Flames of Change - Chapter 7

~~

A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction

Flames of Change

Chapter 7: Ill Omen

By: knowlee

~~

[1 week later…]

"Again!"

Truth be told, Lin felt like she was about to pass out. She knew, in the back of her mind, that the training aspect of the journey would be hard, but with how she felt right now, the word 'hard' didn't quite feel like the right word to describe it.

She straightened up the beginning stance for what Sheik had dubbed a 'kata' (she had never even heard of the word until then). Once more, she went over in her mind how the moves for the kata were supposed to go and hoped this time she got them right. Otherwise, she'd heard Sheik tell her to try again.

She grumbled under her breath at this. For the past week, she had been getting up early to go do her regular duties as leader of the hunters. Although those duties were a bit lessened now since Navi didn't want anyone to stay in the forest for too long due the potential threat of more metallic creatures that could be lying in wait. But regardless of that though, as soon as Lin returned from finishing those duties, she would only have time for a quick lunch and then Sheik would start her up on her training. He had started to teach her the basics of swordplay and after she got done doing some of that for about an hour he switched to working on her marital arts. The two would then take a short break, and start all over. He had yet to teach her any magic though since he was afraid that it might catch the attention of one of the villagers.

All of this extra exercise Lin had started going through made her get tired more easily and all of her muscles felt sore (even those she didn't even know she had!) when she woke up the next morning. So once the day was done, she barely had enough time to take a bath and eat before she immediately fell asleep once her head hit her pillow. Although Sheik had told her that she'd get used to it eventually and wouldn't feel that tired and exhausted as time went on, at this point she really doubted it. She vaguely wondered if he had felt this way himself at some point during his initial training.

Once she thought she had the correct motions figured out, she started to move her body to perform them. As she moved, she waited for the moment where Sheik would tell her something was wrong. Not that she didn't mind his advice on making things better, because honestly she was a novice at this, but how he usually went about it, wasn't exactly the way she hoped he would. Perhaps this was how he had been trained? Or maybe she was too used to not having someone correct her like this when training in something? She had taught herself her archery skills, so maybe that was it? Either way there were times when she fell him grating on her nerves, but to her credit she hadn't snapped at him...yet anyway.

She finished the last move in the kata and after completing it, she turned to face him and bowed. Now to wait for his critique.

"Not bad. Although the stances could use some fine tuning, you do have the idea of where the moves are supposed to go." Lin let herself smile a little. Finally, some praise for something from him. She turned her attention away from her thoughts as he began to speak again. "While we're working on the fine tuning, one other thing I can mention that needs to be done with this kata as well as the other moves I'm currently teaching you and will get to eventually is that you need to put some force behind your move. This helps to make it to where you are used to attacking with force instead of just simply performing the move. You won't get a chance in a real battle to redo your move, so this is the reason why I'm telling you this."

Lin nodded. It made sense to her. "Okay, but why do I need to do this series of motions? Why not just learn the moves themselves?"

Sheik sighed. He really wanted her to learn these moves as fast as she could, but at the same time, he couldn't blame her for her question. He, too, remembered asking Impa those same exact ones when he was training under her. Because of that, he couldn't really get irritated at her for asking them. She did need to know and perhaps, it would help her understand why she needed to do this. "These katas that I'm teaching you are not only teaching you the moves, but they're showing how to put them together. If I were to just teach you how to do a single move without showing you how to move fluidly from one to the next, would you honestly be able to tell me that you would know how to practically move in a real one-on-one fight using the knowledge of just knowing how to perform the single moves?"

The looks she showed on her face let him know that she contemplating her answer. "Well, if you put it that way, probably not. I would probably hesitate to figure out what move to make next and lose my chance to attack them."

Sheik smiled under his scarf. That was a good answer. "Indeed. Although it doesn't hurt to analyze your opponent and figure out their weak spots, when you're in a situation where you have to make a move doing that can cost you. For both situations, that is why you're learning the katas. These will help you move from one motion to the next and let you not only land a hit on your opponent, but make it to where you can combine many of them to either push them back or knock them out completely. Plus if you learn to put more force behind each move, you'll give them more power."

