"Hurry up, Link!" the blue ball called to the lagging boy behind her, "we've got to get to the castle before nightfall," she looked to the slowly pinkining sky.

"I'm coming," he said feeling tired already. He was used to adventuring, but only in the woods, running across a huge field was an entirely different type of adventuring. They were almost to the bridge. The ball of light looked to the sky and her wings shuddered with anxiety at the sight of the sun melting behind the castletown walls.

"Just a bit further," she flew back to the young boy and grabbed on the sleeve of this tunic, pulling with all her might.

"Navi, what's the big idea? I can run on my own," he pulled away.

"Yes, but we've gotta get there before it's dark, who knows what comes out in these fields at night."

The bridge was almost within their reach. Link pumped his little legs and navi flapped her teeny wings as hard as they could, but it wasn't enough. When they were not even ten feet from the bridge, a howl from an undetermined direction signaled the closing of the bridge. Link made a pointless dive for the bridge.

"Oh no!" Navi cried, "what are we gonna do?"

"I guess spend the night out here," although he was worried too, he didn't want his glowing companion to freak out anymore than she already was, so he kept calm. He looked out into the black as pitch night. His head jerked quickly at the sound of a crackling twig, but he saw nothing. He spun around the other way, this time it sounded as though someone was digging through the earth.

"Hello?" Link called out into the night. No answer came.

"Guess it was nothing," he turned back towards his partner and screamed, barely managing to jump out of the way of a skeletal hand.

"Link, watch out, we're surrounded by Stalchildren!"

"Don't worry, I've got my sword," he said valiantly, but his courage was soon lost on him as he looked at his competition. They were grusomely creepy. Small strips of decaying flesh hung from their limbs and bodies and stretched across their jaws, making their large rotten teeth look even more horrible. The only sign of life was an eerie red glow from their hollow eye sockets. Link's left arm shook violently, whether from the weight of the sword he held with it or his nerves, he didn't know. They began to gather and soon enough, there were a good ten or so standing before him. One closest to him swung a hideous claw at him with a cackle that sent shivers down his spine. He looked around nervously. He couldn't take on this many enemies, especially ones so vicious. Behind him, to his far right, he saw a tree, not too tall he couldn't climb, but tall enough to get him away from these monsters. He made a mad dash for it and scrambled up like he had in many trees so many times before in the forest. He found the largest, sturdiest (highest) branch as fast as he could and sat on it with his back to the trunk. Navi flew up after him and tucked herself away in the safe warm spot under his hat. Both their hearts were racing so hard and fast they felt as if they might explode. Link looked down. The creatures were now concentrated at the base of the tree's trunk and were hacking away with demonic laughter. Luckily, the tree was very sturdy and even with their numbers, they would not be able to knock it down. Link looked to the pale moon, it had barely moved across the sky at all. He sighed and pulled his legs to his chest. He spent a good two or three terrifying hours listening to the horrifying thwacks and cackles below and feeling the vibrations run up the tree, but eventually, his eyelids were too heavy and his mind too foggy and he succumbed to the gentle embrace of sleep.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!

He woke the next morning feeling quite groggy to the squawk of a distant rooster and something hitting him in the face.

"Navi, cut it out," he said rubbing his eyes.

"Cut what out?" she said gazing at him from her perch on his shoulder.

"Quit hittin' me,"

"I did no such thing!" she said standing and crossing her teeny arms indignantly.

"Well then who did?"

"Hey you, boy!"

Link peered over his shoulder and down to the ground. A young tow-headed girl stared up at him.

"Me?" he asked cautiously.

"No, the boy behind you," she said cocking her head and resting her hip jauntily on her pushed out hip and chuckled lightly. Link didn't see her humor as he was not used to sarcasm. He looked at her questioningly. She let out an audible sigh.

"Of course I mean you, what the heck are you doing up there?"

He swung his legs over to one side and dropped, landing effortlessly before her.

"I was sleeping," he said as if it was no strange thing at all.

"Sleeping? Why were you sleeping in a tree?"

He simply shrugged. Se leaned her face in closer, studying his. He backed away a bit. Her large, round, teal eyes glared at him suspiciously. He stared back with his own large, round, cornflower blue eyes. She couldn't have been much older than him, perhaps even younger. The light dusting of freckles on her nose bunched together as she scrunched it in question.

"You're not from here, are you?"

"No, I'm from the forest,"

"The forest?" she didn't seem to believe him, "well I guess that explains the whole sleeping in trees bit."

She noticed the shield and sword strapped across his back.

"Out too late playing soldiers?"

He looked at her oddly. She jutted her chin towards his back.

"Oh, no,"

"Then what are you doing with a sword and shield?"

"Well…" he began. He didn't really know how to answer that.

I'm saving the world?

"I'm, uh..I'm off to see the princess to uh.."

"The princess?"

"Yeah, hey, uh…" this girl made him uneasy and he wasn't sure why.

"What?" she was becoming impatient with his stumbling.

"You, um, you wouldn't happen to be the princess, would you?"

She arched her right eyebrow and stared at him unbelievingly. He looked back at her, question still in his eyes. Her eyes widened and her mouth split into a grin when she realized he wasn't kidding. She burst out laughing and was soon doubled over holding her stomach.

"You think…are you…you really think…" she gasped between giggles.

Link blushed deeply. He was still naiive, but he knew when someone was laughing at him. She noticed the look on his face and slowly halted her laughter. She quickly straightened up and pulled her face together in mock seriousness.

"Yeah, I'm the princess," she said extending her hand, "Princess Zelda at your service."

His eyes brightened. He grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously.

"Really? Oh, that's great, I can't believe how easy it was to find you!" he smiled wide. She retracted her hand before he broke her arm.

"What? You can't be the princess!" Navi flew out from under Link's hat and right in front of the girl's face.

"Gah, what the hell is that?" she cried stumbling back.

"I'm a fairy and you are no princess!"

"What gives you the right to say I'm not the princess, buggy?" she replied pushing herself forward again.

"Oh, please, you're dressed worse than Link! No princess would dress like that!"

The girl clutched at the collar of her white button up shirt and fingered the hem of her green skirt.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" she shouted, "So what if they're not perfect! I didn't want to get my nice clothes dirty!" she was feeling quite defensive.

That and their the only clothes I own

"So back off speck before I squash you!"

Navi humphed and flew back to Link.

"So what can the lady of the land do for you, forest peasant," she said with a sudden accent.

"Oh, I brought you this sacred stone, the Great Deku Tree told me to find you and that a man in black armor was going to do something bad and…and.." he trailed off when he saw the look of disbelief she was giving him.

Sacred stones? Talking trees? Evil men in black armor? What the heck is this kid talking about?

He looked down at the ground and kicked a pebble.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"What me? Of course I believe you! But this sounds like serious stuff, we had better talk about it more at the castle," she said.

"Ok," he said smiling once more. She went to his side and threw her arm over his shoulders, leading him towards the bridge.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"Uh, Link,"

"Nice to meet you, Link, I'm..well you know who I am," she said laughing as they crossed the bridge and went through the high arching entrance of Hyrule Castle Town.