Meet the Second Side of the coin

Sheik, for all the things in the world, couldn't understand.

Why was the Hero of Time so intent on hiding? What was he hiding anyway? An object? A secret? Himself? What did he have to hide from?

Sheik shook his head. No point asking questions that may not have any answers at all. And what was he going to do now, with nothing to do? He had intended to spend the whole day exploring the Temple, getting to know it and let the Temple know him, but now it seemed to have done that thanks to Link's party, and Sheik was left stumped, wondering what to do next.

Well, he thought as he tugged at the hem of the ruined purple tunic, I could get changed,

Sheik sighed dejectedly, until he noticed a purring noise at the centre of the hall. He looked around and spotted the source of the soft humming, surprised to see the elevator rising on its own accord. Had it been shut down? By who? Link? What for?

Curiosity gripped him; Sheik jogged over to the elevator and hopped in.

It hummed and lowered as soon as he entered, and he found himself in a room that was for once dry, washed with white-yellow paint and leading to a door of some sort. Sheik went through it, noting the rings that would've held chains. As he climbed lightly lit stairs he realised with the faint, corrosive remains of dark magic that this was where Link would've had to fight something, the ultimate guard of the Temple.

Sheik shivered. How could a sane person live in the very place that he nearly died?

He took the last few steps that lead to a platform and gasped. Paintings dotted the walls at the eight points of the compass, portraying beautiful scenes of the outside world. He saw a mountainous plain, grassland full of butterflies, and even the Sacred Forest Meadow was displayed on the walls. Sheik couldn't help but smile as he looked upon the paintings, then frown to see a black one at the very far end. Maybe the Hero of Time wasn't hiding something. He just wanted the Temple for himself, perhaps.

But the painting with nothing but black…

"It paints what you want to see most."

Sheik yelped and spun, seeing a ten-year-old girl with green hair and wise azure eyes. She was standing where he had entered only seconds before, looking at him with wide, blinking eyes. "What are you doing here?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Sheik scoffed, "I have nowhere else to go."

He watched for her reaction, and that was a downcast gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, but I had to. I didn't want anything happening to the forest, and I wanted Link to be happy. He's got his own spirit, you know. Like, he doesn't like being trapped."

Sheik was about to retort 'then why does he stay here?', but instead he gave a sigh and said nothing, scratching the top of his head.

"You know," Saria attempted, stepping forward slightly, "There's lots to do in the forest. You can ride the southern wind, climb the highest tree and see all the way to the castle, take a nap in the flowers and, and, different berries to try out, new animals to see… like… bear cubs! Yes, they're very adorable you know. And… um… glow-worms! Everybody likes glow-worms… right?"

"Perhaps…"

"Yay! Well why not go look for them? Maybe it's a little too light for glow-worms, but you'll find lots of butterflies? Or crickets. Whichever you prefer."

Sheik considered for a moment, the cogs in head turning slowly. "Actually," he began, "I'm looking for someone. A girl. A Hylian. I don't know what name she goes by, but she was brought here to be protected by the war, over fifteen years ago. Do you know where I could find her?"

Saria blinked. Blinked again. Then she said, "No."

That answer seemed eerily close to a squeak…

"Why are you looking for her?" Saria asked, putting her hands behind her back, "She must be important, if you're looking for her."

Sheik couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "Sorry. No can do. Can't tell ya."

"Aw . . . please??" she begged as he walked away, hopping impatiently on the spot, "I'd like to know if it's got to do with the forest…!"

Sheik playfully waved a hand as he descended the stairs, chuckling, "Sorry, Sheikah business. Can't let secrets out, I'm afraid. Now, I think I'll go look for some berries. I wonder which ones would be good enough to eat . . ."

He abruptly stopped when he found Saria in front of him. She was glaring, and looked very displeased. "Your secrets can be taken from you, you know. Along with your memories."

Sheik twitched his brow angrily. "I'm not below killing myself and taking this whole temple with me, if you even try to follow through with that threat."

Saria suddenly looked frightened. "Why would you … ?"

