Sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I have a really good reason to have been so late on hte update. The reason is, I was sick. Really sick. Runny nose, fever, hacking coughs, the works. And I would really, really like to write down all the replies on the chapter itself, but like, seventen people reviewed the last chapter.

SEVENTEEN PEOPLE! I love you guys so much! Yuuuuuusss!

Anyway, yeah. So I can't do anything about it. Sorry dudes. I'll try to put in the replies when I update the next chapter, or just plainly reply through the reply-to-review network they have here. Sorry guys.

And again, sorry. This chapter is mainly fluff, because there were a few requests of fluff. It DOES make the story prgress somewhat, so it's not useless fluff, okay?

Um, please review?

And enjoy!

Opening doors

Sheik woke up to the morning sun streaming into his eyes, and offensively he blinked his ruby orbs. He lifted himself up, bare copper chest stiff from sleep, a soft groan escaping his throat. He looked to the side, and the bed-sheets were turned up and the mattress disturbed. For a second he forgot who had been there, and then as if to remind him the door to the adjoining washroom opened.

"Awake?" a woman teased, honey hair a mess as it wavered down to her waist, white nightgown hugging her slender and supple form.

Sheik smiled at her blue eyes, seeing nothing else. "Dressed?" he teased back, beckoning her to come to him. She grinned boyishly as she did so, hugging his bare chest with a doting sigh, his fingers combing through her tresses as he murmured into her forehead, "Where's Navi?"

The woman scoffed. "Not even a good morning or a how are you, is that it?"

The Sheikah chuckled, and the woman blushed at his rippling flesh. "What, can't I wonder how long I'll have you to myself? That sister of yours can be quite protective…"

She trembled as his lips ghosted over her neck and jaw, delightful submission pulling her mouth. "You do have me though…"

"Not enough."

Possessively, his arms circled around her waist and pressed her against his body. He buried his nose into her shoulder, her scent wafting through him. "Not nearly enough."

His Princess smiled tolerantly. "I love you, Savir."

Her hands, slowly but surely softening from the harsh life of swords and travel cupped his face, lifted him up, and her lips carefully brushed his. The kiss was gentle and strangely firm; his tense shoulder muscles relaxed as her fingers worked on them, pressing down hard just in the right places, having practiced the procedures on her own stressed body through the months of fighting in temples and monsters.

He wanted her.

Then somebody knocked on the door. Relentlessly. Impatiently.

Sheik woke up for real this time, hugging an overlarge pillow to his chest.

"Savir!" A woman's voice. Or a girl. It was hard to tell with her. "Come on, we're going to be late."

Panicking, he threw the pillow across the room and scrambled away in the opposite direction. His hands caught air, air rushed and his head collided with the floor and stars were everywhere as he cussed short, sweet, but loud. Another voice cried "HEY!"

He'd been hugging a pillow in his sleep. Holy gods he'd been hugging a pillow in his sleep the pillow was one thing but hugging it was totally another, oh Din, Din, why did you have to turn the world upside down and leave him in the middle of it? Where did that dream come from anyway coupled with that dream and the pillow and the damned stupid hugging he might as well be some love-sick obsessive teenager.

Wait. Wasn't he a teenager?

"Coming," he remembered to say as he scrambled upright, the room spinning as he stood. Gods, he'd forgotten that he'd turned nineteen only a few months before Lynda turned eighteen. "And don't call me that when people might be around!"

…Wow, since when was he that young? He had been so sure he was at least seven years older…

He opened the door and the reason for his sudden change in behaviour grinned up at him. "And here I woke up with Navi telling me I have a lazy butt."

Sheik grunted and scratched at his hair, asking what was wrong when Lynda gave him an odd look. "It's just… you hadn't taken off that cowl yet."

Oh. Right. "I don't think the castle's ready to see my dead eye from the wolfos attack, don't you think?"

Lynda scoffed and rolled her eyes and Navi giggled. "We both know for a fact that didn't happen, so why pretend?"

"I'm a mysterious bastard, remember? I have to live up to my reputation."

"You call scared servants a 'reputation'?"

"It's all I have," Sheik replied with a shrug as he closed the door. "And my privacy, until you barged in on me last night. Not that I don't appreciate you freeing me, but… wait, how'd you even know where I was?"

"Oh, I followed this." She lifted her left hand and the Triforce glowed on the back. "It worked quite a bit like a compass, which was cool,"

"Uhuh. And where did you get the Ocarina of Time? I thought that thing was guarded under magic and traps and gods know what else."

"It was?" Lynda asked simply, and Navi replied, "It was."

