Hey, people. I'm afraid that this will be the last chapter that I will post on this story for a while. I've just run out of ideas! I've been struggling to write this chapter, but I just CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE! I know where I want it to go, but I have no idea on how to get it there. If you can give me any ideas at all, no matter how far-fetched it would be, PLEASE tell me! I can make almost anything fit! I even figured out how to add Ganondorf into the story, see?

To Find The Future, Find The Past

Chapter 21

Dark Link Gets a Mission

Zelda was about ready to throw the steaming hot cauldron at Feien's face. She had been sitting there for hours, and still she hadn't gotten it right.

"Three Tektike's eyes..." Zelda read from the ancient text in front of her, while collecting the ingredients from her potion-brewer's pouch. Thinly slicing the gooey things, she disgustedly chucked them into the boiling water in front of her. The water hissed for a moment, and then it turned a sickly neon yellow. Zelda referred to her text again.

"One Ghoma egg. Crushed in..." Zelda squinted to make sure she read the words right, "eww... Skultula blood. Icky! Gross!"

"Zelda..." Feien scolded, obviously irrtated at Zelda's immiturity, "You must do as the book says. If you brew it the wrong way, it can just as easily kill a person. Especially when every single one of the ingredients are poisonous."

Mumbling about liking to poison Feien, Zelda hurried off to the stone cooler in the next room to retrieve the egg and blood. Quickly thinking, she also pinched a pair of gloves from the rack next to the door. No way was she going to get spider blood on her hands!

When Zelda re-entered the room, Feien had produced a mixing bowl and placed it on her desk. Feien looked over at Zelda, and took in the fact that she had gloves in her hand. Frowning, she held out her hand.

"Give me the gloves, Zelda." Feien scolded, and Zelda handed them to her somewhat reluctantly, "You must hold all of the ingredients with your bare hands. That is what gives it it's magical properties."

Zelda scowled, and dumped the egg and blood in the large bowl. Screwing up her face, and looking away, she plunged her hands in the thick, gooey green substance. Surprised, she looked down at her hands. The green blood had completely envelloped the egg, and was hardening around her hands. Cursing, she pulled them out of the bowl. Amazingly, the stuff slid off when her hands left the bowl.

Staring, she watched as the blood hardened, and began compressing the egg, crushing it into a fine powder. When it was done, the blood turned back into goo, but the egg powder had mixed into it. Still perplexed, Zelda tipped the contents of the bowl into the cauldron. The addition of the new substance caused the mixture to froth and, surprisingly, give off the scent of lavender. Zelda stirred the mixture in the cauldron, and it turned purple.

Feien peered over Zelda's shoulder. She tried to compare the colour of the brew with many of her own.

"Hmmm... You're doing better." She said absent-mindedly, "You've not made any mistakes so far." Zelda, however, was ignoring her and reading the text again. Without a word, she reached for the athemae on the rack on the other side of the counter. Wincing, she cut a line into the palm of her right hand, and held her fist over the cauldron. A drop of blood trickled to the tip of her fist, and dripped into the brew.

There was a miniature explosion, and the potion took on what would be it's final colour. Zelda peered into the brew, somewhat nervous. Biting back a whoop of triumph, she ladled the hot mixture into several glass jars to cool. It was a deep blue colour, exactly as the illustration depicted it should be.

Apparently satisfied, Feien dismissed her. Zelda rushed up the steps, intending to go outside. It seemed, however, that Impa had different plans for her.

"Zelda!" She barked from a hallway to the left. Zelda faltered, and backed up three paces to look down the hall.

"Yes?" She asked, just now becoming aware that she hadn't bandaged her hand. She could feel the small trickle of blood as it travelled down her fingertips and dripped onto the floor.

"Where are you going?" She barked. Over the last few weeks, she had been slowly getting more and more irritable, and snapped at her for the silliest reasons. Zelda was beginning to become a little afraid of her.

"I was going to bandage my hand, then I was going to come see you for our lesson." She lied, "I was going to be there, I swear!" Zelda hated her lessons with Impa. They always ended in Zelda having at least one of the major limbs aching afterward. On several occasions, Impa had even broken a bone when she failed to complete the spell.

