Chapter One:

Arrival

"Zelda?" Link said, gazing directly into the princess's eyes.

The gardens of Hyrule Castle were alight with warm summer rays, and the wind carried the aroma of the many flowers which were lined up in perfect rows along the grassy floor and strung all around the marble columns erected across the garden.

Princess Zelda sat awkwardly on a stone bench with Link at her side. The slow winds flapped at her regal shawl, and blew her long light brown hair across her eyes. She made no effort to push the hair away, as she struggled to return Link's gaze.

"I know what will happen tomorrow," said Link.

"Yes, I know as well. You'll go away," Princess Zelda stared directly at the lilacs waving in the breeze at her feet, "why are you saying this now? We both knew the time would come."

"It's because I don't know what's going to happen," Link struck back almost immediately.

Zelda shifted a little in her seat. "But that's what's supposed to happen. We're not supposed to talk about it."

Link remained focused on Zelda's face with a stern expression. "I might never see you again…and you're going to go on today acting like nothing's going to change!"

Zelda instinctively braced herself at Link's outburst.

"I'm sorry," Link said softly.

Zelda finally turned to face Link directly, placing her hand on his leg. "No, I'm sorry. I've been caught up in everything I've been taught." Link loses his focus on her face, sulking towards the floor, but Zelda is quick to catch his cheek with her hand. "I'm not going to let the last day of our childhood end that way."

Link returned his eyes to Zelda's. "You have to tell me."

"Link..." Zelda dropped her hand to her knees, "alright."

As if he were holding back like a storm in a dark cloud, Link burst out everything that was in his mind: "Why haven't I been told of anything that's going to happen? Why is there no ceremony or anything for this? I'm supposed to be some great hero, but tomorrow everyone is just going to wake up and go about their daily lives as if I wasn't even born. Please, you have to tell me; why is this journey such a secret?"

Zelda kept calm throughout the barrage of questions, breathing deeply before giving her response. "It's because of what you might become."

Link's face twists in confusion. "What I could become? What does that mean?"

"You are not the first one that has been given the mark on your hand," Zelda explained, "I don't know the full history of our land, Link, but from what I have been taught, you are not the first boy named Link to have a piece of the Triforce on the back of his hand, nor am I the first girl named Zelda to be named Princess of Hyrule."

Link avoided asking any more questions, remaining focused on Zelda, silently pleading for more information. But Zelda could not go on. She returned to stare at the flowers, sighing deeply.

"I cannot tell you what this means for you. But please Link; know that you have an important journey ahead of you and by knowing what that journey might take from you…" Zelda stands up firmly, "you might abandon it."

Link had lost focus on the princess, staring blankly into space, contemplating her words.

As the two childhood friends remained lost in thought in the peaceful garden, a nearby door flung open with a loud bang. The Chancellor rushed out of the dark hallway and into the garden, looking around momentarily before spotting the two children. "Ah, there you are princess! You are late for your father's audience. It does not shine a good light on our kingdom when our visitors are treated to an absent princess, and besides that, Impa is about to kill me. Come now!"

The Chancellor quickly came to the princess's side, kneeling and holding out one of his skinny hands for her to take.

Zelda turned to look at Link, who was still lost in thought. "Link…I will see you later," she said with a solemn face.

Link shifted to look at her. "Zelda, I'm not going to abandon you."

The Chancellor hastily raised his head to glare at Link after hearing his words. He turned to the princess with a crookedly raised eyebrow. "Princess, what, if I may ask, were you talking about with this boy?"

Zelda's eyes widened. "Nothing, nothing at all Chancellor. Now, I thought you said I was late?"

The Chancellor stood up, retaining his puzzled expression. "Of course my dear; tell your little friend goodbye, and come quickly." The Chancellor pulled at the princess's hand, forcing her to walk towards the garden door.

Zelda kept looking back at Link, and Link continued to stare back at Zelda until she faded away in the shadows of the door.

A chill ran down Link's spine. Suddenly he made a dash for the open door, trampling over flowers as he speedily cut through the garden. Reaching the door, Link burst through, but to his dismay, there was nothing on the other side, just complete darkness.

Link's feet give way, and he begins falling into a pitch black abyss void of life. Falling, falling, falling, the darkness remains eternal as Link falls far, far away from his dream.

