"Navi, go get Malon," Link said, trying desperately to crack the ice trapping him with the hilt of his sword. At least with the departure of the witches it had stopped spreading.
The little fairy flew off as fast as she could. A few minutes later, Link could hear the sound of Malon approaching. The door of the house she had hidden in flew open, and Malon dashed out.
"Oh my goddesses!" she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. She rushed over to Sheik and dropped onto her knees beside her.
"Hey! Wake up, Sheik!" Malon said as she checked her pulse and made a mental list of her injuries.
Navi fluttered around nervously.
Assured that Sheik was not yet dead, Malon sent Navi to get Ingo. Uncertainly, Navi hurried to obey. Re-focusing herself, Malon turned back to her patient. Sheik was covered in burns, but none seemed life-threatening. As far as she could tell, unconsciousness came from a sudden loss of magic and smacking her head into the ground, coupled with a lot of pain.
Sheik shifted slightly, groaning with the movement.
"Don't move," Malon suggested, "I'm going to go get something to free Link. Since I can't lift you by myself, and Link is stuck, you'll have to wait until Ingo comes." Without waiting for consent, Malon stood up and ran back to the main house.
Sheik propped herself up on her elbows despite Malon's warning, and turned to check on the Hero.
"I'm sorry, Sheik," Link said from where he lay on the ground. "I didn't mean to get you hurt. Are you okay?"
"… I'll live," Sheik muttered.
"That's good," Link replied, sounding genuinely relieved. Sometimes, he acted so childishly.
"You must be in a lot of pain, though. I have a red potion, if you want." Link tried to reach into his pouch, only to be reminded that his hands were still frozen to the ground. "Umm, I'm stuck," he said apologetically.
Right. I have to free the Hero, Sheik thought as she painfully pulled herself into a sitting position. She crawl the few feet to reach Link. Not as dignified as she'd have liked, but she didn't think she'd be able to stand. Her head was swimming, and she could barely focus. Despite the fact that her magic was farther depleted than was safe, Sheik placed a hand on the ice encasing Link's wrists and summoned some fire. The Twinrova certainly did have powerful magic, to have broken her shield when she poured so much energy into it. But she could worry about herself after the Hero was safe. Shaking the stray thoughts from her head, she focused all of her energy on keeping her flames alive. Slowly, the ice began to melt. Thank the Goddesses it wasn't cursed in any way.
Link watched in fascination.
It took longer than Sheik had hoped, but she eventually managed to free Link's hands.
"Thanks, Sheik!" Link said, inspecting his hands.
Sheik nodded and was about to start on his feet when Malon came back.
"What are you doing!" Malon snapped, dropping her supplies and grabbing Sheik's hand. "I don't know much about magic, but using it drains your energy, right? You need all your energy to heal, so stop using it up! And I told you to stay still! Why is it that you always come to me half dead?" Malon sighed in exasperation and shook her head. "Never mind. Since you are already moving, can you walk?"
Sheik nodded without hesitation. No need for the others to know how weak she felt.
Malon gave her a skeptical look, then helped her up, despite Sheik's protest.
"I've got Ingo!" Navi called, leading Ingo towards them. The ranch-hand was muttering under his breath, but when he saw Link and Sheik, he fell silent, his eyes growing wide.
"Great. Ingo, Take Sheik to the house, please," Malon ordered.
Surprisingly, Ingo nodded and complied without any protests or reluctance. Everyone was a bit confused, but now wasn't the time to be worrying about the ranch-hand's loyalties. Sheik was brought to the house, while Malon built a small fire in a iron pan and placed it near Link's still frozen feet. When Ingo returned, Malon handed him the matches and gave him some directions, then ran off to treat Sheik.
Link watched suspiciously as Ingo stared at the flames. Link didn't quite trust the man after what he had done. He seemed very fickle, and that made him potentially dangerous. Still, Link was curious as to why he did all of this.
"Why are you being helpful now?" Link asked.
"I always try to be helpful," Ingo replied immediately. Link noticed that both the insanity and the monotone with which he had spoken before were gone.
"Then why did you take over the ranch?" Navi challenged.
Ingo's eyes went wide. "I… Lord Ganondorf…" Ingo started to sniffle, then to cry. "Ganondorf promised me the respect I deserved if I helped him! He promised me I'd be rich, and have people calling me Mr. Ingo. I just wanted some respect!" he sobbed.
