Three weeks! Just as promised people! Ha! Damn, I'm really getting better at this. Remeber the times I reviewed every two months? Damn, those times were sad...

But now, that torture is over! (I hope).

Now, for the reveiwers!

Sachiko V: Yeah, I guess the reasons for fearing touch could be very limited. But it's good to know I hid it well with her stubborn attitude and all that. I'm glad the parallel thing worked. It was a little different to what I had planned it go before (the bandit was supposed to drown in a bog, because I don't like Lynda being a killer) but that's life you, I guess. and here's the installment, I hope you like it. Actually, it's kinda sad to say this, but this story isn't that original. When I first came to I read this story 'Boy who is not a boy' by I don't know who it was from, But I got the idea from there. But the characters' attitudes are all mine! Yay! I don't have much of a gift for telling sotries, really. I just like writing in general XP.

Hero of Times: Yes, you mentioned 'no' several times. But it happened. I'm glad you liked the chapter though. Hopefully this'll cheer you up.

Meg: You would've been appalled if you started reading this earlier. Sometimes I didn't update every two months or something. Thank you for considering my story to be interesting, you don't know how much that means to me. Yeah, Sheil's going to do some saving, but Lynda will do some saving later on too, so no worried on that. And I passed my exams!! Avergae of 54 percent.

Dragongal333: Yes, Lynda is in deep shit. But all will be okay! Yes, I am evil but the funny thing is, Evil people tend to make good stories, LOL. I hope you like the outcome of this chapter better.

Suethe: Yes, Lynda. I hope some of your ideas were in this chapter, so it makes you feel happy. The noble may survive, maybe not. I was going to let him love just for you, but Sheik wouldn't let me. Meh, evil Sheikah teenager for you, no? Thank you for liking the Gardent hat ruined my life thing. I thought it fitted.

liitlegreenparrot: Sorry it took so long to update, but believe you me, I would've updated if I could've. Anyway, thank you for the gold star, and i hope you enjoy.

Louiii: Here it is, Louiii! I hope you like it!

Please review!


Healing

Lynda shivered in her corner, the sheets from the bed wrapped tightly around her curled form, Navi her only companion in the dark expanse of her room. The ghosts of sensations and noises haunted her, the scraping of that bastard's teeth against her throat, his hands gripping her wrists in a strangling hold, the shouts and screams that weren't her own penetrating her ears as armour and pikes and angry cries tussled against the weight that had straddled her, the only glimmer of hope being Navi that had wailed and encased her in light while everything was such a mess of bodies and metal and screams…

She couldn't remember what happened after that. A mere blur of maids and sorcerers and assurances that she was still pure.

The tears fell, scalding her cheeks once more as the shame and hate and the rage fought against each other inside.

Her fists shook at the nerve of the castle and its opinion. 'It was over, there was nothing to worry about' her arse. All that mattered to them was that she was pure and that was it. Oh, you'll get over the trauma, no worries! The promises of punishment were thin and vague, and most of all half-hearted. After all, that bastard was still alive and kicking around in his room at the very moment.

What enraged and shamed Lynda most was the fact that she was terrified. Terrified of the possibility of him coming back, of the memories and the ghosts that resurfaced because of him, the bandit and the berries and the blood that spattered over her hands…

She had to escape.

"Lynda…?" Navi asked, hesitantly, sensing the power building up, the fear and the need of solitude fuelling the spell.

"I'm sorry," was all she said before Lynda flashed green and disappeared.

The fairy sunk to the floor in shock and grief for being left behind. Her glow flickered and began to shrink, slowly but surely, dieing out.

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Sheik checked up on Lynda's room as soon as it was completely dark, not wanting to alarm anybody of his presence. He didn't know exactly why he was checking up on her, but he was having one of those urges that he couldn't quite suppress, the ones that had started since he'd laid eyes on the Princess in the Lost Woods. They generally involved her too.

Cursing himself for the weakness that just wouldn't go away, he phased through a wall to reach her room, immersing himself in shadow.

He found nothing except for the fading fairy.

