanted to throw something like the breakfast pudding at Zelda, but he managed to control himself before he did anything rash and instead roughly left the table without another word.

"Well then, I'll see you in half an hour in front of the house yes?" Zelda said sweetly.

All Link did was pause and grunt before leaving the dining room. Why did that stupid girl have to stick her nose into everything that he did, Link wondered to himself. Couldn't she just go and bask in the admiration of her suitors or whatever it was that young pretty girls of rich men did. She never stopped asking questions and it was becoming so annoying. Looking at the clock, he saw the arms indicating 9:45 which meant that Zelda was going to meet him for 10:15. Link was determined to talk to Sheik and to avoid anymore complications but he couldn't do so with Zelda breathing down his neck every step that he made. So, he decided that he would sneak out before Zelda could catch him.

Quickly hurrying to his room and changing into fresh clothes he prepared to leave. In his haste, he bumped into one of the maids who was carrying a fresh load of sheets to one of the other bedrooms. Hastily apologizing Link helped the maid pick up the sheets and scampered off. Checking to see if Zelda was nearby, he carefully snuck out making sure that she wouldn't see him. Walking on the streets, he consciously slouched his head so that she might not identify him if she was by chance looking out of a window. Luckily for him, he walked down the street un-noticed and then turned the corner. Letting out the breath that he didn't know that he was holding, Link made for Sheik's bookshop.

Stepping into the bookstore, Link saw Sheik busy helping another customer. Not wanting to look suspicious, Link went over to a bookshelf and picked up a book and began flipping through the pages as through inspecting it for future purchase. After a few minutes, the other customer left, and Sheik summoned Link to the back room.

"You look worried, what's wrong?" the red-eyed man questioned.

"This morning when your errand boy delivered the message, Zelda got suspicious after I sent the boy back. I think I managed to deflect her inquiries but if she sees your errand boy coming around again and me meeting him, it would be a disaster," Link informed Sheik.

"Hmmmm, it seems the lady has brains as well as beauty," Sheik mused. "From now on we cannot send information by person as your friend might discover us."

Link flushed a bit at Sheik's description of Zelda as his friend.

"Now, instead of meeting personally, when you receive information, you will still record the information onto paper but instead you will leave the information behind the dustbins of the Stockpot Inn and Tavern. The owner there knows me and knows my purpose here so we shall have no worries there. In order so that I know when to check that location you will set a vase of flowers in view of your window which I can see when I walk by the Harkinian house. Again you must be careful and you must be followed when hiding the documents," Sheik instructed.

Link only nodded before getting ready to leave.

"And one more thing, never come to this store again or people might be suspicious. Don't try to find me unless its extremely urgent, otherwise I will be the one to initiate contact," said Sheik by way of a farewell.

With a final wave, Link left the store and stepped out into the bright morning sun. It was a nice day actually and Link decided to walk around the city and enjoy the fresh air. He passed several groups of redcoats but consciously avoided their glances and walked as if any normal citizen might. It was nearing mid-day and Link was feeling a little sleepy. Spotting a patch of grass and a tree near the edge of the harbor, Link lay down in the shade and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

Zelda was furious. She had been waiting for over twenty minutes but Link hadn't shown up like she had told him to. It was simply outrageous that someone of his status keep a lady like herself waiting. That boy simply had no manners at all and Zelda resolved that she would discipline him for that. Zelda grew impatient and called for a maid to look for Link. Coincidentally, the maid that answered her call was the one to bump into Link earlier.

"Have you seen Link around the house?" Zelda queried, in a very regal and arrogant manner.

"Yes ma'am. He left the house about forty minutes ago, and in a mighty hurry too," the maid answered meekly.

Zelda felt even angrier than she did before. Not only did that ingrate leave her waiting, he left without her. Without another word to the maid, Zelda stormed outside onto the cobblestone streets. Yet, Zelda failed to consider that New York was a large city and that she was but one person looking for another in a city of tens of thousands. Nearly two hours had passed in her search and Zelda had no sign of the young man. Looking around, Zelda saw that she was near the harbor. Being quite tired, Zelda decided that she would like to rest in the shade for a bit. In the distance she saw a tree with a young man, whose face was hidden by the shade, sleeping under it. That wasn't a problem she thought to herself, the person beneath was probably a menial laborer or something of the sort and he would most definitely move when someone of her class ordered him to. Nearing the tree, she found the features of this young man becoming quite familiar. Soon enough, it was evident that this was none other than the object of her search. Before her anger took hold, Zelda couldn't help but smile at how peaceful Link looked in his slumber, chest rising and falling slowly with each breath.