She had to agree that his explanation was sound. And even if he did annoy her with his constant critique of her stances, she should give him the benefit of the doubt. He did have more experience in this and not to mention that there was a lot riding on her getting better at this. The title she had wasn't just a statement; she would have to live up to it. "Right. So I suppose I should do it again but with the advice you gave me, correct?"

Sheik nodded. At least she wasn't complaining this time. He understood that she wasn't used to such strenuous activities as he was, but he could admit that some of her complaints annoyed him at times. He didn't even remember complaining this much to his aunt back during his training days. Although a small part of the reason behind that was probably because he found his aunt back then to be very intimidating and he didn't want to incur her wrath by questioning her. That opinion still held now though for him though it had lessened somewhat since his younger years.

He watched as Lin moved to back to the first stance in the kata. Before she could move to the next one though, he heard the tell-tale sounds of hurried footsteps coming towards their location. He quickly signaled to Lin that someone was coming and before the person could see him, he leapt up into the trees without a sound.

Lin saw in the corner of her eye, Sheik motioned to her quickly in the direction of the pathway that lead back into the village. Before she could ask him though what he meant, she saw him jump out of her line of sight and disappeared into the trees surrounding their makeshift training grounds. She was still confused as to what he was doing until she heard someone calling out her name. "Captain Lin!"

Lin turned her head away from the direction Sheik had fled and looked at the area the Sheik motioned to to see one of her hunters running towards her. She groaned under her breath at the sight. 'Please tell me that Navi isn't wanting me to do something else now! I've already got enough on my schedule as is!'

The hunter got closer and closer until he came to a stop within a few feet of her in order to catch his breath. Lin quickly tried to hide the nervousness she felt at the possibility that this person might have seen her companion during that short time span. Sure, she didn't doubt Sheik's capabilities at stealth, but she knew her hunters as well. They were trained specifically to see through camouflage and disguises in the forest in order to find the prey they were seeking.

To her relief, when the hunter moved to rise up from being hunched he made no noise or indication that he had seen anyone else with her. "Captain Lin?" Lin nodded. "Yes, is there something you need me for?"

"Chieftess Navi wants to speak with you. She didn't tell me what for specifically, just that she needed to speak with you as soon as possible." She furrowed her eyebrows together at this. What did she need her for? Did this have something to do with the letter she sent out a week ago? Then her eyes widened. Or did Colin get better? At that thought, she felt her stomach get nauseous suddenly. If that were the case, then that meant that she'd be going on her journey soon. Although she knew it was going to come sooner or later, it still had yet to fully hit her that it was real. Lin removed the look she had on her face in order to prevent the hunter from getting any suspicious feelings towards her. "Tell her I'll be there shortly."

The hunter nodded his head and turned around to began his trek back into the village. Lin began going over things mentally in her mind that she needed to do before seeing Navi. Sure, she knew she said 'as soon as possible' but there was no way that she was heading over there now in her current state. She grimaced as the realization hit her that she was covered in sweat and dirt. Yep, she definitely wasn't headed over that like this! She needed to get a bath first.

She heard a low thump come from behind her and if this were a week ago, she would've jumped, but since she was now fairly used to it she didn't even flinch. She knew who it was anyway. "What was that about?"

Apparently he was just as curious as she was about what Navi wanted. She shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but I figure it can only be one of two things: the letter or Colin, the guy who's supposed to cover for me on my vacation. There's a slim chance that it's something other than those things, but I don't think that's going to happen."

She heard him make a low 'humming' noise. "Hopefully its about one or both of those first things. I don't think we need to add something else on our plates to worry about."

She giggled at the thought. "Same here. Although I have a feeling that that will eventually happen before this whole 'journey' thing is over with." She turned her head back towards him to give him a small smile. She couldn't tell if he gave her a reaction though cause he was still covering his face. "However though," she continued, "before I go anywhere I'm going to take a bath. Although I know Navi personally, I'm sure she still doesn't want me to come up into her home smelling like a wet dog!"