"Navi," he commented, unsure whether the dieing light of the fairy meant that she was falling asleep, or in fact, literally dieing. Unwilling to find out practically, Sheik knelt on the floor and pooled all the magic he could possibly gain into his hand and scooped the fairy up with it. Navi gave a protesting whimper, and thankfully her light didn't shrink any further.

"Navi," he uttered her name with purpose this time, "Where's Lynda?"

"I don't know," Navi moaned, and Sheik suddenly thought of a young girl crying, lost and broken and despairing. "She left me, she left without me she's never done that ever, she-"

"It's going to be alright," he whispered, hopefully encouragingly as he fed more magic into his hand, "Navi, you did good calling for help. Nobody could've come any faster if it weren't for you."

"…Really?"

"Really." Sheik repeated, because it seemed to be helping in lightening up the Fairy, and it was simply the truth. If he hadn't heard Navi screaming at the top of her ethereal voice… the results would've been a whole lot less innocuous.

"And I know another way you could help her," he found himself saying, the plan forming in his mind as he spoke, "Two things. Helping Lynda is one thing, the other… how do you feel about revenge?"

"…Why?" Navi sniffed, fluttering her wings to hover over Sheik's hand,

"Pravus, the noble that atta-"

"He is not a noble!" Navi screeched in outrage, her light flashing the brightest orange, "He is a bastard! A nut-job! A sick minded noob! He is a sono, fab, ITCH!"

"…What?"

"Carry on," the fairy huffed, fluttering her wings with dignity, "I've had my rave and now I'm willing to hear the plan on revenge, because I have no grounds against it."

"Well-"

"Wait, isn't the castle going to punish him?"

"About that see-"

"What about Zelda? Or the King, aren't they going to do anything?"

"If you'd jus-"

"Stop your mumbling and get on with it!"

Sheik held back the greatest urge to squash this blue light of holiness and pure light magic before gritting out, "As I was saying before… Pravus, the, bastard, who attacked Lynda. As a… ugh, look he has high status. And that means a lot to these people, as stupid as it sounds. With status comes connections like trade and what-not. So, depending on the connections, or the lack of them his family's got, his punishment can vary."

"Are you saying that-!?"

"Pravus's biggest punishment's going to be demotion from his title, disownment from his treasures and wealth, and exile from this country. That's only if we're extremely lucky."

"Vwat!?"

"I'm sure Zelda's working on it to get it as closely to that as possible-"

"But that's not enough, that-"

"I agree, n-"

"Stop interrupting me!"

Again, that murderous urge. But for Lynda's sake Sheik controlled his shaking fists and gently uncurled them. Goddesses how could the Hero of Time stand this pest?

"Now, what were you saying?"

"I was saying," Sheik strangled out as a vein throbbed madly in his neck, "That you're right, it won't be enough. But Zelda's hands are tied; as a Princess of this castle and the heir to the throne, she can't order an execution. So, I was thinking we call in reinforcements and wreak our own revenge."

Navi seemed to rebuke the idea when she suddenly stopped. She was silent as she vibrated her wings madly, as if she were thinking things through really, really hard. Sheik could almost here the chime in her thoughts as she came to the conclusion of, "You're not serious."

"Oh yes I am," he smirked, like a hungry shark just having found his first piece of easy prey,

"But isn't getting them involved against the rules!? … Are we talking about the same people, you know, just for the record?"

"By the way you're reacting, yes; we're talking about the same people. But think of it this way. It's the month of Light now, so all the others are allowed to do as they please at this point and time. Punishing a villain for a crime against a friend shouldn't count as an abuse of power. I can open a portal for you; they'll lead to all of them in time. Tell them what happened to Lynda and meet up at… I don't know. You decide."

"But what about…?"

"Leave Lynda alone for now; it was what she wanted. But as soon as you've done that, I need you to get the girl Lynda's so fond of, the one she spends time with in the mornings. I'll assign another girl to you, and the three of you are going cheer Lynda up. I can see the rift her portal's left. It's messy, so it should easily-"

"This is no time to be pedantic, soldier!" she yipped, erecting her wings regally, "Now give me the portal to our Generals because I am the Spiritual guide and I need to get them all to discuss our counterattack!"

