MistressOfTime1218: Well hello there my dear readers.

StormBlitz: Oh my god. She's alive!

K-Chan: (Stops searching the immediate area) The Time Mistress lives!

StormBlitz: Where the heck have you been?

DarkMist: (Hangs up on police) I had the entire town searching for you!

StormBlitz: Would it have killed you to call?

MistressOfTime1218: Oh come on guys, stop exaggerating.

StormBlitz: We were worried sick.

MistressOfTime1218: Sorry to worry you guys. A lot of drama has been going on in my life. Honestly, when you're the victim of harassment by other students, you tend to keep to the shadows for a little while.

StormBlitz: A little while? You've basically been off the radar for months.

DarkMist: Before this goes any further, MistressOfTime1218 does not own anything in this story. Now what the hell happened?

MistressOfTime1218: Later girls, my readers want their story. And three chapters of their story they shall get. I promise if anyone asks, I'll explain. But for now…On with the story!

K-Chan: I really missed hearing that.

Siegfried could not help but frown. His reflection stared back at him from the slightly dusty glass with distaste in its eyes. He did not like what he saw in the mirror, and he got the feeling that his reflection was not very fond of him either.

"Hey Siegfried," A blonde with pointed ears and a worried look in his eyes came to stand beside the knight. "Is something wrong?"

Siegfried did not reply at first. His eyes remained fixated on the image before him. The scar running down his face, the hair running slightly past his shoulders, it all seemed to belong to a different person. "My reflection."

Link leaned forward a bit, trying to get a better look at the mirror Siegfried seemed so preoccupied with. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"Not really." Yet the frown was still on his face.

"Does something hurt?"

Siegfried turned to look at the elf, confusion written in his eyes. "No. Why do you ask?"

"You look like you're in pain."

The German sighed. He should have known by now that the young blonde would have been able to sense that something was wrong. After all, he had been able to sense that Siegfried was trapped within Nightmare. A feat that no one else, not even the holiest of warriors, had been able to do. Not to mention that by now, Siegfried wasn't even trying to hide it. "I guess it's just…I look too much like him."

"Who?"

"Him. That monster, Nightmare."

Link raised an eyebrow and focused all his attention on Siegfried's face. "You do?" He looked a little closer at the mirror, trying to see something even remotely similar to Nightmare. He found nothing. "I don't see it."

The other shook his head. "I guess you wouldn't. But all I can see is that murderous monster I escaped from."

Now it was Links turn to frown. "You're not a monster. I told you that before."

"It's a little hard to believe that when you've been called nothing else for years."

Link tried to think of something to say, but even though he wanted to desperately cheer up the blonde in front of him, nothing would come out of his mouth. The knight beside him wanted to change what had happened in the past. He wanted to somehow take back everything that he had said, stop everything he felt he had allowed to happen, and return what his violent other half had stolen. An impossible dream, no matter how noble it seemed. Siegfried could not change the past and Link was forbidden to let him do so. He could not even to try to do it for him.

Sometimes it was hard for the teenager. He had the power to change something, the power to fix every mistake in history, but he was forbidden to use it, even if someone begged him to do so. He was beginning to think that being a Hero of Time was more of a curse than a title. After all, what was the point of such a title if you could do nothing with the power that came with it? He couldn't help the starving individuals on the street. He could not give back time to the people who had not deserved to die. He was not even allowed to help ease the pain of a person who had been beaten, broken, and forced into submission by a blade beyond the reach of human hands.

Link could do nothing to help the one tortured soul that had nothing to do with the torment that surrounded him. He felt completely and utterly useless. "You can't change the past."

"I know."

"But the present is still up for discussion."

Siegfried looked away from the mirror in favor at looking at a now smiling elf. "What?"

"Well, it's obvious you see something that reminds you of him. Let's change it so that you don't have to think about it anymore." He sounded so sure, so positive that something so simple could solve the problem. "What do you want to change?"

"Is everything an option?" His gaze went all over the mirror. "My eyes, my hair, my face, just everything."