Link watched in confusion as Ingo rubbed his eyes and sniffled again.
"I'm sorry…" Ingo whimpered. He sounded completely honest.
"We forgive you!" Navi chirped. "As long as you don't do it again. You've learned your lesson, right?"
Ingo nodded.
Navi turned to Link. "So we forgive him, right?"
Link hesitated, then nodded. He could forgive Ingo, but he wouldn't forgive the Twinrova. Hurting his friend like that. Nobody hurt Link's friends and got away with it.
That evening, once everything had been sorted, and all injuries treated, and the front gate unlocked, courtesy of the now cooperative Ingo, Malon, Sheik, Link, Navi, and Ingo gathered at the kitchen table.
"I have a few questions," Sheik began.
Ingo nodded and wrung his hands nervously.
"Link told me you stole the ranch because Ganondorf promised you respect," Sheik stated, pausing for confirmation and to thank Malon for the soup she poured into Sheik's bowl.
"Ye-yes. I'm sorry, sir, but I just wanted some respect. Nobody respects me ever, they all just ask me to do this, and do that, and never say please, or thank-you. It's degrading, you know?"
Sheik nodded, seeming to have some sort of idea of what was going on now. "When did you meet the Twinrova?"
"Twinrova? You mean those witches?"
Sheik nodded.
"It was after Lord Ganondorf's messenger brought me his letter. When I finished reading it, I glanced up, and these two old ladies were flying around above us. I was scared at first, but then they started speaking, and suddenly, I realized they weren't people to be afraid of. They were very sensible old ladies. They explained how old Talon was slighting me, and that I deserved better. They were right, so I told the message-bearer that I would do as Lord Ganondorf asked. The witches told me I was an honorable man, doing such a thing for the greater good, then they gave me a group of Gerudo soldiers, and we went and chased Mister Talon out." Here he paused, and glanced up at Sheik, before returning his eyes to the table. "That's pretty much it. I'm truly sorry, Sir," Ingo said.
Sheik thanked him for his cooperation, and turned to Link and Malon. "It seems the Twinrova used his unhappiness and a bit of magic to influence him into doing what he has done. He is harmless now. You may do with him as you will, Malon."
The girl put her spoon down and grinned. "Thanks, Sheik! You too, Link! I think now the ranch will be back to normal." She turned to Ingo. "Ingo, as long as you promise not to do anything like this again, I'll hire you, and you can continue work as before," Malon said.
"I promise! Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss Malon! You are truly a kind person!" Ingo said, bowing as best he could with the table in front of him.
"Then that is settled. Link or I will tell your father what has occurred, and send him back as soon as possible," Sheik told her.
"Alright! Thank you both so much. I don't know what I would have done without you." Malon hugged both Sheik and Link, then returned to her seat and began eating with enthusiasm, signaling the end of the discussion.
Once the meal was over, and everyone had gone to sleep, Sheik silently got up and left the house. It was time she reported to Princess Zelda. Last time she had been to Kakariko, right before coming to Lon Lon Ranch, the council was in quite an uproar. Hatred towards the Sheikah was growing, poverty rates were skyrocketing, and the people's general moral was exceedingly low. Gonondorf's forces had razed many towns and cities in an attempt to find Princess Zelda, and Kakariko was overflowing with fugitives. Few towns still remained that were safe, and if tension between the Sheikah protecting Kakariko and the citizens rose much farther, Kakariko Village would no longer be one of them. As it was, the Sheikah who remained and guarded the village were few in number, and not a single one lived in the village. Nearly all had returned to the mountains to escape the animosity of the Hylians.
As Sheik thought over all of the problems the Princess had to face, she saddled and bridled one of Malon's fastest horses. Before she mounted, she wrote a note explaining the missing horse and promising that the horse would be returned, and left it on the gate to the horse's stall. That complete, she mounted, and guided the horse around to the back of the coral, where she urged it into a gallop, and jumped the slightly shorter fence there. Safely on the other side, Sheik turned the horse to face the Lost Woods, Zelda's current hideout, and began the ride there.
-0-0-0-
"Hey! Link! Wake up!"
Link rolled over an groaned, putting the pillow over his head in an attempt to shut out the noise.
"How can the Hero of Hyrule be so lazy?" Navi asked, exasperated. Every morning, no matter where they were, Navi always had to wake Link up. Never once had he gotten up on his own in all the time she had known him. Not even after sleeping for seven years.