"Yes ma'am," Sheik smiled as he opened a tunnel in time and space, a tunnel that branched across the four corners of Hyrule.

Navi shot through, and Sheik closed the portal behind her.

That part of the puzzle revealed, Sheik decided to visit the prisoner.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Everything that was worth money had been taken away. Clothes, cutlery, perfume, jewellery, mirror, even paper and ink which could be used for letter writing or bribe. All that was left in his possession was the clothes he wore, and he had been moved to a modest room with only a room and bedside table. There was no lamp, just a measly candle, and a copy of the Book of Mudora, the holy text every respectable child in the country knew about and had learnt some of the historical and legendary text off by heart. The man couldn't believe that the only source of entertainment was something that he'd been forced to read every week at mass…

He distastefully kicked at the foot of the bed, bored out of his mind.

"My, my, Pravus," a voice snickered in the empty room, "You're quite the impatient thing aren't you?"

The noble whirled and met a man leaning against the wall of his prison, a cloth mask over his nose and an eye covered with a fringe. The red eye and the attire of his people Pravus remembered well.

"What are you doing here, sentesan?"

"Are you really in the position to be acting like that?" Sheik asked back curiously, cocking his head to the side, "I mean, nearly violating the Royal Princess of Hyrule… you've got guts, I'll give you that,"

Pravus's eyelid twitched at the teasing tone. "I repeat; what are you doing here? Answer me!"

The Sheikah screwed his eyes shut in pain, and his breath hitched at the sudden intrusion of magic. But slowly his own power seeped through the bonds, easing the hold, getting his muscular control back.

With great relish, Sheik replied, "No."

The noble's grey eyes widened. "What!?"

Sheik snickered. "Don't get your cape in a twist, my Lord, I was only kidding,"

Red eyes narrowed; a shark-like grin grew under the cowl. "I was just wondering how you were spending your last hours of health and sanity, is all."

Pravus watched the Sheikah carefully and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Sheik shrugged smugly. "Oh, just saying that as Royalty, and considering her past, Princess Lynda has a lot of friends. I wonder what they'll do to you once they find out what you did?"

The noble snorted and snickered. "That's a good one, harlot. But don't you see; this may be a chance for me. If I had, as you so delicately put it, violated her, the King would be far too happy to give her to me. A spoilt woman would be worthless; I'm sure nobody would have her except for me, since I've tasted her first…"

Sheik's lip twitched upwards. "Sorry, but she's still pure, as the castle gents would like to put it."

"It doesn't matter; do you really think the castle will prosecute me because of the faults on the servants' part? They were the ones who dressed her so unjustly, and it was the Queen who hosts your kind of profession. I don't think the king would dare."

"Nonetheless, you hurt her." Sheik stated bluntly, "You're going to pay for it."

"Maybe, but not much," Pravus waved his hand airily, grinning smugly, "I'll still have my title, I'll still have my coffer of riches in my mansion, even if it'll deplete by a couple of pegs…"

Sheik burst out laughing, and the madness and glee it held made Pravus nervous. The slave-boy calmed down after a while, a tear of mirth touching the corner of his eye. "Oh, you have no idea… no idea…" he cackled, shaking his head sympathetically, "Pravus, you're screwed. You really, really are."

"You will refer to me as Lord, slave. You have no right to speak to me like this," Pravus snarled, grey eyes narrowing, "You're but a mere servant! Kneel on the floor, where you belong!" The noble pointed his finger to the floor to emphasise the point.

Again, Sheik said with relish, "No."

Pravus's jaw went slack.

"Because, you see, I have connections you'd only dream of having. I know all about your little exploits, Lord Sceleris, and I know you've been very busy. Logging in the north-west corner of the Lost woods, mining in the underbelly of Death Mountain to avoid paying the Gorons, I heard you hired some bandits to raid a Gerudo encampment, but I'm guessing it didn't work out so well. Good thing you haven't begun to leech off the Zoras, because then you would've been in much deeper shit than you already are."

