The trio left for the Zora kingdom in the morning. After all it was the closest. Zelda rode with Impa as they travelled, something that she wasn't too happy about. She would have preferred riding on her own, but they had all agreed that procuring a horse would take too much time. As they rode over the bumpy terrain, she had to hold on to Impa's waist in order to stay on the horse. With a frown, she remembered how much better it felt when she had held onto Link as they had escaped. She shook away her thoughts, and tried to think about other things as they rode.

Their journey was fine at first. Too quiet for Zelda's tastes, but fine enough. But then, it started to rain. The hooves of the horses slung wet gobs of mud into the air, as they ran, and they ended up having to slow down. The sheets of rain falling from the sky made it almost impossible to navigate the slippery winding path safely.

Around mid-day, Impa motioned for Link to stop. They paused beside each other and Impa said, "I say it's time to take a break. This rain isn't letting up any time soon."

Link nodded, and then pointed towards a small cave off the side of the path. He hopped off of his horse, and passed the reigns to Impa. "I'll make sure it's safe."

Zelda found herself sliding off of Impa's horse to follow him before she knew what she was doing. When Impa realized, she too slid off of her horse and started leading the two horses to the cave. Link sighed heavily as he saw them approach, and said, "Just wait here for a moment.

Zelda crossed her arms but stayed put as he went into the dark cave. She heard nothing at all, except for the pounding of the rain as it hit the ground. But then, she heard muffled cries and steel crashing with steel. Her eyes widened in fright as a Lizaflo propelled itself out of the cave. The horses reared in response, and Impa frantically tried to calm them down.

The Lizalfo turned towards the noise, and Zelda realized that she was the only one who could do anything about it. Impa hadn't even noticed the creature as she tried to hold onto the horses. And Link, he was too preoccupied with the other inhabitants of the cave. She was on her own. She picked up a rock as the monster came closer, and threw it as hard as she could. Luckily, it managed to knock the Lizalfo back. But then it threw it's boomerang at her. She dove to the side to avoid it, and it embedded itself in a tree behind where she had been standing.

She scurried to her feet as it charged at her. She grabbed for the weapon, and pulled as hard as she could, but it was stuck. Her hands slipped off the wet steel, and she bit her lip. The creature was fast, too fast. Its forked tongue darted towards her before she managed to get the weapon out of the tree. She ducked, barely avoiding the attack, Her breath hitched in her throat, and she gave the weapon another tug. This time, it seemed to respond to her command. She pulled it out of the tree and slashed recklessly at the monster. It hissed, and she missed. She yelled in anger as it lashed out again and hit her hand. She let go of the boomerang on accident, and stumbled back in pain.

The lizaflo picked up her discarded weapon eagerly, and went in for another strike. She backed up, and tripped on the uneven ground, once again cursing herself for being so useless in a fight. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the of the blade, fearing that this would truly be the end. But the sting of the metal raking across her flesh never came.

She opened her eyes after a few seconds, and saw a sword sticking through the Lizaflo's chest. It twitched in pain before sliding off onto the ground where it laid still. Behind it, Link was breathing hard, his face tightened in concern. He threw down his sword and rushed to her side. She shakily stood to her feet, and he tentatively lifted her injured hand. He shook his head, and furrowed his brow as he inspected the wound. It was an angry red line, too shallow to do any lasting damage. "Zelda," he breathed out her name in relief.

She blushed as he spoke her name, but caught her wits. She slipped her hand out of his grasp, and said, "I'm alright," as gently as she could. "Let's get out of this rain."

His eyes widened, as if he had forgot all about the downpour, and quickly led her inside the cave. Impa soon followed with the horses in tow. Link stiffened when she entered. "You let her get hurt," he said curtly.

Impa's brow pulled together in worry as she looked towards where Zelda had taken a seat on the dusty cave floor. Link marched over to his horse, and pulled a small roll of bandages out of his pack. Impa rushed to Zelda's side. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize that thing was out there!" She fretted over Zelda apologetically as Link walked over and started to wrap up her hand.

"No, you don't need to apologize. I'm perfectly fine. It was just a scratch, really," Zelda consoled. She glanced towards Link, who finished tying up her bandage with a look of disapproval.

"But it could have been more than that."

"I knew we shouldn't have let you come," Impa said with a trembling lip.

Zelda huffed. "Right, well maybe this was a good thing." Link and Impa stared at her curiously, and she held up her non-injured hand as if to tell them to wait a moment before speaking. "Yes I was hurt, but this just shows us something important that we over looked." She paused as she remembered how clumsy she had been with the weapon. "I need to learn how to fight."

"No," Link and Impa said at the same time. They each shared a glance.

Then Impa continued. "It's our job to protect you, if you fight then you'll only get hurt again."

"No," Zelda said patiently, "if I know how to fight properly then I won't get hurt again." Impa and Link said nothing in response. Zelda stared them down with one brow raised, daring them to disagree with her. Link and Impa shared a look after a few moments, and it was clear that they didn't agree with her reasoning, so she took a deep breath and continued. "Look, I don't want to be so useless anymore." Impa frowned pitifully and reached out as if to offer some comfort, but she brushed it away. "I can't use the powers I was born to use, and I can't fight. I can't protect myself. I'm all that is left of Hyrule's monarchy, and it is my responsibility to look after my people. How can I do that when I can't even look after myself. My home has been invaded, taken over by the very people who want to bring back the calamity. How can I be the Queen that my people need unless I can face this problem head on?"

"Zelda, you will make a great Queen. Right now what Hyrule needs the most is for you to be safe. If you're gone then what would we have left?" Impa asked patiently. "Who would take your place? Who would seal away the calamity? I know you can't use your powers now, but I'm sure that they'll come to you eventually." She smiled, and Zelda's frown deepened. "Just trust us to protect you and take care of all this."

Zelda closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed her temple. "I trust you, but you are not always going to be there to protect me." She opened her eyes and stared at Link. "What if you had been a few minutes later at the castle? Would I have died at the hand of those patrolling guards we saw headed for my room? I wouldn't have been able to get out of there without you. Don't you think that's a problem?" Then Zelda turned to Impa to address her. "And even when I am with you both, there's still a chance I could need help. You both were preoccupied when that Lizzaflo attacked." Impa cast her eyes at the ground, ashamed, so Zelda quickly said, "I don't blame you. You both were doing exactly what you had to. I'm just saying, there are times that I will be on my own in some capacity and I will need to be able to protect myself. Even if it's just enough to buy me time until someone else can help." She took a deep breath when she was done, and crossed her arms. She tried to keep her breathing steady as she waited for one of them to say something back.

Surprisingly, it was Link who spoke. "Okay then. I'll teach you a few things as we travel," he said in a matter-of-fact way, as if his words were final. Zelda broke out into a wide grin, and Link walked outside of the cave. Impa hesitated for a moment before following him outside, mumbling about the ridiculousness of it all.