(Edit: 05/02/18 fixed grammar and a MASSIVE plot hole!)

(Updated 30/03/17)

Hi there everyone!

This week I am off school! Woo Hoo!

So hopefully this means I should be getting some chapters out to you all pretty gosh darn quick… Oh yeah C: I'm hoping to get to at least chapter five before the end of this week… Let's see how that goes!

This chapter is a Zelda chapter! Woohoo for Zelda!

Please don't forget to leave a review!

EDIT: My laptop has died on me :( Which very unfortunately means that I have lost everything on it. Luckily I sent drafts for each chapter to my Beta, so I can at least get those back off him but please don't expect any more chapters in the near future since I have to re-write!

Chapter three

Zelda stepped inside the village grocery store, swinging her basket absent-mindedly. This week it was her turn to go and do the weekly food shop, and since Karane has said she would watch the twins there was no real reason why she couldn't go. Zelda had tried to convince to other girl to go for her, but it was no use.

Food shopping was never really the most fun. Zelda had to plan out what meals they would be eating for the following week, know what she would need to buy to make said meals, know how much of everything she needed, and also know whether she would have enough rupees to cover the cost of it. These things had always seemed to trivial when she lived in the dorms as they had a cook, but now it was just another chore. Some days she toyed with the idea of hiring a cook, but Karane always laughed and called her lazy.

Zelda worked her way around the shop, stopping in front of the meat counter to contemplate life's greatest question: The good meat, or the affordable meat?

The good meat was much more expensive than the affordable meat, but then again it was much better quality. It would certainly taste better, and would keep longer too. But she only had a limited number of rupees, and it wasn't like they just appeared in the grass.

With a sigh, she put the good meat down, and picked up the affordable one. There were other things she needed to buy this week, and buying the good meat would take a sizable chunk out of her funds to do that. After all, seasoning would cover up the poor taste. She put the meat into her basket, and carried on round the store.

Zelda made sure to pick up some carrots, as at the moment it was the only thing Eric would eat. Zelda had tried to feed him other things, but he refused to eat anything other than the orange root, crying and screaming if they weren't put in front of him. She also picked up a mango for Karane, because even though they were ridiculously expensive, Karane did her huge favours a lot; usually looking after the twins but also letting her stay when she needed to. The other woman deserved a nice treat. Mangos were one of her favourites.

After filling up her basket with the necessary things needed for the week ahead, she made her way to the shopkeeper's desk to see what the damage was.

"Mrs Zelda!" The shopkeeper, a large joyful lady greeted. "It's so good to see you again. How are the little ones?"

"Hello," Zelda replied politely. "They're good, thank you. Eric is being his usual picky self, just look at all these carrots I have to buy for him!"

The shopkeeper let out a hearty chuckle.

"They all go through that phase," she said, "Hell, my own little girl once refused to eat anything but lemons! That was interesting!" She shook her head, "Just give him a while; he'll hate the wretched things soon enough."

"Let's hope so!" Zelda laughed. The shopkeeper finished packing her items, and added up the total.

"That'll be 90 rupees then, Mrs Zelda," she announced cheerfully, and Zelda sighed inwardly and handed over the amount in correct change, just as she always had.

"Pleasure doing business with you, as always!" The shopkeeper said, waving. Zelda bid her goodbye, took her basket and headed off.

As she walked through the settlement, she couldn't help but wonder when they would name the place. It had just been known to everyone as 'the main settlement', which was easy to remember but not very creative. There were a few houses scattered around here and there, a couple shops, the bathhouse and of course the goddess stature and the temple. There was also her father's new school, which had only recently opened its doors. It certainly made it much easier for students living on the surface to get to school, now they didn't have to travel back and forth between Skyloft and down here.

Zelda suddenly felt a sense of homesickness for her birth place. She loved it down on the surface, but it was up in the sky where she had been born and spent 16 years of her life, the place where most of her memories were. She missed being able to stand on the edge of Skyloft, feeling the wind and listening to the cry of Loftwings flying around, with or without riders. She missed swimming in the pools of the waterfalls, picking flowers in the small fields and getting lost in the Skyloft Academy.

She loved being down on the surface too, though. The knowledge that she could walk for a whole day and still not come to the edge, the weather that actually changed, and the sky which seemed even bigger down here. And there was so much land. And the difference in land too. There was no desert or volcano up on Skyloft. She laughed, thinking how funny it was that she'd spent most of her life trying to get off of Skyloft, only to feel bitter homesickness.

As Zelda walked, she glanced across and saw the path which led up to the school, which after the Skyloft Academy, had been named just the Academy. Wondering if she should go and pop in to say hi, she came to a quick conclusion.

