(A/D: Holy crap, guys, I'm sorry that it took so long to update but life caught up with me... I've redone this chapter no less than 12 times so I hope you guys enjoy it! I tried to keep some nostalgia in it but... haha, I don't think I quite accomplished that. It is much different than I intended... ah, well, the show goes on!)

Review, please!

The moon shone down into the section of the Castle that Zelda felt most at home. Her eyes scanned past the rose bushes, grape vines, and other flowers she only knew half the names of. They were pretty and that is all she really cared about.

The sound of music drifted out of the shadows of the gardens and into the Princess' heart. It was a song that she knew well... her Lullaby. The scent of the flora, the stars twinkling above her, and the sudden chilly breeze swept Zelda through the Courtyard and into a scene reminescent of one of her novels.

Link sat with his back pressed against the wall beneath a window constructed so that it peered into the Throne Room. A brown ocarina was pressed to his lips as it tinkled out the melody in crisp, sweet tones and Navi danced to each notes with a gleeful laugh escaping her lips. Flames, to the girl's astonishment, hung in the air... sparking and igniting at the Fae's wish. The boy dared a soft smile as he finished the song and dropped his head back against the cold stone.

"I wonder why that window is there." Navi wondered while taking great, powerful breathes to settle her rapid heartbeat. She missed dancing and had not had the chance to in a while.

Lincoln glanced up and shrugged. "Maybe His Highness just likes the v-" He had spotted her. "-iew." A brow is raised, the boy stood and dusted himself off before giving a leisurely bow. "Princess."

"Call me Zelda, please." She answered, softly, and almost thought she would have to repeat herself when he did not answer.

"Then call me Link." His lips gave an odd quirk, barely noticeable, and yet Zelda did. He was nervous. Lincoln's hand extended to the Faerie floating at his left. "This is Navi. My Partner."

"Hello, Navi," Zelda smiled, hoping to seem friendly. "I would also like you to call me Zelda too... Her Highness or Princess is much to formal." She frowned at her own wording for she realized that she almost forced formality on anyone her age. She would have to learn to speak less stiffly.

Link shifted, tapping his boots against the stone steps, and nodded his head toward Impa who leaned against the wall next to the patio with her eyes shut. Link had reason to believe she was asleep but did not dare test the Shiekah. "Your... Teacher is very talented." A skeptical raise of the brow from Navi and Link knew he had choose a completely offhand topic. He attempted to recover. "S-She, um, taught me a song... on my ocarina."

"So, I heard." Zelda replied with a hint of sarcasm and giggled but clamped her hand over her mouth. "I-I am sorry! I did not mean to be rude!"

"It was not rude." Link clenched and unclenched his fists in uncertainity. He was not sure how one was to act around a Princess and even less around a girl who was going to be his wife in less than two days. "I- Um." The two children stared at one another.

"Yes?" Zelda bit her lip and took a step closer so that Navi's flames fell across her face.

Navi landed on Lincoln's shoulder and jerked at his ear so that he leaned down. Whispering, she spoke. "The Great Deku Tree mentioned the Princess. Ask her. This might be the only time you two are alone in a long-"

"Before the Great Deku Tree died he asked me to bring you the Kokiri Emerald." The words exploded from the ten year old Lord's lips and he seized up at the realization of what he had said.

Zelda gapped at him with confusion. "The Great Deku Tree..." Her violet eyes grew wide as she processed what the boy before her said and she took a deep breath for saying: "He asked you to bring it to me?"

Link nodded and Navi slapped her own forehead with a roll of her white eyes. "Yes."

Those violet eyes concentrated in thought and her right, middle finger traced her bottom lip. It was a tick of hers. "Ah..." Zelda met Link's gaze and shivered in the electric shock of it. "Could you... show it to me?"

"Here?" Link frowned. "Would it-"

"Be safe?" Impa's husky voice cut in with a desert dry tone. "You can rest assured, Lincoln, that the eyes which you are afraid of shall not see the Stone."

Navi glared at the Shiekah with clear annoyance. It was no secret she did not trust the Race. "Is that a promise?"

Impa popped one blood, red eye open and smirked. "That is a promise, Little Fae."

"Please, Link." He had not registered the Princess' movement but she was suddenly only a foot away with urgency, excitment, dread, and all other emotions running behind her violet orbs... emotions that blazed in his very own cobalt ones. "I need to see the Stone with my own eyes."

"O-Of course." His hand slipped into a pouch on his belt but paused for a moment. "Can I ask why?"

Zelda nodded and allowed a calm breath to pass her lips. "You may." She walked passed him and ascended the small stairs with measured steps so that she did not trip on the silk cloth of her lavender and white dress. "I have dreams, Link." The ten year old Princess turned so that the window peering into the Throne Room stood behind her. She stood with a strong look... a look of willfullness and a far away look in her eyes. "More often than naught, they come true... with horrible consequences."

