Chapter 13: Sheik
"Rauru!" The princess rushed into the temple.
"What's with this hurry?" Rauru turned around to face them. He was used to Impa coming and going and wasn't much surprised by this sudden visit after so long, but he seemed happy to see Zelda again. She could tell by the way he looked at her.
Zelda explained the matter to him. If they didn't find a way to hide that she was a Sheikah she would get killed.
"Can't we just hide you here princess? I haven't seen you for a long time and…"
"She has to stay in the castle!" Impa interrupted knowing how long Rauru could talk about anything in general.
"Well, you can't just throw away signs you were born with. It's not that easy but…"
"Yes, Rauru, but is there no way to hide them?" Zelda interrupted to save herself and Impa from a long speculation.
"I was just getting to that!" Rauru said with a hurt tone! "I wish you could stop interrupting me!"
"Sorry." Impa and Zelda said with one mouth without meaning it.
Rauru cleared his throat and thought out loud the suggestions he considered could be good to use. Impa and Zelda both picked up a cup of tea. It was convenient to be able to carry so many things around as a Sheikah. Rauru didn't seem to notice that they weren't listening.
"…But I don't really think you should worry so much. I mean you don't have red eyes and then it doesn't matter how many signs they find. They won't believe you're a Sheikah." Rauru finished and caught their attention for a moment. Impa raised an eyebrow at him.
"As long as her eyes are blue?"
Quick as a lightning she grabbed Zelda's shoulder with one hand and pressed hard between her shoulder blades with two fingers of her other hand. Zelda's eyes widened from the shock and the pain and Rauru saw how her blue eyes immediately turned red.
"Oh", he simply said and went back to reading a huge book he had been studying. Zelda tried to reach the sore spot on her back to rub it and glared at Impa as her eyes returned back to their normal color.
"More tea?" Impa asked.
Zelda drank her tea in silence while peering over the edge of her cup with narrowed eyes.
"…Well, what do you say?"
Impa and Zelda looked up when they heard Rauru address them directly instead of speaking loud to himself.
"Oh, wonderful Rauru", Zelda said. "How about you tell me again so I can feel really sure that I have understood?"
"Take the short version", Impa added.
"There is a spell where you, according to this old text, split into two but share one body."
Zelda looked like a living question mark.
"With a spell you can change your looks and then shift from your regular look to this new one", Rauru said and made himself ready for a long explanation. "If I have understood this correctly…"
"Or else I'll kill you", Impa interrupted.
"If I have understood this correctly", Rauru said, obviously more annoyed by being interrupted than affected by Impa's threat. "Both bodies will grow and get food and all other necessaries together so you won't have to eat for two, that's good… or maybe not so good! How nice to be able to eat that dessert twice", he thought out loud and licked his lips.
Impa smacked her forehead. Rauru and food, she thought. Rauru continued: "Both bodies will have the same experiences but the appearance will only change only for the one who it happened to."
"I'm not sure I understand." Zelda said.
"Things like knowledge and memories will be shared, you are still one person, but things such as muscles and wounds will only affect the shape you use at the moment."
"But food affects the appearance! So why won't I have to…"
"Don't interrupt and no such stupid questions!" Rauru scowled at the princess.
"You don't know, do you?" Impa said matter-of-factly. Rauru ignored her and continued.
"The funny thing is that both shapes share the same experiences but despite that the visible changes will only show on the one you are in…"
"Yes, you said that before", Impa said with a bored tone.
"That means that if we take exercise as an example. If you only train with one shape that one will grow muscular while the other will look weak but you'll be just as strong in both shapes. The experience doesn't change."
"That's why I ask about the food…" Zelda tried again.
"No! Don't ask!" Rauru interrupted her.
"So?" Impa said. "What's the problem?"
"It's a difficult spell that need's a lot of magic. In the old times the Hylians that were gifted with magic had a never-ending supply of it but now…" He sighed. "Well, but the good news are that we can make it easier by creating an exact copy of you. It's harder to create a different looking shape."
