Thank you to Quinkilo1055, Yuleen75, I.K.A.Valian, La Generala, Link's Ocarina Blade and Booklover13 for reviewing, I really, really truly appreciate your continued support and help! And thank you to everyone who has story alerted or faved this. I am flattered and hope you all continue to read and enjoy.

Sorry it took so long to post. I just can't seem to get the chapters right at the moment; I redrafted this about 4 times. I hope it all makes sense. Anyway, enjoy…


Chapter Nineteen – Lessons

Very slowly and cautiously he edged forward, soft leather boots barely making a mark on the ground. Innocent blue eyes flicked one way, then the other. The coast was clear. Good. Softly he took another step closer to his target. Those angelic eyes rested on her back for a long moment, their guileless depths belying purely mischievous smile currently adorning his mouth. All the while watching her like a hawk, he slowly lowered his body to a kneeling position and placed his gauntleted hands on the prize. His eyes were fixed on her, his body tensed and full of explosive energy.

A soft melody rose from her throat, he watched her hands moving rhythmically as she kneaded the bread. He grinned to himself and gently, cautiously, eagerly lifted his treasure from the floor. Only when he held it above his head did he allow his eyes to fly to the now vacant spot on the floor. His smile vanished and a disappointed frown took its place.

"Link?"

The call from outside disturbed his concentration. The jar he was holding fell to the floor with a shattering crash and the woman swung around, one hand clutching the material at her breast, her plump face whitened with shock.

"Merciful Nayru, what on earth was that?" She half-cried, half-screamed. Her eyes quickly found him standing in the corner of the room, hands still held over his head, a shattered brown pot at his feet, and a comical look of dismay on his face. She smiled with relief. "Ah, thank goodness for that. I thought something awful had happened." She said, and turned back to her important task of kneading the bread.

Still with his hands above his head, Link gazed down at the remains of the shattered pot, confused, and then glanced in her direction. One eyebrow went up and a wry smile tickled the corners of his mouth. After a long moment of contemplation he shrugged and went back to his task. His eyes darted about the room, searching for another target and soon located another large jar in the opposite corner. The sneaking recommenced.

"Hey Link! Where are you?" Came a second call from outside.

The plump woman chuckled, "Hiding are you?" She asked, glancing back at him. Either she didn't notice that he was holding another one of her priceless pots above his head, or she didn't care. She smiled benignly in his direction and carried on as if nothing had happened.

Link tilted his head as he looked at her, trying to catch a glimpse of her face. He wanted to see what was really going on in her mind – this was real daylight robbery and she didn't seem to even notice. He pulled a face and deliberately dropped the vase on the floor. Apart from her shoulders jerking forward slightly at the unexpected sound, she did not make a comment. Confused and slightly deflated, Link picked up the blue rupee that had been hidden under the jar and slipped it into his pocket.

"Would you like a cookie, dear?" Asked the woman, as he slid past her, making his inexorable way towards the little chest that lay hidden next to her dresser.

"Thank you." Link stopped in his tracks, took the cookie and flashed her his most beautiful smile. He was still confused though. Back in his Gerudo home, anyone catching him in the act of blatant theft would be trying to cut off his hands at this point. Hylians were strange, he decided.

The little chest was opened with a swift kick to its lock. "Hey, I'm just going to take this twenty rupee, alright?" Asked Link, tossing the red stone from one hand to the other, watching her intently.

"Oh that's fine, honey." Said the woman, smiling again. "Check my draws, my dresser, my wardrobe and my stove too, in cast you've missed anything and also there's another chest like that upstairs which you might want to investigate."

"W-what?" Link gaped at her for a good minute; she smiled and returned to her work. "Why?" He stammered.

"LINK!! LINK!!" Came a third call from outside.

"Your friend is looking for you." She reminded him, calmly

"I don't understand." He said, ignoring the calls from outside. "You're not going to call me "Thief" the instant I step outside your house and then tell everyone you've ever met in your whole life that that is my real name, and thereafter I will only be known as "Thief", are you? It's not another Koholint moment, is it?"

"Koholint? What's that?" Asked the woman smiling.

"I am stealing – blatantly stealing - stuff from your house and you don't care?" He asked, incredulous.

"No, why should I?" She countered, smiling peacefully.