Lynda gave her fairy a withering look. "Why didn't you mention anything?"

"It was all tied to your blood heritage. As far as the traps were concerned you didn't exist. Maybe you would've existed once you had the Ocarina and tried to get out the same way, but you used Furore's wind and left me there, so, meh, I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"Right…"

"How did you even know I was under bonds?" Sheik continued, "Or how to release me? I've been working on that for the last five years and more, what-"

"Does it matter?" Lynda asked back exasperatedly, "You're free now; you can leave anytime you want, and you can go anywhere you want and do anything you like. Going stabbity against the King, for instance."

Sheik couldn't help but think it was a good idea. But he still couldn't let go of the fact that in his opinion, it did matter how Lynda had freed him. After all, it had been her father, the King who had taken away his freedom, bound him to the Royal family for life as servant or slave. It had been her mother, the Queen, who decided he would make an excellent attraction for the nobles of the castle and had taken the right to keep his body to himself. And Zelda, she had taken his chance for escape, taken his identity, heck he'd once been killed because of her.

And now, now Lynda had grabbed his affections. She'd taken his heart.

Sheik sighed as he followed her down the hall. The funny thing was, he actually didn't mind, this time.

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

The knife just kept on poking and it was driving her mad. She batted it away with her sword and lunged, and the blades locked again before the other pulled away to poke her again. Again!

"Gods stop it!" she screeched, cleaving her weapon in a horizontal arc, making the air around it whistle. Her opponent leapt back, forward, and poked.

"Not until you get your guard right." He responded, jumping back, forward, poking, nudging, always to her right, always too quick for her. "You're faster than this, this should be easy."

"Just stop poking me!"

"This is what happens when you rely on your shield too much, your Highness."

"Don't get distracted Lynda! Keep your legs moving he's right your faster than him you can do this you can do this you can do this!"

Lynda rolled to avoid getting poked and leapt, constantly moving, constantly hitting but always retaliated by the shorter blade, step, hit, step, hit, block, block, block, block. The weapons cried out with every strike, singing their deadly song.

"Good, good," Sheik murmured, shuffling backwards as Lynda pushed on, blade jumping everywhere, refusing to give him a break to cut through, "Offence is the greatest defence, good, good, I could've got you there,"

"Oh shut up!" she caught his blade with her own and flung it upwards, jerking his arm with the move and she rolled under to his bare back and she slashed but he back-flipped over her head and his knife gently pricked the back of her neck, gently nudging through the white undershirt.

"If you were going for the kill, you would've been better off just stabbing me in the chest." Sheik pointed out.

"Wasn't this exercise supposed to help me avoid doing that to real people?" she replied carefully, trying not lean forwards of backwards, least the gesture got misunderstood by Sheik for lack of attention.

"Precisely. I commend you for it, but just because we're concentrating on your sword skills, that doesn't mean we have to stick to it."

"What does that supposed to mean?"

"Improvise," Sheik stated, retracting his blade from her neck, "The perfect example is what you did with the shield when we fought four weeks ago. You know, how you kicked it off the ground and bashed me with it?"

Lynda guiltily turned and muttered, "Did I mention I was sorry I did that?"

Sheik shrugged, tilting his head to the side as if to say he'd forgotten about it. "Nevertheless, that was some good improvising, and if you hadn't noticed, it had nothing to do with your sword. So, perhaps instead of stabbing me in the front, you could've perhaps kicked me, tackled me, just something quick and blunt on the spot. By rolling, you gave me time to recover."

"… I'm still thinking that I was supposed to win without hurting you, wasn't I?"

Sheik sighed and Navi giggled. "Just… let me get a broadsword or something, and I'll teach you the gist of disarming, deal?"

Lynda grinned. "Oh yeah, I so won that one."

He rolled his eyes and turned, saying, "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Princess."

Sheik ducked and spun, bringing his knife up to block Lynda's blow, and for a second the soldiers around them paused in their training, wondering whether sparks had flown.

"Damn it!"

He grinned. "Now, now, your royal Majesty, what did I tell you about taunts?"

"I hate you."

"I'm just doing my duty, dear damsel in distress."

"Gods, I hate you, and I wish some Stalfos will tear you apart."

Sheik chuckled, and Lynda smiled.

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

Zelda wasn't angry. She was furious.

Why hadn't her sister acknowledged her warning!? Didn't Lynda understand just how much a danger he was!? Now that Sheik was free and was able to do what he pleased with his magic… Zelda shuddered to think about a reoccurrence of the Lost Seven Years.