Sheik suppressed a laugh at her statement. Even he had spent the last week with her and practically shared the same living space with her during that time, he still tried his best to keep his distance. At times he found it to be difficult, especially since it seemed to him like she was trying to get to know him as a person. Although a small part of him thought that she genuinely wanted to, he refused to give in to her attempts.

He watched as she headed in the direction of where her home was located to, what he presumed, get ready to meet her village's leader. He watched her for a few moments before he sighed and turned back to the training grounds. Even though it appeared that her training was over for now, he could get some in for himself. He started for the ground's center. He would have to do it quietly lest he catch one of the villager's attention.

~~

Lin knocked on the door to Navi's home to announce that she had arrived. Once she heard her voice telling her to come in, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it to open the door. After walking inside and closing the door behind her, the first thing she saw was a man standing before Navi talking with her. She gasped slightly as she recognized the mop of blonde hair he had on his head. "Colin?"

Said man turned around to look at her and smiled at her. "Ah, nice to see you again, Captain! Sorry for the late welcome home, but I was out for a while. It wasn't intentional, I assure you."

She laughed and walked over to stand next to him. "Oh, there was no offense taken, I promise. I'm just glad to see that you're better now. It isn't fun being sick."

A smile formed on her face when she heard Colin laugh loudly. "No, it sure isn't!" The two heard Navi clear her throat to bring their attention to her. Navi smiled and moved closer to the two. "So I can see that you probably have put two and two together as to why I called you here Lin."

Lin spared a glance over at Colin and realized that now that he was out and about, she had the opportunity to take her vacation. She initially felt relief at the thought, but then remembered shortly after that was the words she told Sheik about them leaving during her vacation to go to the first dungeon and complete it. The slight dread she felt earlier towards it came back to her. She mentally sighed. But she would keep true to her word. "I suppose with Colin back this means that I can go on my vacation now?" Fearing that she might be overstepping her boundaries a bit, she quickly added. "Not that I mind still working, but I feel that after all the stuff that has happened last week that I kinda need it."

Lin knew in the back of her mind that she wouldn't be doing anything remotely close to relaxing on this vacation since she did have a duty to uphold, but she also knew based on the conversation she and Sheik had regarding her destiny earlier this week that it was best to keep what they knew between them. Her identity was kept secret for a reason, he told her, and that it was best to make sure that it stayed that way. She couldn't disagree with him on that and plus she didn't want the attention that the revelation would bring if everyone knew who she was. There would be mixed reactions if that knowledge were to be released, some good, some bad and some neutral, but either way at this point any reaction was a bad one. Plus she didn't want to give anyone more reason to look at her weirdly.

Lin could see that Navi was internally debating in her head whether or not to allow her to take her vacation. She couldn't blame her for it, especially since Kokiri did need her help now more than ever, but at the same time she couldn't forget Sheik's words: 'Although I do understand that you have duties to fulfill here, the ones that you have to Hyrule as a whole come first.' She hated to agree with him on this, but he was correct. Overall she would be helping Kokiri more if she were to save Hyrule. Kokiri could survive without her for a week, right? Especially now that Colin was back and he was more than capable to taking over her role until she returned.

She fought to hide the frown that wanted to form on her face from her following thought. But even if she returned, there still was the matter of the other dungeons. She internally sighed. This was more trouble than it was worth…

"That'll be fine, Lin. You can start your vacation tomorrow." Lin jerked out of her train of thought at Navi's voice. She nodded at her words and saw Navi turn her attention to Colin. "That is, if you wouldn't mind, Colin, to take over for a short while."

Colin shook his head. Of course he wouldn't mind. "No, that's fine. I need to get back in the game anyway." He chuckled. "It gets kinda boring being stuck in your own house with nothing to do after a while."