Link chuckled. "Well, we can't do anything about your face unless you want to wear a mask all the time. But they tend to be extremely uncomfortable and can get a little hot after about five minutes."He knew that from experience. "We have no way of removing your eyes, but they don't look a thing like Nightmare's so they don't really need to go anywhere at all." He liked Siegfried's eyes anyway. It would be a shame to get rid of something so beautiful. "The only thing left is your hair, and that, that we can change."

Siegfried raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Link did not answer. Instead he slowly made his way over to his small bed, trying his best not to limp or trip over his own two feet.

The small two person bedroom the two were currently staying in was going to act as their temporary home for the next few days, much to Link's utter dismay. The teenager had not liked the idea of stopping. He had been terrified that Nightmare would wake up, find out where they were, and try to take Siegfried back. He had been very adamant about moving on, but the knight had ordered him to slow down. He had told Link that he was not going to stand idly by and watch as the elf abused his injured body until it fell apart. Link had been given no other option. They had to stop.

Siegfried had also demanded that the elf take something for the pain in his leg, which left Link with half of one of his potions. His ankle had healed quite a bit since then, but it still took a bit of an effort to get anywhere. He did his best to hide his discomfort. He didn't like seeing his traveling companion worrying about something that was not his fault. No, Siegfried did not need to have anything else rest on his conscious. Especially not Link's injuries. After all, it was his own fault his ankle was in so much pain. He shouldn't have been pushing himself so hard.

The blonde jumped on the bed, basking in the softness of the pure white comforters, before sitting down and gently placing his injured right leg over his left. He remained silent as he began to empty his belt pouches, looking over his inventory with a critical eye. After a few minutes, he picked up a small pocket knife and motioned for Siegfried to come closer to him.

Surprisingly, Siegfried complied without any trace of fear or mistrust.

"Sit facing me." Siegfried did as he was told.

Link slowly brought the knife to the darker blondes head and swiftly began cutting off the long blonde locks that resided there. He started in the front, taking great care in measuring the pieces of yellow silk perfectly. His hands were gentle, never giving as much as a tug to the hair that had been put in their care. Link was forced to move around Siegfried several times, trying his best to make everything look as though it was natural using the only grooming tools he had with him. The pocket knife he was using to cut his companions hair and a comb he carried in one of his pouches.

Siegfried waited patiently, occasionally glancing at the fallen blonde locks that had been left on the floor. Link had a look of utter concentration on his face as he continued to cut and chop at the golden hairs. It was funny. He had that same look on his face when he had squared off against the terrifying Azure Knight. It was a look unlike anything Siegfried had ever seen on any warrior he had faced before. It seemed to almost warn his enemy of his oncoming victory, while at the same time seeming to wonder what to do next.

"Almost done."

Tongue sticking out from the side of his mouth, Link attempted to make the now shortened dirty blonde hair rise up and stay in the air. He imagined he'd come up against some type of resistance, and was proven right when the hair he was trying to get to stand fell limply against the sides of Siegfried's head. He momentarily considered leaving the locks in their current state, but quickly dismissed the thought once he noticed how odd that would look.

"Is your hair naturally straight?"

Siegfried had to think about it for a second. He hadn't had to worry about his hair in a long time, and up till now, he hadn't paid it any attention. "No. When I was a knight they used to take my hair and press it between two pieces of hot iron. It was the only way they could get it tame enough to put into a ponytail, otherwise it would stick out."

Link had thought so. The golden locks he had been cutting seemed to have been tampered with quite a lot in the past. "Why'd they want it down?"

"It was the usual protocol. It was either that or I cut it off completely, and I wasn't a fan of premature baldness." Hearing the gentle laughter of his companion, he let himself smile a little bit before continuing. "It was still that way when Nightmare took over my body."

Link once again reached into his handy dandy tool belt. What he pulled out this time was a small bottle of water.

"How do you fit all of this stuff in that thing?"

Link tilted his head, silently asking the other what he meant.

"I've seen you pull out everything but a kitchen sink from that belt. How on earth does it all fit in there?"

The elf let out a sweet smile. "It's bewitched. There's a spell on it that allows me to carry smaller versions of the items I use. When I need them I pull them out and they return to their regular size."He took off the worn leather glove on his left hand.