Then Sheik cocked his head to the side as he thought over his speech and watched Pravus go pale at the same time, "But then again, I find it hard to comprehend a worse scenario at this point and time…"

"Do you really think that the King will believe you?" Pravus hissed, glaring at the Sheikah, "You, a filthy, worthless, whore? You're lower than the peasant; your word would worth dust!"

"Not to the Holy Sages."

"Phah! The Priests of Time will never invite a Sheikah into their-"

"You misunderstood me. I meant the Holy Sages. As in, the ones you heard so much about in the Book of Mudora. Yes, given my past they would be reluctant to trust me, but once they hear what you've done to their territory, their resources, their people and would-have-been-fiancé, I think they'd be willing to work with me. Oh, and I'm telling you this not to warn you, or give you advice on how to get away with it. I'm just here to torment you about how stuffed you are."

Pravus laughed. He was about to say something condescending when he yelped and took a step back, finding the Sheikah standing right in front of him.

"And here's something else: You hurt the Hero of Time. You, will, pay."

Then there was a flash of light and Sheik disappeared. Pravus gave a nervous shiver before ordering someone to get him ready for sleep.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Pravus woke up from his sleep dazed and frightened, as if he'd experienced a nightmare he couldn't recollect. His body shivered at the faint recollections of shadows and demons, of rows and rows of gleaming white teeth that howled into the moon as they ripped prey apart. The nobleman ordered candles to be lit, to stave off the dim of predawn.

Somehow this day, he was afraid of the dark.

Breakfast in the form of fruit, water and bread was provided, and Pravus ate hungrily. But upon eating his third grape he coughed, gagged and spluttered, air trapped in his lungs as he struggled with his throat, and only when he thought he was going to die, a giant gnat shot through his mouth, rolling dead onto the floor.

Pravus screamed. "How dare you!" he whirled onto the servants, all women, and they cowered. "That insect nearly poisoned me! Do you enjoy seeing a noble in pain? Do you think it funny to see me suffer!? YOU!"

A woman flinched under the finger that pointed at her and nodded acknowledgment. "Why not have a sample?"

The servant carefully lifted a grape and slipped it into her mouth, waiting for a gnat or something big and crawly to scuttle down her throat. Instead, it was the best thing she'd ever tasted.

She gave back the bowl, and Pravus reached for an apple. Its stem cut his thumb, instantly drawing blood.

"Argh!"

The bowl was tossed to the floor with a resounding ring, and the fruit scattered around the floor, half of them visibly rotten. With an enraged shout the Pravus declared, "I'll have all your heads for this!"

They fled, promises of painful punishment for the injustice ringing in their ears. Once they were gone, Pravus grabbed the goblet full of water and swallowed it down, muttering curses to himself. He knuckled his lips and poured himself another cup of water, thirsty. He finished it. He wanted more. He poured another and another, but water bit into his throat, stealing the dampness, deepening his thirst. And his hands, his hands, they were so cold from the liquid, burning like ice, freezing him to the bone…

He pushed the empty goblet away from himself and it shattered on the floor, leaving him gasping for water, anything to quench his cursed throat, and warmth, he wanted warmth, the chill from the water had spread through his veins, stealing heat from his very blood.

He ordered wine, despite the early morning and ordered firewood for the hearth.

The grumbling servants brought them, and the fire was stoked.

"Leave," Pravus muttered, and everybody left, talking amongst themselves, about how the Lord didn't seemed fazed about the fact that he was ordering around the Princess's servants, the one he'd sent into hiding the last night, the one that came back soaking wet and cold, her eyes haunted, the one that had her smile taken from her, that smile and laugh and friendliness that all the lowly folk of the castle had come to share and love…

The grumbles were turning to resentment.