"Er… because I'm stealing from you."

"Oh, I suppose…" Mused the woman. "But I wouldn't use it anyway."

"You wouldn't use the twenty-five rupees, the old rope, the glass sphere and heart ornament I have just taken from you?" He asked.

"Um…no, I don't think so. You can have them, love." Said the woman smiling up at him, "Now if you'll excuse me, pumpkin, I have work to do."

"You Hylians are messed up." Muttered Link as he wandered off towards the door. His day had been ruined. All the fun of his thievery had gone. He glanced one last time at the woman and was attacked by a strange prickling at his conscience. "Are you sure you don't mind?" He asked.

"You can have them, love. Now if you'll excuse me, pumpkin, I have work to do." Said the woman, smiling and speaking in exactly the same manner as before.

She turned back to her work and, after one last puzzled look he shrugged and opened the door. "And I thought I was bad." He sighed.


Outside the sun shone brightly as it always did in Kakariko. The sky was as blue as a cornflower and the little stone houses looked quaint and inviting. Not a wooden door (apart from Impa's) had been closed to him, he had been in them all, raiding and exploring. Plundering chests, wardrobes, pots, cupboards, bedrooms, and nobody had made a comment. Half the time they hadn't even appeared to notice his presence, and as for the two guards that blocked the entrance to Death Mountain… well he was only sorry he had promised Zelda he would try to behave on his sojourn here. They were possibly the most irritating soldiers he had ever met. They refused to let him leave, no matter what argument or reason he had. In fact, they seemed to understand every phrase he uttered to mean "let me pass."

"Nice day, isn't?"

"I'm sorry but it's too dangerous to go there right now."

"Have you seen any rogue cucoo's around here?"

"By order of Impa, Death Mountain is off limits."

"I brought you a pint each, you looked thirsty."

"I'm sorry, kid. You can't go to Death Mountain today."

In fact, the guards seemed capable of uttering only three sentences between them, all equally useless sentences too, and as Impa had forbidden him from leaving the village, he was pretty much stuck. He was banned from visiting Zelda, Amber seemed to prefer Impa's company to his and to top matters off, the local bombchu bowling alley was closed for refurbishment.

He had been pretty much bored too until a gaggle of children had discovered him. It so happened that they had discovered him whilst he was in the middle of seeing how many roofs he could run across without being caught by Impa, and they had been immediately smitten and had since then dogged his every move. On the one hand he was always happy to have an appreciative audience, especially one who understood the delightful artistry of the many things that he did, like seeing how many times he could prod a cucco before it went insane, or how often he could prompt Rauru to stroke his beard when they had a conversation, or how many revolutions of the windmill's great millstone he could take before he felt ill, on the other he didn't really want to be the town's babysitter. Especially if he was the town's babysitter for free.

It was the same children that had been calling him. They ran over as soon as they laid their wide, innocent eyes on him and all began talking at once.

"Where you bin, Mister Link?"

"I made a poopoo."

"We got Mister Rauru to fall inna ditch."

"Mister Kru said we're all imbeciles."

"Miss Impa got stuck up a tree."

"Waaaaahhhh."

"…and, and Miss Rachel's Cat…it got, it got…hiddened in the tree and, and it got…and, and Miss Impa went to get it and…and…"

Of course, as with all gaggles of children, there was not a parent in sight but one of the smarter, bigger ones had appointed himself leader. As usual, the kid was about five, acted like he was about seventy and gave himself every air of consequence and attitude he could pull of. This one's name was Nixie.

Nixie sized Link up, like he did on every meeting, possibly to try to see whether he was any taller than he had been ten minutes ago. On his approach, all the other children fell silent. Link met his brown eyes with a degree of amusement but solemnity, which met all the children's approval.

"We have a challenge for you, Mister Link." Said Nixie eventually. Link noted he was trying to put on a gruff adult voice and hid the grin that he knew was desperate to break out. Even he knew the worst thing to do when dealing with children is to laugh at them. The second rule was never to be patronising.

"Cool." Said Link, "What's it today? Stealing? Showboating? Winning Toys?"

"No." Said Nixie. He bit a finger, "Although those are good." He admitted. "We want you to jump off something."

