For everyone who's had questions about future chapters, I just have to say that everything will be answered in time. So please just keep reading to find out. :D And by the way, in an earlier chapter I said that this story takes place in the 1500s. Well, scratch that. It's more about the 1100's at most. So anyway, here we go.

-O-

When Beth came back into the house without Jennan, Memnet immediately knew that something was wrong. It was nothing new for her cousin and her sister to be at each other's throats, but Beth had not even been here an hour and they were already fighting? Something unusual was going on, and she was set on finding out what it was.

"So," Memnet began casually, "where's Jennan?"

Beth planted herself on a chair and watched as Ima poured her a cup of hot tea. "She's outside somewhere, probably staring at that Hylian boy of Uncle's."

Memnet began to have a clue as to what was going on. She knew her cousin to be overly friendly with men, and though she did not know Jennan to be a jealous person, for she had never really had anything to be jealous about, but her sister could surprise her these days.

Ima gave Memnet a knowing look over the steam from the tea kettle, then finished with her pouring and turned away. Memnet said that she would be back in a moment, then grabbed her skirts and walked out onto the porch, shutting the door gently behind her. It had been open to let some air into the hot house, but she did not plan on cutting it off for long. She saw that Jennan was standing on the right side of the porch, her arms crossed and her mouth a tight line. Link was nowhere in sight.

"Why are you out here by yourself?" Memnet asked on a high note. Jennan did not even blink.

"It's peaceful out here," she said bitterly.

Memnet sighed heavily and walked over to her sister, the sweetness in her voice now gone. "All right, Jennan, you need to at least try to get along with Beth while she's here. She's our cousin, and besides, she's probably not going to be here for long."

Jennan finally turned to look at her. "She does everything she can to make me angry, Memnet. It was bad enough when we were little, and everything I like she has always tried to work her way in and..." She trailed off, her gaze falling to the ground, and did not finish her sentence.

Memnet sighed again, but she understood without doubt now. "Well, Beth will know exactly the way things are after awhile. There's no reason to fight about it, all right? Now I think you two should try to patch things up between you. Maybe you all should take a walk or something."

"Oh, Memnet..."

"Jennan," Memnet said sternly. "You can get along with her for a little while if you try. I don't care if you have to force yourself, but it would make it easier on the rest of us if you all stop all this arguing. Now you are going to show Beth around the plantation, and then take her to Father's dwelling afterward. He can't walk all the way up here with his ribs and all. And I expect you and Beth to get along, all right? Now I'll go get her."

Jennan put her face in her hands as Memnet disappeared back into the house. Well, she would try her best to get along with Beth, but she could make no promises as to how it would turn out.

-O-

Link had thought that he had finished pulling reeds from the creek, but it seemed as if for every pile he removed, two more appeared. It seemed like endless work, but at least it was not stifling hot like the job of chopping wood. The mosquitos were thick around the water, but they usually left him alone for some reason and merely just swarmed around.

He would much rather be in the pasture breaking Night Rider, where it actually seemed as if he were making progress. The horse was already at the point where he allowed Link to come close and touch him, and even remove the halter and replace it with a bridle. Link was not quite confident enough to make an attempt to slip the bit in the horse's mouth yet, but that would be coming soon. And as much as he wanted to be working with the horses, Artos had that job and Link was stuck out here in the murky water of the creek.

The work had become very routine, and Link could do it without really thinking. Dorobis usually worked him hard in the day, and by night he was nearly asleep before he had laid down, but when he had a spare moment to think, Link planned his escape. He already had the Master Sword back in his possession, thanks to Jennan, and all he needed now was his shield and Epona. It would not be too difficult to get his horse, but the shield was another matter, for he was not exactly sure where it was at. He did not want to ask Jennan to get it for him, but maybe he could just ask her where it was at the next time he saw her.

