"What's taking so long? Surely I would have it by now!" Edwin paced in front of his mirror, desperate for the knowledge that had yet to come to him.

Patience... You will get what you desire, we must simply wait for her body to return to the earth. Then it will surely come to you.

Edwin listened to his inner voice. The dolt Link had largely given up looking for Zelda after finding her ripped shawl on the edge of the river cliffs, assuming her to have fallen and died. All the better, the kingdom mourned her disappearance as the will of the Goddesses. Edwin needed to do nothing more, the stage was set. He lied to the masses that he was too devastated to take a wife and produce heirs, leaving him as the sole surviving member of the Royal Family. The knowledge would have to come to him.

"Yes, patience..."

Days became weeks, then months as Zelda lived with the group of outcasts while waiting for her leg to heal. They were a friendly if somewhat strange lot, leaving during the day to hunt for gems and pillage local settlements. She learned she was near the Termina border, one of the territories King Edwin had eyes for, and hence why no one from Hyrule was looking for her.

On one of their rest days, Ghirahim took her for "a walk" along the border, hoisting her on his back while the Skull Kid introduced her to terrain not on any of the Royal Family's maps. Yuga tagged along to paint the scenery, while Agahnim, Vaati, and Zant stayed at home to cook and clean.

The February air was cool, but there were tinges of warmth in the breeze. Zelda wore the burgundy dress Ganondorf had left her, but since the night at the spring he avoided her. The most she saw of him was when one of the men knocked on his door in the morning with his breakfast. She had yet to learn his name, and felt uneasy benefiting from his generosity while knowing nothing about him. So she choked up the nerve to ask.

"Ghirahim, your master..."

"You're curious about him? I don't blame you. Master Ganondorf is terribly dark and gloomy, but he's benevolent. He let all of us live with him when he heard our troubles, and he helped each one of us come to terms with our scars. Mine were fixed with a little makeup, but it took a lot of work to get Skull Kid and Yuga calmed down. And Master handled it beautifully." Ghirahim practically had hearts flying out of his ears as he praised him. "You might not think so, but he's actually glad you came to us."

"Why? So he can vent his frustrations on me?"

"No, silly. He likes how cheery everyone has become. We're no longer moping around waiting for the next harvest. Thanks to your needlework the only holey clothing is on purpose, your advice has helped Vaati's cooking, and Skully here plays livelier tunes. Even Master is-"

Ghirahim was interrupted when Zelda screamed in his ear. Ahead on the path were a pair of the merchants that regularly traveled between Termina and Hyrule, or so it appeared. Zelda immediately recognized one of them as Sakon, the assassin who tried to kill her. He saw her as well, and growled.

"Zelda, alive!?"

Sakon and his underling drew their weapons, causing Ghirahim to grimace. "Yuga, take her!" Yuga quickly pulled Zelda off the youth's back, giving him room to conjure a set of daggers. Yuga sat her in the bushes and cast a protective spell around her. It was weak, but it would do for the meantime. The Skull Kid ran off for help, as his straw body could not withstand battle.

"Are you the assassin who tried to take our Princess's life?" Ghirahim hissed when the daggers were easily dodged. Taking the silence as an affirmative, he summoned his rapiers. "Well there's no way I'll allow you to finish the job!"

The underling was easily dispatched, thrown off guard by Ghirahim's sudden teleportation. A rapier through the gullet followed by a thunderbolt from Yuga took him out, and the pair turned to Sakon.

"She has demons in her employ now, eh? All the more reason to eliminate her." Sakon threw a bag of trick powder towards Zelda, which Yuga moved to block with magic. But it had been a trap, and the powder exploded from his spell. The magic resonating back knocked him out, and left Ghirahim to fight alone with a ringing in his ears.

"Tricky bastard, but you'll need more than that to stun me!" He threw another wave of daggers at the assassin, then leapt into the air to drive his rapiers through the man's skull. Sakon rolled out of the way at the last second, causing Ghirahim to hit a tree root instead. He cursed as he tried to wrench the blades out of the ground.

"Watch out!" Zelda screamed, a tad too late to help. Sakon came up behind and drove a knife into Ghirahim's shoulder, all the way to the hilt. The youth screamed in pain and collapsed, his gaze pointed toward the princess in agony. Not so much for his own pain, but for failing to protect her from harm.

Sakon yanked the blade from Ghirahim's shoulder, and headed for Zelda. The spell Yuga cast had faded with his consciousness, so she was left defenseless. Her ankle was nearly healed, but not enough for her to run. She tried to crawl, but Sakon caught her by said ankle, making her yelp and wasting her efforts.

"If the King finds out you've been alive all this time, he'll do more than kill me. So I'm going to carve you to bits like I should have done before." Sakon raised the knife to her face. Zelda screamed and tried to push him away, but the knife caught her cheek. Red blood streamed down, soaking into the collar of her dress. She put the pain aside as she struggled, managing a kick to his groin. "Gargh! I was going to kill you first then slice you up, but it looks like you want the opposite! Fine then, legs first." Sakon pinned her down by her throat with one hand, using the other to rip her skirt away and access her leg.

Zelda tried to stay strong and fight, but she was never trained for this. A few tears escaped her eyes, stinging when they reached the wound on her cheek. She braced herself as best she could for the impending dismemberment, because she knew it would hurt far worse than anything she could ever feel, even worse than death.

"Princess!"

A weight lifted from her, and she realized that she was no longer held down. She opened her eyes to see someone towering over her, and Sakon thrown to the dirt. It was Ganondorf, his face a horrific scowl and his breathing so heavy it could have been a growl. He slowly stepped toward the assassin, who was trying desperately to scurry away. But he couldn't get far, as Agahnim appeared behind and threw up a barrier.

"People in your position normally pray to the Goddesses for mercy, but even they would not be so foolish as to oppose me right now," Ganondorf hissed, now atop the assassin. "Though if you are so inclined, Agahnim is willing to listen to your final confession." He cracked his knuckles, making a sound like that of snapping branches.

"You-you wouldn't dare, I am aide to the King!"

Ganondorf emitted a deep growl, and thrust his fist into Sakon's stomach, shutting him up. He beat the man bloody, until he was on the brink of death. Just before the final blow, he cursed at the assassin. "You have no right to touch her, bastard!" A final punch sent him to Hell, and his body was tossed to the side.

Ganondorf immediately turned back to the princess, finding her trembling with fright. Her violet eyes darted from Sakon, to the unconscious Yuga, to Agahnim healing Ghirahim, and finally to meet Ganondorf. His eyes flared at the blood on her cheek; she must have interpreted it to mean he was annoyed at her, because she started apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry... hic... It's my fault. Gh-ghirahiim is... is..."

"...Is alright. Agahnim is a skilled healer, and it was but a flesh wound. I'm more concerned about you." He picked her up, checking for further injury. She was bruised in various places, but the cut on her cheek was her only serious mark.

"A-and Yuuga... He's, he's..." There was no use talking to the girl, she was deep in shock. So Ganondorf did what he could to ease her pain, touching his forehead to hers and muttering a sleeping spell. Her trembling stopped, and she slipped into the land of dreams.

A/N: All aboard the feels train! Next stop, upendi!