She turned around, and beheld a young boy clad in a green tunic. He was standing at the base of the steps that led up to the platform that she stood upon to peer through the window. Her hand went to her mouth in surprise.
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence between the two young children. Then, one of them spoke.
"Link! You're back!" Zelda gasped, having finally found her voice. "Have you collected all of the Spiritual Stones?"
Link realized that he had been sent back in time to the point after he had already met Zelda. He sighed with relief.
"Well, Link? What have you been doing? Please tell me everything!"
And he did.
Link told Zelda that he had collected the three Stones, opened the Door of Time, unwittingly led Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm, slept for seven years, used the power of the Sages to seal Ganondorf into the Evil Realm, and had then been sent back in time by the Princess herself.
The Princess listened to his tale with intrigue, but after he was finished, she seemed to be bothered by something.
"...I'm happy that Ganondorf is stopped in the future." Zelda said. "...But look - he's standing just a few feet away! Is he still going to cause Hyrule seven years of suffering? I know that as long as we keep the Master Sword in the Pedestal of Time, Ganondorf won't be able to obtain the Triforce. But I bet he's still going to cause trouble anyway!"
Link seemed to be dissatisfied.
"Think of it this way, Link. First, there was one 'timeline'. That timeline suffered for seven years, and then you saved it, and then I sent you back in time, which created a different timeline, because this one won't end up like the other. Perhaps that first timeline has simply disappeared now that you've traveled back in time. That would mean that everything you did there was a waste."
Link seemed frustrated.
"And meanwhile, here in this timeline, Ganondorf is still alive and likely to cause trouble, so you have to stop him all over again! I'm sorry, Link. I don't know what I was thinking. I probably shouldn't have sent you back in time at all."
Link hung his head in disappointment.
"Well, I guess we'd better start trying to think something up." The Princess sighed.