He was starting to get bored, but was not about to complain. Even Gelert lay on the bank lazily, only moving every now and then to bite at a buzzing mosquito. Link wondered where Rhashidi had gone off to, and if he was still close by. His thoughts trailed off, for once not to Hyrule, but to Jennan. It surprised him, but he saw no reason not to think, and this time let himself. Jennan was sweet and dainty, but he could tell that she had a fiery side to her as well. She was not physically strong, but he had seen the way she fought her attacker in the woods that night he had come to her rescue. She could definitely be fiesty if she wanted, but she was also very lady-like as well. That same night, when she had been taken to Ima after the attack, the only thing she complained about was that she had broken her fingernails.

And Link liked a sensitive yet tough girl.

-O-

"Memnet," Ima said as she came down the stairs into the kitchen, "if it's my place to say so..."

Memnet was dusting off the table with a feather duster. "Go ahead, Ima." She dusted around Matayo, who had come back inside after Jennan and Beth had left for their walk.

"Well, I am not so sure that I think sending your sister and cousin out together was such a good idea."

Memnet looked up with her eyebrows raised. "It'll be fine."

"I trust your judgement, but I can't help but having a bad feeling about it."

Matayo spoke up. "Everybody knows that Jennan and Beth don't get along like they should, but I don't think there's anything to worry about."

"He's right," Memnet said. "Just because they don't like one another doesn't mean they'll hurt each other."

-O-

Jennan walked alongside the creek with a heavy frown on her face, Beth close beside her. Her cousin walked slowly, and she moved her hips with each step, her skirts swaying gracefully. Beth fanned herself with her Chinese fan, which she claimed her wealthy mother had gotten her for her birthday. Jennan glared at her out of the corner of her eye, suddenly having the urge to crush the fan over her cousin's shining blonde head. She wanted to walk faster to get this over with, but her cousin certainly seemed to be taking her time.

"It's so beautiful out here," she gushed, and Jennan cringed at every word. "Where I live, I don't think there's a tree around for miles!"

Jennan did not answer, and she wished that she were anywhere but here; especially somewhere with Link and watching him work, like she had been doing before her cousin had so suddenly showed up. And why could not have Memnet taken this walk with Beth? Jennan seethed silently to herself, clutching her skirts hard and trying as hard as she could to keep her angry emotions inside.

"Oh, Matayo's gotten to be so handsome," Beth continued. The two girls had been following the creek for some time now, but they were not quite where Link was working yet. They would have to walk for awhile more, and at the rate Beth was going, that would be a long time. "Everyone one says you two look alike, but I don't think so."

The last sentence made Jennan want to slap her cousin. "That sounded rude," she said.

"I didn't mean it that way," Beth said, but Jennan could see it in her eyes that she did.

Jennan tried to keep her anger from showing on her face, but it seemed impossible, and she turned away to hide it. She had never imagined disliking someone as much as she did Beth; well, maybe Henry, but that was in a different way. Henry was just annoying and really not Jennan's type, while Beth sometimes tried to be mean on purpose.

Beth kept bringing up different topics, but Jennan felt beyond conversation. She was ready to turn back and leave her cousin lost in the woods, but Beth could just follow the creek back. Jennan was disappointed at this, and so she continued on in silence as Beth rambled on and on about different subjects that Jennan could really care less about. Like how nice it was to have money and things like that.

Jennan sighed. Was there no end to Beth's bragging and such? She had never felt so violent. And the subject that was brought up next was almost enough to make Jennan crazy.

"So tell me, how long has your father had that Hylian slave?"

"I don't know," Jennan said with venom, though it was a lie. She knew down to the exact hour.

"I think he's very attractive," Beth said, and Jennan stopped in her tracks. Beth quickly stopped too, and looked at her cousin over the top of her fan.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jennan snapped. Oh, Jennan could relate to her cousin's comment. She thought Link was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

"What, you didn't happen to have your eye on him too, did you?" There was a teasing note in Beth's voice.

"What makes you think that?"

A small laugh escaped Beth's lips. "You can't fool me, I saw that jealous spark in your eye when I first mentioned him earlier. But it makes no difference, because your father would never let you wed a slave, especially that one. But my mother, on the other hand..."

