A/N: I am on a roll! :P

I do not apologize for the things you are about to read. I finally wrote something I like... I just hope you guys like it too. ^.^'

Read and Review, my lovelies!

-Q

Also,

Metal Chocobo ( u/1151842/ )

Thank you for the review! :) Its what helped me pound this sucker out!

Zelda leaned against the frame of her bedroom door and sighed. Her hair swept against her shoulders and framed her face, prettily, though her eyes contrasted against her pale skin with how strikingly undainty they were. "Are you nervous?"

"Yes... and no." Link tapped his boot against the ground and ran a hand through his hair with a soft half-laugh. "Yes, because I think your Father threatened me at dinner... and, no, because my brothers will be there."

Zelda's lips tugged downward and her eyebrows arched upward. "I do not mean to put anymore pressure on you-"

"But?" Navi was sitting upon the shadow Link had come to know as Impa.

"But," The Princess almost smiled though her eyes kept their seriousness. "we do not just face one dangerous opponent." The girl huffed, tucking back her locks. "There are politics and other rules to this game we have been thrust into."

Lincoln smirked. "Yes, I know... but, Zelda... we have an advantage."

Impa's armor glinted off the moonlight pouring into the hallway and her feminine lips formed a masculine frown. "It is naive to assume such, Link. We believe we have the advantage because we assume Ganondorf does not know what we have planned... True, he dispersed but that does not mean his ears are gone from the Castle." The Sheikah brushed Navi from her shoulder and ushered the Lordling into her charge's room. "We do not know what he is planning either... he is back in the desert with his People. The Gerudo are not women to be trifled with. They are as strong or stronger than any of the Knights we have." Her crimson eyes clashed with blue. "Yes, perhaps even your talented brothers."

"She is right, Link." The Princess sighed, wrapping her arms about herself. "We have the Ocarina, the Emerald, but other than that we have no other plan."

"I am going to get the other Stones!" The boy exclaimed, waving his hands in the arm which would have been comical had he not been so serious. "We will have all the keys Ganondorf will need to get the Triforce!"

"Together. You will have them all together." Impa growled. "We have not planned for what happens when you get them back to the Castle."

Navi landed on the top of her partner's head and glanced down at him as he looked up at her. "What if I take them to my King?"

"The Faerie Court?" Zelda gasped, violet eyes bulging at the thought. "B-But they have never entered the affairs of the Hylians!"

The tiny girl laughed. "No, we have stood by the Kokiri... you forget, that my people were friends with the Great Deku Tree... and he was murdered. He put my friends and kin in danger by unleashing Gohma. We have just as much of a reason to keep those Stones from him as the Royal Family does." Navi stepped off Lincoln's head and moved so that she could read the trio's faces. "Do you remember the doors we found in the Lost Woods, Link?"

"Doors?" It clicked almost instantly. "Yes!"

Zelda frowned. "Doors? Do you mean to tell me that you have found the Lost Doors?" The Princess flew away from them before anyone could speak and was soon throwing things out of a metal chest dragged from beneath her bed. "Here." She thrust a map into Link's hand and smiled. "Look at this."

Navi snatched the paper from her friend's hand and unrolled it upon the floor which would have been a task if she had not used magick. "How old is this?"

"I do not know... it is older than my Father's line but I believe it came from my Mother's." Zelda bit her lip and placed a finger over a place Link knew by heart. "This is the Kokiri Woods." The details were outstanding even if it was not completely up to date. The Village placement was wrong but it showed the path all the way up to the Sacred Meadow. It even had the doors. "I have looked this map over so many times that I know it by heart... I could transverse the Lost Woods as fast as any Kokiri..." Her eyes met Lincoln's over the ancient paper. "I want you to have it, Link... it is my gift to you."

He beamed at her. "Thank you." And took up her hand, pressing a kiss to it, and laughed. "Beloved Princess."

Zelda laughed, blushing slightly. "Navi is right. You are a brat." He stuck his tongue out at her.

"To return you all back to the topic at hand, when will you have time to give the Stones to the Faeries?" Impa's voice interjected and the children all looked up at her. "He only has a week to retrieve them and return for the wedding."

The scene grew grim, once more, and settled into silence as everyone thought.

After a while, Lincoln shrugged. "It will have to be after the wedding because I have to present them to the King along with Darunia and King Zora." Link yawned and could feel how late it was in his bones. "I need to sleep... I have a long week ahead of me."