"Zelda!" Link springs up from a bed, sweating profusely and shivering from the chills running down his entire body. The world spins around him as his eyes attempt to adjust to the bright surroundings. The whirling white and tan streaks begin to collect and form a smooth white wall with a wooden frame along its edge.

Link twitches his head around the room as his eyes begin to put the smeared room back into place. He rubs his eyes with his knuckles, finally restoring his sight.

The room is small, but it is filled with an assortment of lively items. Across the room is an iron stove, enclosed between two large wooden columns with cupboards cut into their robust mass. A small wooden table adorned with a glass pot holding two sunflowers and accompanied by two lonely chairs sits quietly next to the stove, cramped into a corner, but illuminated in the light of two windows draped with detailed floral patterns. A thick wooden door with a colorful glass pattern embedded in the center splits the wall behind the table.

Link continues to survey the room, rustling in the soft sheets of his simple bed. He noticed that there were only two beds, both far across from the quaint dining set up. Both beds were simple in design, with basic wooden frames that were absent of any decoration. Instead the beds were surrounded by a series of bookshelves completely filled with colorful tomes. What little space that remained in the center of the room was covered by a large burgundy rug that seemed hand-made.

Link's head had cleared by the time he finished inspecting the room. It was so quiet and lonely, he felt as though he was lost from the world he knew, passed on to the next life.

Before standing up he realizes that his tunic is nowhere in sight. Instead he is clothed in a pale green shirt with a wide open neck, and what seemed to be his own white pants.

Link swings his legs out off of the bed and strains to raise himself to his feet. The light in the room is so bright that he can't avoid stumbling as he regains his balance in the world.

If this place truly was the realm of the goddesses, he would find out as soon as he went out that door.

Slightly woozy, Link waddles his way to the door. The door seems so heavy, yet the knob is but a small piece of wood. Link places his hand on the knob. He takes a deep breath and cautiously opens the door.

Link is greeted by a rush of warm air, smelling of fruit and seawater. The light is even brighter outside as Link is forced to shield his eyes from the intense rays. Link slowly takes a few steps out of the room, letting the light fade behind his hand and the pain dissipate.

The light eventually dies down in Link's eyes and he is presented with a scene of unimaginable awe. From high above on a hillside, a sparkling blue ocean shines below in the distance under the sunlight. From the ocean, there is land; a beautiful landscape covered in the greenest plants he had ever seen; more colorful even than his own tunic.

The scene is right out of one of the Princess's many fairy tales, a tropical paradise so beautiful that it showed itself to the people of Hyrule only in books. Link, overcome with awe, slowly begins to shuffle away from the door.

Link notices the building he had just emerged from. It was a small house, in fact it was a really small house; it was only the one room he had been inside just a moment ago. Still, the house radiates a lot of tender care with its colorful tropical gardens and simple picket fence.

The surrounding houses seem just as loving. There are only a handful of them, but they all are small, simple, and decorated with unique tropical items.

As Link walks through the village, he begins to feel a sense of dread. Surely, he had passed on to the next world. This place is just too perfect to be real.

Link looks around. Apart from the smooth sound of the island wind and the occasional chirping of the birds or seagulls, the town is completely silent.

Link cups his hands around his mouth, "anybody there?"

He is answered only with a gust of wind that rustles the leaves of the nearby trees.

Taking a deep breath, Link continues his search through the village. He starts to walk into each of the nearby houses. To his surprise, each one had a vastly different interior than the others. One house was set up like a shop, with a large rack that had an assortment of items displayed on it. Another had a very awkward platform on which certain parts of it moved in different directions and carried along various objects in what seemed like a circuit. Certainly, these places were not normal houses, but regardless, Link could not find a soul inside any of them.

Link disappointedly trudges out from one last house that had nothing more than a simple bed inside. He sits down, defeated, and lets out a deep sigh. From down below on the beaches, Link spies the waves crashing along the shoreline. Perhaps he was alive, and only shipwrecked on this island. There was no way to find out. He could either sit here alone, and gaze out at sea for the first sign of outside life, or continue to explore his surroundings and pray that someone, anyone would find him.