"Oh dear. Have I upset you?" Said Link morosely. The children didn't quite get his joke but they understood the challenge to be accepted and they quickly led him to the nearby graveyard. At the back of this was a Dais where the old kings and queens of Hyrule lay buried. It stood some five feet above the level of the other tombs and was access by a series of shallow steps. All around it was fencing to protect the innocent from falling. Link climbed to the top of these and then, as directed by the children, hopped over the safety fence and jumped to the ground.

"Wow…" Cooed the children as he landing softly, and smiled. The dais had seemed mountainous to them, as it stood over their heads, but had hardly been a challenge for Link. Nixie folded his arms in a manner that strongly hinted at Impa-influence. "It was good, s'pose." He admitted. "But a little tame." He raised expectant brown eyes to Link's face.

"Not good enough for you, eh?" Said Link, responding to the prompting. "Tell you what, how about I jump off a roof?"

"You couldn't do that!" Gasped Nixie, the other children gazed in apt admiration at him.

"I could, but you little lot couldn't and don't you go trying it either." Replied Link, "You've gotta wait 'til you're a lot bigger before you have a go at this." He led them back into the village and quickly clambered onto a wall, up a fence crossed a precarious ledge and landed like a cat on the roof of one of the houses. The children gaped in awe at him. He smiled at them and then, with a little run forward, jumped from the roof. As he flew through the air, he twisted his body slightly so that when he landed he went straight into a forward-roll. Roll complete, he jumped back to his feet and bowed.

The children started to cheer. Of course he liked adulation, he enjoyed hearing his name being cheered, he even liked the idea that he was now perceived as a demigod amongst his peers, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the parents of the children, be they ever so lackadaisical about their offspring's well-being, would not be impressed if they knew he had inspired them with a desire to emulate his jumping skills. Even now he could see a couple of the kids jumping up and down, whilst another was sizing up a nearby bucket and working up the courage to have a good at jumping from it. Clearly it demanded a sacrifice of him to nip this intrepid spirit in the bud.

The thought of becoming a sacrifice was repugnant to him. Two weeks ago the thought would not have even crossed his mind, but now, thanks to Zelda and her endless moralising, he began to feel the pangs of a guilty conscience. Again. A slight from adorned his face again. "Will you teach us, Mister Link?" Nixie's reverential tone brought his wandering thoughts back to the present. Link sighed and light-heartedly cursed his involvement with Zelda. Her bad influence was starting to rub off on him.

"Sure." He said, "Now let's see. My final challenge. Oh, I know – I'll jump from the ladder."

"What?" Nixie had no other words to use. He gaped at Link for a moment, and then turned his astonished gaze to the ladder in question. It was the pointless ladder in the middle of the village that led to a look out platform, which nobody ever used and it stood about three times taller than any of the houses in the village. "Can you really jump from that?"

Mindful of his sacrifice, and seeing the children's excitement Link gave the latter a casual glance and said it would be a peace of cake. He led them like a duck leads its ducklings to water. He made them wait at the bottom, and quickly scaled the tall ladder. "You owe me, Zellie." He muttered to himself as he climbed. This mantra was the only thing that preventing his thoughts from turning to images of his martyrdom. He reached the lookout platform relatively quickly, and looked down. The children gazed up at him worshipfully; he could hear their little voices cheering them on. He noted the noise they were making attracting the attention of a few of the villagers and he gulped. He took a step forward and glanced over the edge; an unusual feeling welled up inside of him. He barely recognised it as nerves.

As soon as he felt nervous, he knew that was the time to go. As a Calatian Knight he was not afraid of anything – fear was the only weapon she could use against them and he wasn't going to lose… Link shook his head as visions of his childhood swarmed into his mind. He did not have fond memories of his youth and he would not tolerate such memories invading his consciousness. With that in mind he took a little run forward and felt the ground beneath him vanish.

For a second he flew, the plummet made him feel light-headed. His body tried to twist into its usual position, so he could roll out of the fall (as everyone knows rolling when you land prevents any serious injury!) but he quelled the impulse. The next moment he slammed into the ground and he screamed.