Jennan had quickly come to the end of her rope. Her cousin had just gone too far, and at this point Jennan did not care what Memnet had said. There was no possible way hat she could even attempt to ignore this; no matter if they did not get along or not. This situation was getting out of hand, and Jennan loathed her cousin for it. With her eyebrows raised and mouth tight with anger, she snapped, "Is it that you can't find a man where you live? It's not like you don't put yourself out there, you know."

"I can't help that men gravitate to me," Beth said, folding up her fan and daintily sticking it into a deep pocket of her dress. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and leveled her eyes at Jennan. "You aren't jealous of me, are you?"

"I don't have any reason in the world to be jealous of you," Jennan spat.

Beth planted her hands on her thin hips. "Oh, I see. You're jealous because that Hylian boy had his eyes on me instead of you."

Jennan's mouth dropped open briefly before she snapped it shut and ground her teeth together. Link had hardly even glanced Beth's way! Jennan's fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. She could not remember ever feeling as angry as she was now, and she was sure that her face was turning red with her fury. Beth was now wearing a satisfied expression, as if she had accomplished her task. Jennan was frozen still with her anger for a moment, then could stand herself no longer. She took a hard step forward and seized Beth's arm with both hands. Beth's expression quickly changed from smug to surprised, but she had no time to do anything but let out a quick scream as Jennan planted her feet, swung with all her might, and threw her ritzy cousin right into the creek.

Beth landed face-first with a hard splash, and her scream was abruptly cut off. The water was deep enough to where she did not smash onto the creek bed, but rather submerged momentarily before rising to her knees and letting out another scream as she reached air. Her thick green skirts had bubbled up around her, and her shiny blonde hair was soaking wet and plastered down over her face. She yelled something inaudible and lurched forward with both arms outstretched, and grabbed onto the bottom of Jennan's skirts.

Jennan tried to step back out of the way, but her cousin was surprisingly fast and did not miss her mark. Once latched onto her skirts, Beth shifted her weight and tried as hard as she could to pull Jennan forward. Jennan planted her heels into the dirt, but she did not have enough balance, and Beth therefore had the advantage. Jennan grabbed onto her own skirts and tried to pull them free, but Beth's wet hands were holding tight. Jennan was pulled forward right to the edge of the water, then took a step backward, and so the war went for a few seconds until Beth put all her weight into her last tug, and Jennan lost what little balance she had, and with a yelp, went plunging into the water as well.

Jennan luckily caught herself on her hands and knees, but Beth moved in and pushed her over, and the fight was on. Jennan went down in the water, but was up again quickly, and she and her cousin were immediately in a screaming wrestling match. Though lighter in weight and more petite, Jennan was more fiesty and somehow stronger than Beth, and she planted a couple of sharp slaps on her cousins face before grabbing her by the back of the neck and shoving her head under the water. She held her for only a few seconds, then let go and grabbed the laced sleeves of the velvety green drees and pulled Beth up from the water, who was gasping for breath and spitting water. Her emerald green eyes were full of anger and perhaps even a touch of fear, but reached up and latched onto Jennan's hair, which was falling out in strings from the knot she always wore it in on the back of her head. Jennan let out a high-pitched groan and dug her fingernails into Beth's wrists. It was hard to move quickly with her heavy wet skirts, but she was determined to make her cousin pay for... well, what could she say? For hitting on Link? Jennan had no claim to him, but it still had made her jealous and angry, and she did not intend to let it go unpunished.

She managed to jab a knee hard into Beth's ribs, then returned the favor and grabbed the girl's blonde hair with both hands, one on each side of her head, and threw her hard to the side. Jennan suddenly thought she heard a dog barking that sounded like Gelert. She had already come to recognize his bark, but though it was actually very close by, it seemed far away to her as she dug her hands into whatever part of her cousin she could get first and threw her weight forward, knocking Beth backwards, and was now almost sitting on her. Her hands were clutching and twisted up in the low-rising collar of Beth's dress, and she had the unlucky view of her cousin's cleavage, and for some reason it fueled her anger to where she pulled her cousin up by the collar of her dress, then smashed her back down into the water. She notcied the fight had seemed to have gone out of Beth, and she was about to take advantage of this when she heard Link's voice.