"LINK!" she shouted, right next to his ear.
"Wah!" Link exclaimed, leaping up. In his haste to get away from the noise, he got his legs tangled in the blankets and tripped, falling on his face with a loud THUMP.
Navi giggled and crosse her tiny arms. "Hmph. That's what you get for sleeping in so late. Come on, it's time to get moving. We should go see the Gorons next, that cloud above Death Mountain looks really dark…"
Yawning, Link stood up and nodded. After gathering his belongings and saying goodbye to Malon, Link mounted Epona, whom Malon had agreed to lend him, and began the journey to Death Mountain. By horse, it only took around six hours to get to Kakariko Village, leaving Link with plenty of time to rest and gather information before going on to the Goron city tomorrow. Epona had an immense aversion towards stairs stairs, so at the bottom of the long staircase leading up the mountain, and subsequently into Kakariko Village, Link was forced to dismount and go the rest of the way on his own. The climb up the stairs took him another exhausting half an hour, but finally, he reached Kakariko's gate. The gate guards questioned him, but after discovering he was the Link, they quickly let him pass. Evidently someone had given them orders to let him go anywhere he wanted.
Inside, Link headed directly to the Inn. As he walked down the main road, he was shocked to see many people aimlessly wandering, or sleeping on the streets.
He reached the Inn and stepped inside, pausing in front of the door. The Inn was full of people drinking and complaining loudly. The general atmosphere was filled with hatred and hopelessness. Very different from what it used to be. Link had noticed the change last time he was here, but it wasn't as prominent then. Now it was all too obvious.
"Link, you should move, people are staring," Navi informed him from within his hat. It was true. The room had quieted down somewhat, and now most of the patrons were staring at him. Some with looks of distrust, scorn, doubt, some with weak hope. With an embarrassed smile, Link moved away from the door and chose a secluded table in the back of the room.
"Wow, everyone seems really angry," Navi commented, floating out of his hat to sit on the edge of the table. "I wonder what happened to make them all like this? Could Hyrule really be in such a horrible state?"
Link shrugged and tried to listen to the conversations going on around him.
"No jobs for anyone but soldiers…
"…Not enough food… Starving…"
"Ganondorf is too powerful. We can't beat him…"
"Where is the Princess?!"
"What are we supposed to do?"
"We need to fight back!"
"What about us? Maybe if we just joined him…"
"Those damn Sheikah! Leaving when we need them most… Traitors…"
"There could be peace at last."
Link stopped listening. Did these people actually think joining Ganondorf would be better? How could anyone believe that? Someone had mentioned the princess. Where was she? What had happened to Zelda? Dread began to build up with each question.
"Excuse me, sir?"
Link abruptly stood up, pushed past the waitress attempting to take his order, and rushed out of the Inn. What if Zelda was hurt? What if Ganondorf had found her? He needed more information. He had to find Sheik or Impa. They'd know. He began to run towards Impa's house. She didn't live there anymore, but it was as good a starting place as any.
"Link!" Navi yelled, flying after him and trying to avoid being seen. "Where are you going?"
"I need to find Impa, or Sheik!"
"What? Why?"
"I need to know if Zelda is okay," he replied, not slowing at all as he leapt up the steps, taking them three at a time. He arrived at Impa's house a few minutes later.
"Excuse me," Link gasped, leaning over to try and catch his breath.
The guard he had addressed looked at him curiously.
"Do you know where Lady Impa is?" he asked, straitening up.
"No. The Lady Impa has not lived here for quite some time," the guard replied. Must be another refugee, the guard guessed.
Link's face fell. Where did he go now? "Oh…" Link muttered. He turned away.
"Link, calm down," Navi said, flying alongside him as he walked back towards the Inn. The sun was setting over the tops of the mountains, making everything a pretty gold color, but Link was too busy worrying to notice it's beauty.
"Why don't we go see the Gorons? Sheik will surely show up when we get to the temple." Navi suggested reasonably.
"…Okay," Link agreed, taking a deep breath.
Please be okay, Zelda. He thought.
-0-0-0-
The Princess and Impa had changed locations again. Now, they were hidden deep within the lost woods. It was probably the safest place to be, since Link had purified the Forest Temple and freed the Sage of Forest. The only problem was that communicating with the Council from there was difficult, and Zelda had to make regular trips back to Kakariko Village in order to keep everything running. Traveling was the most dangerous time for her, and Sheik always felt stressed and on edge when the Princess was traveling about. Thankfully the Lost Woods were connected to most places, and with the use of the Nocturne of Shadow, Zelda could minimize the danger she was in.
