Hey guys. I seem to have lied last chapter. This will not be a half-half chapter. No... it ended up a little too long to merge into one chapter. A pleasant surprise to me. XD This is one is a Link and Zelda chapter, and shortish, but still long enough to constitute as a stand-alone chapter.

Legend of Zelda 4 Life: there will be plenty of Zelink in future chapters. Trust me. XD Also, I said I'm getting to close to the chapter that will make me sad. We're still a few chapters away, but I'll let it be known as we get closer to it.

"You know," Link began, "I like this place." He waved to a gaggle of girls and they giggled like little idiots.

Zelda looked away from the fire they were sitting around to him and then to the girls. "I couldn't imagine why." She said in a tone that reflected her flat expression.

The two had gone deeper into the desert and were running ridiculously low on water. When all hope seemed lost, they had stumbled upon a desert village that had welcomed them with open arms. The people were kind and shared their provisions, having a close-knit sense of community and reliance on each other; they seemed to think it was their duty to help those who passed. They even invited the two to stay for a while to recover their strength… of course, that was mainly the girls of the village talking to Link.

Zelda made sure to refuse them – but not because she was jealous or anything! They simply had to find Vega as soon as possible, and staying for an extended period of time was out of the question.

"It's really too bad we can't stay long." Link mused, giving the group of girls a pleasant smile which ended up making them giggle more.

What do they think that's cute or something? More like annoying. "Well we need to find Vega. He hasn't moved for a bit but he might end up going even farther." She said.

"Yes, I know but still… I like the company here." He said, still looking at the girls.

"You really like that?" She asked incredulously. "I mean, they're nothing but a bunch of mindless little girls taken in by a handsome face. If they knew the real chauvinistic jerk that you are, I'm sure they wouldn't be interested."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. "You think I'm handsome?"

She froze for a moment and felt the blood rush to her head. "No! I mean, they probably think you're handsome, but I don't!"

"Really?" Asked the page with a smug look on his face.

"Yes really!" The witch said quickly. And then she blurted out, "I mean, if it was a choice between you and Vega I'd choose Vega any day!"

The last line was the comment that left Link looking shocked. An uneasy silence came into the atmosphere.

What did I just say? Zelda thought. Her face was absolutely serious; she didn't want to show Link that she was actually panicking in her mind. The only reason I said that was because I do think that Link is handsome! I mean, I've thought that ever since I first met him but… Why did I get so defensive when he teased me about it?! I mean, being handsome is the only redeeming quality Link has… But he does have an amazing sense of responsibility… and he's courageous to the point where it's stupid… and he's strong and… STOP THINKING GOOD THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM!

As soon as that last thought went through her head, Link sneezed.

Zelda then shot up. "I'm going to my tent!" And she quickly zipped off.

"Yeah…" The page mumbled, still stationary. She would choose that guy over me? It made no sense. While it was true that Link hadn't exactly been the nicest person to her, Vega had been belligerent to both of them. Did she crave the abuse or something? Goddesses, she has horrible taste in men then…

And Zelda was wholeheartedly agreeing with Link's thought as she entered the tent and went to the little corner she had claimed for herself. It was a large tent that belonged to a family of girls, none of which were present at the moment because they were nocturnal. Upon finding out that she and Link were not lovers, they had separated them, leaving Zelda with girls and Link with other boys. She didn't mind, in fact she was embracing that right at that moment.

"I'll speak in your terms just so I can make this bloody clear: While we are tied together, don't you dare ever think of that boy as anything more than a friend."

She remembered Vega's words. They were still tied together so… so this was good. Vega's words reminded her that she didn't even think of Link as a friend. As long as she remembered that she was not his friend, things would be fine…

But I do like him. You can like a person and not be their friend, right? She let that thought circulate in her brain for a moment before letting out a frustrated sigh and thinking, Okay, maybe I do think of him as a friend… But nothing more. That I'm sure of. Besides, even if I did want anything more Vega would kill me.

She shuddered as she remembered the star's serious face as he spoke those lines. She could understand why he would want her to avoid ever falling for Link. They shared a soul, and even though they were much closer to being separated than they were before, they still felt the same things. So if ever she was to fall in love with Link… The witch frowned. She could definitely understand why he would not want that.

"Also keep in mind that there are certain things that stars are incapable of feeling for very good reasons."