"Jennan!" He seemed to be surprised rather than angry or scolding, and still fastened onto Beth's dress, Jennan looked back briefly at him as he jumped without hesitation into the creek. The water was not even up to his knees, but to Jennan and Beth it seemed to be almost too deep. Link had reached them in two strides, and he reached down and grabbed Jennan just below the shoulder on each side. As if without effort, he lifted her off Beth and clear of the water. She put up a very small fight, but he ignored it and thrust her under his right arm. She was now hanging against his side with his arm around her stomach. It was a little uncomfortable, but Jennan found herself enjoying being close to him, especially with his arm around her. With his free hand, he reached into the water and pulled Beth up by the wrist, and she coughed and sputtered as if she had been near drowned.

Link pulled them both up to the bank, and he let go of Beth as she sank down to the ground, still coughing. He let Jennan down gently to her feet, and she suddenly felt embarrassed at how much of a mess she was. She was soaking wet and muddy, her hair was a wreck, and she was scratched up and somewhat bruised. Her dress was even torn in a few places, and she made a vain attempt to fix her hair as Beth managed to struggle up to her feet. She looked near tears, and she pulled the top of her dress back in place before looking at Jennan and stomping her foot angrily. Her dainty nose was bleeding down into her mouth, and she quickly wiped it away on the back of her hand. She let out an exasperated gasp, then grabbed her wet skirts in her hands and stormed off down the trail.

Link exclaimed something in Hylian and looked at Jennan with a raised eyebrow, and she thought he was so cute when he was confused. "What happened?"

There was no way she could tell him exactly. But she had to say something. "That's my cousin. We- we never get along."

Gelert ran back and forth along the bank with the excitement of the fight, and Link and Jennan were quiet for a moment until Link spoke up again. "Are you okay?"

Jennan nodded, and a few drops of water fell from her hair. "I'm fine."

"I was more worried about your cousin. You got the best of her."

Jennan had been alarmed at the first sentence, then relaxed again at the second one. She tapped her fingers together in front of her and glanced up at him with only her eyes. "We don't usually fight like that, but we always argue."

"What'd she do?" He wanted to know how the fight started, but she couldn't tell him that either.

"Nothing," she said a little too quickly. She was afraid she had offended him for a moment, but he did not look swayed.

"You should go get dried off," he said. "I'll walk you back to the house."

Jennan liked this idea very much, but she just nodded and said, "Okay."

On the way there, she noticed that he had a gentleman side to him, for he was always checking to make sure she was all right, asking if she wanted to rest, and helping her over fallen logs and chunks of rock. He seemed so coordinated, and it was another quality about him that Jennan liked. The walk back to the house was a fairly quiet one, for she knew Link was not much of a talker, but every now and then he'd say something that made things comfortable. She walked with her hand at his elbow until they got up to the clearing where the house was, and she let go just in case her father spotted them. She did it for Link rather than herself, for Link would be the one to receive the punishment for touching her.

They stopped in front of the porch, and Link turned to face her. "You'll be all right now?"

She nodded, and a strand of wet hair escaped and slapped her in the forehead. She pushed it away. "Thank you." She meant for his last question, for walking her back to the house, and for breaking up her fight with Beth. She managed to lift her heavy skirts as she hauled herself up the steps and to the door. She took a glance back at Link, who was still standing there silently, and when she reached for the door, it flew open and Memnet stared at with both eyebrows raised.

"Jennan!" She exclaimed. She looked down at Link, then back at Jennan, gaping. "Where's Beth?"

Jennan tried to muster an innocent expression around the mud and water on her face, but it did not seem to be working too well. "I don't know."

Memnet let out an exasperated sigh and could say nothing but, "Oh, Ima, you were right!"

-O-

That night, word had spread around to the whole plantation about Jennan and Beth's fight in the creek, and Dorobis had even come up to the house from his dwelling, and now he sat in a chair at the table with a hand at his ribs. Jennan sat across from him at the table, and Matayo, Memnet, Ima, and Beth stood behind Dorobis, and Jennan was starting to feel like a spectacle. She had changed out of her wet and heavy dress hours ago, but for some reason she felt a chill.