Link swallowed, facing her, and fingered at the Kokiri Stone in his pocket. "You see the future?" He frowned with disbelief showing on his young face.

"Yes." She answered with a slightly offended tone. "I would not make up such a lie."

"I did not say you were a li-"

"You doubted me." Zelda brushed wrinkles from her dress to keep her hands from being idle and calmed her accusing tone. "All my life within these walls... walls made for grown Men, I have been treated as nothing more than a mere child." Her violet eyes captured Link's and an understanding passed. "Yet, my dreams are nothing a child should dream... my fears are nothing a child should have knowledge about... and, here, I stand... a child by all rights unready to be a bride to a boy unready to be a groom." Zelda took a deep breath and reached out a pale, white hand. "I need you to trust me, Link, because I need to be able to trust you. A dark wind is blowing... a storm is brewing and Hyrule must prepare."

A storm. His dream. It all rang clear in the boy's mind and he realized that he must trust the strange girl before him. The Great Deku Tree said to take her the Emerald and that she would know and, so, he would trust her. Link pulled the Stone from his pocket and placed into Zelda's outstretched hand. "Tell me about your dream."

Pale fingers glided over the smooth, green, jem and her lips parted with a sigh as the Princess sat on the cold, marble step. "The Castle was empty... but I could feel the chaos, the battle, the death that reeked in the air and the closer I get to the Throne Room the more dense those feelings got. I am struck with such terror that I-I... I just run for the only place that I feel safe." She places the Kokiri Emerald in her lap and leans back onto her hands. "Here... but it is cold, dark but not like it is now... blacker than pitch... sinister, threatening, and I am afraid to enter. The grass is dead, the flowers burned, and everywhere the smell of burning skin hangs thicker than fog."

Link shivered at her words and, although their dreams did not ring the same tune, he felt a familar feeling. Fright. "And the storm?"

Her eyes lept to his and Zelda tried to read the emotion sitting behind his blue eyes but she cannot or rather she was afraid to acknowledge their joined fear. "The rain pours water first as I edge my way to this window." The Princess took a calming breath to stop the race of her heart. "The ground soon grows so wet that my feet begin to sink into the dirt and it is then that I realize the rain is no longer water... but blood."

Navi landed on the stone and crossed her arms over her chest with a concerned face. "Vivid."

The Princess nodded, sadly, and continued. "I drag myself through the mess of water, blood, and dirt before I finally reach the step... and I find myself afraid to turn but something forces me too... tells me that I must face what stands behind me even though I know that it is the very cause for all that had transpired." Her hands shake and clutch at the soft purple of her dress and Zelda hates herself for it. She did not want Link to think her weak. "A-and I look back." Zelda's voice cracked and she closed her violet eyes for she did not want to lose control in front of this odd boy. "Standing in the entrance is a man is black armor with-"

"Fire in his eyes." Link cut in and took Zelda's shaking hand in his. "I have seen those eyes... in my own dreams." He squeezed her hand, lightly, to show her that she is not alone. That neither of them are alone anymore... it had been a compulsion, a sudden reaction, to take her pale fingers in his and the touch had sent electric shocks through him.

She had not dreamed the same as he but she knew what it was like to fear a man you have never met... and he understood that hers had been so much more real than his. She had been stuck with this man, the Gerudo King, since the Treaty was set to sign almost a year ago and Lincoln had been able to carve Ganondorf's image into the monster that killed the Great Deku Tree.

Zelda glanced down at their fingers and smiled a bit at the oddness of it all. "Then he is that same man from your dream as well?"

"I have only ever seen his eyes... I would need to see them in person." Link frowned, blushing a bit as Zelda's hand warmed it. "But it is too much of a coincidence."

Zelda released the hold they had on each other, gently, and wiped away the stray trears trailing down her face. "Ah, so he has not sought out your Father?"

"No... nor have I seen him in the Castle."

Her brows furrow, angrily. "That would because the bastard has hidden himself away-" The sound of a door opening and muffled voices capture Zelda's attention. "Link?" She hands him back the Kokiri Emerald.

"I hear it..." The boy, pocketing the artifact, glanced back towards the window behind him and then back to the ten year old Princess. She brought her finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet, and together they watch Navi land upon the window's ledge.

"I don't see any-"

"Your Highness, Lord Ganondorf isrequesting an audience with you."

The children's mouths dropped open and they stared at each other with shocked expressions as Navi's glowing body dims in accordance with not wanting to garner any attention. "Guys!"

Link scrambled to his feet so fast that he nearly stumbled into the wall but he captured himself and instead only his knees slam into the stone. He ignored the pain and glared through the window with his bright, coblat eyes... searching for the man... that man who had plagued his dreams and life of late. The Lordling is barely aware of the quiet breathing of the Princess next to him and she had no more knowledge of him as they wait, intently, for the Gerudo Leader to appear.