"Should I escort you to your room?" Impa asked, rolling up the map and handing it to the boy.

"No... it is not far and Navi can scream really loud if anything bad happens." Lincoln laughed as his Fae glared at him. "Good night, Impa." He turned to Zelda and smiled. "Good-" Her arms wrapped around his neck and squeezed him in a tight embrace." Night, Princess."

"You are not allowed to leave without saying good bye." She glared, pulling away with a smile. "Promise?"

"I promise." He laughed and blushed as he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

Navi issued a quick farewell herself and, together, the two journeyed to Link's room where sleep awaited them... and took them without a fight.

Dawn slipped from Night's grip and the Sun greeted His children with the warmth of morning. The sunshine burned away the fog that usually gripped Hyrule Castle and everyone rejoiced in the promise of a beautiful day.

King Edric threw his feet over his large, feather bed and released a bear like yawn that shook his stretching limbs. "I do not think I will ever get used to you stalking around the corners of my room every morning."

"It is only for a while longer, My King." Impa replied, still as a statue with red eyes. "But, if you would prefer I guar-"

"If I had not enjoyed your company, Lady Impa, then I would have told you so by now." He chuckled, twisting a few curls of his black beard. "Oh," His brown eyes settled into hers without any fear. "I forgot... Lord."

Impa crossed her arms and allowed a rare smile. "You are King. You may call me whatever name you like."

Edric grinned, light dancing in his eyes like fireflies in the night. "Are you sure you would grant me such a thing, Milady?" The tone in his voice was soft and it sent a certain type of shiver down Impa's spine.

It was a pleasent kind of feeling but she could not afford to enjoy. "No, but you are King."

"Your smile is gone." The King frowned and stood without care that he was nude. His sheet fell away from a body few blacksmiths could brag upon and Impa's eyes lurked where she knew they should not. "Impa?"

They shot back up to his face and she ignored the heat coming from her own. She felt like a young girl, again, and hated it. "Yes, My Liege?" There had been tension between them ever since he was nothing more than a young Prince, even after he married his wife, and it had grown over the many years after her death. It was almost intolerable at times... but Impa had to keep her head clear.

"What if I were to say I wish to call you..." He smiled the way he used to smile when he was about to tell the punchline of a joke... but his eyes were serious like when he swung that hammer of his. "Wife?"

"I would say you are a fool." Impa's eyes narrowed into a glare, her face returned to its statuesque state, and her heart exploded in her chest.

He laughed away the pain that lingered in the brown orbs Impa pretended not to love and draped himself in a robe. "And I would say you are a liar, My Lady." The King ran a large hand through his hair and met her eyes once more. "I do not know what will happen in the coming days, Impa... sometimes I almost find it in my heart to believe my daughter's odd dreams... but I know that I want her safe... I want you both to be safe."

"Nothing shall happen so long as everything continues to go as smoothly as it has." Impa peered out the window and sighed. "Though it has always been your nature to worry over such things."

He smirked, crossing his grand but dark room to his wardrobe. "You know me too well..." Edric did not open the closet, however, and turned instead to the woman in his room. "What do you think of the wedding... and the Gerudo Pact?"

"The Gerudo Pact is a nice idea." Her lips tightened, thoughts raced, and she frowned. "I do not trust Ganondorf... However, wedding Princess Zelda to Lord Lincoln is a wise move... especially after his little request."

Edric furrowed his brow and he let out a low growl. "You have let my daughter's dream shake you."

"I do not trust him because he has given me no reason do to so." Impa's voice verged on anger and she stepped back into the shadows to calm herself. "Though you should take an ear to her. She is a wise girl, My Liege."

Instantly, his face melted into regret. "Of course, she is... my beautiful Zelda has always been wise... and so odd."

Silence fell and the King moved to his bed. "She loves you..." Impa spoke, softly, like a whisper. "Edric."

"But, does she know I love her?"

How she wished to go to him and express some form of comfort... but Impa did not know how to without compromising her heart. "Yes. She knows."

"Impa... you will protect her... if..."

"I would give my life for the Princess." Her voice answered, fiercely.

Edric stood with conflicted expression. "I do not wish for that." Brown eyes scorched past the barriers Impa had long since put up and stared straight into her. "IF anything happens. You take my daughter and you run." The thin lines of wrinkles starting in his thirty-five year old face. "Swear it."