Both options were doubtful. It would be easiest to take a leap from the hill. Link sighs again. Just before he is about to fall back to lay on the grass, Link catches something floating in from sea, but from so far away the unknown object is impossible to identify.

What could it be? Maybe it was from the Saint Hylia?

Link jumps to his feet and runs towards the edge of the hill. He could still see the object floating inland. Link runs along the edge of the hill, eventually finding a slope safe enough to travel down, his blonde hair waving wildly in the wind as he races down the hill towards the beach.

Arriving at the sandy shoreline of the island, Link loses his balance in the soft sand, tumbling forward and down to the edge of the water. He immediately recovers, ignoring the wet sand smeared all over his shirt.

Frantically, Link peers at the nearby water along the coastline until finally spotting the object as it washes to a stop a distance down the shore. Link's face begins to light up with hope, but it fades away as he gets closer to the object, discovering what it actually is.

"A palm leaf," Link sighs. Picking it up in his hands he angrily tosses it back out into the sea with a sharp cry.

The cry echoes against the concaved walls of rock behind him, bouncing back only to be swallowed by the sound of crashing waves.

Link falls to his knees, sinking into the wet sand. The Captain; he had lied to him. This was the end of his journey. The past four years were all for nothing, and he would never know the kind of happiness he once knew inside the walls of Hyrule Castle.

Behind the continuous crashing of waves, Link hears something faint ring against the walls of the cliff. The sound grows louder as the waves recede. It appeared to be coming from further along the beach. Link slowly stands and walks towards a collection of rocks a short distance away.

Reaching the rocks, Link carefully steps around some of the small sharp rocks and prickly urchins hidden between the foamy seawater. The sound had grown louder, and began to ring in a peaceful harmonic tone.

Peering around the rocks, Link discovers a small cove, enclosed by rocks on all sides. There is a large rock in the center of them all, on top of which is a sight that stuns Link, freezing him in place.

There on the rock, is a girl, singing with a voice that had quieted the waves, calmed the winds, and lured the birds from their exclusive heights. She is clothed in a long light blue dress embroidered with a yellow and blue, wave-like pattern around the edges. Around her waist is a magenta ribbon, tied into a belt and left dangling at the side. Her bright red hair shines a radiant orange in the tropical sunlight along with the red petals of the hibiscus flower tied into her hair.

Link tries to move towards the girl, but he loses his senses to the blissful sound of her voice as she sings: "Over land, over sea, rings out the song of wind. In our lives, and our hearts, it remains. Eternal and free, my heart will fly with marvelous wings; so please, if you believe, come now, fly with me."

The last note of her song resonates within the cove, carrying the heart-warming melody up to the sky. The girl opens her peaceful amber eyes. "Oh!" she squeaks while lightly pressing her hand to her lips.

Link shakes his head to gather his senses, "Oh, I'm sorry."

The girl quickly hops up from her rock, taking Link by surprise. She runs up close to Link and inspects him. "Well, you seem to be just fine. That's great Link!"

Link's drops his mouth open and grabs the girl by her shoulders holding her away to examine her face. "What? Who are you? How do you know my name?"

The girl remains calm, cupping her hands over her mouth to try to keep from giggling.

"No, please don't laugh. I'm completely lost here. Tell me what's going on!" Link insists.

The girl stops her fit of laughter. She takes Link's hands from her shoulders and puts them at his side. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

Remember? Remember what? The storm? How could she know? "Well…of course I do, there was a terrible storm, I thought I was going to die, but then Captain, he…" Link looks away from the girl to think, "I don't remember what happened after that…But then I woke up in a strange house in a village with no people, and…and then I found you here."

The girl loses her smile. "Link, I don't think you're ready to get up…"

Link shouts at the girl, "why do you know my name? You still haven't told me!"

The girl takes a step back, cautiously watching Link with her now worried eyes.

Link sinks to his knees. "I'm sorry. Just please tell me if this is real; if you are real."

The girl kneels down in front of Link and stretches her arms out to embrace him. "Something terrible has happened to you, but you're going to be alright now."

At the touch of her embrace, Link felt all of his anxiety evaporate. For the first time in over four years, Link remembered what it felt like when someone took all his worries away. Moving his arms around the girl's waist to return her embrace, and sinking his tearful face into her shoulder, Link knew that everything was going to be all right.