The Princess marched up to the Sheikah's room, promptly knocked before entering and closing the door. Sheik cocked his eyebrows, bare-chested apart from some bandages that wrapped his abdomen and shoulder, his cowl flimsily wrapped around his jaw. His trousers were beige and loose. Zelda would've betted her Kingdom that he had several knives hidden against his legs.

"I'll take your word for it when you say, 'it's not what it looks like'," Sheik commented wryly, turning away to look for a clean shirt.

Zelda flared up heatedly and hissed, "What are you planning?"

"I haven't a clue on what you're talking about," Sheik ho-hummed, a smug smile curling his lip, "Although I was going to suggest a visit to the Forest Temple to your sister, since she hasn't met the Sage there for a while…"

"You…!"

Sheik turned his head to look at her and smiled. "Say what you will, Zelda. Lynda won't change her mind about me."

"Well I wonder why?" Zelda spat, hate burning in her eyes as he fished out a blue tunic from his messy bed, "Maybe it's because she's honest and trusting and honourable unlike you. Or maybe it's because you've wound your spell over her, with your mystery and stories and power."

"And good looks," Sheik also commented, turning around fully dressed, letting her have a good look at his person. "Although, I must say I'm quite modest when it comes to my visage…"

"Enough of this, Sheik; I know my sister and once she finds out about what you did under Ganondorf's rule…"

"Oh, I've already told her that," Sheik commented rather brightly, delighting in the appalled expression the Sage of Time gave him, "I think she didn't really mind. Well, she did mind, of course, since it was her friends that were affected, but she reckons the past is past. Ain't she such an idiot?"

Zelda growled at the fond tone Sheik had used. "If you hurt her…!"

"After seeing what the Sages could do? You must be deluded." Sheik scoffed, adjusting his cowl, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Lynda expects me at her room soon. She's organizing some interviews, and she wants the list of servants as soon as possible."

Zelda thrust her arm in his way, and effectively Sheik bumped into it. He growled.

The princess stared him in the eye, opening her mouth a little to take a deep breath, deliberately stating her words slowly, "Savir Varekai, I order you to stay away from Princess Lynda Harkinian."

Sheik grinned under his mask, a savage glint clear in his visible eye, "And Lynda knew about that too. Your puppet has lost its strings, Princess. And it walks freely with a heart black as pitch." He raised his hand to emphasise the point, making three triangles burn against his skin, "Oh, and Lynda knows about this too. It's nice having the Hero of Time on your side, don't you think?"

Sheik gently lowered Zelda's stiff arm and walked away, a gentle skip in his steps.

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

A severe knock rapped against her door, and Lynda moaned tiredly.

"Navi," she pleaded, "Can you please answer that for me, I'm nearly finished."

The fairy scoffed. "It's not like you're feet's held down…"

"But if I move everybody else would have to move!"

Navi rolled her non-existent eyes before fluttering over to the door and looking through the rather large key-hole. "Uh-oh. Lynda, you might want to finish real quick because I'm seeing red."

Lynda sighed irritably before shouting out, "Come in!"

The door opened and an armoured body stepped in, eyes just as severe as the knock scanning the room, red as Din's hand, ageless as a stone. Impa recoiled once she stepped in, blinking in surprise at the sight before her. Chairs in a circle. Girls plaiting each other's hair. All of them looking mildly guilty. Exempting Lynda, of course.

The Princess finished winding the cord of hard leather around a servant girl's plait, and picked up one of her expensive ribbons from the floor, red satin with specks of emerald dusting the edges. Lynda's eyes did not for once leave her work as she muttered, "Hi, Impa, how are you?"

The nursemaid/bodyguard nodded. "Well, Princess, if not a little troubled."

"It's Lynda. Do I have to brainwash you too?" The Princess replied, rolling her eyes as she tied the pretty ribbon over the cord, "Anyway, you came to talk, right? What's going on? It's finished Ana, I hope you like it. I did get your name right, right?"

"Yes, your… Lynda." The girl, presumably fourteen, giggled shyly. "Are you sure, though? I saw the ribbon and it looked-"

"Very nice on you," Lynda assured, as she relaxed back in her stool to let the servant girl behind her finish, "How's it going, Stella?"

"Oh, I could make it better if you-"

"Nonsense." The fairy replied for her sister, fluttering her wings prettily, "You've done great work; I think it looks a lot nicer than what Lynda did. But don't worry Ana; she didn't make your head a mess."

"Nyargh," Lynda retorted, sticking her tongue out.