Certain things that stars were incapable of feeling? The girl still had no idea what that meant. From her bond with him, he seemed to have the same spectrum of emotion that regular humans had. He could be happy - rare as it was -, he could be depressed, irritated, confused… pretty much anything she felt he was capable of feeling. So what was it that he was incapable of feeling?

Just as she was about to explore that train of thought, one of the girls that lived in the tent came in looking quite worried. "Zelda! Listen, stay inside, okay!" And then she left as quickly as she came in.

Zelda scrambled up onto her knees and looked towards the tent opening confusedly. Stay inside? But why?

Curiosity was getting the better of her. She crawled over to the tent opening and pulled it a bit aside. She could see everyone was scurrying about… well, almost everyone. She noted that all the men were disappearing into the tents. To the side of her tent was a group of middle-aged women. They were talking amongst themselves but she couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"But didn't a Gerudo come just the other day with a man? What could they want?"

"I don't know but it can't be good…"

"You don't think they're going to recruit are they?"

"I hope not-"

"Here they come!"

She heard the hooves of horses pummeling sand drawing closer. The horses and their riders came into view soon after she heard them. There were four horses and all the riders were women with dark skin, red hair, and swords at the ready. Two of the women dismounted and looked around, glaring daggers at everyone. One of the women on the horses spoke.

"By the orders of the Great Witches Twinrova in our King Ganondorf's absence, we have to recruit women to join our ranks."

King Ganondorf? She thought. Wasn't Ganondorf the name of the king's advisor? She frowned and kept watching.

No more words were spoken from the Gerudo women. The two women who had dismounted were now walking amongst the townswomen and pulling out the women they deemed worthy of joining their ranks. She only retreated back into the tent when it seemed that one of the recruiters was getting much too close to her tent.

Just as she was about to look back out she heard a girl yelp, "No! No, I don't want to!"

"You no choice in the matter. Come with us." Said one of the recruiters firmly.

"No! I'm all my mother has left! No!"

"Hey! She said she doesn't want to go!"

She grimaced at that last voice. Damn him and his chivalry… Zelda thought.

Reluctantly, the young witch peeked out from the tent again. Sure enough, Link was there was his strange new sword out.

"Tch," said one of the Gerudo still on the horses. "This bratty boy doesn't know we Gerudo don't take kindly to men."

"That young lady doesn't want to leave. Chivalry demands I help a damsel in distress. I will not let you take her." Link said confidently.

The Gerudo laughed. "Chivalry is dead, kid. Get'im."

The two women who were dismounted drew their swords out and charged at Link. Zelda gasped as she saw that Link managed to disarm them with what seemed like little trouble. She was gaping at the sight, really. He disarmed two Gerudo swordswomen… But the women had acrobatics on their sides. The one that fell on the sand actually landed on her hands and the flipped back at him and managed to kick him as she landed back on her feet. The other one wasted no time and managed to kick Link down and grab both of his arms, crossing them at the back and putting the page in what seemed like a good deal of pain.

The woman holding him smirked. "This kid's strong. He's got skill."

"And a nice blade." Said the other Gerudo, picking up Link's ethereal blade.

"Let it go!" He snapped, causing enough of a fuss to get the Gerudo behind him by surprise.

"Spunk," commented the leader on the horse. "Tie him up. We'll take him back to the fortress and put him to work. Heh, in a few years he may have some stud value too."

What am I doing just watching?! Zelda scolded herself. She had a spell in mind but then noted that there were far too many people in the area. Then she remembered the sword that Link had given her.

She unsheathed it and charged.

"Zelda, don't be stupid!" She heard Link cry.

But she ignored it, going straight for the woman who had him out of action. The other Gerudo came and blocked her blade with her own. Zelda gritted her teeth and attempted to parry, but she left an opening which her opponent gladly took. The Gerudo didn't cut her, though. She merely smacked the flat of her blade very harshly on Zelda's side. Before Zelda couldn't even think to recover, the Gerudo pushed her down. Her head was being buried in the sand and her arm was twisted back painfully by the other hand of the Gerudo.

"Hey, look. A little witch. Twinrova will like her, don't you think?"

"Heh, tie her up too. She'll make a good recruit, I think."

Damn… Both Link and Zelda thought it.

HURR... I'd give you the next chapter now but... well, it's kind of 4:30 AM. I have it written out already but... I think I'd like to sleep first.