Pravus shivered as he knelt by the fire, adding more wood to the flames. Feeling impatient and shivery, Pravus pulled the bed-sheets around his form, huddling near the fire as close as he dared. But the warmth would not come; the sweat formed, but he was still shivering, so cold, so cold, it was like the dancing flames were shunning him of the delightful warmth…

Nonsense, Pravus told himself as he added two more hefty logs into the fire, if that were the case, that would mean the water wasn't doing its job to quench him and the plants… it was just a fluke.

But what if, what if, the flames sang to him, orange tongues licking at his nerves, what if this was a curse; a warning form the spirits, the great punishment the Sheikah told you about? You're such a loser, loser, loser; you're such a loser…

"Shut up!" Pravus screamed at the singing flames, and he tried grabbing at them, to steal their warmth to utilize one of the roaring embers, and he screamed again at the burning agony, the coal and wood seething right through the sheets and into his hands. The fire grabbed on and latched onto the linen, and soon he was a ball of flames.

His screaming alerted the guards and they quickly doused him out. They began to have the sneaking suspicion that this Prince was lost in the mind.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Light flashed; the darkness parted and ushered out two and a half figures before closing, leaving them in the middle of the Lost Woods.

None of them were really happy to be there.

Navi fluttered nervously, not familiar with the part of the Forest. It didn't help that she had two Hylians under her care, the one named Pell and another one called Yana, although Navi had no clue why she was sticking around. Well, Sheik had recommended her, so it had to be for something important, surely?

Trust Sheik, Navi told herself, There's no time for worries now.

"This way," the fairy instructed firmly, "Now don't get lost; you'll end up something nasty if you don't."

Pell gulped bravely and strode on, coat billowing around her. Yana jumped and lunged after Pell, barely stopping herself from latching onto the servant girl's elbow, fearing the prospect of 'nasty'. Instead she tightened the hold she had on her cloak, stepping uncomfortably closely to the servant girl. Navi followed the distinct feel of Lynda's aura, something the Hylians would think it coloured as midnight, with tiny moons flickering in and out of stringy clouds. The moons used to be a lot bigger and the stringy midnight clouds had been a lot thinner, but that had changed over the lost seven years and the time she spent growing up; it had changed deeply two years ago, at the Incident…

Navi pushed on a little faster, refusing to let Lynda alone longer. It had taken over half an hour to gather everyone in an isolated patch in the field and tell them what had happened. Impa had already known, and took the meeting gravely. Nabooru had been livid. Ruto had been horrified. Darunia had been enraged.

Nobody could've matched Saria's wrath, though.

After a heated discussion between Impa and Nabooru about whether it was against regulations to attack the Lord with their sagely powers, Impa had said she would not get involved and had teleported away. Only then did Sheik come, providing information that would've backed them up on their reasons of attack.

Saria wasn't there to listen. She had already stormed the castle in her spiritual form, placing traps anywhere and everywhere.

Navi wondered why there was so much mistrust between the Sages and Sheik, but the fairy dismissed it for now, concentrating solely on finding Lynda.

"… This place smells of bad eggs," Pell noted, screwing her face at the odour,

"And it's awfully humid," Yana added, still not quite sure why Sheik had ordered her to accompany the Princess's 'rescue mission'…

"Oh no," was Navi's reply, and she zoomed forward to a distant noise, something the Hylian's hadn't noticed until it had grown in volume.

They scrambled after the fairy, fearing the woods, its hidden secrets, the dark, and were swallowed by roaring steam and the hideous stench of rotten eggs. They had arrived at a natural spring, fed by the underside of Death Mountain and its volcanic heat.

Navi saw the Princess first, submerged in the heated waterfall that fed into the steaming lake. "Lynda!"

There wasn't even a twitch from the figure in the water.

"Can one of you get to her?!" Navi pleaded hysterically, "I can't, I can't go through solid things without help usually water's okay but the force of the fall would tear my wings apart and I can't help without my wings but it'd be okay for you because you have proper bodies and-"

"Navi, it's alright, I'll go, don't worry," Pell soothed, cupping the distressing fairy in her hands, gently guiding her in Yana's way, "Keep her safe while I'm going."

