chapter 3... exciting...ick...

disclaimer: i dont own zelda

Chapter Three

Friendly Greetings

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die." was all Araxia could think of. The dark elf still had his hand cupped around her mouth, trying to prevent her from screaming. She wanted to so bad but she was afraid of what the results would be. The dark elf drug her over to the main room and pushed her over to the couch, the only noise that she could hear was the sound of their feet hitting the floor and loud snoring of Kaen and Owyn.

"Where is your leader?" the dark elf asked, his voice was peculiar. It didn't sound like a normal dark elf's voice, it wasn't a loud and rough but instead more softer and smooth sounding. "I said where is your leader?" he asked again, his maroon hood was still pulled over his head. Araxia took another look at him, something was amiss she knew it. "Answer my question!" he said in a harsh whisper. He grabbed Araxia's arm making her look at him.

"I...I don't know." Araxia said, which was the truth, Nabooru didn't sleep in the vicinity where Zelda, slept but instead over by where the Gerudo women were and no one had showed her where it earlier on that evening.

The dark elf looked at her, or at least that's what it looked like, his hooded face was angled directly towards her. It was making her uncomfortable. She shifted her hands from her sides to on her lap, she didn't know what this person wanted but it was terrifying. "Who are you?" she said finally mustering up the courage to ask, she had never met a dark elf in person and she was quite curious on to what he was planning on doing, from her knowledge of the creatures she thought he would have already slaughtered her or captured her without questioning.

"It doesn't matter." he said stiffly. Araxia thought she saw a glimpse of pale skin underneath the hood, maybe it was the moonlight fooling her, but she couldn't sworn she saw a light piece of flesh quickly flash under his hood, dark elves normally had dark skin, this didn't make any sense at all.

Araxia's interest in the man was growing more intense by the minute. He was very peculiar, no doubt about that. The mysterious hooded figure moved around the fortress opening up door after door as he looked for Nabooru. Araxia noticed that he walked with a limp.

"You weren't lying about not knowing where she was did you?" he said, his voice was growing kinder. He walked over to the tan couch where Araxia sat as he took the seat next to her. "Do you have anything to drink? I'm assuming I will have to wait until morning to meet this Nabooru woman." he said still not removing his hood.

Araxia had jumped when he sat down next to her, it was unexpected for him to get so close to her. She stammered when she next spoke, she was growing nervous, any moment now he would try to kill her. "I-I-s'pose, we've got water and goat milk, it'll be warm though." she said as she wrung her hands together, she noticed that they were getting clammy.

"Milk would be fine." he said angling his face towards Araxia's again. She didn't like when he did that, it made her very skittish.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Araxia said as she got up to get the milk, she grabbed a jug of the liquid from one of the cupboards and poured it into a dusty old mug, most of the dining in the house was dusty, they must have not gotten visitors often, "what happend to your leg?" Araxia walked back over to the couch, as she handed the figure his mug and awaited for him to answer her.

The man drew in his breath and then took a long pause before saying anything to her. Araxia was beginning to think he wasn't going to tell her, but then he spoke. "I got shot by a dark elf with an arrow, went right through my leg." he said drawing in another deep breath. Araxia thought he would go into more detail but when he didn't she decided it was up to her to carry on the conversation.

"You're not one of them are you?" she said bluntly. From all the evidence she had gathered so far she thought it was a safe question to ask. This man had light skin, he didn't try to kill her, his voice had a different tone, and he had been shot by a dark elf. But she wasn't entirely sure since he had to sneak into the fortress and was looking around for Nabooru and his clothing was exactly the same as the ones the dark elf guards wore.

"Fortunately I am not." he said, Araxia noticed that his hands were shaking a bit, a bit of milk slasphed out of the mug and hit the floor when he answered this. He noticed this and quickly took a sip from the mug to try and distract Araxia's attention from his earlier action.

"You were a prisoner weren't you? Was it was bad as it sounds?" Araxia said wanting to know more about what had happend to make this person so nervous. She didn't care if it was rude she just wanted some answers. The more they spoke the more interested in him she became.

"It was worse then the stories, can you imagine not seeing the sun for days? Weeks maybe? Perhaps months?." the hooded figure faced himself toward the girl again.

"Yes, I can." she said feeling offended that he thought she had not suffered also.

