Author's Note: There was one line in that last chappy that Mudora found extremely difficult to write. Does anyone know what that was? He felt like he needed to take some serious testosterone pills afterward… or just watch some sports or something. He still has a nasty taste in his mouth… or is that just dinner? Anyway, without further ado, here is…

A Princess' Destiny

Chapter 19: Pieces Assembled, Part Two

She skirted the small pool that had developed in the lower portions of Kakariko Valley. Though it was shallow, it was very murky, and regardless of all other factors, it was a pool of muddy water, and though she walked in the perpetual rain of the valley, she still had some dignity.

There, sitting atop the wooden frame over the well, sat Impa. Impa was the most highly regarded citizen of the city, but now, she had been balancing in a meditative position for so long, some wondered if she was even still alive. Yet, every now and again, she would move, ever so slightly, reminding the villagers of Kakariko that she was still here, watching over them.

And though she was soaked through and through, though her hair clung to her face, though her purple eyes had not been seen in several years behind her dark lids, though she spoke not a word nor acknowledged any in her presence, and though she remained in that position throughout the monsoon, Impa the Sheikah remained one of the most regal sights the village could boast for the past five years.

The young noblewoman, Adalene, approached the living statue, Impa. She could speak even now to her former bodyguard and attendant and ask for her help. But she wouldn't. Impa would be furious with her. She could tell her of the three years she had spent with the Gerudos, learning all there was to know about the Sheikah art of stealth, and more. She could tell her of all the knowledge and abilities the goddesses had led her into, all the wisdom and magic she had gained from the Triforce on her hand. And she could tell her of the enemies who now pursued her, though they believed they pursued a sixteen-year-old Goron named Makrina.

Yet would her former attendant, former bodyguard, former master, and former friend rebuke her for not heeding her advice, for putting herself in harm's way. She would not seek her guidance now. It was too late. Now she was alone. She turned from the weathered Sheikah and began to walk away.

No, she was not alone, she decided. The goddesses were still with her. They would guide her…

Memories came rushing back as I peered down into the valley. Things had only changed slightly. The village was still as gloomy as ever, if not more so. The pool had risen to the level of the ground where the well stood, and the waters met the pool in the cemetery. Now, the murky pond in the valley was floored with uncovered bone, and who knew what else.

The economy had suffered as well, as Ganondorf had cursed a particularly rich family and his thieving countrywomen no doubt plundered their house. It was said that whoever entered the house of this nobility either died or became a monster. I hoped neither was true, but wasn't eager to find out for myself.

I made sure my left eye was sufficiently hidden behind my long, blonde bangs. All the times I wanted to talk to Impa in the past seven years, I couldn't bring myself to do it. It took the command of the goddesses to actually convince me to do it. I hoped I wouldn't wimp out yet again.

I took a deep breath and descended into the valley. Immediately, water pierced through my bandages, my Sheikah cloth, and straight to my skin. It wasn't very pleasant. I couldn't help wondering how Impa had been able to stand it for seven years.

I jumped a top a building to avoid the cursed pond, and began making my way around from there to the well. I dropped silently before Impa.

"I wondered when you would come, Sheik," she said in a hoarse voice, as one unused for a long time. "Tell me, how long since your return to Hyrule?"

"How long since you stopped believing that the goddesses would protect me? That they would continue to deliver messages to me until the day Ganondorf is cast down from his throne into the lake of fire beneath it? How long since you gave the tiniest inkling of a care for…"

"Don't dare say such things!"

"Be careful who you speak to with that tone, Impa the statue. Not only am I your future queen, I am an emissary of the goddesses."

"And quite a haughty little thing since you grew a couple feet." Impa opened one eye toward me. "Have you always been built like a man?"

"This is a disguise. Or have you forgotten? I've been using those Sheikah spells you gave me since you left me. I never had to leave Hyrule."

Now both eyes were open. "I know you never left Hyrule, and as for your disguises, Sheik, they are the most pathetic, transparent things I've ever seen. Anyone who wanted to research Sheik, Adalene, Kathra, Makrina, Qalura, Filari, or even the nameless beggar outside the Kakariko Bazaar would easily learn they are all Princess Zelda Hyrule. That disguise spell doesn't hide your distinguishing features; it adds the features of whatever you become. Whether it is a Gerudo, a Zora, a Goron, a Kokiri," here she eyed me up conspicuously, "or a slim, yet strapping young man. Those features overtake your own, but the rest of yours remain."

I had noticed something to this effect, but the fact that she had recognized and used it against me burned. "Strange that a blind, mute, and apparently inattentive statue of a Sheikah would know so much about so many nomads."

"I have conversed with a Sheikah friend of mine, who has kept tabs on you. I knew from the very beginning that you would never leave Hyrule."

"Then why are you angry with me!"

"Your cowardice about speaking to me compliments the three-year Gerudo stench that remains upon you. How much did you truly learn from those thieves?"

"They apparently did a good job stealing the martial arts of the Sheikah, Impa. I learned very much."