"A-al-alright," Yana stuttered worriedly, her eyes flicking to the left and right. She watched Pell sit at the edge and remove her boot and socks. She bunched up her skirt and tied a knot to keep it above the water, revealing an almost indecent amount of legs. The servant girl warily looked at the steaming water. If the Princess could bear it, surely she could? It couldn't be that bad…

Pell dipped her foot in, and gave a scream-like yelp as she retracted. The appendage was already red from the heat.

Pell scrambled from the lip of the lake, horrified. "Just how long has she been in there?"

"This heat won't burn her, she's tougher than that," Navi replied shakily,

"But it means none of us can get in," Yana pointed out shakily, fearing the possibility of the fairy ordering her to go into the hot water. The glowing orb had magical authority behind, and compared to that, what was she? It wouldn't matter to anyone if she got severely burnt in the water. After all, she was just a prostitute.

"No! I'm not letting her get away with this!" Navi burst through the air, screaming the Princess's name.

The Hylians had no time to even cry out before the frail fairy plunged into the vicious currents.

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The water soothed her, having gotten used to it overpowering heat.

Lynda sat in the middle of the torrent that hammered down on her shoulders, streaming through her hair, surging across her nightgown. She was safe in the liquid walls, safe from the cold, from the touch of any man or woman, from everything that existed. The intense heat burned away the sense of touch, and she was blissfully numb to the bruises on her arms, the old scars on her body from Termina, Holodrum, the Windfish's island.

She hugged her knees as her forehead perched on the peak of her legs, the spring teasing over the bridge of her nose and her lashes. Solitude was her friend.

"Liiii…nnnn…daaa…"

Lynda gave a watery sigh as she wondered vaguely who that was. Her head felt so dim from the water and its temperature… what would happen if she fainted…?

"Lynda!"

Hearing her name, the Princess tilted her head squinting through the wavering wall. That blue light… Was it…

It tried to plunge through the wall. It was thrown into the lake and its jagged rocks instead.

"NAVI!!"

The Princess lurched forward and the lake slapped her face and stomach, clawed at her eyes for opening them, and her Navi, dearest Navi was being spun around like a rag doll, her tissue delicate wings being torn asunder…

"NO!"

Lynda's hands cupped around the light, and she rushed up to the surface, gasping and tears streaming at the bitter night air and the sodden remains of her fairy, her longest friend, her only friend, sorry, so sorry she didn't mean any of this to happen…

"Navi," Lynda sobbed, "Navi, Navi don't do this to me, please you left me once already please don't do this to me, please, please, Navi, c'mon please…"

Navi's right wing gave a twitch. "M gla, yer… 'ka…" the fairy slurred, and Lynda sobbed again. "Hey… lis'n, y'g… friends…Pel'n'Yin…ah…"

"You first, Navi, you first," Lynda murmured, begging the mark on her hand to work, she knew she hadn't been that courageous lately and she was sorry, she was sorry, just work, please work, she promised she'd be good, do good, go over every quest as Hero of Time a hundred times if she had to, just please, please, save her…

Her left hand glowed, and gently, Navi's wings knitted and re-grew, tougher, longer, elegant and majestic. Navi grunted, and her wings twitched again. But they were too sodden to lift just yet. Lynda didn't mind.

"Hey," Navi muttered sleepily, "If you let me sleep a mo, I'll forgive you?"

"Please do, Navi," the Princess sighed, a spilling to the lake, "Anything for you."

"There're some people who think the same for you, too, you know, just on the bank there," Navi sighed back, her wings curling around her light, completely encasing it, like a paper lantern that could sit perfectly in the hollow of Lynda's palm. Navi had never slept like that before.

Lynda looked up and saw Pell with a girl she had never seen before, an unfamiliar face that was slowly dawning with understanding. Pell huffed and brought her fists to her hips, a tired grin hitched on her face. "My, my, Princess," she teased, "No boiled shrimp in all of the world could match your scarlet hue."