Zelda fell in deep thought. She could seal everything that could cast suspicions of her being a Sheikah in one shape. That would already mean a small difference in looks. She had to think about the future too. She had a feeling she could use a different identity.
"Can't we make some small differences?" She asked. Rauru took a deep breath to come with a long explanation but Impa but a hand over his mouth and gave him a look that clearly said: I'll hurt you and I won't regret it!
"Eh… What do you have in mind princess?" He asked as soon as Impa removed her hand.
"Another skin color? Something like that… I could… change to a boy!"
She liked that thought. Then no one could recognize her as the princess. Besides, boys seemed to have it way more fun and be allowed to do more things than girls.
"We can't take such a risk that would mean…" Rauru began but stopped when he saw the look on Impa's face.
"Please, Rauru, don't explain", she sighed and picked up a few needles to play with.
"I guess we could try the skin color but we'll not change the gender." Rauru said and Zelda nodded. That would do just fine.
Zelda stood on top of the altar and tried not to fall asleep as Rauru instructed what to do. He walked around the altar and read a long spell in ancient Hylian. Zelda closed her eyes and whispered the spell too. She locked her hands in prayer and felt warm waves of magic rush through her.
Impa watched in awe. Rauru's deep voice was like a soothing humming in the background while small shining lights soared around the princess. A great amount of magic radiated from the princess and created a rising wind twisting around her, causing her long skirt to flap around her ankles.
Light engulfed the princess and Rauru put up his arm to shield his eyes. When the light settled down Impa and Rauru saw a person lying on the altar.
"Did she make it? Is she all right?" Impa asked and Rauru who had know her for long could catch the worry in her voice. She walked up to Rauru and seized the front of his robes. "Say she's all right!"
"Uh", the princess moaned and brought a hand to her forehead. Rauru and Impa ran up to the altar. The princess pushed her body up and raised her head to look at them. Rauru flinched and Impa looked serene once again, almost pleased. Zelda's skin was now a darker tone, like a pleasant tan, and her eyes were mysteriously red but her beautiful dress was gone and her petite body exposed to them. Impa quickly grabbed a piece of clothing lying on one of the benches and threw it over the princess. Zelda wrapped it around herself in a more comfortable way, enjoying its warmth.
"Do you think you can transform?" Rauru asked eagerly. Zelda didn't really know what she was supposed to do but it didn't take long until she could change to pale and blue-eyed to darker with red Sheikah eyes and back again.
"But Rauru…" Zelda frowned. "If the clothes changes with me, will everything I touch disappear to the other body in some way? I mean… the clothes disappear so why not everything else I'm in contact with? How will that end?"
"That's too complicated for you to understand and clothes and accessories are an exception", Rauru stated.
"You don't know, do you", Zelda said.
"Look at me Zelda, try to read my thoughts." Impa said and Zelda obeyed. It didn't feel like usual. She didn't fall down in the other's gaze like usual and she didn't feel the regular contact between their minds. She could of course guess by what she knew about Impa and take help from Impa's expression but the Sheikah didn't show anything of course. Zelda concentrated harder, staring more intensively, and the she heard a voice inside of her head.
Tingle, Tinge! Kooloo-Limpah!
Zelda stood there dumbfounded for a moment, staring straight ahead into nothingness.
"Tingle… Tingle… Kooloo-Limpah?" She uttered and left the words hanging in the air.
"How?" Impa asked no one in particular and then she frowned. "I thought your Sheikah abilities would be sealed in one shape… besides not even a Sheikah should be able to figure out what I thought!"
"No… That's understandable", Rauru said slowly. Then he shook his head and approached Zelda.
"I think you managed to read her mind with your magic. These things come and go. Don't expect yourself to be able to read everyone's thoughts as you wish." He said and Zelda nodded. Rauru scratched his head. It was hard to have an apprentice with a power greater than that of his own. Where were her limits?
Impa told Zelda to change to her other self and Zelda obeyed. As soon as the red-eyed little girl stood in front of them Impa's hand curled around Zelda's wrist and she smirked.
