A year later, Ganondorf still hadn't done anything drastic, Zelda's army was now a legitimate army, trained and ready for battle.
Today was another day of training for Zelda's army and Sheik was training alongside them. At least until eight in the morning, at which time Impa came and taught Sheik about poisons, magic, and then how to fight, since the soldiers method of fighting was very different from the Sheikah's, and as Impa had said, unrefined.
Two hours of sparring with Impa later Sheik found herself sprawled out on the cool green grass with Zelda rambling on about a party of something beside her.
Her muscles were sore and she was exhausted, and as a result, not interested in listening to Zelda rant.
"Sheik!" Zelda snapped, apparently noticing her lack of attention.
"Hmm?" Sheik didn't bother opening her eyes.
"Where you even paying attention? I was telling you about the party." Oh, right. Party. Sheik struggled to recall more of the conversation, but only remembered that there was supposed to be a party tomorrow, a birthday party, she thought.
"You weren't, were you?" Zelda sighed in annoyance, and stood up, brushing off the skirt she was currently wearing, she had started acting like a princess again so the people respected her.
Then Sheik remembered why Zelda was telling her this. Tomorrow was her birthday, it must be her birthday party. Sitting up abruptly, Sheik stood as well.
"Wait Princess, I don't want a party."
"Tough." Zelda said, turning away and heading back toward the Village. "There will be a party."

-0-0-0-

Sheik sat on a cliff overlooking Kakariko Village, the sun was beginning it's descent and she guessed soon it would be time to go back. And that was what she was currently dreading. If she went back there would be people and parties to deal with, but if she stayed out here in the mountains surrounding Kakariko Village and spent the rest of the day training, then snuck back to her house in the cover of darkness she could completely avoid any mentions of parties, except that if she did that Zelda would order Impa to get her and drag her back if necessary. And Sheik was sure Impa would find her.
So, Sheik concluded, the least painful choice was to go back peacefully and spend the rest of her night dealing with the party noise and people.
With a sigh, Sheik stood up and shouldered the bag with all of her weapons. Closing her eyes, she mentally prepared herself for what was to come, then descended the mountain, keeping off the roads and doing her best to take as long as possible.
She arrived to see Kakariko Village lit up like it was the king's coronation, with people all dressed up in colorful gowns and dress tunics.
Zelda spotted her as soon as she walked through the gate and ran over, a big smile lighting up her countenance.
"I thought you'd run off!" Zelda said. "I was about to send Impa after you." If Sheik had made a bet she would have just won.
"Go put on something nice." Zelda said, herding her into Impa's house.
Sheik reluctantly dug through her clothing chest and came up with a simple dark blue tunic with a silver Sheikah Eye embroidered into the back and black pants. After some arguing Zelda relented and let her wear it instead of the dress she had chosen, for which Sheik thanked the Goddesses.
Then Zelda insisted on un-braiding her hair and brushing it, then weaving it into a fancy braid Zelda had learned from her etiquette teacher back at the castle.
"Your hair is so pretty." Zelda said. "I wish my hair would grow as long as yours." (This Sheik looks a bit like TP/SSBB Sheik.) Sheik made an indifferent noise, she didn't particularly care about her hair, she would have cut it short except that Zelda had cried and begged her not to last time she had tried, telling her to keep it long and to "never, ever cut it."
Finally Zelda was satisfied with the way she looked and allowed her to leave the house and join the party.
"What did you tell everyone we're celebrating?" Sheik asked as they left the house. There was no way this many people were here to celebrate a Sheikah's birthday. People were afraid of the Sheikah, the shadows of the kingdom.
"I told them it was my best friend Sheik's birthday!" she said, giggling like the little girl she was. Or would have been if she were not the ruler of a broken kingdom.
Sheik found it hard to believe that anyone actually knew who she was, and guessed that the people had come because their princess had said so and because it was a party, not in her honor at all.