"Is he?" King Eric answered though no sign of him in the Room could be seen. Link surmised that his Father is there as well.

"I shall let you tend to him then." Raven's voice confirmed his suspicions. "Or would you rather me remain?"

Edric's voice spoke with strength but by the look on Zelda's face, Link could tell something was wrong. "No, I shall be fine. I have dealt with situations worse than this." A light laugh. "I trust you remember that blasted Volvolgia?"

"The dragon you and I beat to death with the Goron's Hammer?" Lincoln could picture the smile on his father's face. "I would never dare to forget it."

Edric could be heard laughing. "And it is my hammer, now."

"You mean your stolen hammer."

"HA-HA!" Edric's beaming face walked into view and the regal man stood before the kids' line of sight though Raven was still not seen. "Darous never cared. If he had he would have told his son, Darunia, to get it from me."

"Darunia is in a foul mood of late... you should be wary of mentioning it lest he takes what is his." Raven's calm, wise voice flowed and Edric turned away from where the Lord must have been standing. "Remember my words, old friend... Do not let this man get into your head."

"I will not." Annoyance was present on the King's face and as he turned to say his good-byes to Raven, Zelda turned to Link. A door closed after a short pause and the children knew that the Lord of White Tower had departed.

"Ganondorf pretends to pledge alligence to my father and, although Father is suspicious, it is hard for him to pass judgement on a man who says he only wishes to help better his People." Zelda whispered, sitting on her knees so that only her eyes peeked through the window.

Lincoln shifted, eyes moving from Zelda's violet orbs to the scene unfolding before him. "He would not be foolish enough to trust him... would he?"

"My Father is many things... but he is no more a Man than he is a King. He is prone to one solid mistake... he trusts too easily." Zelda sighed, also returning her attention to the window. "He trusts Lord Raven in that our wedding shall keep Hyrule safe in the case that Ganondorf dare attacks, he trusts the guards to keep him safe, he trusts that his People will over throw Ganondorf if he does take over, and he trusts that Ganondorf would not be foolish enough to do any of these things that I... that we have witnessed in our dreams..." She opened her mouth to question him but closed it, quickly.

The Lordling could see the curiosity spark in her eyes. "I will tell you about my nightmare, Zelda... later." He frowned at the sound of a door being shut. "But, first-"

He stopped mid-sentence. He cannot speak for his words are robbed of him as the Gerudo man stepped into their view.

Dark olive skin was dressed in a black and brown leather suit adorned with precious jemstones mined or stolen by the Gerudo under his rule. Black paladrones square out the build of a hard worked figure and it was obviously apparent that Ganondorf was no weak fool. He exuded strength even as he gave a low, almost mocking, bow to King Edric Harkinian and his eyes... the very eyes that Lincoln knew so well... stared up with the color of intense flame. Even in the cold walls of Hyrule Castle, Ganondorf radiated Power.

"My Liege, " A deep, baritone voice rattled through the stone room and out into the Courtyard. "I wanted to apologize, in person, for not being present at the Celebration tonight. I was not well as I am sure you were informed."

"I was." Edric was using his King voice. "Though I do not understand why you had to come tell me in such a formal manner. Your message was enough."

The man frowned at that and rose, slowly. "I have other matters to speak of."

"Of course." The King beckoned a servant over and ordered a glass of wine for him and his vistor then returned to the man with a calm but stern demeanor. "What troubles you, Lord Ganondorf?"

The King of Thieves did not tense or show any sign of his strong, prideful aura breaking and spoke, smoothly, though his eyes were raging. "The Treaty."

"That seems to be something everyone is afraid of." Edric sighed, crossing his arms with a frown. "If you show your fear than there will be doubt. Surely you know that?"

Ganondorf seethed, eyes murderous, and he scowled creating savage wrinkles of rage. "I am not afraid." He spat the last word with hatred. "I am offended that you would put a frivolous wedding before a Treaty years in the making." The Gerudo Leader surged forward but did not lay a hand on the King though it could be seen in every line of his face that he wished to. "I will not be made into a mockery for your Kingdom! I will not come to make this offer, again, King Edric." He spoke with a serene violence. "My People sit starving in the desert and you prolong their suffering every day that you delay the signing of our negotiations!"

Edric glared but it was not enough to make the powerful man before him back down. The King knew Ganondorf was not a man to be frightened by intimidation but he hoped his words would quell his anger. "The Gerudo fought against Hyrule in the 100 Years War." Zelda's Father accepted the goblet offered to him by the servant and shoved the one for Ganondorf into the olive skinned man's hands. "They are not likely to forget a betrayal of such magnitude-"

The King of Theives downed the drink as Harkinian spoke and cut through with a crude half-laugh. "I did not come here to beg."