"No need to bandage it." Impa said stiffly, motioning for her to follow, "We are working on healing spells today."

Zelda stiffened. She still hadn't mastered attacking spells. If she couldn't attack, then she could be killed!

"But Impa--" Zelda started, but faltered at the sight of Impa's face. She was incredibly intimidating when she wanted to be.

"But nothing!" Impa bellowed at the top of her lungs, "You are working on healing spells today. Perhaps the consequences of failing those spells will get you to do it right."

Zelda gulped. She knew full well that if you didn't cast a healing spell properly, that you would simply remove the injury from the wounded person, and inflict that same wound on yourself. In extreme cases, depending on your endurance and strength, you could even kill yourself.

"No." Zelda shocked even herself, "I'm not doing it." Impa got aggravated, made an advance towards her, as if she was going to punch her. Zelda screamed, and held her arms out to defend herself. She stood there for a few minutes, awaiting the blow, but it never came.

Eventually, Zelda looked past her arms to see Impa frozen in mid air. What did she do?

A few of the castle's soldiers chose that moment to round the corner. Shouting, they pulled Impa to the ground, and many other soldiers came running. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she became mobile once again. Springing through the guards, she tried to punch Zelda once more. Zelda flinched. Neither took heed of who was standing behind Zelda.

OUTSIDE

Link could hear shouting from the Potion Brewery. He stiffened, remembering that Zelda was taking a lesson in there. He dropped the pitchfork he was using, and raced to the building to find out what all the shouting was about.

What he saw didn't make sense. Why was Impa...?

Link wasn't given any more time to think. Impa took a swing at Zelda, and there was a sickening crack, as if a bone had been broken. Zelda stumbelled back a few paces, and ran into him. He caught her before she hit the ground, and inspected her face. Amazingly, there was no broken mose. Link looked up, and saw Impa cradling her fist. So that was the crack...

"What's going on!" He demanded of the soldiers, who cowered before his wrath. He was a better swordsman than all of them combined, and he used that to his advantage when he wanted to know something from them.

"We-We don't kn-know, My Lord--" One of the smaller men stutterred, before he was elbowed in the ribs by one of the bigger men.

"What's it to you, Stink?" Link frowned, and the soldiers all moved behind the man that had insulted him. There was only one man that would call him that.

"It would do you well to respect me, Driad." Was all that Link said to the man, before he turned back to Zelda. Helping her up, he took her outside for a bit of fresh air.

"What happened, Princess?" He hated using the term. Zelda seemed fine with it, but her eyes belied the calm in her posture. Since Zelda had been recognised by the council as the official Princess of Hyrule, he'd had to call her Princess. Even worse, they'd had to break up. It was forbidden by Hyrulian law for the Princess to be courted by anyone other than a man of royal blood.

Zelda got slightly hysterical, and began to recount the events. Link sat her down on a bench, and tried to calm her down. He wouldn't get anything out of her if she couldn't breath properly. Eventually, after several minutes, Zelda told the rest of her story.

"... and then, she punched me!" Zelda trembelled, rememberring one of her most trusted friends attacking her. It was not something that she would get over anytime soon. She sat there, and wrapped her arms around herself, knowing that Link could not do it himself.

"I'll go and speak with Impa as soon as she's calmed down, if that's alright?" Link was able to choke out. As soon as she had nodded, he stood up and took his leave of her.

LATER

"Dark Link!"

"Yes, Milord?" Dark Link stooped low, bowing to his master, "What can I do for you, Oh Great King of Evil?"

Ganondorf scowled at his henchman. He needed someone that did not bear such a close resemblence to his arch-enemy. It brought back many painful memories. Especially the ones of him burning in the pits of teh Evil Realm.

"I have a mission for you, my minion..."

I'm afraid that this will be the last chapter that I will post on this story for a while. I've just run out of ideas! I've been struggling to write this chapter, but I just CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE! I know where I want it to go, but I have no idea on how to get it there. If you can give me any ideas at all, no matter how far-fetched it would be, PLEASE tell me! I can make almost anything fit! I even figured out how to add Ganondorf into the story, see?