'Why the hell not?' She decided. 'I haven't seen him for ages, and I still have some time before I need to get back. The food won't spoil that quickly.' And with that, she turned off onto the path and walked up towards the school.

The school still looked so new, the fresh paint-work looked flawless and it looked so fresh Zelda wondered if the Skyloft Academy had looked like this before years of wear-and-tear.

She walked in the front door, and as she began to walk in the direction of her father's office, a student came up to her.

"Zelda!" The student greeted her, and Zelda jumped, not expecting to have been spoken to.

"H-hello!" Zelda greeted the student, still a little bit confused. She hadn't met this girl before.

"Oh, sorry!" The girl blushed, "My name is Lilly. I'm a big fan of yours!"

Zelda smiled. "It's nice to meet you Lilly! Are you training to be a knight?"

"You betcha! I want to go out on missions, clearing the way for new places. I would love to be in charge of my own place! How cool would it be, to be in charge of a bunch of people!" Lilly came up short, blushing a darker shade and throwing up a hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" she spoke, muffled, "When I start to talk I just can't stop!"

"That's okay!" Zelda laughed, "I think those are very good dreams to have."

"Thank you!" Lilly dropped her hand to reveal a smile. She peered at the basket in Zelda's hand. "What brings you to the school, anyway?"

"I came to visit my father after shopping," she explained, "Do you know if he's in today?"

Lilly nodded. "Yeah, he was walking around earlier today, but he told Proffesor Owlan that he would be in his office the rest of the day. I could walk you there if you'd like!"

Zelda knew how to get to the office, but the girl seemed so excited that she was happy to let her lead the way.

"Thank you," Zelda spoke, and taking this as a yes Lilly began to walk, and Zelda followed her.

"Here we go!" Lilly announced once they were there. The huge double doors had always seemed a bit too intimidating, especially for the younger students.

"Thank you so much." Zelda thanked the girl.

"It's absolutely no trouble." Lilly hovered for a few seconds, but then seemed to remember she had somewhere else to be. "I should get to my next class!" She started, turning to run down the corridor. She waved back to Zelda as she went. "See you around!"

Zelda waved back, and turned to the doors. She knocked loudly.

"Come in!" the deep gruff voice of her father called. Zelda smiled, and pushed open the doors.

"How can I help?" Her father said, not taking his eyes off the piece of parchment he was writing on.

"It's nice to see you too, Father," Zelda replied in a teasing tone. Her father looked up immediately, his face breaking into a smile.

"Zelda!" He said, putting down his quill and standing up. He walked around his desk, and took Zelda into his arms. "It's so good to see you!"

"As it is to see you too, Father," Zelda replied, trying to hug her father back whilst she still had the basket of food in her hand. "I missed you so much."

"You should come more often, yes," her father replied, letting go of Zelda. "The door is always open. Though please do warn me before you bring my grandchildren. The last time was a bit, ah, interesting."

Zelda laughed. The last time she had visited her father with the twins had been in his own home, and they had ransacked his study. Most of the books had been salvageable, but there had still been at least four that had been chewed and/or slobbered over to buggery. She had apologized profoundly, but her father just laughed good-naturedly and said she had done worse as a child.

"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He continued. Zelda smiled.

"I felt like it was a good time to pop in, without the twins trying to destroy the place. Karane's looking after them whilst I do the weekly shop, and on the way back I passed the road and just decided. So, I'm sorry I don't have a present or anything."

"Oh Zelda, you don't have to bring me things when you visit!" Her father laughed. "Here, let me get some tea for us." He walked over to a strange board next to the door, which had five white buttons in a row. He pressed the second to last.

Her father noticed her curious gaze, and grinned, taking the opportunity to show off.

"This is a new invention of mine! It's a bell pull system. Or rather, a bell push system," he chuckled. "I press one of these buttons, and it rings a bell in the room of the button you push," he pointed to the buttons, starting from the left. "The first three are for the classrooms. This one I just pressed is for the kitchen, and this last one is for the staff room."

"But how do they know what you want?" Zelda asked, confused.

"Someone from the room comes to the door," he replied. Right on cue, there was a knock at the door, and Headmaster Gaepora pulled it open. Just outside was the cook, who nodded her head.

"You called?" She asked. Gaepora nodded.

"Please could you fetch us some tea? It would be most appreciated." He asked. The cook nodded.

"Of course. I'll be right back."

Gaepora closed the door as the cook walked off. Zelda grinned at him.

"It seems a little… Lazy, don't you think?" She teased her father. "I'm sure you could walk to the kitchen yourself."

"I could," her father replied, nodding thoughtfully. He gestured to the books spread out on his desk. "But I am so busy here, with my work."

"Of course," Zelda rolled her eyes playfully. She walked over to a chair piled high with books, and moved them onto the floor. Once the chair was vacated, she sat down.