"I did not say you were, Sir." The King of Hyrule glared harder and felt the weight of the tension in the room lay upon his shoulders. "The Lords and Ladies of the Court still feel threatened by your People, Lord Ganondorf, and your desire for this Treaty to be over quickly does not settle their woes."

"You are their King!" The black armored, fire eyed man all but screamed. "You rule them, they do not rule you."

His words do not faze the King and Edric spoke with finality. "I rule them as long as they allow me the privellege." Edric sighed, stressfully. "The wedding between my daughter and Lord Lincoln will bring every House in Hyrule to the Castle where you shall show that your People are not the savages that everyone believes they are." The King bored his eyes into those pits of fire set in Ganondorf's skull and did not waver though he felt fear rise in his chest. "Bring Naburoo, you trust her and so shall I. She will set a good example for your People and to mine." Edric drained the last of his wine and broke their eye contact. "You have waited years for this Treaty to become finale so I believe you shall be able to wait another two days. Good night."

And with that King Edric Harkinian left Lord Ganondorf of the Gerudo to the echo of a slammed door.

Lincoln held his breath in the silence that followed as he spied on the one he knew to have been the one to murder the Great Deku Tree. Navi crept onto Link's shoulder and sat with her hands burrowed in his tunic in case he moved. "So, we all agree this is the bad guy?"

At the sound of her voice or perhaps the feeling of being watched, Ganondorf's head snapped to the side with the most malicious of faces. His red eyes glowed and seemed to leap alive with anger.

"Hey!"

In a blink of an eye, Zelda had Navi wrapped in her dress and was pressed against the wall to the side of the ornate window. "Shh, he's coming." The Princess whispered, emotions too scattered across her face to read.

Link dropped to the ground beneath the glass pane and prayed that they would not be seen.

"Princess?" The deep baritone of the Gerudo's Leader called out and his visage appeared so close that his breath fogged up the glass.

Zelda pressed her free hand to her pounding heart and closed her eyes to join Link in prayer. He knew she spied on him... she had thought she had been so careful... tears formed beneath her dark lashes and the Princess of Hyrule let them fall.

"It is rude to spy, Little Princess." Ganondorf laughed then. "Next time I catch you, you better hope your Shiekah is with you." His dark aura moved away and the sound of his footsteps faded until a door opened. "Or that she is as fast as I am lead to believe she is!" And closed.

Link released a breath he had not know he was holding and dropped his head back to lay on the cold stone of the Courtyard's patio. "He is the man from my dream."

"Let me outta here!"

Zelda released Navi from the confines of her dress and slid down the wall before ripping off her headpiece. Locks of gold rushed past her shoulders in shoulder length waves that hid her face from the boy's view. "He knows." Her fingers brushed through her hair and she covered her mouth with one hand to stop her lips from quivering. "Oh, Nayru, he knows."

Link leaned up on his elbows and stared at the Princess with uncertainity. "Zelda...?" Lincoln sat up and took the girl's hand between both of his own. "Zelda, he was just trying to scare you." He smiled at her, reassuringly. "And even if he meant it, he cannot hurt you... Impa will not let him... and... and neither will I." An odd feeling took his heart then and Link spoke with a stronger tone. "I promise."

"No one can promise that." Zelda's violet eyes blinked away the crystal drops as her head dropped back and laid against the stone wall.

"I do not promise, Zelda Marie." Impa had appeared at the girl's side and stood more still than a staute with a look borderlining on feral. "I have made a vow that no one shall harm you and I do not care if this man obtains the Triforce; he shall never touch you." Impa reached down and jerked the child's pale, beautiful face toward her and glared. "Do. You. Understand?"

Impa loved her, Zelda knew, and although the Shiekah was not always harsh... the hugs were rare and the Princess took this treatment as maternal love rather than forcefulness. "I understand."

The Shiekah gave a short, but soft, smile before wiping the girl's tears away and taking a step back into the shadows. "Good."

It was several minutes before anyone spoke, again. The children sat with their hands intertwined, Navi sat where their knees touched, and Impa hid herself in the shadows with dark thoughts of murder.

Link..." Zelda's voice was barely a whisper. "I want to tell you a story."

The Lordling turned toward the girl and rose a brow. "About...?"

"The very thing that I believe Ganondorf is here for... you see..., I have seen the books he reads in the library and I have watched him search all over the Palace Grounds." Zelda reached up and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear with a sad look upon her face. "You have been taught the story of Hyrule's Creation, yes?"

Link nodded with a puzzled expression. "Of course... The Great Deku Tree told me when I was younger." His bright cobalt eyes closed as he recited the tale from memory. "Din created the red earth with Her flaming arms, Farore dressed in the land in green to give the world life, and Nayru incited justice, order and colored the sky. When Their labors were completed, They left the world behind and along with it the Triforce."

"Good... but, Link... there is more."