Throughout the night people who knew Sheik wished her a happy birthday, most of them were her sheikah friends who had remained in Kakariko after the first attack and now practiced with her. The others were Zelda's commanders, a few castle guards who recognized her as the little kid who had played with Zelda around the castle, and Impa.
Eventually Zelda got caught up with the other people and Sheik slipped away to find a quiet place to get away from the people.
She eventually settled on the roof of the House of Skulltula and took a deep breath of the fresh night air.
Up here the Village looked beautiful, full of color and light. It looked almost like Castle Town had before Ganondorf came. The sound of a band singing some hyrulian folk song reached her ears, and the happy, bubbly sound of voices drifted on the wind.
She was glad that people seemed to be recovering. People wanting to join Zelda's army and refugees still turned up at their gates every now and then, but for the most part everyone was rebuilding their lives and moving on.
"Nice night isn't it?" somebody asked. Sheik jumped and spun around, hand flying to the knife hidden in the folds of her tunic. How had this person managed to sneak up on her?
"Jeez, no need to be so jumpy." the person pushed back their white hood, revealing fiery red hair and tanned skin, similar to her own. A gerudo.
"What do you want?" Sheik hissed.
"I was sent to give you a message." the gerudo said, dropping onto the roof next to where Sheik had been sitting and looking out over the village below.
"Sit down. I won't hurt you." Sheik cautiously sat down a few feet to her left, knife still drawn. The Gerudo passed her a letter, it was unmarked except for the blood red seal with a burning Gerudo symbol pressed into it.
"Don't read it yet." the Gerudo said, looking away from the party below and back to Sheik. "It's from Lord Ganondorf and will no doubt ruin the rest of your day, since I'm sure you aren't really fond of him. I'm Nabooru, by the way, leader of the Gerudo. Although now I guess that would be Ganondorf." she sighed. "So, I take it your the Sheikah, you certainly match the description I was given, although not wearing the traditional armor."
"I am Sheikah." she confirmed. Sheik was still suspicious, but had sheathed her knife.
"Do you have a name?" Nabooru inquired.
"Sheik." There was no point in giving a false name since they could obviously find her, even when she was in the current safest place in the country.
"Sheik of the Sheikah." Nabooru grinned. "That has a nice ring to it, kind of unoriginal though." she looked back down at the party thoughtfully. "I would join the party, but I suspect I would be killed on sight." she sighed and lay back on the roof, closeing her eyes.
Sheik sat and watched her curiously. She'd never met a person like this. Nabooru didn't seem to want to hurt anyone, and yet she was the enemy. She had stated that she knew Sheik's past with Ganondorf, knew that she didn't like him, so why was she lying there so at ease?
"What makes you think I won't kill you right now?" asked Sheik abruptly. "I'm the enemy, aren't I?" Nabooru cracked open one luminescent yellow eye.
"Not really. You see, I don't particularly like Ganondorf either. Just between you and me, I think he is just a overpowered brat. But even so, we both have to serve him, and if you kill me, you and everyone you love will die." Sheik was surprised to hear her speak that way about her king, and also to hear her view, but continued to listen quietly. "But unlike you, my purpose in this whole mess has already been determined, and to complete it I have to obey Ganondorf. Anyway, it's not like I can just abandon my people." she concluded. There was a moment of silence, then Nabooru stood up and walked to the opposite end of the roof.
"Happy birthday, Sheik. I hope we can meet again sometime, preferably under less serious circumstances. I think we could be good friends." she winked, then smashed a small crystal onto the ground and was wrapped in a red light before disappearing.
Sheik watched the place where she had vanished for a few seconds, unsure what to make of this Gerudo.
Then, remembering the letter, she looked down at the crisp white envelope. Fear caused hyperactive butterflies to flutter around in her stomach, and made her want to throw the letter away and run. She almost did just that, but suddenly Impa appeared behind her and she hurriedly stuffed the letter inside her tunic.
"What are you doing up here all alone?" she asked.
"Enjoying the peace." Sheik said, quickly covering up her fear. Impa smiled at her and walked up to stand beside her.
"It is beautiful up here." Sheik nodded. Suddenly the incredibly strong urge to tell Impa everything descended on her. She clenched and unclenched her fists to help dissipate the feeling, doing her best to maintain a neutral look.
"What's wrong?" Impa asked, seeing Sheik clenching and unclenching her fists.
"Nothing." Sheik forced her voice to sound normal and calm, but she couldn't fool Impa.
"That's a lie and we both know it. If you have something you need to say, I will listen." Impa said. She laid a comforting hand on Sheik's shoulder.
"I know you are worried about everything that's going on, but you have to realize that the weight of the world does not rest on your shoulders alone." then she left. Simply leapt off the roof and rejoined the crowed below.
Sheik sat down and curled in on herself, hugging her knees. Impa seemed to always know what to say, even if she was a bit over dramatic with her words, but this time what Sheik needed to hear also made her feel so small and weak.
How could she not be worried? The most evil man in all of Hyrule currently was king, and Sheik had to serve that man or everyone would die.
She sat silently in the dark for awhile, rocking back and fort and counting her breaths to calm herself.
Eventually she decided she was calm enough and shakily tore open the envelope and read it, she didn't need much light to see and had no problem reading the neat little letters written on the page.

Tell me where the Forest Temple is and how to get there.
When you have the information, come to my castle.

Sheik stared at the letter for a moment, relief washing over her. She had been afraid that she would be asked to kill somebody or tell him the location of the Hero. This was just an old, unused temple, right? It couldn't be that bad.
She folded the letter back up neatly and shoved it to the back of her mind, determined to enjoy the rest of her birthday.
She would look in Impa's library later and find the necessary information, then deliver it next time she went to see the Hero.
With a clear plan of action, Sheik felt slightly better, and after taking a moment to breath and calm herself down entirely, Sheik leapt back down to join the party.

A/N

Thank you all for reading and reviewing!
I got a guest review I wanted to respond to, so I will respond to it here.

Nikki: Sorry, but Link won't wake up for awhile . And I can't tell you what personality he will have, that would be a spoiler.

I hope this chapter was more interesting, next chapter should be, if I do it correctly.
Constructive criticism is greatly encouraged!