Impa twitched. "Your Highness, there are many matters to discuss, perhaps…"

"Okay," Lynda sighed, "Sorry guys, I think we should be going." She bent down and picked up two ribbons, both a different colour, but definitely exquisite and expensive. "Take these to finish off, alright?"

It took a few minutes to persuade them to take the pieces of cloth, but Lynda eventually had her way. Lynda waved as she closed the door, Impa watching silently, noting how the servants, all young, around fifteen, sixteen, had smiled in a way they only did around true friends.

"Princess," Impa stated, cutting right down to the chase, "I wish to discuss your recent decisions with you, concerning the servants and guards."

"Oh, them? They were just braiding hair, what's so wrong?" Navi swirled around Lynda's head, and placed herself on her shoulder, ready to advise.

The Old Sheikah woman crossed her arms across her chest, "The shifting of positions is something you should not be doing with your whim, your highness. Ian Mayne's retirement was to happen in two years; you must consult-"

"Ian worked hard, and he deserved a break. He has a granddaughter my age, and I gave him enough rupees to not be a bother to his family. Why is that such a problem?"

"There are replacements to consider, and the replacement of replacements. Men eager to serve and trained hard may resent your quick and favouring decisions, your highness."

Lynda turned and frowned. "You mean Savir?"

Impa nodded. "I believe it best that-"

"I know he worked for Ganondorf in the past, if that's what you're going to tell me. And I don't blame him."

Impa's expression did not change at the stubborn stance the Princess took, and the open glare she used. "So you trust him."

There was no hesitation to her tone as she stated. "I'd trust him with my life and Navi's."

"Princess…"

"Why don't you?" Lynda suddenly asked, "You're his aunt! You're family! I just… I don't get it!"

Impa lowered her face and bit her lip, never changing her stance. "So Savir has mentioned our connection. Has he said anything else?"

Lynda shook her head, looking miffed and annoyed. Navi perched on Lynda's shoulder and stroked her wings against her cheek in a form of comfort, and a reluctant smile twitched the Princess's lips.

Impa raised her eyes to Lynda and said, "I was the King's mistress."

Lynda's smile was wiped off. Navi squeaked.

"Of course the King dropped his… 'Habits', when Zelda, and you, were born. I was appointed as Nursemaid so his Majesty could avoid suspicion of hiring a Sheikah, and Sheik had come with me. He was to be one of your personal guards but…"

"He's my personal guard now. If that was what was supposed to happen, it's happened now. I don't see the problem."

Impa gave an aggravated sigh. "Princess…"

"It's Lynda!" she lashed out, grinding her teeth, "And I'm sick of people telling me what to do with him, okay!? If you're so worried, then talk to him yourself!"

She stormed to the door ripped open and then promptly crashed into someone. "Oof!"

They both stumbled, and Sheik rubbed his nose warily, wincing when he touched it. "You have one hard forehead, you know that?"

"You have a harder… everything!" Lynda whined from the floor, having tripped over from the collision. "And you're taller!"

Sheik cocked the visible eyebrow and crossed his arms. It reminded her of Impa. "Snappy today, aren't we?"

"She had an argument," Navi stated unnecessarily when Impa immerged from the room. The fairy also saw that Zelda had arrived, looking heavily tempted to blow the place up. Her aura was flaring black as pitch around her usual calm blue, like the sky was suddenly getting devoured by tentacles and flames of ink. Resentment was clear in Sheik's purple shades, stabbing Zelda's aura with sharp hostility, dark wine teeth barred against the black.

All his orange, the gentle warmth, was extended to Lynda and Lynda alone, not even to his supposed aunt. Lynda's midnight clouds were roiling near the Sheikah nursemaid, flicking irritably like a distressed shore, as her honey butter moons swayed under the discontent, slowly resurfacing as Sheik helped her up. Impa's red and grey slipped all over the place, the colour of blood and mistrust mingling with the steel of uneasy relief and sorrow, wondering whether she had been wrong or right or simply ignorant of everything and nothing.

"Wow," Navi commented, "This is quite the party."

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

When Sheik opened the door the next morning, he blinked.

Lynda was standing there, snuffling. Snuffling, for Din's sake, snuffling!

"Hero…" they had come to a mutual agreement. He would stick to titles, but it had to be titles she liked. So it was Hero. "What happened?"

"They plucked me. Like a chicken."

Sheik was lost beyond compare. "…Eh?"

"They plucked me, like a chicken! A cucco for a roast! Only they didn't have the decency to kill me! They plucked! Me! Chicken! Cucco!"

"Narf," Navi added, to emphasise Lynda's distress.

"You seem fine to me…?"