He walked away.

Link gulped before resuming breathing in a slow, ragged rhythm, trying to get the oxygen back into his lungs. He didn't know how far he'd run; didn't know how long either, and didn't want to know. As long as he was away from Sheik, his secret was safe. He would be safe. As long as he passed his eighteenth birthday, nobody would touch him. Nobody.

Nobody.

Tears of hysteria began to fall down his face as he squatted on his legs, his fists clenching around grass. He laughed as he cried, wondering if he were going to literally crumble and just die. He wished he would. Then he wouldn't have to live in such a hellish existence.

How long could he last? How long before he finally decided he didn't want to live through with it? It was only a matter of time before he had to make a decision. Whether to be Lynda or Link; permanently. He knew he was going to go for the male body. He was used to it; he'd grown accustomed to it. But would he be able to withstand the emotional torment? Could he really love women, even though he was afraid of being touched?

Link sniffed and sobbed, his whole body trembling. It was the better option between the two. Besides, what would happen to the Hero of Time when he was thrown away along with the hat? The people would despair. They would hate the person that was responsible for it; it would hurt even if the blame wasn't directly pointed at her. Lynda had to be thrown away; she had to disappear.

A whimper not belonging to himself made him freeze, and Link slowly looked up and saw a wolfos pup, shivering with fear and uncertainty. Link wiped at his eyes and nose, drying the tears and feeling himself pull back together. The forest had soothed him since he was a child; the creatures especially so. Link sat back and sighed, trying to remember the habits of a wolfos. They hunted in small packs, that he knew. Their children grew up with their mothers while the father went hunting. By the look of things, it looked young enough to still snuggle against the mother's side. Perhaps it had wanted to explore but had gotten chased; now it was lost.

Link pushed a grin onto his face, and extended a hand wrapped in a leather gauntlet to the pup hoping to get the little one's attention. If he didn't quickly, the deadly magic of the forest would take it over and either kill it, or drive it mad. He'd seen plenty of those at the gates of the Forest Temple; he didn't intend to let that happen to this pup. "Hey there, little guy," he said, gulping in air to stop his voice from trembling, "You lost too? Where's your mum?"

It backed away, its nose still twitching.

Link began to get irritated. Was it something that he smelled on his clothes? Link stripped the gauntlets off of his hands. He glanced up. Still the same. He sighed; there must've been a habit of the wolfos that he'd missed. Link scratched the back of his head in thought, and realised: Magic.

Magic was like a pungent scent to a wolfos child, and the animals were cautious of it. They couldn't be scared of it, since they were creatures of magic themselves, but they had had to defend themselves against it more often that not. They lose the ability when they grow older, as they grow immune or practice magic unconsciously, but the pup in front of him clearly smelt it.

And it was coming from the Hat.

Link gritted his teeth and slowly, very slowly, put his hand on the hat. He could feel his heart almost burst with the fear, of repeating history, being caught by Sheik. A part of him told him to run. Forget the pup! Just get out of here and go somewhere else where nobody would need him! Where nobody would need saving and sleep it all off!

Link scrunched the hat in his grip and slipped it off. If there was one thing he totally refused to be, it was a coward.

He felt himself shrink a little bit, making the white undershirt a little loose against her skin. Her hair grew longer and tangled a bit, loose curls edging the ends. Her shaking hands gripped the grass in worry, and the magic on her clothes disappeared, turning it priate yellow. Lynda took a slow, ragged breath and looked up to find the pup there, looking surprised and awed. It had stopped shaking, and its nose didn't twitch with the smell of magic.

Lynda extended a hand and murmured words in traditional Kokiri, coaxing the little one to come to her.

It nudged her middle finger, sniffed the pointing, stepped on the fourth, and soon crawled all the way into her palm. She chuckled and trembled at the same time, bringing the frightened one close to her chest, which had bulged a bit against her shirt. She hadn't turned into Lynda by will for two years, and now with Sheik around, the experience only felt worse. She wanted the hat back so bad, it was almost stifling. She hoped that Saria had turned him out of the Temple and put him in the forest somewhere, preferably at the bottom of a poisonous swamp.

