The next morning was uneventful; in fact, nothing interesting happened until the day afterwards. That morning was when it happened.

I was sleeping on my bedroll, on the ground. I woke up to see that Link was again half naked, and he was washing the strip of cloth that I had torn from my pants. His wound was almost healed.

I stretched and groaned. Link turned suddenly, but relaxed when he saw that I wasn't hurt. "Oh. You're awake. I thought . . . er . . . oh, never mind." He laughed. I hadn't heard him laugh in a while. I guess it was because he was nervous that we were getting closer to Ganondorf's Castle, which was where the Hylean Army was.

Thinking of this triggered another thought.

"You know why Ganondorf is after me, don't you, Link?"

Link paused in washing, then said, rather reluctantly, "Yes."

I rolled my eyes. "Well then, will you tell me? Ever?"

Link looked back at me. "I can't tell you . . ."

I realized something. "It has to do with my father, doesn't it?"

Link shifted, apparently uncomfortable. "It has to do with your father . . . and the day you turn 17. Oh! Before I forget . . ." Link walked to his pack and rummaged around in it. "Your birthday is in three days. Er . . . Ganondorf told me . . . while we were fighting the Stalfos. I figured, if I don't live to see your birthday, I'll give you your present now." He pulled out a golden chain—no, wait, a necklace. On the chain there was a golden coin, on which was engraved a Triforce with Nayru's triangle filled in with Sapphire. That was on one side. On the other, there were the words, "May Nayru bless you with utmost wisdom throughout your years." The coin looked like this:

[AN: Below this paragraph in the Flower-Covered Journal are two pictures, showing the front and back of the coin. It's pretty much exactly how it's described.]

Link handed this piece of jewelry to me. "Happy almost birthday, Rebecca. It's a Wisdom Medallion. You'll need it later." Link looked at me sheepishly.

I smiled and fingered the coin. "It's beautiful. Thanks." I looked up at Link, who sat down next to me. "You're welcome. He leaned over and quickly pecked me on the cheek. I blushed.

"Incoming, incoming, incoming, incoming, incoming!" A squaky voice came.

Link got up, and a strange parrot flew down to the ground in front of us. "Message from the Hylean General! SQUAAAK!"

I gasped. "It talks!"

The parrot seemed taken aback by my statement. "What? Never seen a talking parrot before?"

I shook my head. "Well . . . no."

Link said, "What's the message?"

The parrot said impassively, "Earlier this morning, Ganondorf kidnapped Princess Zelda. A few minutes ago, she was found, so charged with electricity that they couldn't lift her. The Princess . . . is dead!" The parrot flapped its wings and hovered in front of us, saying, "That is all. RAAWWK!" before taking off.

Link stared after the strange parrot as it disappeared into the distance. He looked as if desperately trying to look incredulous.

"I can't believe it . . ." he said, though something in his voice told me he could. "The Princess of Hyrule . . . dead?"

I looked at Link. "You knew that this was going to happen, didn't you? This has something to do with Ganondorf trying to capture me, doesn't it?"

Link paused, then said defensively, "No!"

I put my hands on my hips. "There's something in your voice that—AHHHHH!" I clutched my left hand and doubled over. "Yikes! Ahh! What the—uh!" I tentatively peeked at the skin on the back of my left hand. It was covered in boils and strangely angled scars. The skin felt like it was crawling. In fact, as I watched, the scars rearranged themselves and the boils popped and sizzled. My hand began to glow.

I watched in horror as my hand shook involuntarily. I was thrown to the ground by some outside force. I grunted and groaned as my hand shone brighter and brighter until I was forced to close my eyes. I saw a white light through my eyelids, then darkness.

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand. There was a gleaming, golden Triforce. As I looked, the Triforce dimmed. The last part to dim was the lower left triangle—Nayru's triangle.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Link, whose face was grim. "This is why Ganondorf is trying to capture you. Rebecca . . . you are the heir to the Triforce of Wisdom."