"Aaaaaaaaaa……..Fffffffffff……….TCHhhhhhhhhhhh………eeeeeeeeeeee" He yelled as the full force of the pain ricocheted through his legs, up his chest to his head. At least he remembered there were children present and didn't teach them any new "angry" words (he'd already got in trouble over that when he'd accidentally referred to the local beer as piss water - the children had liked that expression). He could hear them screaming too, probably in shock at what had just happened. His body felt as if it was on fire, the pain was so intense…his eyes screwed shut as he battled the inner nausea he felt. Somehow he remained standing, the intense pain throbbing through his whole body.

Slowly he opened his eyes. The nausea was passing and he was confident that he had not broken his legs. Which was lucky.

"Mister Link…?" Came Nixie's voice. Link knew he had no command over his tongue yet, if he opened his mouth a thousand profanities would be released, so he just looked at the child. Nixie looked as though he had been crying, but he also looked a little miffed. "Mister Link, that was lame." He decided. With those words he marched his little troop of children off, utterly disgusted at their hero's fall from grace.

Link watched them go. "Well at least you'll not try jumping from things now, you little buggers." He muttered.

One of the smallest children walked past as he spoke. "Bug-ger…" She repeated to herself happily. "Bye-bye, Mister Bugger." She called as she flashed a brilliant smile at him and ran off to join her playfellows.

Link's hands went to his head. "I hate children." He decided.


Gasping for breath, Zelda levelled her sword once more and faced her opponent. Sweat was literally dripping from her skin and her face was flushed. Her dark blue eyes showed a grim determination but even against her own will, she was tiring. Her opponent closed in once again, circling her just out of reach, intently watching and waiting for her to move. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and slipped into her eyes. Zelda shook her head involuntarily and blinked. Her opponent struck with serpent-like speed, knocking the sword from her hand, catching her off balance. Zelda gasped in surprise as she found a wooden blade resting against the pale skin of her neck.

"That was pathetic." Sneered her opponent as she flicked the wooden sword away from her neck.

Beaten on all counts, Zelda could only raise her weary eyes to Impa's face and sigh.

Impa's face softened as her eyes rested on her ward. Dressed in the costume of a sheikah warrior, she admitted that Zelda did at least look the part, if only her sword skills would match equally, she sighed. Given her opinions on maidenly modesty, and her fierce protection of Zelda's said maidenly modesty, the armour she had given her to wear left surprisingly little to the imagination. The rich blue material clung to every bump and curve of Zelda's lithe body, the only consolation was that it was purposely designed to imitate a male body, rather than female. That made it acceptable to Impa. Zelda did not feel quite so sure.

"What did I do wrong then?" Asked Zelda, as she caught her breath.

"You lost focus." Said Impa, in a slightly kinder tone than she was apt to use. "I don't know if I can teach you…"

"Well let Link teach me then." Retorted Zelda. This rattled her mentor. Even the mention of the Calatian's name was enough to set a sneer on Impa's face.

"That idiot." Snorted Impa. "He couldn't teach your granny to suck eggs."

"I can't see that he'd want to." Replied Zelda instantly. If Impa's taste was offended by the thought of Link, Zelda's hackles rose in defence the moment anyone (but her) tried to abuse him. Her eyes flashed in annoyance. She hated the way only she seemed able to see the potential in her friend, she knew he was an excellent soldier – she had seen him fight, but the Judges seemed to dismiss this talent as unimportant. Whenever she took up the cudgels in his defence, she was accused of being a fool.

Impa knew this and also knew that if she were not careful, she would end up with her ward believing herself to be in love with him. She wanted to avoid that at all costs. She also wanted to minimise contact between them. She believed, and probably had justifiable reason to do so, that Link was having a detrimental effect on Zelda. Everything about the girl that she had previously approved of – her formality, her innocence, her reticence, was all slowly being washed away when she associated with Link. A perfect example was her reaction to Link's shocking exposure. Any normal girl would have been mortified to see a man in such a state of undress, Zelda had giggled. Impa needed no more proof of his detrimental influence.

Impa met Zelda's eyes and wondered how such a short acquaintance with someone could have changed her so much. She also wondered how she could put it right.

"Zelda, perhaps you do not understand why I do not wish you to spend so much time with him?" Began Impa, a little cautiously.

"I know why." Said Zelda, cheerfully. "You don't like him."

Impa frowned again. She detected the hand of Link in an instant. Even the way Zelda smiled reminded her of the idiot. "It's not that I don't like him." She lied, "It is that I don't trust him." Well that at least was true, she thought.