"Let's try this out", she said in a creepy voice that made both Rauru and Zelda gulp and picked up a knife. She cut a quick scratch and a small line of blood trickled down Zelda's index finger.
"Change", Impa ordered and Zelda did as she was told. On her now pale skin was no longer any wound in sight.
"We'll need something to call your alter ego", Impa said. Rauru jumped up and down clapping his hands.
"Oh, let me, let me! I can do it! I'll think up a great name!"
"No", Impa said as though she was scolding a child.
"Uhm…" Zelda said. "My alter ego is without doubt a Sheikah and maybe it should have a name that tells what it is. A name no one else has."
"Link", Impa said.
"That's not funny Impa!"
"But when he is out of the picture…" she interrupted herself to chuckle evilly. "…you will be the only one with that name. Who names their kid Link anyway?"
"How about Chu-Chu?" Rauru suggested. Zelda and Impa stared at him, Zelda confused and Impa furious. Chu-Chus? Evil, brainless, stupid-looking blobs of jelly that made their way forward by jumping.
"How dare you call the princess a Chu-Chu?" Impa hissed and slowly approached Rauru who backed away in fear.
Zelda ignored them. She could choose her own name and she wanted it to tell the world that she was a Sheikah, like her mother. On the other hand, she didn't want a name that told she was a girl. Many things were forbidden for girls and she wanted freedom.
The false note rang high and pierced Link's ears. He was once again trying to compose a song for Zelda. Full of determination he started over yet again after already having tried several times.
"Make it stop!" His father whined. Link's mother patted Link's father on the head.
"But isn't it wonderful that our son has such a determination? I love it when he plays his ocarina!"
Link's father stopped his whining and covered his ears instead. After a few very bad tries to shut out his son's awful noise his father went out to the training grounds, slamming the door behind him as he left.
As soon as Link's father was gone they could hear the door open and close again and then a screechy voice.
"Hooooney!" and in the second Link was almost strangled by one of Ruto's bone-crushing hugs.
"Hello Ruto", Link's mother said and didn't seem to notice her son's violent struggles to break free.
"Why are you playing that instrument?" Ruto asked and loosened her grip enough for him to breathe.
"None of your business", Link snorted.
"You're not very good at it, you should give it up", Ruto stated without noticing that Link looked as if he'd been stabbed by her comment.
"Mum!" He whimpered, looking for support.
"I think you should listen to Ruto", his mother answered, sounding friendly as always.
"Yeah, turn around the knife, lay salt in my wounds!" Link muttered.
Link left and Ruto followed.
"I thought you would only stay for a day or two", Link said and glared at her.
"Yes, but we have so much to discuss with the king and I became so fond of this place", Ruto responded and grabbed his arm. She had been visiting Hyrule Castle frequently since they had first met. Link tried to make her let go of his arm but she held on as if glued to it.
"I'm actually good at playing the ocarina!" He said, her comment still echoing inside his head.
"No", she simply answered.
"Yes, I am!"
"No, you're not!"
They were interrupted by two gossiping ladies over at the stables.
"Have you heard? A Sheikah in the castle!"
"No way! Where did you hear this?"
No! Link thought. Another Sheikah? This could not be true! He could imagine being hunted by two Impa's making his life miserable. The two children snuck closer.
"They're going to kill it?"
"Yes, don't you think it's cruel? Just because it's a Sheikah."
"You know that the Sheikah are evil! I'm glad they're getting rid of it!"
Yeah, get rid of it, Link thought.
Zelda was getting ready to meet the men who were going to try and prove her as a Sheikah. She had arrived to the castle in the middle of the night and hadn't been able to get much rest. She felt very nervous as she ran her fingers through her hair in front of the mirror in her room.
Ganondorf knocked on her door. He hoped he could get the girl to come with him of her own free will. You never knew when it came to her.
The girl opened and looked up at him. Her eyes two blue pools deep enough to drown within.
"Princess, we have an important matter to take care of. It's something your father would like to know", he told her and hoped she would come along without questions.