"See! See!" Lynda screeched, pointing accusingly at his eyes, "I went through all that twitchy spots and pain and redness and he doesn't even notice!"

"I think that's because you told them to stop." Navi pointed out.

"But it should make a difference anyway! All those twitchiness and pain for nothing! Nothing!"

"Hero…" gods only knew how close he had been in calling her princess… "What are you talking about?"

"My eyebrows!"

She tapped her forehead pointedly, and Sheik finally noticed that she had indeed gotten her eyebrows neatened. Not by much, but it did look a lot neater. Sheik cocked one of his own eyebrows, untouched by tweezers of all kinds. "That's it. You're wailing over something that you should have pain tolerance to overcome. Oh, my, Din."

"Oh, so you're telling me you know monsters that periodically pull your hair out? From your eyelids? Nothing had ever come close to my face except…"

Sheik saw how she hesitated, averted her eyes at some dark memory or fear. He felt his chest twang at the sudden vulnerability the Princess held, and gently, carefully, he placed a hand on her bicep. "Why did you let them do it?"

Lynda came back to the present and growled. "Because it's not proper for a Princess to look unkempt when she's going to be meeting suitors in the next couple of months!"

Sheik smirked. "That's not a reason, Lynda."

Lynda huffed and said, "They said it wouldn't hurt, which was a total lie, and when I had enough and looked in the mirror it looked really lopsided. So I had to let them do it. And I really can't stab them with my hairpins, can I?"

Lynda's bodyguard had enough decency to look relatively guilty about that comment and added, "You're the younger twin, so you won't be bothered as much as Zelda. The suitors the King would approve of would be families with 'good' names, mostly old so; you could always challenge them into proving their worth?"

A dangerous grin formed on her lips. Sheik found himself grinning right back. "You're saying that I can fight them?"

"Oh yeah," Sheik replied offhandedly, "No problem with that, as long as you keep the humiliation to the minimum."

"Hey, both of you, your evil-mood-aura reeks real bad. You think you could tone it down?"

Lynda laughed wickedly at Navi's attempt to calm them down. She cracked her knuckles against her palm, fires of mischief clear in her sea-coloured eyes, "Oh, they're so going to regret naming me Healer."

"I think it fits," Sheik said with a shrug, looking the other way as he did so, "Ganondorf came and broke the land. You came and fixed it. Healer. Zelda will fight through the politicians and the aristocrats and build this country to greatness. Woman warrior."

"Huh," Navi said, "That's got a nice ring to it."

"Since when were you so good with names?" Lynda asked, curiously looking at Sheik's face. He looked down at the corridor as they continued to walk, and when he turned there was that spark, a tiny light in his otherwise dark and secretive eyes, as if, he was finally opening the door to his heart a bit.

Sheik gave her a smile that she had never seen, a smile he had yet to uncover to her. "The name 'Lynda' is a Hylian version of 'Jihnde' a Sheikah name."

Lynda marvelled at the way he pronounced the name, the 'j' a sound at the back of his throat that sounded a lot like an 'h', the last syllable open and 'a'-like.

"It comes from a plant." Sheik continued, "It flowers every three years and it lasts for about three hours. Its sap is one of the main ingredients in making red and green potion. That's where the meaning Healer came from."

"What does the Sheikah one mean?" Lynda queried, "Is it the same?"

The man snorted and chuckled, his shoulders shaking in mirth. "Hardly. The Sheikah knew the plant had extreme healing abilities, but so did other plants they knew. And being called a name that means healer… is kind of pressuring, don't you think? It's like calling your child Destiny."

"Uhuh. You still haven't answered my question."

"…The flower I mentioned. Despite its rare appearances, it looks really normal. It's… not ugly, it stood out amongst common flowers and daisies, but it paled against roses and other extravagant flowers. The Jihnde plant was just… pretty."

A blush, for no reason at all lightly tinged Lynda's cheeks. "Pretty?"

"Yeah, pretty," Sheik confirmed with a shrug, and Navi saw that his orange glow, so sparse and separate like lonely stars, were beginning to burn a little brighter, just for the Hylian that walked beside him. "I think it suits you."

The blush dominated her face as she looked away, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "I… I'm not, that pretty…"

"It certainly has gotten better with your eyebrows," he teased, and immediately sprung and ran from Lynda's screech.

Navi's light briefly turned smug before she started yelling, "Go Lynda go! Tackle him TACKLE HIM if you get the weight advantage you should be-"

The castle gave a collective sigh of worry, relief, and anticipation.

Yes, yes, I know, I didn't reply to any of the reviews, and I havegood reason.