Oh Good God, it's been FOREVER since I updated this. 'Egads, I'm so sorry guys. I must have hit an inspiration dry spell back there. I would have excuses, but I really don't feel like coming up with any right now.

Well, lately I've been having little bursts of inspiration here and there, so hopefully I'll be getting more stuff up in a more timely fashion.

A/N addition (1/25/06): Whoops! I've just committed the mother of all mistakes… I posted the wrong version of this chapter! Ahhhhhh! It's author Hell! Ahhhhhhh!

So, hopefully, this version is much better than the original. Much, much better. Really, I hated the original compared to this one. I still can't belive I posted the wrong one… I'll be kicking myself for days now :sigh:

Chapter Ten:

"Forever Young"

The wind blew restlessly across the clearing. It rustled Jennifer's hair, whipping it across her face and ripping the little white flower in her grasp. It howled in Jennifer's ears, but she barely heard it. All of her senses were numb. She could barely feel the brackish cold of the tear streaming down her cheek, the warmth of Eric's strong hand in hers. He wiped the tear from her face, but Jennifer hardly noticed that, either. Her body slowly tingled with the power of her sixth sense. She could feel the presence of something in the Forest. Her sixth sense nudged her forward, pitching her into a walk towards a small opening at the other side of the clearing.

"What is it? Jen?" Eric asked softly.

When she didn't answer him, he said, "Spidey sense tingling again?"

Jennifer noiselessly nodded without turning back to look at him. He followed at a distance as Jennifer continued to walk to the opening. She leaned down and passed through the aperture, entering another clearing. A giant, ancient tree stood in the middle. Its branches hung down sadly, so low that the leaves touched the ground. A vaguely human face on its trunk peered sorrowfully through the leaves; its eyes sparkled with anguish. Jennifer stepped under the hanging branches and into the ring of leaves the old tree created. Eric had come up to stand just behind Jennifer, close enough to give her comfort.

Jennifer wasn't too surprised when the tree spoke.

"I am the Great Deku Tree," it said. Its voice was old and deep, and seemed to echo through the clearing. "Who art thou?"

"I'm Jennifer, and this is Eric," she said, more calmly than she felt. "What happened here?"

"The Hands of the Shadows hath attacked," it said mournfully. "They razed our homes and took some of the children. Nearly all, thankfully, were able to escape into the Lost Woods."

"Why take the children?" Eric asked.

"I do not know," the Great Deku Tree rasped.

"When did the Hands do this?" Jennifer whispered.

"Naught but two nights ago," it answered, heaving a sigh. "But I need thou to deliver a message for me." The tree struggled for breath, dark, tainted leaves pulsing erratically with each gasp.

"Of course. What is it?" Jennifer said.

"I am dying, young ones. The Hands could not defeat me outright, so they hath infected me with Shadow blood to take me slowly. Their blood poisonous, because it comes from the deepest pits of death." The Great Deku Tree breaths came in short bursts as it said, "Tell the queen… tell the queen what I hath told thou. Tell her that… that the Hands have organized again to strike the Kokiri. They had taken… taken the Second Power."

"What? They've taken the Second Power?" Jennifer asked anxiously.

Eric walked closer to the Deku Tree and said, "Where did they take it?"

"I do not know." The Deku Tree was panting now. "Please," it said. "Please give the queen my message."

"Yes, we will," Jennifer whispered.

The Great Deku Tree gave a small smile and closed its eyes. Its branches sagged, leaves shaking as it took its final breath. Jennifer brought up a hand to cover her mouth as Eric came up and put an arm around her. Another gust of wind blew through the clearing, rustling the leaves of the Great Deku Tree and yanking the little white flower from Jennifer's grasp.

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"What do we do now?" Jennifer whispered across the fire.

They were camped where the path into the Kokiri Forest met the Lost Woods. Neither of them could stand being in the clearing anymore. It felt too much like loss.

Eric sighed and shrugged. He rubbed his temples and said, "I guess we have to go to the Third Power."

"But we can't just skip the Second Power," Jennifer said.

"We don't really have a choice right now, unless you suggest we go tearing after the Hands." It came out harsher than he intended.

Jennifer looked at her feet.

"Sorry I made the suggestion," she said resentfully. She looked up at him, eyes burning with anger.

Eric's eyes hardened. "That's not what I meant."

"Whatever you say, Protector." She spit out the word like poison and turned to roughly pound her bedroll flat on the ground. He heaved a very aggravated sigh over the crackling of the fire, making Jennifer's temper flare up more than words ever could.

"Oh, don't sigh at me like that," she growled venomously.

"Well, how do you want me to sigh at you?" Eric retorted.

"Stop treating me like a child!"

"Well, maybe if you stopped acting like a child."

"Well, maybe if you stopped acting like my father! Seriously, can you be any more overprotective! I thought you were supposed to protect me, not suffocate me!"

That one hit close to home. Hurt flicked across Eric's eyes as he angrily threw himself in his bedroll, turning over so his back faced her. Jennifer huffily lay down as well, fuming.