"We will not need to r-"

He was there, suddenly, and had her shoulders locked in a vice group. "You, swear it."

"I swear, Edric, I swear." Impa's voice came out strong though her knees felt weak. His gaze poured into hers like molten metal and tension boiled to a point... the heat of his body, the strength he wielded, and his voice... but she could not let it break. "I have to go wake her n-"

This could not be said about the King. His lips crashed against hers like waves on a rocky shore... her body slammed into the stone wall behind her and she drowned in him... and he in her.

When she finally could surface for air, Impa collapsed into the sheets, chest heaving, and closed her eyes. "I will guard from the outside from now on."

Edric rolled into his chest and sighed into his crossed arm. "You are-"

"We cannot do this." The Sheikah turned to face him with her shoulder length hair splayed across the King's pillow. "Not in the midst of this chaos... nor ever."

"All your Sisters have married... but not you. You have always been stubborn and strong... married to your ways." He stroked a finger across her cheek and leaned up onto an elbow. "I do not wish to change you, to cloud your head with worry for me as you belive you will if we start... this, but I would like..." He smiled, softly. "to call you Lover if not Wife."

She glared, swung her feet out of the bed, and swept her hair over her shoulder. "Emotions are vile things, Edric." Impa brushed her white locks back and tied it into the usual bun. "I cannot protect you and the Prin-"

"I am not asking you to do that, Woman!" He growled, frustration finally aggravating his anger. "If anything goes wrong then you let me die and you protect my daughter. I have guards and I am not an old man yet." He released a calming breath. "I only want you to be here when I fall asleep and when I wake... no longer lurking in the shadows-" He laughed." -as I change."

Impa stood and, no sooner has she landed on her feet, was she pulled back into the King's bed. She whipped around and glared. "I do not lurk." She relinquished her stubbornness and sighed. "I must go wake the Princess up... I-" Those crimson eyes met his brown ones and she frowned. "Perhaps I shall see you tonight..."

Edric beckoned her with a finger. "The King commands you to kiss him before you leave."

A light slap was all he received. She dressed and he watched her like a theater show and left him to his own devices. If Zelda missed seeing Lincoln off then Impa would have hell to pay.

She entered the Princess' room without making a sound and found the girl already dressed and brushing through the tangles in her gold locks. Impa pressed her boots down harder so that Zelda could hear her and took the brush.

"You are up early."

The Princess shrugged, too tired to speak, and allowed Impa to take over but after a while she answered. "I had another nightmare."

"The same one?"

"No." Golden waves shook back and forth and Zelda yawned, once more. "It was different... but I cannot remember it now." The ten year old's head dropped back and she smiled. "Could you braid my hair?"

Impa smiled and brushed back the child's bangs. "Yes."

The sound of horses greeted them as they raced toward the Castle Drawbridge and Zelda's face collapsed with worry.

"He has left without saying good-bye! I know it! I know it!" Her heels clicked and clacked as the girl ran toward the sound. She wore a long, plain, velvet red dress with a tan corset tied close to her skin though she did not need it. She was a blur of blood as she hurried... reaching the bridge with gasping breathes.

Impa smirked, placing a hand flat between the Princess' shoulder blades. "He left, did he?"

The boy was no longer dressed in black but in a dark blue tunic, a brown belt with many pouches, brown fingerless gauntlets, and looked like a tiny ranger with a quiver and bow. Lincoln's cobalt eyes almost glowed as he caught sight of the Princess. He dropped from his saddle and raced toward her.

The girl took off and they collided in a strong embrace.

Tears were streaming from Zelda's violet eyes as Link squeezed her back. "You had best come back in just this condition, Lincoln."

"Everything is going to be fine, Zelda." He pulled away and beamed at her. "Absolutely fine." Thomas and Rowan swapped sad smiles with Jason and Raven as they watched the two children.

The Princess began to sob. "Please, do not promise that. Please, promises are things to be-"

Link's face came back red as he parted their lips from the quick kiss. "Zelda... I am not making a promise." He dropped to one knee and pounded a fist to his chest with a confident smile. "It is an oath."

A/N: I really hope I did not turn any of you off with that little bit between Edric and Impa... I really just want Impa to be Zelda's new mom offically...

:D Oh! And if you guys like to read fancomics for LOZ then, please, check this out!

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It is also in French! :)

art/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Lurking-Shadows-p-1-FR-294200303

A friend of mine is writing it and it is very promising! :)