Sheik was sitting up on the roof of the castle, leaning against his sword, absolutely motionless. He had been since before the sun had risen, and still was, when it was well past noon.

Link had no idea how to get up to him.

The Duke and the Captain were fun, but they got really mean sometimes when he said he didn't want to be a soldier or conqueror—not that he could say that word, but they got the idea. And the spirits were fun, too, but he wanted to see Sheik and he didn't know how to get up there and Sheik was obviously not coming down.

So Link had to find a way. And he would!

He'd already tried climbing the outside of the building, but the spirits had threatened to tell the Captain—because they weren't disturbing Sheik for some stupid reason, and the Captain was kind of terrifying if he was angry. He could try jumping from the pillars, but his legs were too small and the spirits didn't want him high up so they'd just go to the Captain if he tried.

And the Duke was inside, which was a problem, because Link had just gotten away from him.

But he knew there was a staircase somewhere that led to the roof because he remembered Sheik taking him up there once to see the sunrise, when he was half asleep. He couldn't remember where it was, but he remembered that there was one. The spirits knew, he was sure of it.

"Will you help me? Please? I'll tell him it's my fault if he gets mad." Link asked, turning to look at where the spirits were probably lingering, under a scratchy bush near the entrance to the castle. He was getting better and actually finding their locations without having to use his 'sixth sense', as Sheik called it. He didn't know what that meant, but he could see where they were sometimes, if they weren't being mean.

And he clearly saw them leave, zipping away without even responding.

"W—wait! I—I'm going in anyway!" And, they were gone.

Link stared after them, lips twisting into a pout—and then something bumped his shoulder, and he turned to see a yellow Poe waiting for him, flames splashed in brilliant arcs around it.

He let out a squeal and hugged it without thinking, throwing wave after wave of thanks at it.

And then remembered what Sheik had said about talking.

"Thank you, thank you thank you!"

It moved, shifting in his arms, and something cold and sharp pressed lightly against the back of his neck. He let go immediately, blushing as his eyes fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry. I forgot to ask again."

The Poe touched the top of his head with the metal, and when Link looked up, grinning, relieved at the silent 'it's okay', began to float towards the castle's entryway.

He bounced after it, beaming.

It took him through a very long and complex maze of staircases, tunnels, and rooms, waiting for him every time it got too far ahead.

The further they went, the more complete the rooms looked—some still had furniture, though it was old and decaying, and sometimes bodies slept atop the beds or rested at the desks.

Sheik had said that there was a big war, and that the Duke had refused to surrender when the bad guys had laid siege to the castle—he'd destroyed every entrance to the castle except for secret ones, and told his people to leave through them.

None of them had.

Then there had been a lot of explosions and fire, and the Duke had cut his throne room off from the rest of the castle, forcing his people to either leave or die, and fought until the enemy commander had killed him with only his two eldest sons at his side—those who were smart enough to figure out what he'd been planning.

It warmed Link's heart, to see so many of the Duke's people still there, stirring as they ran past them. He whispered apologies for waking them, and most of them settled back down.

Not all of them had stayed, and that was good, too—Sheik had taken him to Clock Town once, and there had been a man with eyes as red as Sheik's there. Sheik hadn't let him talk to him, but it had been cool to see, even if the man hadn't been like Sheik.

And then they burst out of the castle, and the yellow Poe bounced off of Link's head before disappearing. He hissed a thank you after it, and then grinned.

Sheik still hadn't moved. His head was bowed, legs crossed, spine straight, hands at his sides. The sword was unsheathed, and all of the lanterns were unlit, which meant Sheik was probably adding more to them.

Link decided against yelling 'boo!', and against trying to wake Sheik up. He'd get in trouble and Sheik might ground him again, which was never fun. Instead he crawled into Sheik's lap, being very careful to not disturb him, and nestled against him, looking out over Ikana like Sheik was. Or would be, if his eyes weren't closed.

He pushed his head under Sheik's chin, and grinned—he'd made it! He'd thought Sheik would wake up by the time he made it to the roof, because now the sun was setting which meant it had been a long time that he'd been following the Poe, but that was okay.

Sheik suddenly drew in a deep breath, and an arm slid around Link's stomach, and he looked up, grinning.

Red orbs blinked down at him, and Sheik sighed.

"I'm working, Link."

"I think you were sleeping."

"It's hard work."

Link giggled—Sheik hadn't even tried to deny it.

"Did you have any good dreams?"

Sheik let out a hum, shoulders shifting as he leaned forward, away from his sword.

"Did you cut yourself?" Link asked.

"The sword is not meant for cutting."

"Yes it is." He protested. And Sheik's eyes were on him again, sudden and quick and sharp. Which meant Link had said something that was going to get him in big trouble.

"What makes you say that?"

"Nothing." He said it too quickly—not that Sheik wouldn't have known he was lying anyway—and looked down nervously.

There was a moment of silence, and then Sheik's hand pressed against his chin, forcing him to look up again.

"What did I tell you about lying to me, Link?"

His eyes went wide and round and—

"I'm not—"

But he stopped himself, face paling because he hadn't been lying—or, he hadn't been trying to lie, but—

"I—I touched it and the Captain yelled at me an—"

"Did you cut yourself on it?"

Sheik's head jerked back, startled, when Link's hand darted up, palm spread to show the silvery cut on his skin.

It had been a while ago, and the Captain had been furious because Sheik had left Link with his sword when he went to talk to the Duke about 'adult things' and Link had been pouting—not that he would admit that to Sheik—and he'd touched it mostly because the spirits told him it was a good idea, and the Captain had absolutely lost it.

So Link hadn't ever touched the sword since. But the cut hadn't hurt very much, if at all, and it had healed very quickly.

"Did it bleed?"

Link nodded, confused by the question. Of course a cut would bleed.

Well, not for the dead. Maybe Sheik really had been working hard.

Sheik stared at him for a moment, fingers tightening, and then released him. He shook Link off of his lap, and Link bit his lip because he was so in trouble—

And then Sheik's hand rested on his hand, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Have you eaten today?"

"…I don't know. No?"

Sheik sighed, and Link started pouting again because even if he knew he wasn't in trouble any more, Sheik always treated him like a kid when he made that sound. He swung his sword onto his back with his free hand, regarding him critically.

"Neither have I."

He reached out and caught Sheik's hand, wrapped his arms around the man's arm and clung to him as they trudged off of the roof.

"…You'll take an offering to the well, after you eat."

"Yes, Sheik."

It wasn't really a punishment, because Link often went down there—he just wasn't allowed down there without Sheik. And he liked the spirits down there, and the dead too. It was just extra work, because he'd had to do it before and dropped the offering and had to start all over three times. Carrying plates while climbing a ladder was hard.

"And, Link?"

"Yeah?"

"If you ever cut yourself on it again, I expect you to tell me first thing." His voice was cold as steel.

"Yes, Sheik."