She folded the gauntlets over the Hat before holding it, in case the magic spooked the pup. The little wolf eagerly licked her hand, and Lynda giggled. She rocked the wolf slowly, cooing softly, "I'm taking you to the Temple, okay? I'm going to take you to Rulf and Gaia and let them handle you. They're very nice, you know."

The pup yipped happily, until it froze and began to tremble again.

There was an inhuman roar that made Lynda jump back, and made her pale.

Lynda watched from the ground, shaken. She'd been able to dodge the skeleton's blade only for a while, tripping on a stone to be slashed on the thigh. The next dodge had resulted in a trip, and she'd faced a raised sword and a triumphant Stalfos.

Until the blurry figure had come, that is.

His face was covered under a silken scarf; the side of the face she could see (which was the right) was hidden also under a fringe. He broke through the Stalfos' defence with an up-cut kick at its shield and a deft turn that put the two fighters nose-to-nose, stabbing a short blade through to the skull.

The black cloud that was the armed Skeleton's essence was being sucked up by the sword, and she realised that it was bewitched. The aura it gave reminded her of the Master Sword, except it was nowhere near as powerful as the Legendary blade. And it seemed as if he had to edge the blade on with spells, and it wasn't going fast enough; the Stalfos was raising its sword, intending to take the man to the other side with it.

Lynda dashed forward, despite her tired muscles and the cut at her thigh. She dived onto the skeletal arm that held the sword and yanked, making it go slightly disjointed.

The blade sparked to life. The demon roared and disappeared in a series of blue and green fire, leaving only harmless ash the wind could blow away.

Both crumbled to the ground, exhausted.

Sheik felt his strength diminish because of the spell. He hadn't cast such a powerful one as that in what seemed like forever, as there weren't many demons left from Ganondorf's reign (which, in retrospect, never actually happened) and none dared to roam the field freely. And Viper, his blade, hadn't fought many demons either. Perhaps the stay in the forest would rejuvenate the blade's fullest potential. He wouldn't have minded staying at all, if it weren't for the war in the outside world.

Sheik looked upon the victim, intending to thank her for the help, and his eyes widened.

A girl around his age if not slightly younger looked back at him, trembling in fatigue and what he hoped wasn't fear. She wore a yellow tunic, or a skirt, he didn't know which, with a loose under shirt with a collar that fell untidily over her neckline. She was holding a wolfos pup in her arms, and the little creature was trembling also. Her hair was a beautiful colour of spun sunlight and honey, dusted with a darker shade of gold. Her skin was not as tanned as his own, but sun-kissed to a beautiful shade of cream. Her dark blue eyes were cool, if not calm, emotion stirring in her orbs like stormy weather. She had an air about her that said she belonged, and that she represented every flower, every splendour in the forest.

Sheik lost his tongue as well as his jaw, and was glad that he had taken the liberty of wearing his scarf before exploring the forest itself. "Um… uh… thank you, for… helping me."

Lynda jolted in fear, shaking. This was it. Sheik had seen her. He was speaking to her. She'd be found out, be ridiculed, and then who knew what. She was unarmed, couldn't protect herself. She couldn't register the fact that he'd thanked her.

"Miss…?" Sheik prompted, making Lynda jolt again.

Then realisation dawned on her; he'd called her miss. His eyes looked at her in concern, and the memories from the Instant resurfaced. A ghost of a pain around her neck hovered under her skin, and she held her hand to her throat, croaking slightly.

Sheik, however, misinterpreted. "Are … are you mute?"

Without thinking Lynda nodded.

Sheik frowned a little, but nodded. He didn't know what to make of a mute lady being attacked in the middle of the forest while holding a wolfos pup (except find it completely and utterly suspicious), but it seemed only right to help her. And besides, she could be hurt.

As if in cue to the thought, the wolfos pup growled in worry, licking the young woman's hand. She suddenly felt the flaring pain at the cut in her thigh and gave a groan. Sheik's visible eye widened; her leggings around the wound was soaked in blood.