Presently, Sheik came across the magical barrier that protected the Princess's camp. She could see the complicated spells Impa had weaved merging with the Forest's natural magic and combining to make an extremely strong wall. Sheik wondered how much magic and will power it had taken to convince the Forest to assist in Zelda's defense.
"Lady Impa?" Sheik called. Seconds later, there was a rustling sound, and then a soft thump behind her. Sheik spun around, instinctively blocking the arm that came towards her. Without thinking, Sheik grabbed her attacker's wrist and threw the person to the ground, pinning them with their wrist held at a painful angle.
"Oww, oww! Yield, I yield! Get off, Sheik!"
Sheik, recognizing the voice, hastily moved. "I am sorry, Princess, I did not realize it was…" Sheik trailed off as the princess stood up.
"…What?" Sheik asked brilliantly. In front of her stood someone who looked very much like herself. Same clothes, same eyes, same skin-tone, same messily cut hair.
"Isn't it great?" Zelda asked excitedly. "I've been working on perfecting this glamor all week!"
Sheik blinked. It really was very good. To the point where it was unnerving. There were minor differences. The eyes were a slightly different shape, Zelda's hair was slightly darker, her shoulders were narrower, and she looked overall a bit more feminine. More like Zelda. But nobody except someone who had spent an incredible amount of time with Sheik would know that, and it was incredibly unlikely anyone would identify the other Sheik as Zelda even if they did know that it wasn't actually Sheik.
"Well done, Princess," Sheik said.
Zelda grinned. "Thanks!" Then she hugged Sheik. "I missed you a lot! I know it hasn't been that long, but last time we weren't able to hang out much. You just came in, got your mission, and left before I was even awake."
"I cannot stay long this time, either," Sheik said.
"Well, lets make the best of the time we've got, then." Zelda began to walk, leading Sheik into the barrier. "We barely see each other now. You're always fighting, or training, or protecting the Hero or something. When you are here, I'm in meetings or doing some other dull thing. I just want to hang out like we did when we were kids. I'd be happy just to do some archery practice with you again." Zelda trailed off, thinking about when they were younger. Even up to a year ago, there had been parties, and days off. There had been hope.
They reached the camp a few minutes later, where Impa greeted them with a curt nod. She was bent over a map, marking things and redrawing other things. It looked like a new defense plan for Kakariko Village.
"Did you succeed?" Impa asked after a moment.
"Yes," Sheik replied, "Lon Lon Ranch is safe, and I think it will be for awhile."
"Very good. Rest for awhile, Sheik. The Hero will reach the Fire temple soon." After that, Impa said nothing. Zelda and Sheik sat down by the fire and began to prepare dinner. Zelda, who had since removed the glamour, talked about a million things while they did. Topics varied from the price of milk to council members who wanted to cede control of Hyrule to Ganondorf. Sheik listened quietly to it all, adding comments or random noises when necessary.
"I don't know what to do, Sheik," Zelda sighed, setting her paring knife down and dropping the final potato into the pot.
"Tomorrow I have to decide wether or not to instate a rule saying that all able bodied men must fight, the day after I have to decide on a new defense plan for Kakariko, and after that there are a million other things that require attention."
Sheik was silently surprised the subject or recruitment hadn't come up years earlier. "Princess, we need more soldiers. With the majority of Sheikah gone, and the remainder hated as they are, we are low on defenses. Kakariko Village provides refuge for most of Hyrule's citizens. We can't afford to lose it to Ganondorf."
"…I know…" Zelda said. She sighed again and dropped her head onto her knees. "It's just a lot."
-0-0-0-
Link had been walking for hours. His legs hurt, his arms hurt, and he was tired of dodging boulders intent on rolling over him. He had no idea how he had done this climb as many times as he had as a child, running up and down the hill carrying bomb flowers and trying to blow up the bolder in front of the Dodongo's cavern.
He groaned in relief as he finally saw the entrance to the Goron's city. With renewed energy, he ran forwards. He wondered what seven years had brought to the unchanging, rock-like Gorons.
A/N
Look! I updated in a timely manner. Still working on editing and making things work, but I'm trying to continue the story and make it interesting. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.
Please review!