Lynda had enough decency to blush, but it was impossible to tell because of the afore mentioned skin-colour. She shivered in the cool night breeze and to top it all off, gave a trumpeting sneeze. Pell winced. "Come up here darling, you can have my coat."

"And my cloak," Yana added helping the Princess up from the bank, carefully manoeuvring around the sleeping fairy. The two girls quickly dressed Lynda up, and while she was dizzy and had pins and needles all over her body, they decided it was not in her interests to be moving just yet. They huddled on the lip of the lake, and Lynda murmured an apology.

"Excuse me," she added apologetically, "Do I know you?"

"No," Yana replied, "My name is Yana, and… I was sent here to console you, I think."

Lynda lifted an inquisitive eyebrow and Yana continued, "I… I believe I know what you're going through, Princess, because… I… I am, was, well…"

"It …happened to you, too…?"

Yana nodded painfully, "I just want you to know, that this is not our shame. We cannot help being women, and we cannot help being a little disadvantaged physically compared to men. But my mother used to tell me something. That, we, as women, we should be proud. The goddesses made us first. They took a rib from us and made man, to protect us, to keep us fed, to ensure our wellbeing. We are the image of the Goddesses."

Yana looked at Lynda and gave a smile that flashed white in the night. "Master Pravus will be punished, Princess. If not by the Royal highness, if not by us servants, it would be by the goddesses. And the Triforce, too."

Lynda took some comfort in that, and sneezed.

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"Pravus Sceleris. From this day on, you are exiled form this country, and all your estates on this lands shall be pillaged and destroyed. Leave this court at once."

The man gave a feverish nod and his servants helped him turn and walk out the door, trying to avoid touching the clothes that were soaking in sweat. After the accident in his room he had been advised to walk through the gardens to take a break, and it had been the worst walk in his entire life.

The roses he tried to pick cut him. The trees he tried to rest under either dropped all kinds of bugs, seeds, fruits and pods on him, or whispered menacing promises of poison, staring him away. Some pollen from a flower had made him sneeze and his eyes water, fruit juice tasted sour and off, bees stung him, gnats bit him, birds did their business on his shoulder. He was glad to leave the castle and its country. Glad beyond measure to escape.

Sheik smirked as the doors closed behind the noble. The curse of the Forest would follow him to the last breathe. The bad news for him that he was going to live. The worst news was that his life would most-likely end right at the border of the country. The other sages had decided to let Saria do the rest of the revenging, but Sheik wasn't so generous when it came to those things.

The Sheikah brought up the image of Pravus in his mind and muttered some spells under his breath. His words promised nightmares. Despair with each step, for every sort of loss Pravus had ever endured. Irrational fear of the dark. Hate towards human touch.

Because that was what Lynda had gone through. And that bastard was going to pay.

"Savir."

The teenager didn't jump. He turned and met cold-blood. "Hello."

"You did that to him, didn't you."

"Me?" Sheik asked, as he subtly cut pieces off of his shadow, pulling them over his skin, shaping them as they crawled over his flesh, "You must be mistaken."

Impa frowned. "Show me your binds, Savir."

Sheik pretended to resent the order before rolling up his sleeves, where all the links to his chains were there. Impa's frown deepened, and Sheik, rolling his eyes, pulled the collar of his tunic down, revealing the fully functioning marks around his neck and throat.

"See?" he said, "No magic."

Impa still looked suspicious but she turned in the end, walking away.

Sheik smirked wider, his eyes wild with savage triumph. He lifted his wrist and half of the marks dripped and melted, sliding over his skin, pooling into his shadow once more. The same went for his throat, the cool shadow slithering under his shirt to drip down onto the ground, melting into his shadow. He was bound, but he could use his magic again.

Unbeknownst to Zelda, Sheik was laughing.

Ni aigh, Ruyelte. Ni aigh. That was what he had said. One day, Lords. One day.

He had control once more. This was the day.


Hmmm... Sheik doesn't seem to be doing much 'Healing'... ah, well. Hopefully it'll be in the next chapter. And I'm itching fo rcuteness. I want CUTENESS!!

And reviews, please. Wuv yuuuuu!