"Jennan," Dorobis began sternly. He cringed slightly and tightened his grip on his side, but it did not deter him from the matter at hand. "I'll have you know that you acted very unlady-like today. And to fight with your own cousin, for that matter. You disappoint me today, and not to mention dishonor yourself. What kind of young lady acts the way you did earlier?"

"Father, it was not unprovoked," Jennan said in her own defense. No one else, not even Ima, seemed to be taking her side on this.

"Oh, then? So tell me what Beth did to provoke you to throw her in the creek," Dorobis said accusingly. It was obvious that he did not believe his daughter.

Jennan paused. She could not tell her father exactly why she had gotten so angry at Beth, for almost the same reason she could not tell Link. But that had been to avoid severe embarrassment, and this was to avoid being punished by her father- or worse, Link somehow being punished. "She tries everything she can to make me angry," she finally said, and felt like a fool. Could she not come up with a better excuse than that?

"I'll tell you what happened," Beth spoke up. She had changed her dress as well, this time to a burgundy velvet, and had earlier spent nearly an hour brushing out her golden hair.

"Then tell me, Beth," Dorobis said.

Beth sniffed, and her nose shot up in the air. She opened her eyes only enough to glare at Jennan, then closed them again. "I said something about that Hylian slave of yours. She didn't like it."

Dorobis turned to look at his niece, alarmed. "And what did you say?"

Beth leveled her eyes at her cousin. "Ask her."

Dorobis looked back to Jennan, who was twiddling her thumbs in her lap. "Someone is going to tell me, and now."

There was silence. Jennan looked down at the table, and no one in the room said anything. Dorobis slammed his hand down on the table, and Jennan jumped. He was about to speak, but Ima spoke first.

"Master, it isn't unusual for Jennan and Beth to do this..."

"Be quiet, Ima," Dorobis asked, and Ima quickly shut her mouth. It was obvious that the master of the house was losing patience, and he turned back to Beth. "Tell me what she said."

"Well, Uncle, I found it obvious after earlier today that she's sweet on that slave. When I expressed interest, she threw me in the creek!"

Jennan wanted to exclaim that that was not the whole story, but the look her father was giving her quieted her. She had to admit honestly that she was afraid, for there was no telling what her father might do. She swallowed hard and would not meet her father's eyes, who was staring at her intensely. Still glaring at her, he said, "Beth, you make sure to stay away from that boy. Now, would the rest of you care to leave Jennan and I alone?"

Memnet and Matayo went upstairs, and Ima went outside to go to her dwelling, and Beth paused before following Memnet. When everyone was gone, Dorobis folded his hands on the table and continued to glare at his daughter, who was staring intently at the lantern, which sat in the middle of the table. Shadows danced on the walls with the movement of the small flame, and Jennan wanted to say something to defend herself, but could think of nothing.

Dorobis leaned forward in his chair. "I did not bring that boy here for your entertainment." He suddenly stood up and slammed his chair up to the table with a tremendous thud, and Jennan jumped again. "I do not want to see you near him again, and if I do, the both of you will face the consequences. He already knows hard punishment, but it's about time you learned." He stormed out the door of the house and slammed it closed behind him, nearly shaking the walls.

-O-

Link had gone back to the creek where he had finally fnished pulling the reeds from the creek, and there was now a mountainous pile on the bank. They had dried off after awhile and were now ready to burn. Link was lucky to know how to manually make fire, for if he did not, it would only complicate things. He set the pile on fire and watched it engulf quickly. It would not take long to burn down, since the reeds were hollow, but he had to stay with it to avoid a forest fire.

He lay back a few yards from the huge pile of burning wood, his hands behind his head, one knee up, legs spread, and watched the smoke from the fire make its way through the treetops. His hand was throbbing from the effort of starting the fire, for the gash he had gotten from the axe awhile back had strangely not healed properly, and he figured it was because he was always handling everything in that hand, and it was difficult for something to heal when it was never left alone. It probably had nothing to do with the way Jennan had treated it; she seemed to know what she was doing when it came to medicine, and he did not blame her at all.

