It had been three days since the Sheikah had set out on their journey. So far, very little had happened.

Raven had been asked by Impa to watch over Sheik until she deemed her emotionally stable again, and as a result had been spending a lot of time in her company.
Currently, the group was camped about half way to the fortress, in the shelter of some rocks along the edge of the Lost Woods. Izzati and Haytham had decided it would be more intelligent to travel along the edge of the forest since it was easy to get lost in Hyrule Field, since the scenery barely changed, and the entrance to Gerudo Valley was along the edge of the field anyway. Plus, with such a large group the chances of being spotted and killed on an open field were very high.
Most of the Sheikah were gathered around the numerous small fires that dotted the camp, eating, and caring for their young, old, and wounded comrades.
The designated leaders of the group were conferring in a tent near the middle of the camp, discussing their course of action. The Sheikah had decided to split themselves into groups of twenty, since they had always worked better in small groups, and each group had picked a leader to avoid confusion during a potential battle.
The ten leaders picked, along with Sheik and Raven, Sheik because she was supposed to stand in for Impa, and Raven because she was supposed to stand in for Sheik when she decided to stop being responsive, were sitting on the ground in a rough circle, attention focused on a large map spread out in the middle.
"We are about here," Izzati pointed to a place on the map. "So that means approximately another week of travel until we reach the entrance to gorge, then another day until we reach the fortress." She frowned. "We can't expect the Gerudo to be friendly, either, and we only have enough water to last for another two days." Haytham took up her train of thought and continued,
"Food is not a problem, as there are plenty of creatures to hunt, and we are traveling along the forest, so there are plenty of herbs and plants. I think out main focus right now should be water, and what to do about the Gerudo." The room made a sound of agreement.
"Then we will have to take a detour and stop at the river," Zafer suggested. Zafer was about twenty, and heavily built. Unlike most Sheikah, he had wide shoulders and looked very muscular, people teased him about being half Hylian because of this, although Sheik had never understood why that was insulting in the least.
The others nodded in agreement.
"That will add on half a day," Izzati noted, scribbling on a piece of parchment. After that the discussion turned towards the Gerudo, and Sheik got distracted by thoughts of Nabooru. Ganondorf had punished her for the last time they had failed, and left Sheik unharmed. This time it was Sheik's fault alone, so she hoped Nabooru would be okay. That led to wondering if Ganondorf would call again. The Forest temple, Water temple, and Fire temple had already been captured and filled with traps and monsters, turning them in to places that reminded Sheik a lot of the Shadow temple. That left the Shadow and Spirit temples. The Spirit Temple belonged to the Gerudo, so Ganondorf would probably leave it alone. The Shadow Temple was already so full of traps that Sheik doubted Ganondorf could make it any more dangerous. The only thing the Shadow Temple didn't yet have was it's own Ganon-Made Very Large Evil Monster. Although, since evil had begun permeating the place all those years ago, there very well could be a large, evil monster in there. So, with all those threats out of the way that left...
"Sheik?" Sheik blinked and refocused her attention. She looked at Izzati to show she was listening.
"What do you think we should do about the Gerudo?" Sheik thought for a moment.
"We are Sheikah, not Hylians. We have no quarrel with the Gerudo. If all we intend to do is pass by, I don't see why they should attempt to harm us."
"True, but we have been affiliated with Hyrule for many years," Zafer countered.
"We could tell them we have changed sides," Sheik suggested. "After all, we have already been betrayed once." The room stared at Sheik in shock.
"Sheik-" Raven started.
"I know," Sheik sighed. "We can't do that. Our people are still loyal to the crown, we simply need time to recover," Sheik recited what Impa had told Zelda when they first decided to return to the desert. She glanced out the window, mentally sighing. It had been stupid to suggest something like that. Sheik was already a traitor, and the reason why they were all on this trip, suggesting that they even imply that they betrayed the princess and potentially ally them selves with the Gerudo was unacceptable. Now they might suspect her, as well. Sheik mentally banged her head into a wall. That was a stupid mistake. These people thought too much about everything, and even the most obsucure and unlikely of situations would not go unconsidered.
"I'm going outside." Sheik stood and left, followed by Raven, who apologized to the other Sheikah for Sheik's careless words, then hurried after her companion.

"That was ill considered," Raven stated. Sheik nodded her head.
"...Did you really mean it?"
"No," Sheik sighed. "It was a mistake." She turned on her heel and walked away. Raven would probably try to follow her, but Sheik wanted to be alone right now, and as soon as she reached the edge of the woods she took off running.
"Sheik, wait! Those woods are cursed!" Raven called, halting abruptly at the forest's edge. Cursed. Sheik rolled her eyes. The woods weren't cursed, most people just didn't understand it. The forest was a living thing, constantly changing and growing, like a maze. But there was a trick to solving mazes, and for this one you simply had to follow the music.