"Why?"

"Because he is a Calatian Knight." Stated Impa.

"Well if you do not trust him, why did you employ him in the first place?"

For a moment Impa was reminded forcefully of the late Judge Daphnes. He had exactly the same manner of delivering unanswerable questions, and as she looked at Zelda, she could see him standing there, slightly amused and highly dubious. It was the expression that always made even the toughest criminal cringe. Perhaps the girl was not quite the weakling she always imagined.

Impa blinked and then smiled, "You are right, I shouldn't have employed him but I was desperate and he was the only option." She explained with a little more truth than she liked to use. "Link was initially to be employed as a spy. He was to infiltrate the order of Hylian Knights and learn Ganondorf's secrets and relay them to us, thus giving us a better understanding of how to attack him. However, on the night he arrived, I received a letter from Daphnes, advising that you had vanished; we suspected Ganondorf's involvement but could not prove it. I therefore decided to send Link to confront the King, with instructions to kill him. I knew Ganondorf would kill him, but at least it would have sent him a message that we were serious and were wise to his tricks. Unfortunately, he found you instead and abandoned his quest…"

"Does Link know you were really sending him to his death?"

"I don't know." Replied Impa quietly. She met Zelda's accusatory look with a bland smile, "I would imagine he would find being sent to his death rather amusing. He would see it as a game, I daresay – his wits versus the 'reaper'."

"I suppose you're right." Said Zelda. "He always maintains that nothing scares him… I wonder why."

"That was his training." Answered Impa. "He was a Royal Knight of Calatia – Agahnim told us their history. Basically they are trained from the age of three to be fearless. Most of their lessons seemed to be either face your fears or literally die trying. Only the strongest and bravest of them lived to see their tenth birthday. After that they went through continual battle training for hours and hours daily until the age of fifteen and then they lived alone in the wilderness for two year, taking with them only a sword. When, and if, they returned they were knighted and given a unique warrior name. It was drummed into their heads that the only thing to be feared was the wrath of the King."

"No wonder he's so messed up then…" Mused Zelda. "Poor Link."

"That is the other reason I don't trust him." Continued Impa, carefully watching Zelda as she took in the information. "You are now on a quest to recover the Chameleon Stone, true? Did you know that it is a treasure of the Royal Calatian House?"

She let these words sink in, all the while watching Zelda's expression. She wanted to plant a little seed of doubt in her ward's mind. That would do for now. Once a seed of doubt is sown, it begins to crack the trust between two people. Providing she played her cards right, Impa was confident she could wean Zelda off her predilection for Link.

Zelda played with the fringe of her hair for a long moment, frowning over Impa's words. She could see the wisdom of what Impa said, possibly she could even agree with some of the implications but no matter what she thought, she couldn't rid herself of the image of Link as a child and what he had gone through. It made her feel even more protective over him.

"Shall we continue?" Prompted Impa, calmly disturbing her thoughts.

Zelda shook her head and resigned the image of a frightened little Link to the back of her mind (for later mothering) and flicked back into her fighting stance.

"Relax your shoulders." Ordered Impa.

"Stop playing with your hair."

"Your sword is upside down."

Zelda sighed and adjusted her stance, sword, and shoulders and flicked her hair out of the way. "Is that better?" She asked wearily.

"That's even worse!" Came Link's cheery voice.

Impa's helpful expression vanished into a terrible scowl. This only deepened as she watched his sauntering approach (only marred by a very slight limp). Zelda smiled in relief as she met his eyes. She hadn't been allowed any association with him for the last five days, thanks to his flashing incident, and she had missed his erratic company, plus now she really did have a reason to feel all maternal over him, it made his company twenty times better.

"You're limping." She observed as she critically watched his slightly halting steps. "Are you alright?"

Link's blue eyes gleamed mischievously. "I am now." He smiled sweetly at her, "Nice outfit."

For the first time that day, Zelda thanked the gods for the uncomfortable mask she wore for it covered her bright red cheeks. "Hey, er…" Continued Link, still staring at her, or rather her body encased in delightfully clingy Sheikah gear, "Correct me if I'm wrong but…isn't that? Oh dear."

"Oh dear what?"

