2nd Draft

Morning came swiftly, carrying sunbeams through the window. Link woke up before the princess-in-disguise so he quietly stowed his blanket and left to fetch water. He went ahead and ran two buckets to the spring, putting both on a stick to carry them back up the ladder when they were filled. As he set them on the table Sheik began to stir.

"Good morning Sheik," Link said grabbing an apple and rubbing it on his shirt. Sheik rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up, hair in a curly mess around her face. She looked much less like a princess this way.

"Good morning," she said stretching. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal your bed, I was going to stay up and wait for you, but I must have passed out."

Link just smiled. "It's fine, my home is your home."

After stretching sufficiently Sheik got up and used a bucket to wash her face. Link stepped out onto the porch when it occurred to him she would likely want to change out of the clothes she'd slept in. When she finally stepped out onto the porch with him she was wearing long royal blue pants and a multicolored shirt. The style definitely wasn't Hylian so it must be Sheikah, he mused.

"Well, should we wake up Impa?" Sheik asked after a moment. She was doing her best not to bring up Link's outburst last night, and he appreciated the gesture. Their whole journey she had yet to bring up a single outburst of his.

"Looks like she beat us to it." He pointed towards the hill. Impa was strolling towards them, fully dressed and looking wide awake. She carried the same mysterious package she'd had back in Kakorika village as well as her two weapons and a second package.

"Are you two ready to start the day?" she called up as she approached. Link and Sheik looked at each other then nodded.

Impa had their whole day already planned, which was fine by Link. He was not in the mood to answer one hundred questions from the other Kokiri. The Kokiri seemed to be avoiding the trio with all but their eyes. Also Link was not enthusiastic about having to face Saria again.

Sheik was sent to Saria, Impa didn't tell her what to do there but Sheik seemed to already know. Link would have asked but Impa seemed more concerned with his task. Impa led him out of the village and into the Lost Woods. For someone not of the village she seemed to know where she was going. She appeared to be leading Link to the Kokiri's Sacred Meadow. More than halfway there she stopped and indicated a spring.

"There is a submerged tunnel that allows the Zora to reach the Lost Woods without having to abandon the safety of their realm." Then she gestured to the north, "And there is a subterranean tunnel that way allowing your Goron brothers to reach the Lost Woods safely."

"How do you know this?" Link asked incredulously. "I doubt even the Know-It-All brothers knew that."

As usual Impa did not deem the question worthy of an answer. "This is where we will train." With that she set both packages on the ground and leaned down to unwrap them. Intrigued Link stepped forward to get a better look. As Link had suspected both packages were swords. One was unlike any he had ever seen. It was likely long as Link was tall and abnormally wide from one edge to the other. Despite the width and length the blade was not thick. But most bizarre of all was the color. The blade was a rich, light purple color that gave way to a dark green hilt. In the center of the blade were two black and green roses, one of which was inverted. Link could not even guess what sort of metal made it was composed of.

The second blade was shorter and looked like a simple longsword a soldier would carry. Both were too big for Link.

Impa grabbed the long sword by the handle and stood up. "The other is for you."

"I already have a sword," Link said putting his hands on his hips.

"The foes we will be facing will be both monsters and men, trained in the art of combat and savagery. Slingshots and daggers will not keep you alive any longer."

Link let out a "humph" to show his contempt then took off his sheath, sword, and shield. Picking up the purple blade Link was surprised by how light it was. Light as a simple deku stick.

"That is the Great Fairy Sword, named Din's Wrath. It is a magical blade, never dulling, never rusting, and its most valuable trait is that it halves the force of whatever strikes it," Impa explained.

"Halves the force?" Link asked. Instead of explaining Impa lunged forward bringing the longsword up over her head then swinging down swiftly. Saved by his quick reflexes Link awkwardly maneuvered the long blade to protect himself and braced for the impact. A blow that should have jarred him, probably knocked a normal sword away and then left him to be cut in half, did little more than push Link back.

"Can we use our words instead of violence to explain things?" Link asked shaking out his arms. The hilt had still vibrated roughly in his grip.

Impa smirked and took a step back. She dropped her claymore and short knife then took a fighting stance a few feet from Link.

"I will teach you true swordsmanship, and true combat," she promised. "There will be no more wild hacking and reckless swings. You will be an artist painting a picture, not a hooligan cutting stalks of grass."

