Author's Note: Was that last chapter too boring? Especially for the finale of a major theme thus far in the story? I hope not. Anyway, let's try and make this interesting now, shall we?

A Princess' Destiny

Chapter 8: The Attributes of Shadow

Her opponent stood before her: Ganondorf Dragmire, King of Theives. Shadow symbol, her body became a channel for the element. Then she held it and mingled it with her own energy. He blasted the ground under her, but it was too late. She'd already leaped into the air and was preparing to come down on him. Drawing her dagger, she targeted the exact point on his neck where a smooth, effective kill could be made. She came down, but with a swish of his cape, he was gone. He hadn't dodged. Where was he?

A large, dark hand forced her own mask in her mouth, while the matching arm wrapped around her throat. He was suffocating her! She grabbed the back of his hand and his arm, and struggled to break free. He pulled her knife out of her hand and drew it to her neck. Was this it? No, she wouldn't give in this easily. She held tight to the arm with the blade, until finally she dropped her weight and swiped his ankles with her legs.

He wasn't on the ground, but temporarily off balance. She elbowed his gut and flipped him by the arm. With the shadow signal she jumped again and threw poisoned needles down at him. With another flourish of his cape, the needles scattered away from him. He raised his palm to her and flames shot out up into the air at her. Caught in mid-air, she had hardly any way to maneuver herself. The magic fire was coming...

Zelda awoke in a sweat in the middle of the graveyard. The rainy mist on her face was cooling her off. Behind the clouds, a young sun was beginning its ascent.

"Princess?"

"Impa," Zelda said awkwardly.

"A vision?"

"I'm not sure..." she answered, while she thought, I hope not.

"What did you mean when you said, 'I did it'?"

"I deciphered the vision," Zelda said. "And found that true self you talked about."

"At once?"

"The Sheikah is Sheik. And Sheik is me."

"Metaphorically?"

"Yes. I channelled energy and held it. And just now, I dreamt of using the shadow arts against Ganondorf."

"Well you'll never be able to do that until you know how to use the shadow arts. Come, we will begin at once!"

The two began the training Impa had set up for Zelda. It began with basic training in channeling. After about an hour, Zelda was able to concentrate enough to hold the energy for about ten seconds, which Impa said was a great feat for such an early learner.

After that, Impa began teaching her the uses of shadow energy.

"The first and easiest ability to learn from any element," Impa explained, "is manifestation."

"Manifestation?"

"Yes, bringing the element out of your body in it's truest form. First, channel."

They both made the shadow hand signal.

"Hold..." they released and held the energy, mixing it with their own.

"Now, you direct the energy through your arms," Impa said, extending her arms forward their full length.

Zelda did the same, and tried to figure out how to direct the energy. After a moment, she found it was quite easy and natural. All the energy she had taken in, she now felt between her elbows and palms.

"Got it, Princess?" Impa asked. Zelda nodded. "Good. Now, slowly force the energy out through your palms." As Impa said this, small black orbs appeared in her hands.

Zelda tried forcing it through her palms. The small shadows made by her fingers and the wrinkles in her palm grew darker, but nothing to the effect of Impa's orbs of darkness that even hovered slightly off of her palms.

Zelda released more energy at once and felt it all rush out of her uncontrollably. Suddenly, her entire hands turned dark and she lost all the energy she had saved. Her hands remained shaded for several seconds, and she felt a little weaker.

"That was a good first try," Impa said.

"It was nothing like yours," Zelda answered.

"Well you must keep in mind that I am much older than you, and am your sensei in the shadow arts."

"How do you do that," Zelda asked as she reached out to touch one of the orbs. As she did, she found they had no solid form. Her fingers disappeared in the dark sphere and grew very cold.

"Stop!" Impa said. She released the orb in her other hand and used the hand to smack Zelda's away. "It is very dangerous to mess with the element of shadow!"

"I thought you said it was the easiest for a Sheikah to learn."

"Of course it is." After Zelda's hand was no longer in the sphere, Impa released it as well. The two spheres hovered in the air for a moment until they faded away. "Because it is the foundation of the shadow arts. Originally, it was the only element Sheikah were familiar with, until Sheik in his later years discovered how to tap into other elements. That is why Sheikah know how to utilize shadow better than any other element, and that is also why they are called the shadow arts. The element of shadow is Sheikah. Very powerful, very dangerous, and very mysterious."

"Mysterious?"

"All the attributes of this shadow element aren't even discovered by the wisest and most powerful Sheikah, Zelda. You see there is no element of shadow without magic. It is only the absence of light. When an object blocks the path of the sun rays, shadow is there. Without light, there is no heat, thus it is also cold, which only exists as much as darkness. Thus, shadow doesn't exist. The element we refer to as shadow is almost more appropriately named nothing. It can chill the air, make things invisible, or..."

"Or?"

"If I were to cancel the orb with your fingers in it, your fingers would most likely disappear with it."

The gruesome thought of it made Zelda shiver.

"You see, as long as you remember that the Sheikah are shadow, you will know the essence of being Sheikah. Light makes shadow, and shadow exists because light exists. You cannot have one without the other. There is a balance that must be maintained at all times. Likewise, the Sheikah are a balancing factor to the forces of the world."

They took to practicing again. Zelda made the shadow hand signal and released it, holding the energy inside. She directed it to her arms and slowly forced it out of her palms. Again it just lengthened her shadows. She forced more out at once and the shadows grew larger and darker. She quickly lost reign of the energy again and her hands were covered in shadow. She began to feel weak.

"Is it supposed to take this much out of me?" she asked.

"It takes a mixture of shadow energy and your own ki to utilize the element, remember? Here, I brought along some magic potion. It will strengthen your spirit." Impa brought forth a bottle of green liquid, which Zelda drank.

"It is a concoction of the Sheikah. There is an old lady in the village whose family line has made all kinds of useful potions for the shadow-folk. She sells these family recipes for a hefty price to those who are not Sheikah, but will sometimes give them to those of us she believes will use it correctly."

Immediately Zelda felt strengthened.

"Now, Princess, you are having trouble with your manifestation."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Well would you like to know what the problem is? Why you are working the shadow on your own body instead of manifesting?"

"Yes! How do you make those orbs?"

"You must put less of your own ki in your energy cocktail. When the shadow combines with your energy, it connects to you, but with out connecting at all you cannot control it."

"So I must find the perfect recipe?"

"Yes. You know if there were a pinch too much of a certain herb in that potion, you would not be feeling as good as you are now. It could even make you sick. Remember, balance."

Zelda nodded, and then got back to work. She made the shadow symbol, and released it. Taking careful note of the energy she expended to hold the shadow energy, she combined the two. As she started trying to direct it, her own energy went straight to her arms, but the shadow ki dissipated. The muscles in her arms tensed up and she fell forward on them.

"Balance," she said with a laugh. Impa nodded with a smile on her face.

The sun was now raised halfway to its apex in the sky.

"That's enough for today," Impa said. "Let's go rest up, and we'll come back this evening."