"Shoot . . . !" He lifted his hand, as if attempting to touch her, and in fright Lynda shuffled back. Her heart was racing and her leg was aching. She didn't know what kind of person Sheik was, and didn't feel too inclined to know either. Even if she hadn't been afraid of physical contact, she still wouldn't have wanted to be touched.

A sigh escaped the young man. Determination lit his ruby eyes, and he said, "My name is Savir Varekai of the Tribe of Tears. I can see you're hurt; I'd like to heal you."

Lynda blinked twice and screwed her face in confusion.

Savir… Vare-wha?

"I'm Sheikah." He said, pulling back his fringe a second to give a good show of his eyes before letting it flop back, "I don't tell my name to people often; people usually call me 'Sheik'."

There was a confused and disbelieving look on the woman's face as she cocked her head to the side. Even the pup looked at him with a flat gaze, and Sheik averted his eyes, feeling uncharacteristically shy. He was talking to a mute and a dog. Why did he suddenly feel so self-conscious? "I know a spell of healing. If you'd allow me to look at your wound, I can . . ."

She shuffled back, alarmed, whimpering as well.

Sheik knotted his eyebrows, and Lynda saw her mistake. If she acted too much like she had as Link – fearing being touched – he'd find out. He wasn't stupid; that was obvious.

Lynda averted her gaze, colour coming back to her face. She needed to work something out, needed a good excuse! She glanced at Viper, and pointed at it. Sheik looked at her, than the blade, and brought it to her. She shuffled back again and shook her head, gesturing what she hoped looked like dust flying or something that looked misty.

"I won't hurt you." Sheik prompted, and Lynda shook her head, making more gestures. Slow and weaving, her fingers making waves.

Sheik knotted his eyebrows. Water? But there was nothing there. And it had to do with Viper. What was flowing and went around it? Sheik thought it over. "You're… afraid of magic? Is that it?"

She nodded.

Sheik could only be incredulous at this piece of information. He had known friends of friends that didn't trust magic, but he had never heard of people actually fearing it. And how could he help her, when what she feared was the best way he could think of to healing? He had no bandages with him, as all his medical tools were with his pack, and the bleeding on her leg was quite bad.

Sheik unsheathed Viper once more. Well, he thought, resigned, if he couldn't get bandages, might as well make them.

He cut at his tunic a bit and began ripping, the cloth tearing across the seams. He kept going until he was left with not a tunic but a shirt, and he cut the bandage off, and folded it up before handing it to her. He saw with satisfaction that it was very long, and the cloth was clean enough to be used.

"It's just been cleaned, and it's the only part that hasn't been soaked in sweat, so you won't have worry about infections."

Unbeknownst to Sheik, Lynda made the same recollection as she took the purple dressing, a sliver of guilt creeping into her gut. And she now saw that the fabric was something very rare and extravagant; both hard to get and expensive. Purple dye was one of, if not the hardest, to make and Sheik had willingly ruined it. She looked worriedly at his shirt, and noticing her gaze, he waved a hand.

"I never liked this tunic; I'm glad it's come to good use."

And Sheik turned and looked away, leaning on the back of his hands to look up at the leaves. Lynda took off her boot, blushing. As she began fixing her leg, she realised that the pup had gone to Sheik, or Savir, or whoever he was, and the man was scratching the little creature's forehead, a fond glow in his eye. Lynda hastily finished bandaging herself. She didn't know what the pup would do around him, and didn't want to know either. The Sheikah was an outsider, a stranger to the forest. A child of the woods like the little creature shouldn't mingle with foreigners.

She scooted up to the pup and tried coax him her way.

Sheik noticed this and smiled again, making her jolt. "You like Wolfos?" he asked, and hesitantly, steadily, Lynda nodded. At this he grinned and turned, resting the pup in his lap, letting the little one explore around his legs. He was mesmerized once again by her appearance. He asked, "What's your name?"

