"The pain is getting worse," Zelda said, cringing and putting both her hands on her gigantic belly. Considering that she was a small girl, her stomach looked bigger than her at times. This often made Impa and Anju chuckle.

"Sit down," Impa said, rising to help the princess into an armchair.

Zelda shook her head. "Sitting only causes more pain -- ohh!" she cried, almost falling to the ground in pain. Anju gasped and rushed to her friend's feet, and both women helped Zelda into her bed. Zelda glanced at the floor, and it looked like there was a puddle there. "My water broke," she muttered through the contractions.

"Yes," Impa said, examining the princesss. "It looks like the time has come, your majesty." And she smiled, a hint of excitement in her eyes. They had all waited a long time to see this baby, and to see that Impa's face was not distressed as Zelda brought this child into the world gave Zelda encouragement.

"'Your majesty'?" Anju repeated with a chuckle. "What is meant by that? Is it a game? A nickname?"

Zelda looked away from Anju, irritated with Impa's slip of the tongue. She hadn't told anyone who she really was, and no one had ever guessed. She was relieved at that, but she had become such good friends with Anju and Kafei that it was upsetting to keep secrets from them. She nodded at Anju's question, but didn't say a word.

Hours passed like this. Anju sat by Zelda, holding her hand and reassuring her -- "Everything will be alright, Ayrin, just you wait and see" -- and Impa constantly checking to make sure the baby wasn't coming yet. It was winter, and periodically Kafei came in to put wood on the fire. Zelda's contractions continued all evening, at finally, shortly before eight o'clock, Impa announced that the baby was coming.

"I don't think I'm ready for this," Zelda said, panic in her voice. She looked at Impa fearfully, and she squeezed Anju's hand. "I can't do this," she said, sobbing. "It hurts too much." Her voice was scarcely a whisper.

"Don't talk like that," Anju said, holding both Zelda's hands. "You'll be fine. Have faith in the Goddesses."

Zelda closed her eyes. She knew how close she personally was with the Goddesses, and she focused on that for a few minutes. Impa watched the young princess, and she knew that Zelda was channeling some of the power she held as holder of the Triforce of Wisdom and the Seventh Sage. Impa closed her eyes, and she knew that the vision that had been haunting her for the past several months was going to come true that night.

Zelda was in labor for hours, and she baby came closer to coming out, she started to scream in pain. "Let it stop," she cried out. "I can't do it..."

"You can do it, Ayrin," Impa said loudly, as if trying to convince everyone, not just Zelda. "Push!"

The princess was so small, and she got very weak as time went on. Soon she was not able to push at all. She laid there in her bed, the blankets covered in blood. Zelda's face was white as a ghost, but her forehead was damp with sweat. She seemed to be falling asleep right there as she tried to give birth. From across the room, Anju began to cry. "Is she going to die?" she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I don't know," Impa said, closing her eyes briefly, trying to channel as much power to Zelda as she possibly could. "We must help her give life to this child. If she does not continue now, the child will die. Come, now. We must be strong for her."

Anju nodded, her large eyes full of fear for Zelda. "I will try."

After several more long hours of Zelda's crying, pushing, and screaming, Zelda gave birth to a baby girl. Anju and Impa both sobbed with joy as they looked on the child." The baby was small but healthy, and Kafei came in and touched Anju's shoulder. He held her tightly. Impa knew they were feeling the pain of not being able to have children, and she couldn't help but feel glad that Zelda was planning to give her child to them.

But would Zelda live to do so? She laid in her bed, her sheets red with blood, and she looked close to death. Her face was soaked with sweat, and she was struggling for air. Impa's eyes blurred with tears. She went to the princess and held her close. "You'll be okay," she said, crying.

"Why are you crying?" Zelda mumbled. "Impa...?" She inhaled sharply. "What did you see?"

"Nothing," Impa said, still crying. "I saw nothing."

"You saw that I would die in childbirth," Zelda said, closing her eyes. "I know you did, or else you would not cry right now."

Impa was quiet. "I am sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to be afraid the whole time we were here, my lady."

"I am not afraid," Zelda murmured. "I cannot be."

Impa stroked Zelda's hair. She'd never felt more proud of Zelda than she was at that moment.

"I will not die," Zelda said. "Your visions were wrong." She smiled weakly. "I spoke to Goddesses as I gave birth. My work on this earth is not finished."

"Oh, Zelda," Impa said, and she hugged the princess tightly. "I am so relieved to hear that. I am so relieved that I was wrong."

Both women sobbed together. Anju was holding the baby and cuddling her. Zelda glanced across the room and saw this and smiled, despite her exhaustion. "Let me see my baby," she whispered. "It may be the only time I can hold her close to me."

Anju handed the tiny child to Zelda, and Zelda kissed the baby's forehead. She looked at Anju and said, "I have deceived you," she said. "Impa called me 'Your majesty' because I am not a commoner from the east. I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule. I came here when I discovered that I was carrying the child of a married man, the Hero of Time, called Link."

Anju gasped, her face utterly shocked. "I would never have guessed, your majesty," she whispered. "I am sorry. I don't know what to say, except that I am so glad to have known you, no matter who you are."

Zelda looked at her baby, tiny and fragile. "I cannot return home with this child. I told my people that I was going away to school. I need someone to raise my child, and I know how you and Kafei long for a child. I know it will not be the same as having one of your own, but I would be honored and grateful if you would raise my daughter as your own. I feel that of everyone I know, you would make her the happiest."

Anju began to cry again. "I would be so honored," she replied. "Looking on her now, I feel as though she is already a part of me."

Zelda smiled weakly, and brushed away her own tears. She looked down at her baby, then handed her to Anju. "Name her," she said with a half smile.

Anju looked at the child. "Ayrin," she said. "Her name is Ayrin."

And the two women smiled at each other.