"I've just realised – that's a man's costume, isn't it?" Link sighed and shook his head, assimilating the full glory of the outfit. Zelda glanced down at her clothes and shrugged. "I suppose so." She admitted. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is: if you're dressed up as a boy, then why the heck do I still think you're a hot little rock?" He mused comically.

"Because you're weird." Replied Zelda, laughing.

"I do hope you are not ogling my ward." Said Impa, stepping into the conversation before it got out of hand as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh I was bored so I thought I'd come along and see how your training was going."

"It's going very well thank you." Snapped Impa.

"Really?" Link turned his most innocent gaze on her and smiled broadly. "Are you teaching her the Sheikah arts?"

"Yes, and if you will excuse us, in other words, go away, I would like to continue our training."

"Can I ask just one thing…?" Began Link. Impa tried to block the sound of his voice from her mind and turned her back on him. Unfortunately, Link could put on a whiney child voice on when it suited him and it made him a little difficult to ignore. But easy to strangle. "EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE me, Impa." He tried again. Impa's left eye twitched dangerously and she swung around to face him. Link grinned at her and continued, "If you are training her to be a Shiekah, why on earth are you using a rapier? A Sheikah's weapons of choice are kunai."

"Are you daring to tell me what weapon a Sheikah uses?"

"I'm telling you what they don't use!" Retorted Link. "Rapiers don't come into it. That's more a knight thing. If you want her to learn that sort of combat, you should let me teach her. I am far better than you at knightly kinda things like that you know."

"I'd rather die than let you…" Began Impa. She scowled and pressed her lips together. "It is irrelevant. You are less than useless."

"So I'm useful?"

"No. In fact, I thought we had dismissed you?"

"Did you?" Repeated Link, leaning against a nearby fencepost and smiling politely. "I must have missed that conversation. Then again, your conversations are pretty dull. In any event, I thought it was agreed that you feel it is still right and proper to employ me, since, although relatively brainless, I do have my uses in that I am a pretty good soldier, and you had already paid me a deposit that you didn't want to waste. So you said that I was to continue investigating the Chameleon Stone and recovering the Signet Rings which I am to bring back to you so you can pass them on to Agahnim to experiment on."

Link grinned at the end of this statement and his eyes glinted in the oddest manner. "Oh wait, that's what Rauru decided was it not? You were the one that dismissed me."

Impa snarled. "I stand by my decision. I have never, ever met such a stupid boy as you before."

"No? And I've never met such a pig-headed judge either." Replied Link, coolly. "But don't worry, I'm just waiting for you to finish your training with Zel and then we'll be on our way. You see I do know something about the Chameleon Stone, given that I am a Calatian and a member of the Royal…Guard, and I know that without Zelda's help none of the Dream Snatchers can be defeated."

Zelda, who had been mentally cheering her friend on during this argument, interrupted him. "Er, what was that?"

Link turned to her and smiled gently, "You do not understand your power yet I know, but I do – without Saeru's magic the Dream Snatchers will remain immortal. Remember in Death Mountain when I was crushed, do you remember the spell you cast? That flash of light – that was the power of Illumae, the power to bind an immortal soul to the mortal coil once more. That came from you. Once you had reconnected Aranda to the world, his injuries took him. Saeru made the Dream Snatchers immortal and only she can make them mortal once more. But she is giving you all her powers so you can do the same thing."

"Er, okay…" Zelda frowned at him and scratched her head.

Link laughed softly, "Did she not tell you that you were cursed?"

"Well yes…she said I would become the creature I fear most." Replied Zelda, confused.

"True, but you do not know what it is you fear the most, do you? Depend on it, Saeru does." He sighed, "The point is, it doesn't matter how great my skills are, or indeed how adept you are at handling a physical weapon. In the end, it is only Saeru's power that can destroy the creatures she created. I agree you should learn to fight, in fact I think it is impetrative that you do, for I may not always be here to protect you, but I think you should learn to use the weapons you have already been given."

"My magic?" Replied Zelda, still frowning at him.

"Yes."

"The same magic that only happens when you are around?"

"Hey, I can't help it if you fancy me, princess!" Link grinned at her and shook his head; there was still something very odd about his mannerism. He was calmer than usual, and more intense. His voice was the softer too, "Seriously though, you have a pretty tremendous power already. Maybe you would be better learning to control that before you learn to control a sword."