Lynda gulped, trying to think up a good name she could respond to. But what could she respond to? What did she like? Flowers. What flowers were there in the forest? Daisies, poppies, lilies, lilacs, roses, cherry-blossoms, buttercups, carnations, anything!

She looked around a second before pointing, and when Sheik looked he saw a clump of silver ferns, and looked back. "Your name's Fern?"

Actually, she'd pointed to the Maple tree, but it didn't matter.

He smiled kindly again — Lynda couldn't help but notice just how often he smiled — and he stood, offering her a hand, "I'll escort you to wherever you live. It'll be a hard walk for you, with that injury."

"Thank the deities…" Link groaned, resting in his room, breathing deeply but raggedly. His room was on the highest floor, the fifth, and the hardest one to come across. There were several windows open to wind and rain, and he welcomed them, although when it did start pouring he always moved the bed away.

It had been very, very, very hard to get rid of Sheik. No matter how many times 'Fern' shook both hands and head, he would insist on helping her.

Suck up, Link thought with mild irritation.

He couldn't exactly remember how, but he had given the Wolfos pup to the Sheikah, gesturing that he should take it to the Temple, as she was going the other way and the place she lived in wasn't very far. He'd reluctantly gone as soon as she pretended to leave and hid behind a tree, not even giving a glance to the clump of cloth at the far side of the clearing, where gauntlets wrapped an all too familiar hat.

Lynda had grabbed it and jammed it onto her head, turning to Link before running as hard as he could, playing the Minuet of Forest to get back to the Temple before Sheik did. Now he was there, in his room, breathing slow, deep and relaxed breaths.

He was never turning back to Lynda again. Never, ever, ever.

But the time of the month was slowly but surely coming. He could feel it in the hat's magic, as it became weaker with every opening day until it was time, when he'd be forced into living three days as the thing he most disliked being. That was why his room was so important; he didn't have to leave its comforting walls for as long as he wanted to do whatever he wished. Lynda was a prisoner to these walls. It was only when it was direly necessary that she went out, whether it be for a bath, or a need to visit the bathroom.

Speaking of Sheik, Link wondered whether he'd come back. He was in no hurry to meet him, no hurry at all, but he was worried for the pup that he'd given away. Link stood and nudged the door out of the way as he weaved through the corridors of the top level that defied all sense of gravity.

Link grimaced as he stood in a jack-knifed corridor, looking out a window to see that the horizon was cutting the view in a diagonal line, the trees covering the top half, the sky the bottom half.

Sheik couldn't help but smile as he looked at Spike—the pup he'd brought from the lost woods—play with other pups, rolling in the grass and dirt as the mother watched over the little ones with a gaze only a mother gave to her child. Sheik watched from the stair that led to the temple itself, grinning at the rolling masses of fur and friendly teeth. Spike was winning the wrestle with his brother, and as the little one fought, he thought of his own fight with the Stalfos.

Or more specifically, the meeting that fight led to.

Fern. Somehow she had lodged herself into his head, and he couldn't prize her out. She'd been jumpy, frightened, and possibly even distrustful. She'd avoided his offered hand and left in a hurry, as if she didn't want anything to do with him. Sheik didn't know why, but he wanted to see that mysterious woman again, and was eager to know more about her. And there was something about her that just kept niggling at the back of his mind.

Hadn't he seen her somewhere?

The front door opened with what seemed like a smug click. "Hey, what're you doing down here with Gaia unharmed?"

Sheik felt a vein bulge at his forehead. Just when he thought he was going to have a long, quiet time with his thoughts, Link has to come. He turned to meet the Hero of Time, with his smug grin and heartless gaze. Sheik was about to throw a retort, but then a thought hit him, rendering him speechless.

Link frowned. "What're you staring at?"

Sheik jolted out of his thinking and said, "Nothing. Just… nothing."

Link's face contorted into not of suspicion but of bewilderment. He'd been expecting a snap or a retort, at the very least. Perhaps Sheik was mellowing down. Or perhaps he wasn't being hard enough. Link was about to say something that might've got onto Sheik's nerves, when he was interrupted. "I wanted to apologize."