Jennan was a fiesty one, she was. She seemed sweet and innocent at first glance, and he believed she was, but there was also that frisky side to her, especially when it came to fighting. He had never really seen a girl fight with her bare hands before, so Jennan was a first. And she had really gotten the best of her cousin in the creek, and Link was still curious as to what had brought the fight on. He could tell Beth was ritzy and high on herself, but that alone couldn't be the reason.

He did not want to admit it out loud, but he knew that he was slowly falling for Jennan, and he was not sure why. Sure, she was beautiful, sweet yet fiesty, and just plain likeable, but he had been sure that he would never love again. And he had been so close to making his next attempted escape, but was now having second thoughts because he did not really want to leave Jennan.

A sudden noise behind him caught his attention, and he tilted his head back to see what was going on. To his surprise, there was a human figure just out of reach from the light of the fire, and he let out a quick gasp and was up on his feet and facing the figure in one quick motion. In the split second that he was unsure what to do, the person took a step forward into the light, and he was no longer alarmed. It was Beth's negro slave, and Link saw no reason to fear a slave girl. He wondered why she had been standing in the shadows staring at him, and how long she had been there, but she did not seem as if she had come to talk.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and she merely stood with her arms down at her sides, staring up at him. Her hair was wild, sticking up everywhere in dark kinks and tiny curles. She was a little taller than Jennan, and just plain skinny.

She suddenly spoke. "They was fighting over you." Her voice was mousy, but on a sad note, as if everything in her life had always been sad.

Link squinted in confusion. "What?"

"Miss Beth and Miss Jennan," the girl said. "They was fighting over you in the creek."

Link let out a small nervous laugh. "Why do you say that?"

"I heard them," she said. "They was, I swear."

Link looked away from her to ponder on this for a moment. If what she said was true, and there seemed to be no reason for it not to be, it definitely made things interesting. He had had a pretty good idea that Jennan liked him, but he had not been sure until now. And what about Beth? Did she have a crush on him too? Link nearly shuddered at this, for he found nothing attractive about Beth, save for her looks, and he did not believe that was enough.

"What's your name?" Link asked the girl, and she suddenly took a step towards him and grabbed his left wrist in both hands. Link stayed where he was, but leaned back at the waist warily. He was not afraid of her, but the look on her face made him unsure of what exactly she had in mind.

"Ness," she said. She was awfully close to him, and was doing nothing but leaning closer. Link took her shoulders and pushed her back gently, and with the same gentleness shook his wrist free.

"Well, my name's-"

"Link," she finished. She was leaning towards him again, and he took a step backwards and turned to face the fire.

"So you came here with Beth. Are you her slave?" He felt stupid for asking the question, but it was too late to take it back now.

"Miss Beth's been my mistress forever," Ness said. She walked over and stood close beside Link. "Here's to show it." She held up her arm, and on the inside of her wrist was the mark of the brand.

Link cringed and looked away. He had the sudden urge to show all the slave owners what it was like to be owned and branded, but perhaps a time for that would come later. Now he had other things to do, and that was not one of them.

"Are yo' Master Dorobis' slave?" Ness asked.

Link thought on this for a moment. "Maybe. He says he owns me, but I wouldn't take the brand and I don't plan on staying around for long." He suddenly wondered if it was safe to tell her of his escape plan, but she was his fellow slave, and if she had a heart she would not tell.

"I ain't never heard of that before," she said. She was about to speak again, but something alarmed Link, and he held up a hand to quiet her. He stood frozen, listening, and then his heart started pounding, and he was then sure that they were somehow in danger. All was confirmed when he heard the deep rustle of weeds, and then the closeby scream of a mountain cat.

-O-

Get the gun! Well, they didn't have guns back then, lol. I just scared myself with my own story :P. Anyway, review on all this and tell me what you think. And make sure to read the next chapter to see who dies and who doesn't :shifty eyes: Mwahhaa!