The sages grumbled as they sat around the conference table for the second time that day, this time in their pajamas. Zelda, of course, was wearing something slinky, but Nabooru's two piece gold ensemble was getting all of the attention. Darunia had fallen asleep on the table, and now had begun to drool to which all the girls shrieked and ran into the corner. Impa had begun forging a weapon for God only knows whom, and was diligently studying from a book of old legends. Link, who had been watching the proceedings with a wistful smile, cleared his throat, ignoring the hiccup-like giggles coming from Zelda who was batting her eyelashes at him.
"I think Helen has something to show you," he said, leading me into the room; I was still staring at my hand like something was about to jump out. Gently, he pried open my fingers and placed the golden object upon the table. The sages crowed around the triangle, Darunia biting the object to make sure it was real.
"It's real!" he crowed, real gold!
"This couldn't be an actual piece of the actual triforce," scoffed Zelda, itching her hand absently, "there would be more…" she waved her arms around. "pomp and circumstance" she finished.
"If this is the actual triforce, there would be less pomp and circumstance," said Impa quietly, "Not all the stories about it are true."
"Then what do we do with it?" No one answered.
None of them noticed the concerned whispers of the two other piece holders; their hands had started to get hot. Very hot. Too hot. I clamped down on a moan of pain, but it bested me. Rauru turned at the sound.
"Oh my." The sages backed away at our apparent insanity. I seemed to be the first to realize what was going on. The triforce wanted out. Now.
"I give it freely!" I gasped, the pain curling down my spine and working its way toward my toes. "I give the piece of Fate freely!" I struggled for breath as the pain increased dramatically, my hand feeling like it would set the air around it aflame if there was only a spark. Then, it was over. I slid against the wall, my legs having no strength left in them to hold me up. Something hot burned my palm and I dropped it with a dull thud onto the floor. It glimmered conceitedly as my brain struggled to grasp what it already knew. I was free.
"I give it freely!" cried Link, as he saw what I had done. He collapsed, unceremoniously, onto the stone floor with a thump, his triforce piece tumbling out of his limp fingers. I lifted my eyes weakly to Zelda, who was gripping the arm of a chair with white fingers, her eyes glazed over. Nabooru shook her violently.
"Say it!" she urged.
"I give it freely" Zelda whispered. Her piece rolled under the table, but Zelda didn't move until Nabooru took her arm off of Zelda's shoulder. Then she dropped like a stone.
I opened my eyes again to something green. The act of physicalizing the triforce must have used most of my energy because I didn't remember anything that had happened for what seemed like days. Blinking, the blob materialized into the worn cloth of Link's tunic; he was sitting next to me on a bed, fingering his cap. His hand was rusty red with blood which had dried in the shape of a triangle. My gasp was enough to alert Link that I was awake. He glanced at his hand.
"You have one too." Eyeing my hand, my scar was less raw, probably because I had let go earlier.
"How many days has it been?" I wondered aloud.
"Two. I just woke up myself." He paused, fiddling with a hole in his cap as he thought. The silence was more awkward then I liked; something divided us at that moment that I could not name.
"I know what you did," Link said quietly. I was silent for a moment.
"How did you find out?"
"I found out from Ganondorf himself," he said, his tone hard. "I had to talk to my arch-enemy in order to find out what my l-… my friend had done!" I was quiet, weaving the sheets in and out of my fingers.
"Look at me!" he cried. Slowly, I raised my gaze to his eyes and I wished I hadn't; what I saw there broke my heart. I saw his hurt, his anger, his worry, but the last thing pained me more then any of the others. I saw his love.
"Trust me," he said inaudibly. In my mind's eye, I saw a less troubled Link. "Trust me," he had said. But I had closed my heart to him. He turned away and walked down the canon, to the place where Ganondorf would take advantage of his weakness and force him to push me. But, now I saw it so clearly. He turned his face toward me a centimeter before he passed; light gleamed through the tears that swam in his eyes. Why had I not realized before?
"I do," I murmured, a tear slipping from my eye. The pain I felt now was greater then any pain that had come before. Link wiped the tears away with his thumb, his gaze never leaving mine.
"I believe you," he whispered with a smile, "You are more foolish then you know."
"Perhaps," I said through my tears, "but could I have done the things I did if I had know that they were impossible?" Link laughed lightly.
"I don't suppose you could have."
His face was close enough to mine that if he closed his eyes, I would feel his eyelashes on my cheek. Instead, he kissed me through my tears, through his own, until all my shoulder-heaving sobs were soothed away.
At the same moment, three things happened: The triforce pieces which the sages had been puzzling over for two days, suddenly grew brilliantly white. The sages covered their eyes, allowing four women to enter the room, grab the triforce pieces, and leave without being seen. Later, Zelda would swear that she had seen the goddesses in the room, but no one else believed her.
Ganondorf opened his eyes from a deep sleep, feeling something strange stir his heart. He fished around in his food for a key, which he found under the steak. "My purpose here is done," he whispered. On second thought, he would take the roll after all. The guards on duty didn't notice the black shadow that slipped from the roof, chewing silently on bread; they were both thinking about how much they wanted to go home and kiss their wives senseless.
And a single white flower bloomed on the dead tree on a solitary island in Lake Hylia. It had been dead for one hundred years.