Link blinked in confusion. "…what?"

Sheik looked up at the Hylian again and said, "I'm sorry. I had no right to call you a coward."

Link blinked again and coughed, disbelief making his throat close off. He was about to growl and say something rude, when a hand tugged at his green tunic, making both mortals jump at the sage's presence.

"You should say sorry too, Link." Saria said, tugging at Link's tunic hem again. Link snarled and turned his nose the other way, stubbornly crossing his arms.

"No."

Saria scowled. "You hurt Sheik bad with that flood. You may have done a good job cleaning the Temple, but I don't enjoy having one person having fun and the other person having a seriously hard time. Now apologize."

Unwillingly guilt welled in Link's gut, but still he looked away stubbornly. "No."

Saria let go of Link's hem and put her hands to her hips. "Link, you apologize now or you won't get your weekly allowance."

To Sheik's amazement, Link spun around with panic and alarm on his expression, "What!? But Saria I need that allowance! If I don't save up I won't be able to…"

"Then apologize. Now."

To Sheik's bemused amusement, Link's face began to colour with heat. He seemed to waver, as if trying to get himself to say he didn't need the allowance—whatever that was—but it seemed he wasn't so strong willed and stubborn. He sighed, buried his face in his hands and said, "Fine. I'm sorry for making your day really bad."

Saria nodded sternly and said, "Good. And will you promise me you won't do it again?"

Link let his face go to glare at both his friend and his enemy. "You said I had to apologize to get my allowance. I won't stop making your life a misery, Sheik. I'll make sure you stay out of my life until I'm willing to let you into it."

"Oh, I'm sure." Sheik groaned, rolling his eyes. This caused Link only to go redder and wrench the door to the Temple open and close it with a slam, enraged and humiliated and very, very pissed off in general. Sheik sighed and shook his head, waving at the puppies to carry on playing, as they'd stopped to look at the sudden commotion.

Saria sighed and sat down next to him, hugging her knees. "He wasn't like that, you know. A couple of years ago."

Sheik glanced at her before asking, "Before he decided he didn't want to be touched?"

Saria nodded forlornly. "It sucks. I'm a sage and I don't seem to be able to help him."

Sheik shrugged and replied, "Just because you're a sage, it doesn't mean you're all powerful. You're going to have to wait till he's ready to open up, I'm afraid."

The Kokiri gritted her teeth. "That's what I thought too. But you know what? He hasn't been opening up for the last two years. He's been self destructive, and uncaring, and . . . I'm worried about him."

The prisoner of the Temple sighed. He had a rough idea as to where this was going. "You want me to investigate on his problem? Is that what you want?"

She bit her lip, and nodded. "You won't go unrewarded. I'll let you out as early as possible…"

"I'll do it on two conditions. First I have to leave before the end of the month; that's my deadline of my mission, and if I fail the war outside will start full throttle. Second, you have to tell me all you know about Her."

She winced and said, "Who're you talking about . . . ?"

Sheik scoffed. "You know who. The Hylian girl you really don't want to talk about."

The forest sage froze, and said, "And what if I don't . . . ?"

"Link will stay destructive, arrogant, and a teenaged nightmare. The King will eventually call through Zelda and if you don't let me go by then, soldiers would attack anyway. And if that doesn't happen, the Sheikah will come and get me first."

Saria's eyes flickered and darkened, letting Sheik see the horrible things she could do. Or more specifically, what the forest could do when it was very, very angry. Sheik saw bandits get strangled to death by Ivy, men retching foam and blood as they breathed in poisoned flying pollen, children crying and screaming as their finger tips slowly lost flesh as it crumpled like sand, slowly turning into Stalchildren.

A shiver went down Sheik's spine. And to think, that had only been the start.

"You're threatening the Forest itself, with those words." Saria hissed, her voice ancient and booming, "You dare risk such a foolish life as yours?"

He squarely met her gaze. "They're not threats. They're warnings. I don't care much for death."