Link was in a very pleasant dream where he was playing in the trees of the forest as a young child. He was sitting in the branches when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side, the sort of pain one feels when a rock is thrown at them. Looking around the forest, he tried to find the source of the rock but he couldn't. Then, he felt it again and again. Link looked even harder for the source of pain but to no avail when suddenly he felt a crushing pain in hi hand. Suddenly the world seemed to blur and eventually fade out. Seconds later, Link awoke, his eyelids still heavy with sleep. Evidently it wasn't just a dream as he felt his hand and side on fire. Link took a look at his hand which was laying on the grass when suddenly a foot, obscured by a light pink dress came smashing down on his hand, doubling the already excruciating pain. Looking up at this newcomer, Link saw the form of Zelda towering above him, her large blue eyes on fire and her normally pale face red with rage.

"Get up you lazy boy!" she ordered imperiously.

Link paid no heed to her order instead bringing his hand close to his face for inspection. His palm was an angry red color from where the heel of Zelda's shoe had come crashing down. Luckily as he flexed his hand and fingers gingerly, nothing was broken. Checking his ribcage brought him to the same conclusion.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you," Zelda raged kicking him hard in the ribs again..

"What the hell is wrong with you, you almost broke my hand and ribs you crazy girl!" Link shouted back.

"To teach you a lesson for leaving me waiting for you and then leaving without me. You should know to treat a true lady better than that," Zelda retorted.

"Right, I'll make sure I'll remember that when I do see a true lady," Link emphasized the last words implying that Zelda was anything but. "Besides why do you have to watch over me everywhere I go, can't I do anything on my own?"

"Because you're not trustworthy, in fact I ought to let Father let the redcoats hang you for treason," Zelda spat.

"Just go running to daddy like you always do. That's fine with me. As long as I don't have to spend more of my time with the likes of you!" Link returned, temper flaring.

"Just get out of the way," she commanded.

"Why should I," sneered Link rebelliously making a big show of enjoying the shade.

"Because I told you to," Zelda came back.

"It's just all about you isn't it? Giving orders like a regular princess you are. In fact that's what they should call you, Princess Zelda the Terrible," Link snickered.

Zelda flushed an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible. Never had she been so insulted in her life. She brought her hand back to give him a proper smack and began to swing when she felt Link's arm shoot out and grab her slender wrist in a solid grip.

"Not thinking of hitting me were you princess?" Link asked using his new derogatory nickname for Zelda.

Blinded by rage, Zelda now prepared her other hand to slap him but was again resolutely met with a solid grip and a taunting smile. Not willing to give in, she prepared to kick Link, but this time the lad was ready. By simply rolling on his side, Link caused Zelda to miss, throwing off her balance. With her two arms held tightly by Link and standing only on one foot, Zelda began to wobble and then eventually fall to the ground. Link, at seeing this burst out into raucous laughter as Zelda crumpled quite ungracefully into a heap on the ground. Unfortunately he was not able to savor his success for long as Zelda turned to face him, her beautiful face contorted with rage. Balling her small hands into fists, she struck, pummeling as hard as she could.

"What the hell is your problem?" Link said, effortlessly blocking Zelda's futile attempts to cave his face in.

Seeing her blows falter against Link's defenses only drove Zelda harder, her rage consuming her.

"Will you please stop it, you're getting annoying," Link informed her.

Yet still the barrage continued until Link grew very annoyed with her. Locking up her arms, he rolled her over onto her back and pinned her struggling form down.

"Let me go!" she shrieked.

"Not until you calm down," Link said matter of factly.

Still the young woman struggled until finally her strength began to wane.

"See that wasn't so hard was it?" Link taunted.

Zelda was beyond words and could only reply with a look of pure hatred.

"Well then, you can have the shade now as I must be going," Link informed her nonchalantly getting up and turning to go.

As he began walking, he heard the rustling of cloth behind him.

"Attacking someone from behind would be a most ­un-ladylike thing to do, princess," Link said using his new nickname for her one more time before sauntering off leaving Zelda feeling both angry and stupid at the same time.

So yeah, like or no like. Please review and tell me what you think!