"How much can you carry in there?"

"Quite a bit actually, clothes, weapons, bottles, food, you name it."He popped open the glass bottle he had taken out moments ago and gently trickled some onto his open palm.

"So it's endless?"

Link shook his head, gentle smile still firmly in place. "Hardly. There's a limit to how much I can carry of each item I posses. But even with those limits, I still have a lot to work with."

The water in his hand was slowly dabbed onto the shortened golden locks. When keen blue eyes saw the hair begin to spike up, he dribbled some more onto his hand and repeated the process again. He was gentle with every move, careful with every decision he made. Siegfried found it funny that the boy would take something as simple as cutting hair so seriously.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"You'll see." Despite the seriousness in his eyes, there's seemed to be merriment in his voice.

Siegfried had no idea what to expect. His back had been turned towards the mirror, so he had no way of seeing what was being done. His only option was to wait for the finished product. Still, the knight had a childish desire to have a peek at what was being done to his hair. But whenever he tried to turn his head, even slightly, Link would gently turn it back to him.

"Hold still," He would say, laughter threatening to fall out from his mouth.

"But I want to see what it looks like."Siegfried had almost pouted, but at the last second he realized how childish that would look to the elf in front of him, and decided against it.

"Patience is a virtue my good man. Besides, I'm not done yet."

So Siegfried had no choice but to wait. Link knew the other was getting impatient, so he decided against taking his own sweet time just for the sake of teasing the German.

"All set."

Siegfried, who had lightly dosed off within the past several minutes, felt his companion grab his shoulders and slowly turn him around. His gaze came into contact with the mirror his back had been turned to, and his eyes became glued to the image inside of it. Hesitantly, he turned to Link, a question forming in his eyes while trying to make it to his lips. He couldn't say it out loud. But Link assured him it was all right, and that was all the encouragement the blonde knight needed.

Slowly, almost cautiously, he made his way over to the vanity mirror. He shut his eyes for a second, trying to emotionally prepare himself for what was to come, before deciding he was being stupid and finally managing to look into the glass. His eyes were instantly leveled with those of his reflection. He blinked a couple of times, trying to prove to himself that the image was actually really looking back at him from beyond the mirror, before understanding came to rest in his mind. It almost didn't seem real.

There was another person staring at him from beyond the glass. This man had short hair, which had been spiked up in different areas, making him look like a fighter from the streets. There was an air of confidence in the aura that surrounded him. There seemed to be a spark of determination that fueled what had to be a fighter's soul within him. There was also a smirk on his face, a challenge in his eyes that dared anyone to take a swing at him. This man was proud, strong, well rounded. He was a knight in every sense of the word, and yet, he was a fighter who had honed his skills in the dark underground of the city streets.

"It looks like me."

Link chuckled. "It should. That is your reflection."

Siegfried found himself playing with the small spikes on his head. He would have to get used to his hair being so short. "I look younger."

The elf nodded. "You do. Did you have short hair when you were a kid?"

The knight nodded. "I did, but I grew it out when I became a teenager. To tell you the truth I never really liked it very much."

"Then why did you keep it that way?"

"I don't know. I got used to it I suppose." He had gotten used to a lot of things in the past. Looking back on them now none of them had been very pleasant things to get accustomed to. Then again that had always been his lot in life.

He was surprised when he saw Link pop up from beside him and place his head on his shoulder a second later. The boy had a tendency to move as silently as a butterfly in flight. Siegfried never knew where he was going to show up.

"Think you can get used to this?"

Link's eyes remained on the image in the mirror, but Siegfried's gaze never left Link's soft gentle face. "I think I already have."

The first thing to register in his mind was the fact that he was wet. He had not opened his eyes yet and could not confirm such a suspicion, but he could feel a cool liquid running over his face, soaking his neck and the bed sheets below him. The sun had started to sneak into his room through the open slits between the curtains; giving his closed eyes the message that light was filtering in around them.

The visions he had seen moments ago had been shoved out of reach, making Siegfried realize that they had never been there to begin with. He had been sleeping, and somehow, he had been woken up. Probably by the water, or what he assumed to be water, running over his body.