Saria considered him with the deepened eyes, the forest judging him through her gaze. After a second she sighed and the Kokiri girl returned, her expression pouting. "Alright," she said, "I'll tell you as much as I can about her. I guess you deserve that much."

Sheik nodded in a satisfied manner. Finally, he was getting somewhere.

"The Deku tree took her in when she was a year old. She lived with me until she could be disguised enough to be a Kokiri, and that was when she was six. She lived independently for the most part, until she was cast away when the people realised she wasn't one of them. She lives in the forest right now."

Sheik frowned. The information was very, very vague. "You know anything about her family?"

Saria shook her head. "No. Only the Deku tree knows, and I think he was going to tell her more about it, but he never got the chance, since she wasn't even allowed to say goodbye to him when she left."

Sheik hummed and twiddled with the ruined tunic. There were several holes in her story, and it troubled him. "Does Link know her?"

Saria sighed. "Not much." She admitted, choosing her words carefully, "He didn't see her much when he was in the village. Never got much of a chance. And since he went around Hyrule as the Hero of Time, then moved here, he didn't see her much at all."

Sheik couldn't help but be unimpressed by the information. Their far too many holes in the story for his liking. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, and none of them seemed casual enough to use. He asked instead, "Do you perhaps know of a girl that lives here? By the name of Fern? She's a mute."

Saria cocked an incredulous eyebrow. "You ask a lot about girls, you know that?"

Sheik couldn't help but be a little defensive. "I just wanted to know who she was."

The forest sage shrugged. "In all honesty, I don't know who you're talking about."

Disappointment sunk his heart. "Well, in that case, thank you for your time. Do you think I could ask more about the Hylian later?"

Saria seemed sad. "Yeah… I guess. Hey? Could you tell me why this is so important? It's just that… well, it's strange. And it has to do with the forest and all…"

Saria looked at Sheik in a hopeful manner. Sheik wanted to tell her to spite Zelda and the King, but it was also his duty as a warrior to his people to keep silent. "I can't but…"

A thought dawned on him. Maybe, just maybe . . .

"Maybe," he continued, "Zelda could tell you. I can't because of my duty, but Zelda . . . she never said that she'd keep quiet about it, and she's the Seventh Sage. You sages have to work together to keep things in balance, so maybe she'll tell you enough to give you a good hint on what's going on."

Saria seemed sadder. "But if she doesn't want to tell me, she won't."

He shrugged. "Tell her you're upset that I'm here. You want to know why, what's this about the girl the Sheikah goes on about but never reveals, and about ordering your friend Link around. Tell her you won't let me or Link go for a long while if she won't give you the right answers. She's messing with your turf without permission. You're allowed to bite back."

The Kokiri girl blinked with amazement. "You're good."

Sheik grinned. "I have to be, with my job."

Saria considered his words and stood, conviction in her stance. "I'll do it. But please get Link out of his shell."

"I'll try."

Saria nodded gladly and disappeared in a cascade of green light, making Sheik sigh forlornly, letting him go over the worrying suspicions that were whirling around his head.

Fern. How did he know that she was really mute? How did he know that his name wasn't fake? Link reminded him of her. So did Zelda. Heck, mix those two together, and he got a real close replica of the Seventh Sage. He might as well have found the Lost Princess; it had to be her.

Sheik shook his head. Despite the obviousness of it, he really didn't want her to be the one. He'd somehow got his head full of her, wondering who she really was (aside from being the Princess), what she was really like, somehow wanting to know all about the unimprtant things abot her, like what her favourite colour was. And he liked the image in his head as it was; the jewels that would come with her title seemed almost... tainting.

But if she really was Zelda's twin, he was in deep manure.

Hello peoples! Thank yous so much for waiting patiently, and decided to read this. I hope you like it, and if you don't like it, flame me. I don't care if you do. But if you like it, please tell me why, so I can develop on those aspects! (Do you like the humour ,you want more action, drama, whatever . . . ?)

Please review. I like reviews very much.

See you next time!

S.S.