Navi smiled at his words. "That it does. I suppose I'll see you in the morning then. I'll brief on what you'll need to know at that time." She saw Colin nod his head once and with a bow towards her and Lin, he turned to leave and return to his home. She turned her attention back to her second. Based on the expression she had on her face, she could tell that Lin had something on her mind. "Alright, talk. What's on that brain of yours?"

Lin smiled sheepishly. She ought to have known that Navi would be able to tell that she was thinking of something. She had been trying to come up with an excuse to use for telling her why she wouldn't be found at her home anytime this week. The only thing she could come up with was to tell her that she'd be traveling to see her friend Malon in Zora Village. That would take care of anyone wondering where she was during that time, but the problem was trying to convince Navi to buy it. She knew especially after the incident last week about the monster attacking her that she'd be extremely reluctant to let her travel alone. (Although she wouldn't be really alone, but that was besides the point.) She hated to lie, but she had to try.

"I was thinking about using my vacation time to travel to Zora Village to see Malon. I did promise to try and see if I could before winter set in." She immediately saw the frown form on Navi's face. Oh boy, please what ever goddess watched over, please let Navi not put up too much of a fight…

"I'm not sure if I like that idea. Not that I don't mind you visiting your friend, but considering what happened last week..."

"I know." Lin hurried to try and reason with her. She knew that she only had a small opportunity to get her to change her mind. She hated to think if she didn't say what she needed to in order to convince her, that she'd have to sneak away and she definitely didn't want to raise panic by doing that. "I understand your hesitance, but I really want to see my friend again as well as her family. I also know that you don't want me traveling alone to go there, but as I proved back in the forest, I can handle myself."

Navi sighed loudly. "I still don't like the idea." Navi walked back towards her desk to try and collect her thoughts. She was worried about the woman getting ambushed again and didn't want anything to happen to her. She glanced back at her. But if it was one thing she knew, Lin was stubborn and, although she wouldn't directly disobey an order from her, she would still find a way to reason with her to make it to where she would give her permission. A prime example would be how she managed to reason with her to get her to allow the hunters a limited time to hunt in the forest instead of having it being strictly forbidden. She sighed again. Although Lin tended to doubt herself at times, she did have a way with words.

Regardless of that, her first thought was to continue fighting against it, but she knew in the end, Lin did deserve to see her friend. Especially since she had been having ill feelings as of late. Ill feelings that made her think that whatever was about to happen wasn't going to be good. And if that were the case, then although she feared that Lin may be putting herself at risk by leaving the village, she also felt that before this bad thing hit, she deserved to have as much time as she could spending it with others she cared for. Otherwise she wouldn't have another chance and would feel saddened by it. She groaned in irritation. She really hoped that she wouldn't regret this. "You know that if I don't hear or see back from you after a week passes, then I'm coming myself to get you, right?"

Lin's eyes widened suddenly. Was she giving her permission to go? She felt happiness fill her and the corners of her mouth moved to form a smile. "I understand. I'm going to try my best to be back within that time span." She made a mental note to tell Sheik this. She didn't know how far into the forest they were going, but considering that she didn't want Navi to just randomly show up at her friend's house if they went over the designated time and Malon have no idea what was going on, she needed to make sure to be back within that time span. Hopefully the dungeon wouldn't take too long… But knowing her current novice skills, it was a likely possibility that it wouldn't be as short as she hoped.

Navi nodded at Lin's words and a small smile formed on her face. "You better be. I hate to come and drag you back home. I've got duties to attend to. And I expect you to perform yours when you return."

Lin bowed in acknowledgment. "Yes, ma'am! Thank you! I will be ready to go once I get back!" 'If this dungeon doesn't kill me first…' Lin turned to begin walking towards the door leading outside when a sudden thought came to her. She was curious to know if Navi had received a return letter back from the Chieftain of Oocca. She pivoted around to look back at her leader. "By the way, have you heard anything back from Chieftain Librari?"

With the look that came across Navi's face, Lin could correctly guess that that was a 'no'. She could hear exasperation in her voice when her leader spoke. "I haven't heard anything back yet, but I assume that the letter should've arrived by now. Perhaps I'll hear something back here in the next few days."