Link would not be there when he opened his eyes. The elf would not be safe and sound in a room the two had decided to stay in for the knight. He would not have breakfast ready and waiting for his friend. And he would not be waiting to greet Siegfried, who had overslept again, with a smile and a cheerful good morning, or afternoon as the case often was. No, Link could not have been there to do any of that. He was back in Hyrule, trapped in a castle, being tortured by the very personification of a demonic blade. Siegfried had been dreaming, and apparently, he had been forcefully brought back into the real world. The real, as of right now, Linkless world.

Needless to say, he was not a happy person.

"Whoever just woke me up better be at least twenty feet away from this bed." He growled out. "I will not be held responsible for any lost limbs, decapitated corpses, or loss of life."

There was a shadow hovering above him. He caught the familiar scent of a lavender type lotion wavering over his nose. His memory vaguely told him that it was the same kind of body lotion Link used to use when he showered.

"You must get up Siegfried." A female voice called out to him. "The sun's already begun to rise."

It seemed that Zelda was trying to get him out of bed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm waking you up. We have to get going."

"Do you not remember what happened the last time you tried to wake me up?"

He did his best to ignore the voice in his head telling him to roughly throw the princess out of the window. That was her plan after all. Get him angry enough to want to attack, and then gently remind him that he needed her. If she just kept reminding him of that little fact it would almost be like telling him that she was in control. It would not do to have her in that state of mind. If she started acting like she could order him around then someone was bound to get hurt, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be him.

"Yes, and I was quite surprised that you seemed to be a bit tamer this morning. It looks like you are somewhat housebroken."

He bit his tongue, trying to convince himself that she had not just suggested that he was some type of animal.
"What time is it?"

"My guess would be a little after six."

He felt like strangling her. "Why the hell did you get me up this early?"

He could just picture the look of pure false innocence she was giving him. "Last night you mentioned we had to be quick and efficient in finding these friends of yours. I decided that getting up early would be a good way to start."

Siegfried managed to forcefully sit himself up, not missing the tiny droplets of water that fell from his face as he did so. He allowed his eyes to open slowly, trying his best to adjust to the incoming sunlight at a slightly more comfortable pace. He had never been a morning person, and anyone who had ever tried to get him out of bed any earlier than noon found themselves dealing with very painful bodily injuries. She was lucky he had learned how to control his foul morning moods during his travels with Link.

"Since when do you ever listen to me?"

"Since you promised to do anything to help rescue our hero from that dreaded sword."

He roughly rubbed away at his eyes with the back of his fisted hand. "You do realize that you interrupted an extremely rare pleasant dream, don't you?" He doubted she would even care, but the opportunity to make her feel even an ounce of guilt was too good to pass up.

She shrugged. "It couldn't have been all that good of a dream if you were so quick to wake up."

Siegfried had never been fond of royalty.

They always had everything in life. With a flick of their wrist or a whine to their parents they had the world on a string. They had friends who adored the ground they walked on. They had family who were the highlight of every worthwhile society. They had homes the likes of which could never be recreated even with the most brilliant artists and architects at hand. What's more, they had the means to protect everything they held dear.

Zelda didn't understand how lucky she was. She had guards, soldiers, armies, ready and waiting to protect the things most precious to her. She had people standing watch, making sure that nothing that had any ounce of value to her could be taken. Even if anything was stolen from her, be it by a bandit or some type of traitor, someone like Link was always there to give back what she shouldn't have let go of in the first place.

Commoners, like him, had no say in whether they lost something or not. People like him never had much to begin with, so what they did manage to posses was special to them. It was rarely anything concrete, like a house or a priceless heirloom. More often than not it was the symbolic things in life. Things like love, friendship, or a good dream every once in a blue moon, things that truly made an impact on someone's life.