~0~0~0~

An hour passed and Sheik finally deemed herself stable enough to return to camp. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, she listened for a moment to gain her bearings, then started walking in the direction of camp. The moon was close to full again, and fall would be coming soon. Sheik looked up at the stars high above, wondering if they were inhabited by creatures like the Sheikah and Hylians, and if those creatures also believed in the three Goddesses. Perhaps there were no wars on those far away planets, perhaps everyone lived in peace.
Lost in her thoughts, she wandered through the forest until she could see the lights of the camp through the thinning trees. Refocusing, Sheik mentally prepared herself to face the leaders and Raven, who would probably be irritated. A twig snapped, and Sheik snapped her head up, just in time to dodge an arrow. Spinning in the direction the arrow had been shot from, she flicked her wrist, throwing a knife in her attacker's direction. More twigs snapped and Sheik dashed toward the noise, drawing her tanto as she went.
She stabbed at her now visible assailant, and her blade was met with another larger, curved one.
Both fighters leapt back, sizing each other up.
"Wait," Sheik's attacker said, sheathing it's weapon and raising it's hands in a sign of peace. "You are Sheik, of the Sheikah, right?" Sheik recognized that accent, it was Gerudo. That ment Ganondorf wanted something. But it wasn't Nabooru like it usually was.
Lowering her weapon, Sheik confirmed what the Gerudo had asked.
"I am. And you are a Gerudo." The Gerudo nodded and stepped into a patch of moonlight.
"I am here on Lord Ganondorf's orders. I come bearing a message." The Gerudo paused for a second before continuing. "Lord Ganondorf's next orders are this; meet Nabooru at the Gerudo Fortress, then locate the Hero of Time." Sheik breathed in quickly. The Hero. The responsibility of checking on him had been given to Anise, who had stayed behind, until Sheik returned. She was miles away from him, but Ganondorf didn't know that, and didn't care. He would order her to search everywhere, regardless of her own tasks. But still, she would have to find him, or Zelda would probably be punished. But Ganondorf couldn't find out about the Hero's current state. It would greatly endanger his life and the fate of Hyrule. On top of that, the Hero was the only person Sheik trusted completely, he was her last, untainted pillar of light. She could tell him anything, and not worry about the repercussions. She couldn't afford to lose a person like that right now. However, if she didn't agree, Ganondorf would hurt too any people.
"Alright." Sheik responded, doing her best to cover her reluctance. The Gerudo nodded, apparently not noticing.
"Lady Nabooru waits for you at the fortress," the Gerudo turned and disappeared in a flash of red.
Sheik waited for a minute to make sure the Gerudo had left, then sat down on a nearby log.
Ganonondorf had really thought this out. She felt like a rat in a trap, running in circles and unable to escape.
Before she could just pretend that she was two different people, leading two different lives. But Ganondorf had brought her two worlds violently crashing together, merging the good and evil sides of Sheik in one short night.
Telling Ganondorf the Hero's location was out of the question, if he found out, Hyrule was lost. The only option Sheik could see was to lie and pretend she couldn't find him and didn't know where he currently slept. But if this Gerudo had been able to find her so easily, then he could no doubt track her, so she wouldn't be able to go anywhere near the Hero, and therefore couldn't complete her duties when she returned to Kakariko. Or talk to anyone about her current predicament.
Sheik lowered her head into her hands, a rueful smile finding it's way onto her face. This was impossible. She couldn't do this. Lying to Ganondorf was impossible, keeping all of this hidden from Impa, Zelda and Raven was impossible.
"Ah...I'm slipping..." her voice trailed off as she struggled to regain her self control. If only it could be just a bit easier. She stood up, wiping all emotion off of her face and locking her feelings away in a diamond box so she wouldn't have to deal with them. For now she would go meet Nabooru at the Fortress. That would give her a way to peacefully contact the Gerudo, maybe she could negotiate peaceful passage for the Sheikah. At least something good might come of all of this.

~0~0~0~

When she returned to the camp, Raven was waiting for her. She looked worried, but not angry, which confused Sheik. Raven fell silently into step behind Sheik, neither saying a word.
The two made their way back to the central tent and rejoined the meeting. The Gerudo issue was still unresolved, and they were currently discussing sending a small scout party to see what their reception would be. Sheik took the opportunity and volunteered herself and Raven to go.
"Are you sure?" Raven whispered from beside her. Sheik ignored her and waited for the other's decision.
"Hmm... That might be a good idea, actually," Haytham said slowly. Izzati nodded.
"As Impa's apprentice, we trust you have learned quite a bit about politics, right?" Sheik nodded. " Then I vote to send Sheik and Raven," Izzati announced. A quick vote was taken, and the end result was to send Raven and Sheik to negotiate with the Gerudo.
"Very good, then," Haytham clapped his large hands together, "Now that that is settled, meeting dismissed!" The group gratefully rose from their uncomfortable seats on the ground and walked out of the tent to inform their factions of the plan. Raven and Sheik left to get some dinner, then sleep, as they would be leaving before sunrise. The trip would take seven days, with very few stops. They would arrive a few days before the main group, which was plenty of time to negotiate passage for the Sheikah and for Sheik to find Nabooru and see what their mission would be.
Having planned out her next few steps, Sheik felt a little more secure, and managed to center her focus around her present tasks; getting food, then finding her small, green tent among the rows of identical small, green tents.

-0-0-0-

A/N

I'm very sorry for the late update and less then good previous chapter.
Hopefully this chapter came out a little better, but I'm sorry if it didn't. I feel like Sheik should be pretty stressed about all of this, to put it lightly, after about six years of trying to live to separate lives, but I am apparently not all to good at writing feelings.

Anyway, sorry about mistakes, my awful writing, etc.

Please review and tell me what needs fixing!