"Forgive me for hacking through Ghoma like a hooligan."

"You can cling to your pride and watch Hyrule burn!" Impa snapped. "Or you can improve your limitations."

Link had no comment.

"Good, now we'll start with your stance."

They trained for eight hours, stopping only a few times for water and food. They had started with Link's stance, having to change it to accommodate the unique weapon. From there Impa worked him through movement drills which had started easy but picked up in intensity and difficulty as they went on. It was past noon before Link was even asked to swing his blade offensively. To Link's demise, Impa's longsword's edge had been dulled. When the two began sparring she had no qualms with striking him vehemently. Link had not complained once, berating himself for each mistake he made. When evening finally came Impa walked back while Link limped.

The Sheikah warrior had not spoken a word that did not directly pertain to combat and swordplay the entire day.

"Who taught you how to fight?" Link asked. They had a half hour walk back to the village and Link needed a distraction from his bruises and aching arms. He was carrying the Kokiri sword and shield in his arms now, with Din's Wrath in a half sheath diagonally across his back.

"All Sheikah learn how to fight at your age," she answered. "An extreme level of skill is mandatory to truly achieve manhood or womanhood in our culture. I learned from my parents and they learned from theirs."

"How do you compare against other Sheikah?" He was surprised the stoic warrior had bothered to answer the first question. He wondered if he could keep her talking.

Impa said nothing for a moment. Then, "My brother was the greatest swordsman the Sheikah had ever witnessed. People believed he was the reincarnation of the Fierce Deity. He left Hyrule though, when our father cemented peace with the Hylians and other races. After he left I 'was' undefeated."

"Was?"

Impa turned so that Link could clearly see the wound on her face that was fast becoming a scar. Link had little doubt the scar would make the already fierce woman terrifying. Not in the hideous way though he thought.

"Ganondorf bested me in the throne room." She said it evenly but Link was sure there was anger there.

"If you had magic I'm sure you could've beat him," Link offered.

Impa said nothing, just kept walking.

"Where did he come from? Ganondorf. Zelda told me he comes from the desert, from the Gerudo people. Are all of them like him?"

"When he arrived at the Citadel he was the leader of a simple band of Gerudo mercenaries. Which was peculiar because Hyrule was at war with the Gerudo at the time. The King's men were making no progress in the war, failing to claim victory in even a single battle. Ganondorf offered his services for free until he and his men brought results. Of course the king, who had nothing to lose in such a deal, gave the mercenaries his blessing. Not only were they victorious in every battle but Ganondorf and his men were so vicious they killed every Gerudo male of age, quelling any future uprising for decades. While he didn't fully agree with the man's ferocity, the king could not question the dark man's results. He made him general of his armies that year. As far as his childhood or where he came from before then, I know nothing."

"Why'd he offer to kill his own people? And for free?" Link asked. He knew evil existed in the world, but was anybody born THAT evil?

"Zelda believed he started the war on the Gerudo side, then turned on them to gain the King's favor. It was all his plan."

"When did she come up with that?"

Impa smirked. "When she was eight, by which time the war was long over and Ganondorf was settling into his position as General. That was when I appointed myself as her bodyguard. That sort of wisdom in a child is unheard of."

"Do you think she was right?"

The warrior nodded. "I do, especially in light of recent events."

"Zelda told me she tried to warn her father but the king wouldn't listen."

"That is right. Ganondorf is not a fool, he played the part of the most loyal servant well. He asked for no rewards, no glories, only requested that he be allowed to continue serving. It is difficult to call into question the motives of such a man." Impa let out a short sigh. "I could not question the man without creating a wedge between myself and the king who had grown to love him like a brother."

"You talked about Prince Daniel, Zelda's uncle, where was he in all this?" Link instantly regretted asking. Impa looked suddenly sad. The same sorrow he'd seen in her eyes at the graveyard in Kakorika.

"He was murdered by an enraged Sheikah before the Gerudo war."

"I'm sorry," Link said looking down.

"Not as sorry as the fool that killed him. My father was forced to prove whether or not he was bluffing with his threat of familicide."

Link's eyes grew wide in shock. "He didn't!"

Impa shook her head. "He did. My father and grandfather tracked down he and his immediate family, his mother, father, baby sister and wife, and had all of them executed for his sin."