Unfortunately, the lower classes did not have the luxury of knowing that the things they loved would be protected. They had to fight constantly to keep the things they loved by their side, and sometimes they had to lose. Sometimes they had their loved ones taken away from them, silently kidnapped in the dead of the night. Sometimes sick individuals went on a killing spree with no regard to who they slaughtered, and sometimes a plague infested the world it had been born into. Peasants had no money. They could not afford guards protect their friends and family, nor could they pay a doctor to cure someone precious to them. In the end, fate decided who got to keep the treasures they had found in life. People on the bottom of the food chain had no right to interfere.

People like Link lost their freedom before they even got a chance to taste it. People like Siegfried lost the only true friend they ever had in life. People like Zelda lost absolutely nothing. She would never be able to understand the harsh ways of life, no matter how many times she tangoed with the harsh reality of the world. So she would never be able to understand how truly precious that one dream was to Siegfried, and she would never be able to understand how cruel it was to assume that it was worthless just because he woke up from it.

"Figures," He muttered under his breath. "Of course you wouldn't understand."

He moved around the room quickly, gathering his belongings without bothering to make eye contact with the princess that stood near his bed. He could not stand to look at her. Doing so could only cause him to lash out and do something he would later regret. He may not have liked her, but he needed her alive, if only for the moment.

"You know," She said after a moment of silence. "For some reason, I had pictured you differently."

A part of Siegfried was disgusted, he did not like the idea that she had been given the opportunity to think about him at all, but another part of him was somewhat glad. The only way she could have been given that opportunity was because Link had talked about him before. "Oh?"

"Believe it or not," She fiddled with a sting of her hair. "I would have thought your hair was longer, and not so," She paused. "Street like."

He could not help but smirk. What she meant to say was that she had pictured him as the classic cliché hero of old legends. A bulky, handsome, bright eyed wonder that had long flowing gold hair that was as straight as silk.

"You have Link to thank for the way I look today." He strapped on the leather belt that completed his outfit.

"Really?"

There were still a few droplets of water left atop his head from his rude morning awakening. Seeing no other water available to him, he loosely ran his hand through his wet hair before deciding to just leave it the way it was. He reminded himself to thank the elf the next time he saw him. This particular hairstyle was a lot easier to manage than his long hair had been, and every time he saw it, it reminded him of yet another time Link had cleared away some of the guilt in his heart. "I used to look like the person you imagined. Link cut my hair when we first met."

"An encounter you have yet to tell me about."

"I don't ever intend to."

"Come one Epona." Siegfried held fast to the thick leather reins of Epona's saddle. It took all he had not to let go and simply let the horse do as she wanted, which at the moment was bucking the cloaked princess off of her back, into a nearby water bin, and running off without bothering to look back.

"I told you she would behave this way." Zelda was clearly embarrassed with the situation at hand.

Siegfried could not bring himself to blame her at that moment. A small group of people had started to gather around them, anxious to see two people making complete fools out of themselves. Some chuckled, some tried to hide their giggling fits, while others tossed manners aside and chose to laugh out loud. It was enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Siegfried included.

"Epona," He tried gently. "You're not making this very easy for me." He felt like an idiot. An idiot negotiating with a horse. An idiot negotiating with a horse, and losing. "I'll give you a carrot."

She looked at him as though he were the stupidest thing she had ever seen, which was exactly what he felt like at that moment, and continued to struggle against his grip.

Siegfried had never had this much trouble with Epona before. In the past, Link had been there to show him how to handle her when she was in a bad mood. If it ever did come down to a point where it was impossible for him to console her, the knight just handed the reins over to Link. He knew how to soothe even the worst of tempers when it came to his horse. Looking back on it now, Siegfried was sorry he hadn't taken any notes.

"Oh I give up!" Siegfried let go of the reins he had tried so hard to keep a grip on and turned his back on the whole scene.

He was expecting the shocked squeals of the girl behind him, and he knew the eventual splash and fits of loud laughter was inevitable. He was also prepared for the eventual wet hand that forcefully put him face to face with a very wet and very angry princess.

"Why did you let her do that?" Zelda was trying to remain calm, but even Navi, who was hidden in a pouch on Epona's saddle, could hear the clear murderous intent in her voice.

Siegfried would admit, even though he was embarrassed beyond belief, he still got a kick out of seeing the princess in such a ridiculous state. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Oh I don't know," She muttered sarcastically. "Restrain her maybe?"