"It sounds like it's important. I'll come right away", she answered abd ran back in to quickly put up her hair in a bun.
She followed closely behind him as he walked. When they finally arrived to one of the highest dorms he opened the door for her like a true gentleman and followed her inside.
Zelda saw four old men mumbling quietly to each other. They turned around in alarm when they heard the visitors enter.
"S-sir Ganondorf, you didn't say that…" One of the old men stammered horrified and stared at Zelda with wide eyes.
"Remember our agreement", Ganondorf mumbled back, his nostrils flaring.
Ganondorf doesn't seem to bother anymore about how he acts in front of me, Zelda thought and stared at the ceiling, not interested in the men's discussion.
"W-well then, princess", another elder man said and kneeled before her, then he anxiously glanced at Ganondorf. "This is probably just a mistake sir, look at her eyes."
Ganondorf glared at him and the old man quickly turned back to Zelda.
"We're just going to confirm a few thing, highness, nothing dangerous", he said and smiled reassuringly at her and she smiled back.
"This is a fun game. You're going to guess what I'm thinking", he said and Zelda nodded with a childish smile. Anything to act innocent. She could play the part as a small, unknowing girl well.
"You look so happy sir", she said and clasped her hands together, eyes sparkling. "You must think about something you like such as flowers or butterflies or…" she pretended to fall deep in thought, biting her fingernail.
"Awww!" the old men said while looking at the little girl. One pinched her cheek.
"She is so cute!"
"That's not what you're supposed to do!" Ganondorf roared at them.
"Come and sit down with us", the kneeling old man said and rose. He went over to a table with the other three elders and then made a gesture for her to sit down with them.
She went over and did as she was told. A teapot and a few cups filled with tea were placed on the table. The patterns on them were painted by hand and they looked really valuable.
Impa had warned her that they would try to use something like this. She grabbed a cup and tried to focus so much on the tea in it that she shut everything else out. They would test her reflexes she was sure and with Impa's training she would react instinctually and really quickly without thinking. Thus it could be very revealing for her.
"Princess", one old man said and she looked up, still trying to erase everything in her surroundings from her vision.
His movement as he flung his arm to the right on purpose so it hit one of the cups and it started to fall seemed to pass slowly to her. Slow as the clouds circling Death Mountain. She saw it fly over the edge of the table and…
Crash! She saw it hit the floor and she hadn't moved. If she had dared she would have taken a breath of relief.
"Did you have to break my cup?" One of the old men yelled and tried to hit his partner with the cane he had been supporting his weight on.
"Stop it! I took the ugliest one! You know just as well as we do that you can neither draw nor paint!"
"I put a lot of work in that cup!"
Ganondorf shook his head. These men were supposed to be of the wisest in Hyrule? They were completely giving away that they broke the cup on purpose and they acted like babies.
"Are we done?" The princess asked and everyone shifted their attention to her.
"Yes, princess, thank you. You may leave."
She rose and headed for the door. Ganondorf clenched his teeth and his eyes narrowed. She was getting away.
"Not so fast", he hissed and grabbed her shoulder. "I'll prove it to you all then!" He yelled and turned her around so that she faced the old men again. His grip tightened as he dug his nails into both of her shoulders. It felt like he was trying to crush her.
"S-stop it!" She cried and started struggling. "Let go!" The pain was unbearable and the old men seemed too shocked to react. But no matter how stunned she was or how much it hurt, her eyes didn't change color.
"See now?" Ganondorf said and laughed triumphantly his grip loosening somewhat.
"N-no, see what?"
The elders seemed to get back to their senses again. Ganondorf roughly turned Zelda around and the frightened eyes that stared into his were deep blue. Not a streak of red.
"Sir Ganondorf!"
He saw the old men hold out their hands, their open palms against him, and one pointed at him with his cane. They were threatening him with magic.
"We will inform the king about this, be sure!"
He growled and his eyes darkened. His face looked twisted and frightening all of a sudden.
"Nothing happened", he said through clenched teeth. He was beaten again. Defeated. He hated it. These childish, ridiculous men had advantage over him.