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Jennifer sat next to Zelda on the balcony of the queen's room. They looked out towards the Castle Town. Everything was silent and dark. No lights showed through the windows of the houses. No animal dared to cut through the oppressive silence of the night. The queen looked sad, though she put on a brave face as she turned to smile tenderly at Jennifer.

"The gifts of the Goddesses work in mysterious ways," she said. "I never expected clairvoyance. It seems more like a burden than a gift."

"So far it's been pretty helpful. It warned me about the Mordeth," Jennifer said sulkily. "Though I didn't know it at the time."

"It takes time to become accustomed to," Zelda said with a soft smile. She frowned thoughtfully when Jennifer slumped in her chair, arms crossed. "What is wrong?"

Jennifer waved a hand in front of her face. "Nothin'," she mumbled.

Zelda looked incredulously at her, lips pursed. Jennifer rolled her eyes.

"It's just… you don't think I'm childish, do you, Zelda?"

"You and Eric had a fight?" By the surprised look in Jennifer's eyes, Zelda received her answer.

"I told him he was suffocating me." Jennifer frowned. "He looked pretty hurt. I shouldn't have said it… he's just looking out for me."

Zelda smiled knowingly. "We never mean the words we say in anger. Eric will understand." After Jennifer shrugged diffidently, silence reigned. Zelda waited a few moments for her words to sink in.

"So, how goes your quest?" she asked.

Jennifer bit her lip. "I have good news and some… bad news."

Zelda looked at her, expression unreadable.

"Good news is we have the First Power."

"That is good news," Zelda said, only partly relieved.

"The bad news—Zelda, I—" Jennifer paused, collecting her thoughts. "We reached Kokiri Forest today. I—everything was destroyed, Zelda. The Hands had come just two days before us and they—they burned down their homes and took the children—" It all spilled out of her so quickly; Jennifer had barely taken a breath. "And—and they killed the Great Deku Tree and, oh, Zelda, they took the Second Power."

Zelda took this all in, staring out onto the Castle Town. She looked deeply saddened for the moment, before turning to Jennifer.

"How the tides of war change quickly," she said. Jennifer stared at her shoes. Zelda breathed deeply and said, "This saddens me greatly. The Great Deku Tree was one of the oldest and wisest inhabitants of this land." She closed her eyes momentarily, brows creased.

Finally, she continued, "And the loss of the Second Power is great. We must recover it."

"How? Zelda, I—"

"You and Eric will not go after the Second Power," the queen directed. Jennifer was taken aback; Zelda never interrupted anybody.

"We will find it, Jennifer. You must continue on your journey," Zelda said.

Jennifer nodded. "I don't even understand how they got a hold of the Power. I mean, I'm the only one who can touch them," she said.

"The power of evil always finds a way. The Five Powers are, in the end, just that: Powers. As long as the Key can be handled, anything with the proper amount of power, whether good or evil, can handle the Powers as well. It is all about balance."

"Then how come they've never been found before? If they are so powerful, obviously all the unsavory characters of this land must have wanted to get their hands on them?" Jennifer asked.

"As I said, Jennifer, it is all about balance. The Powers only tend to appear when they are most needed to maintain that balance. The threat we face is clearly powerful enough to require the Powers to counter its evil," Zelda said, tone expressionless. "But there is a difference between handling and controlling. Only the Key may active the Powers. Without the Key, they cannot be controlled, merely handled, so there is still time."

Jennifer sighed and the two women stared out onto the horizon for a long time. Both of their minds were wholly occupied with similar troubles. Finally, Jennifer broke the silence.

"So, how's Link?" she asked.

Zelda smiled indulgently.

"He is fine. He is frustrated with the Hands." Zelda came as close to rolling her eyes as Jennifer had ever seen her. "He thinks he can destroy them single-handedly, and I am forced to dispel those notions."

Jennifer smiled faintly. "That's sounds like him." She paused. "Look, Zelda… thanks."

"For what?"

"I dunno… everything. Just… thanks. You always seem to make me feel better."

"I am glad that I can help. You are a true friend, Jennifer."

Jennifer was touched. "You, too. You're a really great friend."

The two women smiled at each other as Jennifer felt herself float away.

So, the Second Power has been stolen… hmm… what will happen now?

Is it just me, or is the Great D. Tree really hard to write with all the "thee" and "thou"-ing going on? Must be me. And I'm really liking Zelda here, I don't know about you guys… so, let me know what you think!

I've had 625 hits! Woohoo! But… only 24 reviews. :( That's like… well, let's see… my math skillz aren't so good… that's like 4! It that it? The judges are reviewing… yep, that's it. 4 freakin' percent. That means 96 of you aren't reviewing… or don't care enough to review. And I was starting to wonder why I was feeling less than enthused about this fic… Please, guys, I need SOME feedback.

Thank you for riding the Guilt Trip, have a nice day!

BB