"Would you care to test it out?"

"Not now. We are both too angry to fight."

"Good. You have not lost your practicality in Sheikah laws. So, shall we continue this banter or is there a reason you gained the courage to speak?"

"Actually, the goddesses sent me here."

"So the truth comes out. It required the commanding voice of the goddesses to scare you all the way to me."

"Impa, cut it out. This is no time to bicker."

"I am not bickering, Sheik. I am merely stating fact, as Sheikah are wont to do."

"No one says, 'wont,' unless they are truly not wont, Impa."

"Perhaps. Now, is there a point to all of this?"

"The goddesses have finally said it straight out. The time is now approaching. Ganondorf will soon fall."

"And it took you the slaughter of countless Hylians, Zoras, and Gorons to discover this?"

"That was not my fault!" I shouted. "I tried to prevent it from happening! Ganondorf…" I started, but couldn't think of how to finish. "Kauyo…" That statement I simply couldn't finish. "Impa!"

"Regardless, there is something you should know. Ganondorf passed this way earlier, with a detachment of Gerudos. He went up Death Mountain. I distinctly heard something about retribution upon the peoples."

"What? He plans to destroy the Gorons and the Zoras! Impa, we must…"

"I thought the goddesses sent you here. Isn't going against them what usually causes things to go badly?"

Once again, Impa was right. Something about that fact made me quite upset.

"Impa, the goddesses said you knew what had to be done, or something to that effect."

"Well, aside from saving the Gorons from imminent magical doom, I am not sure what they might mean."

This did not sound like what the goddesses had in mind. They were talking about Sages and temples. Not a massacre of the Gorons. I had to be more direct.

"Impa, the goddesses said they have a hero, the Hero of Time. He will come from the Sacred Realm and awaken the Sages in their respective temples. I am to guide the Sages to their temples. How can you help?"

"Well, when you put it like that, Miss, I feel quite compelled."

"Impa, your seven-year silence has made you sour."

"It is not my seven-year silence, but yours."

"So I didn't write to you. I am so very sorry!" I didn't say it quite enthusiastically, but with a good deal of sarcasm. "Impa, if you're going to pout about the past, you could ruin the state of the future. I have been quite busy while you sat here and brooded about your little princess growing up without you."

"I have not been brooding, o, keeper of Wisdom. I have been sitting here unable to help you, for fear of freeing what could be a greater darkness than even Ganondorf. Bongo is still sealed in the darkness beneath me, and if I were to hunt you down, to help you, guide you and protect you, he would break free of my seal and destroy my village. I had to make a choice! Was it the right one? I don't know. But neither one satisfied me."

"Are you then angry with the goddesses for your fate?"

"No! By the Triforce, no. Was I not the one who always told you to put your faith in the goddesses? Yet here I sat, waiting for seven years for the goddesses to pull through, and instead I had to watch as all things you prophesied came true. I am not one to sit and watch, Zelda, but this was my lot in life, and I had to stick to it. Yet everyday, the Sheikah oath pulled at me as I watched you grow up constantly under Ganondorf's protruding nose without my protection."

Those words summed up all of Impa's anger. It was not directed at me, but inward. Not at herself, but at parts of herself. Her oath, her duty, her decisions. She could not stand the last seven years of her life for what she had done, or not done, rather than others' deeds. But little did she realize how important she truly was.

"Impa, you have kept your oath. Your training and your spell scroll protected me for seven years. Here I stand before you unscathed outwardly. And those inward wounds were nothing you could have prevented. The world reaches us all. You have kept your oath. You have protected me. You have protected Kakariko. And you have protected Hyrule for seven long and dark years."

Impa sat for a moment, quietly as she had done for so long. Finally she spoke again. "Thank you, child. You are right. The goddesses have granted you much wisdom. Now, as for what you asked of me, there is one thing I can think of that will help."

I lit up when she said this.

"You mentioned something of Sages and temples, and the Hero of Time? I know I am a Sage, and I have always known where to find the Temple of Shadow. However, one without magic or the shadow arts could never hope to get inside."

"Yes, I remember its entrance was high upon the rock wall."

"Well, there may be a way for one to bypass magic altogether to get to such places. A hero who must locate all five hidden temples of Hyrule would make good use of this ability, yes?"

"Of course!"

"Sheik was said to have owned an item of this kind that he made use of before learning the art of leaping. Afterward, it was lost."

"If it was lost, how would we make use of it today?"

"Do you remember Dampe the grave keeper?"

I nodded.

"Follow me." Impa hopped down from the beam over the well and led me away from it, toward the graveyard. My heart leapt at the anticipation. This had to be what the goddesses wanted. Soon this would be done, and then the Hero would come. I had to admit, I wasn't just a little happy to be by Impa's side again, as well, but the anxiety of meeting him, the Hero of Time, weighed much more in my mind. I wondered who this strange man from the Sacred Realm might be, and what he may have obtained there that would qualify him as the Hero of Time.