He grabbed Zelda's hand and pulled her with him out of the room. He could hear the old fools gasp and their panicked voices as he pulled the princess along like a rag doll. Zelda felt an urge to show him her Sheikah side once they had left but held it back. He would probably have doubts about her being a Sheikah now and that would be good.
"I don't hate you…yet", she told him and gave him a cold stare. He squeezed her hand, not in a friendly way but hard and painfully.
"I hate you!"
Surprisingly enough he didn't take her hostage as she for a second had suspected he would. He brought her to her room, threw her inside and slammed the door. Once the sound of his long, furious strides had faded she transformed and placed herself in front of her mirror.
There wasn't enough difference between her two shapes. She opened a drawer and dug through it until she found a knife. She put herself in front of the mirror again and started to cut off her hair. She cut without any thought of what it would look like when she was done. She cut feverishly and the golden locks fell to the floor one after another. When she stopped and finally let the hand holding the knife fall to her side she hesitantly glanced at her reflection again.
Her hair was carelessly cut in several different lengths and looked awfully untidy after the greedy cutting that had left her cheeks red. It made her look dangerous, as though she'd stop at nothing. Some of the hair fell right past her left eye and ended about the same level as her mouth or chin. She spun around in front of the mirror and tried to decide if it was good enough. Her hair was still long, should she cut it shorter?
She tied it up in a ponytail and dug through her closet until she found a white tunic and a pair of simple white pants that was a little too short.
She got dressed and looked herself in the mirror once again. She could be mistaken for a boy. She had ignored using a belt and the tunic hung loosely over her body.
She knew it would be dangerous to walk around the castle as a Sheikah but she couldn't resist this feeling. The way Ganondorf made her blood pulse fast and furiously through her body. She climbed out the window and snuck past the guards in the garden.
She snapped up the sound of voices and immediately headed that direction. She hid behind a bush as she caught sight of Link pacing around in small circles with a very unhappy expression as princess Ruto clung to his arm.
Was this what he did when she was away? Her heart skipped a beat. Of course she knew that someone like Link would easily get a lot of friends but he and Ruto seemed a bit too close for her liking.
"When will we marry? When will we marry? When will we marry?" Ruto chimed over and over and over. Link was about to yell at her that it would happen when Death Mountain freezes over and Zora's Domain is engulfed in flames, but before he could do that they were interrupted by someone sniggering.
"Well, well, well…"
Link looked up to see a blond boy with his hair tied back in a ponytail and red, piercing eyes. He was sitting on a branch in a nearby tree with his legs crossed and an amused smile on his face. "Already plans on marriage?" The boy asked and smirked. Zelda resisted her will to jump down from the tree and hit him. He maybe didn't remember his promise to her. They had perhaps been too young. Of course he hadn't been serious about it and she hadn't been either. She forced herself to smile.
"Yes! We're about to decide a date for the wedding now!" Ruto said as if the day of their wedding wasn't very distant.
"Oh, this boy has made quite a catch", Zelda stated and smiled toward Ruto. Ruto felt her scales go from silvery blue to crimson and it was something familiar about that gaze.
"In what way is that a catch?" Link yelled and pointed at Ruto.
"Well, she is a fish", Zelda stated and stared at the sky in thought, not adding anything more.
"What?" Ruto shouted in anger! "You think he caught me with a fishing rod or what?"
Zelda amused herself with that thought for a moment and laughed.
"At least he got you on the hook", she said and grinned while Ruto's cheeks turned crimson.
"I already got someone else I like!" Link yelled to the boy and Ruto was so shocked that she let go of his arm. His words were making her world spin and then she fainted.
"Oh?" Zelda said and cocked an eyebrow before she jumped down. Another one? A third fiancée? That was it! Old friend or not, he was going down!
"Is she pretty?" She asked and leant forward so that their faces were really close. Link gulped and embarrassedly blushed before he took a step back.
"T-that's none of your business!"
He recognized this boy's dark aura from somewhere.
