"There!" Sheik looked up sharply at the cry—a little louder than they had been previously—but it was only Link rocking back on his heels and jerking his hands up above his head so far he fell over. He had planted the last flower Zelda had given him. Zelda scrambled over, clapping her hands in excitement.

"All done! Thank you, Link!"

Link lifted his head and looked towards Sheik. When he saw Sheik was already looking at him he grinned, and Sheik tensed. It may have been a bad idea to show Link the graves hidden beneath the Princess's courtyard—the Princess didn't know and he'd made Link promise not to say a word, but Link was horrible at keeping secrets from her.

But Link didn't open his mouth and ask if the dead liked the flowers, thank the Three. Instead the boy just smiled, knowing and bright, and waited until Sheik acknowledged him before turning back to the Princess.

But, yes, the skeletons buried beneath the earth did like the flowers. Loved that the children were caring for the ground above their graves and bringing life to their resting place.

Sheik suspected the boy knew that already, though.

There was a cry from the entrance to the courtyard, and a red-haired boy marched in. An older knight followed him, carrying a pair of practice blades and shields.

Sheik's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move from where he sat beneath one of the Princess's slender little trees. A nobleman's son, he guessed. The boy perked up when he saw Zelda, and puffed his chest out as he sauntered forwards.

"Here's good, Auru!"

"Of course, Lord Groose."

Zelda's head snapped up so quickly Sheik winced, but she was a little ball of rage in moments.

"Don't step on the flowers! Get away from them!"

Link just watched while she bullied the red-haired boy out of her flowerbeds. She forced him to stand in the center of the courtyard, where it was just grass. Obviously not what the boy had been expecting—he looked a little lost at her behavior.

"Your father said I had to come practice in the courtyard!"

"I don't care! Just don't step on the flowers! Link and I just finished planting them!"

"What are you doing?" Link interrupted, staring curiously at the knight. The nobleman's son, Groose, puffed up at the attention. Though he glanced down at his feet, and made sure he was well away from the flowers.

"Auru's teaching me to use a sword! I'm going to be a knight when I get older. Auru's here to help me practice. He says I'm a natural."

The Princess rolled her eyes at that, and Sheik tugged his cowl up, to hide his smile.

"The Captain only lets me use wooden ones too. He says I might hurt myself if I use a real one." Link said, clearly seeing the practice swords Auru held.

He really needed to teach the boy how to talk to others. The other boy took it as an insult, and puffed himself up again.

"What? You think you could beat me in a fight?"

"Well, probably. Everybody says the Captain is the best, and he wouldn't let anyone else teach me." That was a blatant lie, but Link had learned very quickly to not mention Sheik unless he was speaking to Zelda.

But fucking Three, Sheik had a hard time not laughing at Link's words. Not said out of pride, of course, and it was true that Link could beat the other boy, but it sounded so cocky.

"Then let's fight! You can use my extra." The child couldn't be too much of an asshole, Sheik decided. Any other noble brat would have brought status into it. This one looked offended, but excited.

"Lord Groose—"

"Okay!" Before the knight could think of a way to tell the boys no the noble brat had grabbed the practice swords from him and handed one to Link.

Zelda looked on curiously, only warning the boys to stay off her flowers. The knight looked defeated, helpless, but he had the children stand apart from each other.

Link was bouncing on his heels excitedly, while the noble brat held himself stiffly.

Sheik realized a little late that this was a bad idea. The knight gave them a command to begin, and before the red-haired boy could even blink Link was lunging forward.

"Hiyaaaah!" Link roared with all the ferocity he could muster, and the practice blade he held slammed into the dirt where the other boy had been standing hard. The other boy had fallen onto his back and barely managed to scoot out of the way. Link drew his sword up again, preparing to swing again—and Sheik caught the wooden blade in his hand, sighing.

The knight looked like he was going to skewer Link, and the other boy looked like he was about to burst into tears. The Princess was staring with wide, round eyes.

"What's wrong?" Link sounded puzzled, a little worried.

"Who are you sparring with?"

"…Him?"

"What is he?"

Link continued to stare at him in confusion, and the spirits that followed the boy so religiously started to laugh.

"What is the difference between him and the Captain?" Sheik tried again.

"The Captain's dea—Oh!" Link cut himself off with a gasp of realization.

"You can't fight the living like you do the dead, Link. They get hurt. They can bleed."

"Then how—?"

"Don't. They can't teach you anything the dead can't, anyway." Sheik added, letting go of the wooden sword.

The red-head looked about ready to piss himself, Sheik noted with no small degree of amusement. But he accepted Link's hand and stood up readily, though he was shaking a little.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for asking me to practice with you, though." Sheik didn't think Link knew what he was apologizing for, but the boy sounded sincere enough. The red-head accepted the practice sword and gave a little nod, but didn't say a word.

Sheik stepped away and gathered up his sword as Link followed, waving goodbye to Zelda as they left.

Link grabbed onto the bandages wound around Sheik's wrist as they walked, pressing as close as he could.

"Do I have to give up training?" The boy asked, hesitantly, and Sheik looked down at him in surprise.

"Why would you do that?"

"The Captain's not here. And you're busy."

"No. But there are dead all over Hyrule that are much better teachers than he is."

Link sucked in a sharp breath, eyes huge, but didn't let the breath out or speak for a long moment.

"There are a lot more dead here than there are in Ikana, Link. And you need to learn to use your blade. That's something the living cannot teach you."

The boy brightened up considerably at that.

"Will you help me, though?"

Sheik pressed a hand to Link's head, tugged gently as his hair.

"Of course."