Impa gave him a suspicious look but Link's confidences were at an end, he leaned back over the fence and gazed at the sky, humming the windmill song quietly. Zelda watched him for a moment, puzzlement written all over her face. She chewed her lip, pondering his words and then turned to Impa. "Shall we continue?" She called, levelling her sword.

"No." Link suddenly jerked back into action. He grinned at her annoyance and sauntered to her side, "At least not if you're going to keep holding your sword like that."

Keeping his eyes fixed firmly on Impa's fuming red orbs he smiled cheerfully as he took Zelda's hand in his. He was getting quite used to the little zaps of surprise he received from her whenever he touched her unexpectedly, in fact he thought it was a cute token of her real affection towards him. He was also getting used to Impa's continual scowl whenever she gazed upon him. If he had been a sensitive man, he would have been upset that she appeared to hate him.

"Loosen your grip." He murmured, as he teased her fingers into slackening their grip on the wooden sword. "Good, now close your eyes."

Zelda cast a hopeless glance at Impa and then did as she was told, only sighing slightly. He clasped her wrist lightly and began to swing the sword loosely from side to side. When she automatically tightened her grip he remonstrated with her and placed his free arm around her waist. He grinned at Impa. "Good, keep your eyes closed and feel the balance of the sword in your hand, that is the best place to start. Get used to the weight and feel of it there, let it become an extension of your body and when you are happy, then you may start to learn to use it. Alright?"

"Mmmm." Said Zelda, she was unconsciously starting to hum along to the tune Link was singing quietly, recognising it as the song of storms that continually played in the windmill, and only stopped when she realised the lyrics,

"Impa's scowls,

Impa's glares

They can catch you unawares

She wishes you ill

Good thing looks can't kill…

Rauru's robes

Kru's big nose...

All three judges are so weird

Yes, they should all be feared." Sang Link softly in her ear. Zelda choked and then tried to cover her giggle with a cough. Impa's glare deepened.

Link stood back slightly and gave Zelda a critical look. "That's better, now at least you don't look like you're fighting with a poker stuck up your ass…" He began, before having to jump out of the way of an irate Zelda intend on beating him to a pulp.

He laughed as he jumped and dodged out of the way of her wild thrusts and swings, "That's much better." He taunted as he bowed and skirted around to her right, hopping just out of range. Zelda's eyes glowed with fury. "See how your movements are much more fluidic now?" Zelda swung the sword vertically, aiming for his head. He chuckled and back-flipped out of the way. "Nice." He called as he spun behind her back as she slashed into the thin air in front of her. "All you've got to do now is be a little less predictable."

Zelda snarled and charged at him, sword held horizontally across her body. He watched her running, with a smirk on his face. Suddenly Zelda tripped over a stone. She yelped and instantly Link jumped forward to catch her. As he moved, she righted herself and thrust the sword forward. There was an ominous crack sound as it slammed into his ribs.

"You mean like that?" Said Zelda, sweetly. A smirk almost as good as Link's stretched across her face and she held the broken wooden sword in place. Link gazed at the sword pressed against his chest and raised his eyes to her.

"That hurt." He complained.

"You deserved it." Replied Zelda. She whipped the broken sword away and tossed it to one side. The force of the impact had all but broken the blade and she was rather pleased with her efforts. "Your techniques are pretty good though."

Clutching his chest, and profoundly glad that they were using only practice swords, Link attempted to smile at the praise. He had taught Zelda only a very basic concept, and he had to admit, for all her flailing, she had been making intelligent moves and had shown some potential. He also didn't want to admit it, but he also believed that Impa would be better off teaching her the slightly less powerful, but fast Sheikah combat style. That would be more suited to her. He couldn't imagine her having the stamina to fight for a continued stretch using his rough and ready fighting style.

"If it had been anyone but me your trick wouldn't have worked." He decided, after failing to find a witty or smart response to her praise. "A normal soldier wouldn't have rushed to your aid like I did."

Zelda nodded. "Excuses, excuses. Just admit I outwitted you!"

Link grinned and gave her a half hug. "Oh I'll admit that." He grinned. "It's not hard to outwit a nitwit."


Let me know what you think. Hit that review.. next chapter we will see the promised power (never seen before in a Zelda game - I think...?)