"You don't want to talk to me? Don't be such a bore", Zelda teased and shook her head, ready to punch him anytime.
Then it hit Link. He recognized the aura from Impa! It usually made her ten times scarier how impossible it actually seemed. Then he for the first time noticed that the boy's eyes were red.
"Y-you, y-y-yo-you're a-a sh-sh-shei-sh-sheik-sheik-sheik…" Link gulped and tried to get the words out.
"Yes", Zelda said listening to his stuttering. "I'm Sheik… Sheik of the Sheikah! Remember that and don't tell anyone." She smiled and in her thoughts thanked her friend for the name he had given her. She'd carry it with honor.
"Besides", she then said. "It's illegal to marry two girls and to me, it's just as bad as playing with girl's hearts."
She made a pause to crack her knuckles. "I usually punish such shameless men but calm down. I'll free you from your old promise to another girl… if you now remember it at all."
Link didn't wonder why this boy knew about the childish promise that he still held on to. All that mattered was that this boy didn't have any right or power to make it undone. The mere thought of that someone thought he could be separated from Zelda made him tremble out of anger.
"What gives you right to do that? You don't even know her!"
Sheik smirked. "As a Sheikah I'm a protector of the royal family", she paused to watch Link's reaction. "…and I'm bound to the princess so if we think about the same girl you can go back to being her good friend without having to bother about marriage." Sheik turned and started to run away. Better leave before she ended up doing something stupid.
"See ya' Link", she shouted to him.
"Hey!" Navi shouted as she flew out from Link's cap. "Come back here! Since when do you know his name? And what's with all these engagements?" Hey! Listen!"
Link started to run after Sheik. The Sheikah boy wouldn't get away that easily "Don't think you can come here and speak for her! Come back here Sheik! I challenge you!"
Zelda peered over her shoulder when she heard the word challenge so she could see Link chasing after her.
"Meh, come back when you can run faster, slowpoke!" she laughed and ran off.
Link slowed down and caught his breath. When he didn't find anything suitable to say he cried out his anger.
"Take it easy Link. You really need to find something to let you anger out on." Navi stated but regretted her words as Link turned to her with a more than mad look on his face.
"How about you?" He said with a very spooky voice.
"Chill", she said and zapped him with some magic. "He sad that he'll fix all this marry Zelda stuff so don't be angry."
"But I will marry her! I'll show that Sheik! If he goes and tells Zelda something about me not liking her I'll, I'll…"
"You'll stand and scream at nothing while Sheik runs away because he is so much faster than you?"
"I'll show that Sheik! I'll practice twice as hard…"
"Oh, this ought to be fun", Navi said with a grin and thought about how hard Link's father already pushed him.
"I'll practice twice as hard, and then I'll write that song, beat up Sheik and marry Zelda!"
Navi flew back inside his cap, meanwhile Zelda was busy slapping herself.
"I'm so stupid!" She said to herself. How could I be so mean and so cocky and so…"
"I liked it. You could need some change of attitude and now maybe you agree to one of my plans?"
Zelda looked up to see Impa and for a moment she remembered all weird plans Impa had come up with to torture Link or to get rid of him. She shuddered and then turned to Impa again.
"So you were there?"
"Yes, so what do you say? How about we punish that two-timing jerk?" Impa said eagerly and then laughed manically.
"Uh, Impa, how about we get you something to drink instead?"
I'm so happy some of you are still hanging in there. This story didn't really give what it promised (I'm mostly talking of the romance which I'm never getting to).
Zelda became like a completely different person as Sheik, I'll work on that… at least I'll try. And I didn't really know how I would explain how this Sheik-thing works in this story but you're smart so I'll trust you to understand.
So, then I can move on to 'thirteen years old' and thank you everyone who reviewed (I'll hope you'll do it again or will if you haven't)! I intended to have Koume and Kotake sneak around the castle and reveal Zelda as a Sheikah but I forgot and the stupid Ganondorf actually managed to figure it out on his own. Well, I'll just include them in some future chapter…if I can remember…