How he managed to shrug so casually in this situation was beyond him. "Consider it payback for this morning."

"Do you know how embarrassing this is? I'm utterly humiliated."

Something about that declaration just seemed to tick Siegfried off. It could have been that he was still tired from his all too rushed and far too wet wakeup call early that morning. Or it could have been the fact that he had just lost a battle of wills with a horse. Whatever the reason, Siegfried had already been angry enough to begin with. Zelda had just managed to put the icing on the cake.

"You think I'm not?" He growled out. "You have some nerve you know that? First, you get Link caught up into another one of your pathetic damsel in distress routines, which you should have learned to handle by now, and wind up getting him in the worst possible situation anyone could ever imagine. Next, you just waltz right into my territory, waving your stupid high class status around, expecting me to act like one of your spineless little subordinates. Then, you get yourself into an argument with a horse, lose, and to top it all off-- DO YOU PEOPLE NEED SOMETHING?!"

The small group that had gathered around them disbanded immediately.

Seeing that he no longer had an audience, Siegfried took the time to slowly take in a breath of fresh air to cool his nerve. It didn't help all that much, but he was able to speak without sounding all that irritated. "Not to mention that you practically dragged me out of bed at some ungodly hour in the morning and couldn't even bother to figure out how to convince Epona to let you ride her."

"I was a bit more occupied with waking you up."

"Well next time, let me wake up on my own." He pulled at a couple of spikes of his hair. "It might just save us the humiliation of repeating this little episode again."

"This is exhausting."

Siegfried ignored the childish whine and bent down on the ground near a shrub filled with purple flowers. "I'm not exactly happy about this either." He gently plucked a flower up from the ground, making sure to take the roots out of the loosened soil after the plant had been removed, and placed them both in a brown sack he held in his right hand. "But you heard what that healer said. Get him the herbs, he gives us a horse."

Zelda did not like that healer, and she could not have been any less happy than she already was about the current deal the knight had set in place. For one thing, the herbs the old man wanted were somewhat familiar to the princess. She could not say with upmost confidence that she knew what all of them were, but she had managed to recognize the names of a few. Most of the plants she remembered could be used in poisons, faulty medical drugs, and things fairly similar in nature. She had been able to use quite a few of them when she had disguised herself as Shiek in her last lifetime. She wasn't quite sure if Siegfried knew, or even cared, what the plants were being used for, but she was uncomfortable with gathering suspicious items for an old man she wasn't entirely keen on trusting. She was also a bit- quite a lot actually- angry that he had agreed to leave Epona with the old man until they returned. As a result, she refused to help him look for anything the two of them had been asked to retrieve.

Thus, the two were forced into a deep and almost eerie silence. It only helped to fuel the profound dislike, for it could not be called hate just yet, Siegfried had for the princess.

Truth be told, Siegfried hated the silence that had managed to completely overcome them. He had no desire to hear the princess behind him speak, make no mistake about that, but he did wish that she would at least make some type of noise. A hum, a huff, a sigh, something, anything, to make it so the area around them wouldn't be so damn quiet.

He remembered a time when he had welcomed the cold atmosphere absolute silence brought along with it. Back when he had been possessed, forced to relinquish his body and its senses to the demonic Nightmare, silence had been a blessing in disguise. He had been spared the agony of hearing the screams of innocent people being slaughtered by Soul Edge. He had been spared the pain of listening to the tortured souls waiting for death to come and put them out of their misery.

Since Siegfried had been unable to experience such painful noises he had almost been able to pretend that they didn't exist. He had almost been able to pretend that the cold and bitter silence was a path of redemption for a past sin that he was being forced to atone for right then and there. He had almost been able to pretend that it was all some type of bad dream that he was destined to wake up from any second. Even if such things were lies, constructed for the sole purpose of making him feel better, with no one else around to tell him otherwise, he had almost been able to fool himself into believing it was all true.