"Oh, I am quite sure." he said sarcastically. This hurt Araxia's feelings. However much he had suffered, it still didn't give him the right to treat her like that. She was about to make a rude remark but decided against it, she still wanted to know more about this man's story. She felt as if she had barely scratched the surface with him and she didn't want to make him angry quite yet. Neither person knew what to say after the man's sarcastic remark so they both just sat in silence. Araxia was growing impatient, she felt as if this person should explain himself more, after all it was very rude of him coming in and scaring the wits out of her.

"Be patient," she reminded herself, "he needs some time, remember he just got out of the prison probably, remember you weren't to keen to talk after you were out of the Deku Tree?" the little voice in her head asked...she knew it was right but she was so impatient! The two people on the couch were still in silence, the only noises were again, the snoring, and the occassional slurp the mysterious figure made when he drank his milk. When he finallly downed the mug he spoke again.

"Is there a girl around your age here with dark brown hair?" the figure asked, making Araxia jump, she hadn't expected him to talk.

"No, why do you ask?" she asked trying to not show how eager she was.

She didn't get an answer from him because right after she asked the question she saw Raen pop out of his bedroom door, his light brown hair was sticking up in all angles and his eyes were outlined in red from tiredness. He stepped out from his bedroom and then into the hallway, he smiled at Araxia, he looked goofy. His remained happy until he saw the maroon figure sitting on the couch. "What is this? A dark elf in the fortress! Araxia! You couldn't yelled for help, I'm sorry I should've woken up sooner. Owyn!" Raen screamed, the goofy look on his face had disappeared.

"No wait you don't understand...he's not..." Araxia's voice was silenced by Raen who had been screaming for Owyn to wake up. When Owyn appeared he had a large silver sword in his right hand, he looked angry like his brother. "Stop you don't understand its not what you think." Araxia pleaded, the man on the couch was shifting nervously towards Araxia looking for some sort of protection, his hands were extremely shaky.

"Don't get any closer to her." Owyn said his voice booming throughout the fortress. He walked over to the where the very surprised Araxia sat, and where the very nervous hooded man sat. "Stand up!" Owyn ordered the man. When the hooded figure did stand up so did Araxia.

"Owyn stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Araxia yelled as she hit the tall man beside her. It didn't even phase Owyn because he was wearing his armor, he always wore it to bed. 'In case of a crisis.' Owyn would say.

"You're lucky I don't slit your throat right now." Owyn snarled at the hooded figure. Owyn now had the mysterious man by the back of the neck to ensure that he didn't go anywhere. "As a matter of fact, why shouldn't I?" Owyn said as he got a look of happiness in his dark blue eyes. "You've done nothing but cause misery to Hyrule, you deserve to die." Owyn said as he held the sharp blade dangerously close to the man's throat. Raen laughed behind his brother.

"Because he is not a dark elf!" Araxia screamed as she yanked off the mysterious man's hood. All four of them gasped. Araxia now understood why he had kept his face hidden, he wasn't ugly but he didn't look quite healthy. His saaphire blue eyes looked hollow and had dark black circles underneath them, his honey-blonde hair was greasy and matted and was sticking to the man's face, well he wasn't actually a man but instead of a young adult just like the other two males in the room. His face looked horrible, his skin was papery white and had no color in the cheeks, he looked almost transparent, it was unnatural. The young adult hung his head down in shame.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves." Araxia screamed at Raen and Owyn who were also hanging their heads down in shame, they felt horrible for what they had done to the poor guy. They realized that he wasn't a threat but instead a victim and had endured enough suffering to last a lifeime, it definately showed in his face. "It's not you're fault." Araxia said softly as she looked up at the sad boy, he was refusing to look up and meet her amythest eyes.

After Owyn and Raen had said their apologies and everyone had calmed down after the shock from the mistruted figure of the boy, he started to warm up a bit. He grew a bit more talkative and told them about how he had escaped with the help of a dark elf woman named Beothric and how he had been imprisoned for ten years. The three Hylian's sat around listening to him, nobody spoke, they showed him the utmost respect as they listened and drank in everyword he said. After he had finished telling the three after his journey the sun was peering up over the horizon. It was almost sunrise.

Owyn cleared his throat and sat up from the floor. "Hey kid, you can stay here for tonight, sleep in my room, I'll take the couch. We'll talk to Nabooru in the morning."

Araxia was surprised by Owyn's act of kindness, but decided not to say anything to ruin the moment, her and Raen just shared a look of glee together.

"Oh and by the way, my name is not kid. It's Link." the young adult said before he turned in the direction of Owyn's room and shut the door.

r&r I need feedback people!!!