"Hey, those are important!" Her father protested.

"I'll put them back when I'm done." Zelda replied. Her father loved his books.

Her father took his own seat, and he tidied away the tome he had been pouring over.

"So, I never actually asked," Zelda started. "How are you doing?"

"It's much different, having the school down here," her father said. "It's got more classrooms, but less dorm space. So, we have more students studying, but less actually staying in the dorms. although, at the moment we are still transferring students from the Skyloft Academy down to here. Some of them still want to stay up there, which is fine but it's harder to split the teachers fairly."

"I understand," Zelda nodded. "It seems like a lot of work. Maybe you should hire me as your secretary, I could help out!"

"I would in a heartbeat, Zelda," her father laughed. "But I know you couldn't bear to leave the twins at home."

"It's not so much that, I would be too worried they would be trashing Karane's house. She tries so hard to keep it clean, and then all of them, Aria, Eric and Lee make a mess almost immediately." She sighed deeply. Her father chuckled.

"That is exactly what it was like with you, my dear," he said. "I think your talent was making the amount of mess you could in the time given to you. Aria and Eric take after you in more ways than you might think."

Zelda was about to reply when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Her father called, and the cook came in with a tray laden with tea and biscuits.

"I remembered Strawberry Shortbread was your favourite, Mrs Zelda," she said, walking over to the table and placing the tray down. "I hope they are still to your liking."

"Yes they are, thank you so much!" Zelda exclaimed. The cook nodded, pleased, and left.

"Help yourself," Gaepora said, and Zelda did. She took one of the cups of steaming liquid and a biscuit, savouring them both.

"I keep telling Karane we should hire a cook," Zelda laughed. "I'm going to steal your one, these shortbreads are to die for!"

Consumed with chatting about food, books, and of course the shenanigans of the twins, the time flew by. Zelda looked up to the clock, and gasped.

"Goddess, look at the time!" She exclaimed. "Father, it was a pleasure being here, but I need to get back! Karane's probably pulling her hair out by now. And I really need to get this food home."

"I understand. It was lovely to see you, Zelda. Please come back soon."

Zelda hugged her father, picked up her basket, and left.

As she walked, she breathed in the smell of the flowers growing all around. The village looked and smelt lovely this time of year. Maybe tomorrow she could bring the twins and Lee out to pick some of the flowers. They could take them around to the older members of the community, which would not only be nice for them to have a pop of colour in their windows or on their tables, but it would also help teacher Aria, Eric and Lee about sharing and respecting elders.

As she turned back onto the road that led to Karane's house, she heard the distant sound of hooves. At first, she thought it was her imagination, but then got louder, closer.

Her heart started to beat faster. Hooves meant horses. Horses meant the Skyloft Knights. The Skyloft Knights meant Link.

Excitement filling her, she stood and waited for the horses to come in. As she caught sight of them, she smiled.

'Link!' She thought, excitement bubbling in her chest. 'Link is back!'

She imagined that Link would stop as soon as he saw her, so she was surprised when they went straight past her, continuing up the road towards the school, not even stopping.

'Strange,' She thought to herself. 'Link would've certainly stopped when he saw me… and they seemed rather distant, defeated almost… No, don't think that. Link is fine.' Zelda shook the doubt that was starting to seep into her head away. She shrugged her shoulders, and walked back up the road to the school, following the train of horses.

When she made it up there, students were starting to crowd around. Her father was standing, talking to the second in command (Harley, her mind told her) with a grave look on both of their faces.

Zelda was trying to push away the worry as she walked back up. As soon as her father caught sight of her, his face softened into one of pity.

"Where's Link?" Zelda asked, her voice sounding strange to her ears. She already knew the answer.

"We…" Harley started. "We were ambushed," he said. "These people… they could use magic. We stood no chance."

"Is Link… Is he… dead?" Zelda asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. Harley shrugged.

"We don't know. He was already gone when we all came too."

We don't know.

Zelda felt cold inside. Her basket of food fell to the floor, scattering the contents everywhere.

We don't know.

Woo! Thanks for reading. It started off to lightheartedly and I know I've left it on a kinda depressing note but hey. I live for the drama and angst!

Also, I was thinking of putting another lemony scene somewhere in this fanfic… now that I am a big girl I think I can try to do one justice so yeah, look forward to that *Wink*

I'm starting to get into this fanfic now woo! My heart wasn't really in it to start with, I just wanted to get started with the next bit… but I knew I needed to write this so here I am, trundling along XD This is really only a linking fanfiction to build up the story for the next book, which will hopefully focus on Aria as a young adult! You'll have to wait and see what she does, though... I'm giving now spoilers!

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to drop a review! It means so much to me.

See you next time!