But Link had never liked the discomfort and loneliness silence brought with it. Admittedly the elf was not a talkative person. He was an awfully timid creature in this world and Siegfried had seen firsthand how shy the teenager could be. In a crowd he was inaudible, on the road he was fairly quiet, but he would never be dead silent if he could help it. He had a deep mistrust for any type of silence that confronted him. He did anything he could to avoid it. He would sing, he would hum, he would talk, or he would play his ocarina. Anything to avoid the stillness that being quiet brought upon the world.

It had bothered Siegfried at first. He had gotten so used to silence that even the smallest of noises made by the quietest of creatures managed to irritate him. He had wanted to keep the area around him as peaceful as the emptiness in someone's mind, but the implication of such a thing seemed to terrify the younger blonde traveling with him. So for his sake, Siegfried had tolerated the many sounds the world had to offer. He would talk to the teenager if it ever got too quiet, sing along to the tunes the elf sang to, even if he didn't know the words, or tap his feet to the beat Link played on his ocarina. At first he had done it out of obligation, simply because Link had done so much for him.

Soon, however, the gestures of sound became more than a favor to his companion. They became routine, and he found himself desiring the small noises and clamors daily life brought with it. He had gotten too used to them. He wanted them around, needed them even. He never did manage to outgrow the desire for sound even after Link had left.

"Did you hear that?"

Siegfried, who was momentarily taken out of his musings by the sound of his traveling companion's voice, turned around to look at the princess. "Hear what?"

She looked left, and then she turned right. Siegfried was reminded of an animal out in the wild waiting for a hunters attack. "Those noises in the distance. It sounds like clashing metal."

The German could hear nothing, but he had forgotten how sensitive a Hylian's ears were. "Probably some kind of fight." He began walking off in another direction. "Best to stay away from it." He had no time to interfere in other people's business.

He had expected her to follow him, but after a few minute of hearing nothing but his own footsteps, he realized he was walking alone. "Are you coming?"

She kept her focus on something in the distance, something he could not see. "Last night you mentioned a man's name. What was it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I mentioned quite a few. Could you be more specific?"

"Father," She said after a moment. "You used that word when you described him."

One name instantly rang out in the German's mind. "Mitsurugi?"

"That's the one!"

Siegfried was at her side in the blink of an eye. "Where is he? Is he in that fight?" He could hardly believe his luck.

"I think so." She closed her eyes and tried to pinpoint the location of the voices she was now certain she was hearing. "I can't hear everything being said, but that name keeps popping up."

He was almost reluctant to believe that this could be happening. When he had mentioned Mitsurugi the night before he had assumed that the samurai had returned to Japan after Links departure. The knight had been almost certain that he would have had to spend weeks tracking down the older man in a foreign country. To find him here, in Germany of all places, possibly only a short running distance away, was just too good to be true.

"Where is he?" She pointed off to a spot in the distance. "Lead the way."

Siegfried felt like jumping up for joy. It was him. It was really him. "You will only ever hear me say this once," He said to the princess beside him. "So savor the moment. Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Zelda knew this would undoubtedly be the first and last time the two of them would ever act civilly towards each other.

Siegfried was rooted to that spot beyond the eye line of the samurai he so desperately needed to speak with. Mitsurugi had always had that kind of effect on him.

As a knight Siegfried had been brought up to know when proper respect was due. He knew how to recognize those who needed it, those who craved it, and those who deserved it.

The Japanese swordsman never asked for it, but his presence just seemed to demand it. Siegfried had seen firsthand what disrespect would do to those foolish enough to mock the samurai. He had witnessed what it was that made the man so powerful, so true to his infamous reputation. His words, his demeanor, and the skill he possessed when his sword was in his hand. They were all top notch and worthy of the respect he demanded.

But that was not the reason his feet refused to move.

Currently, the man the German needed to see was surrounded. Dozens of knights walked around him in a fairly threatening circle. They were young, cocky, mischievous little creations who probably thought they could away with fighting so underhandedly. After all they outnumbered the man before them. They could always cover up for one another if anything got out of hand, or if questions ever arose about what had transpired that day. It would be their word against his. Anyway you looked at it the odds were against the lone Samurai. And yet, Siegfried knew…

"Those guys don't stand a chance."