Link was flabbergasted. "That's horrible! The family didn't do anything! That wasn't fair!"

Impa did not face Link. "It prevented war. The Hylians would have declared war on the Sheikah in the heat of their mourning and passion. While it may have united the Sheikah to allow war, thousands would die, more Hylians than Sheikah for sure. And this is the reason for the criticism of my family. My father had a choice," she explained. "Do nothing and let his people unite in another war against the Hylians, or strike down his own people to save Hylians and the realm. My father chose the latter and was hated for it."

"Why didn't they turn on your father?" Link asked. "I mean. . ." he tried to stammer out an apology realizing how judgmental he sounded. If it had bothered Impa she didn't show it.

"My family is one of the largest amongst the Sheikah people. My father had nearly a dozen siblings, each with offspring of their own, and eight of his own children. We stood a small army by ourselves. Then families like the Prava family saw the wisdom in my father's decision and pledged their allegiance to him. Even if that had not been enough we had my brother, Vurugu." She said his name with no small amount of pride. "Nobody wanted to meet the demi-god in the field. Without being able to fight head on, the angry families abandoned their homes and either left Hyrule or became nomads of the land."

"Why did your brother leave then?" Link's head was spinning from the complicated nature of the realm.

"He fought for the family, not because he agreed with what my father had done. When it became clear there would be no civil war, and our family was no longer under threat, he disowned his family name and left."

"Is that the same reason you moved to the Citadel?"

"Like my brother, I thought my father's actions were too harsh. And what's more, I did not want Prince Daniel's death to be in vain. He gave his life forging unity between the races of Hyrule. He was my personal friend and mentor. I would see that his dream was maintained. So I too dropped my family name and became a simple Sheik warrior for the King. I could never lead his men into battle, given my race, but I became his advisor and later his ambassador then lastly the bodyguard of his only child."

Link wanted to ask Impa how old she was but stopped himself. He remembered Malon had told him it was rude to ask girls and women their age in Hyrule. It was hard to guess Impa's age. She had snow white hair but Link thought that might be a Sheikah trait. Her body was slender and strong, wiry muscle everywhere you looked. Yet Link, and likely any male that laid eyes on her, could see that she somehow kept her femininity between her hips, bosom and sharp feminine facial features. Her eyes were definitely not feminine though, the incredibly light color of her irises gave her an intense, fierce look, perpetuated by her skill in combat. That combat, along with a training regimen that Link had no doubt was ten times more intense than what he had just been through, had worn on her skin. Link thought she could be anywhere from in her twenties to her fifties. He had too poor an understanding of the timeline for the Gerudo wars and the rest of Hyrule's history to know her age from the information he'd just received.

"Meet me in the same field tomorrow morning," Impa said bringing Link back to the present. "You do not need to bring your dagger or shield. You will not be using them anymore."

"Got it."

As they entered the village Impa walked off heading for the Know-It-All brothers' home. Link could only guess as to why she wanted to see them. As she walked away Link realized that today had actually improved how he felt about the warrior.

In desperate need of a shower Link grabbed a clean green tunic from his empty home then went to bathe in the creek and waterfall that were on the edge of the village. All the Kokiri boys showered here, while the girls bathed in the pond on the opposite side. As far as Link knew, the privacy of either place had never been violated. After the much needed scrub Link walked back in his fresh tunic. As he passed Saria's house for the second time, he wondered if he should go in and speak to her. Last night had not been quite the reunion Link had wanted or expected. He blamed it on this whole sage business. A concept that still had not been fully explained to him.

"Tomorrow," he said to himself, suddenly overcome by his exhaustion.

In his home Link found a note on his bed that he hadn't seen earlier.

"Saria offered me the spare bed in her home. See you tomorrow" Sheik was signed in awkward letters at the bottom but the rest of the note was clearly written by someone with royal education, the letters being very crisp, clear, and swooping where they needed to be. She would have to work on that to perfect her disguise.

"Goodnight Navi," the boy mumbled as he fell into his bed.

"Goodnight Link."

Author's Note: If you are re-reading this, you'll note this is the 2nd draft so hopefully there are fewer typos. Story-wise I made one change. Impa's brother's name is no longer "Dante". I feel that name is over-used in teen/young adult fiction, especially fanfiction, so I changed his name to "Vurugu". Vurugu is Swahili for "Violence".