Gliss here! It's my chapter, so guess who procrastinated life again? Did I stump ya'? (Here's a hint: it's me.) I've been busy with school, but it's finally all over now! Hoorah! And I have the chapter written!

Twinxie: Hey guys! Long time no see! Three cheers for no more finals, school or mystery meats! Unless you are one of those poor kids that are still in school...In that case, hang in there! ;D I can't wait to get some major chapters up this summer! I'll see you in the next! Toodles! XD

(Link)

The sun was shining bright in the sky and Link could feel its heat burning through his tunic. It didn't matter to him that it was midday and the sun felt like it was physically beating him up. No, only one thing mattered. He needed to find Zelda.

He knew he probably should have taken his trusty steed Epona, but the king sent him out so quickly he practically forgot to breathe. At least he remembered how to walk and how to actually get to Lake Hylia.

A bead of sweat dripped from his bangs into his eye. He wiped it off and pulled off his hat. His hair was dripping wet with sweat. After running his fingers through his soggy blond mop, he gripped his hat tighter and trudged on. Surely Lake Hylia was close by? The tree next to him looked awfully familiar. It looked just like the last. Then again, they all look alike...

Should have taken Epona. It was too late to go back now.

A large hill stood in his way to get to the lake. Link could smell the misty breeze coming off of the nearby water. All he had to do was make it past the hill. His legs started to feel wobbly and weak, and his head started to spin, but he had to keep going.

One. More. Step. He kept telling himself it was just one more step, but that was just false motivation. Link knew he was overheated and dehydrated, but the lake was so close. How silly it would be to pass out when water was just within his reach.

"I can see it!" Link shouted aloud. "I can see the lake!" He was almost at the top of the hill, but everything seemed to be blurring in and out. And in. And out. And in. And out.

"Aughhhhh," was the last thing Link remembered.

Link blinked several times. He didn't know where he was or what he was doing. And what was he looking at? It was all blue with white puffy things. Oh. He was looking at the sky.

He sat up slowly and wiped the sand off of his arms. Sand...? That's right! He was trying to make it to Lake Hylia! He must have actually been able to make it before he passed out! This was great! Was Zelda here?

He pushed himself off the ground so that he was completely standing now. He found his hat lying next to him, so he picked it up and put it back on. As he continued brushing the rest of the sand off of himself, he looked around for Zelda. He saw the silhouette of a woman in the distance also along the shore.

"Zelda!" He exclaimed running toward her. He had his arms open wide, but was still weak from earlier and stumbled just before he reached her.

"Oh my goodness!" She said as she came closer. She offered him a hand up and he took it. "It's about time you woke up! I had to drag you down here myself!"

He examined the strange woman before him. "You're-"

"Not Zelda?" She finished.

"Yeah," Link answered at a loss for words. "Who-?"

She started to brush some of the sand off of Link. "My name is Sheloh."

Sheloh was fairly tall and had dark maroonish hair. She must not usually go out in the sun because her skin was so pale there was almost a greyish tint to it. She had a thin face, but round green eyes and full red lips. Her dark skin-tight bodysuit seemed pretty hot in the intense sunlight, but she didn't seem bothered by it.

"You're not from around here," Link noticed.

Sheloh gave a friendly smile. "No. I'm not. I needed somewhere to go and clear my thoughts and I knew there was a nifty little lake here to do the trick."

Link nodded. "That's what my friend liked to do. She always came here to clear her thoughts. And that's where I expected her to be."

"What happened to your friend?" Sheloh asked.

Link sighed and walked closer to the water until his boots touched it and Sheloh followed him. Sitting down, he answered, "Zelda was the princess of Hyrule. She just went missing and the whole castle was in a panic looking for her. We couldn't find her anywhere in there, so the king sent me out here to look for her. I think she ran away."

"Ran away?" Sheloh questioned. "But isn't a princess's life to die for?!" Link looked over at the young woman as he pulled off his boots. The expression on her face reminded him of one a little girl might have, dreaming of being a princess too.

Link dipped his toes in the water and wriggled them around. He was greatful for the coolness Lake Hylia brought him. "You would think, but there's a lot of behind the scenes work that doesn't quite make it into the fairy tales. Zelda was being forced to marry someone from another kingdom to help solidify their political bonds."

"Not for true love?" Sheloh's round green eyes got even rounder and filled with visible disappointment as her childhood dreams seemed to disintegrate around her.

"She had no chances with true love. All the princes she met were big jerks that didn't really seem to care about her as a person. They were all lust and no love," he explained, feeling his own heart fill with sorrow too.

"And you have feelings for her, don't you?" Sheloh asked as Link was splashing water in his face. He stopped for a moment to glance at her, then continued to cool himself down with the water. That was the one question even he could not seem to bring himself to answer honestly. And honestly, he just didn't know.

The pale woman dipped her right hand into water and wriggled her fingers. "I had feelings for someone too. I thought it was true love. I thought we could get married and I would have my own happily ever after, but our interests proved to be different."

"I'm sorry," Link tried to comfort the young woman.

She shook her head and swatted her hand away as if it were no big deal. "That's the real reason I'm down here. To clear my mind from my breakup." She stood up and her gloomy expression hardened. "I'm usually not such a 'Debby Downer'. I promise I'm usually more fun and exciting than this!"

Link stood up with her and put his boots back on. "Yeah. Me too."

"Come on!" Sheloh cheered a bit more lively. "I'll help you find Zelda! It can be an adventure!"

"Really? You would do that? For someone you don't even know?" Link asked in surprise.

"Sure!" She answered. "It's better than feeling sorry for myself all day! We better hurry though, the sun will be setting soon!"

Link forgot how much time he must have lost when he passed out earlier. He silently thanked the goddesses above for sending him someone that could help him on his journey. "I don't know where to start though."

Sheloh scanned the area around them then pointed up at Death Mountain. "Death Mountain seems to be acting up lately. I don't know if your friend has anything to do with it, but we might as well check it out as we're searching for her."

Link gave her a strange look. "I thought you said you weren't from around here?"

"Oh!" said Sheloh. "I'm not. But I visit Hyrule quite frequently, so I do know the area."

"Where are you from then?" He asked curiously.

Sheloh turned the opposite way from Death Mountain and pointed in the distance. "Waaaaaayyyyy far away back there, there is another kingdom. That's where I live! But it's kind of a mopey little place, so I like to visit other areas."

They started to walk to Death Mountain together when Link asked, "Not to be rude or anything, but what race are you? I don't think I've seen anyone like you."

"You probably haven't. I'm an Imparian. When I was really little there was a great genocide and I was one of only two who survived," she explained. "I never knew who my parents were, but I'm okay with this because an extremely kind soul took me in as one of his own. And you are Hylian, I'm assuming?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. I never knew who my parents were either because they both died when I was a baby. They worked for the castle, so the other workers practically raised me as one of their own. At a young age I showed promise to be a guard, and the king made me Zelda's bodyguard. You can see the brilliant job I've done so far..."

"Well we are looking for her," Sheloh said comfortingly. "And if that's not doing your job then I don't know what is. It's not like you could have kept her from running away. If that's what she wanted to do, then that's what she was going to do."

Link smiled at Sheloh and thanked her for the comforting words. He was even more determined than ever to find Zelda now. And Death Mountain was going to be his first place to check.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed this update that I've been meaning to get around to! :) See you next chapter! :D