Lin nodded. Too bad she wouldn't be here when that letter arrived. She really wanted to know if he had an idea of what they were and where they were coming from. She was sure that Navi would tell her what the letter entailed whenever she returned, but she really wanted to know now. She sighed. She supposed she would have to wait until she got back in order to get her answers. The dungeon came first.

She gave another small bow to Navi and turned to leave the house.

~~

'Okay, so I'm going to need to make sure I have enough ample supplies for however long this journey is supposed to take. The sword and shield have to come with me. Not to mention my bow and quiver. Hmm… I need to make sure I have enough arrows…' Lin's feet carried her through the village back to her home as she was mentally going over what she needed to take with her on the journey she and Sheik were going to take into the forest. She assumed that the two were probably going to leave first thing in the morning since her vacation didn't start until then and plus it would ensure that the two were well-rested enough to make the trek.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she didn't notice that someone was calling her name until they had walked up to her to grab her shoulder in an effort to catch her attention. She yelped in fear and spun around to see who it was that had touched her. She would've probably attacked them as well by using the new found skills that Sheik had been showing her, but once she saw that it was her friend Fado, she relaxed.

Fado giggled at Lin's scared expression. She had really meant to scare her friend, but she was so in tune with what was going on in her head that she didn't recognize that she had been calling her name for the past few minutes. "Sorry, Lin. I didn't mean to scare you. You look like you had something on your mind. What was it?"

Lin hesitated for a moment while she thought of something to say to her in response. She couldn't very well tell her exactly what she was thinking about, but she knew that she could give her the same response that she gave Navi which meant that she was technically lying. Lin mentally sighed. Although she hated the idea, she had a feeling that she was going to master this unsavory ability before this journey was over with. "I was just going over a list of things I'm going to bring with me when I head to see Malon tomorrow. I just received permission to go on my vacation and I promised Malon that I'd try and visit her so that's where I'm headed."

She saw the frown form on her friend's face. She wasn't pleased with the idea. "Are you sure about that? I mean, with what happened the other day, I'd hate to think that you'd run into something like that again. And if you're traveling by yourself, that will make it even more dangerous!"

Lin sighed. "I know there's a chance that I might run into another one of those creatures, but I think that chance is more than likely slim to none right now. I mean its been a week and no one has seen nor heard of those creatures since then. The ones that attacked me were probably the only ones around. And besides I was able to handle myself when I encountered them," although the second one was by the skin of her teeth and only with Sheik's help, "so I think I have a good idea of how to take care of them if that situation occurred again." Hopefully if that was the case, she'd be able to summon that magical arrow that she used to destroy the last one. She hated how it made her feel drained afterwards, but for right now it was the only proper weapon she had to stop them.

She saw Fado nod slightly in understanding. She could tell that she was still worried about the situation, but she was thankful that she wasn't pushing it. Even though she knew it was necessary, she didn't feel comfortable to continue lying to her friend. Fado smiled and Lin instantly got the feeling that she was about to tease her about something. And, per usual, she was right. "Heh, well maybe on your way to see Malon, maybe you'll meet a guy there who will sweep you off your feet!" Fado giggled.

Lin tried to keep her groan of annoyance from passing her lips. Although she knew her friend was teasing her in good-natured fun, she also could tell that deep down she really meant the words. It reminded her of why she left Mido and Fado's parents care and went to move out on her own when she came of age.

Her parents had never pushed on her the idea of a woman needing to be married like their parents had. Her parents, goddesses rest their souls, just told her that if she were to ever get married to make sure it was to someone who loved and cared for as she was and who treated her right. They never told her that she had to, but only that if she wanted to, she could.

Mido and Fado's parents, on the other hand, were the complete opposite. After her parents' deaths, she was put into their care and when she grew to be a teenager and went through the awkwardness of what all teenagers go through, they began telling her that she needed to find a suitable husband as soon as possible that way when she reached the age of 16, when Kokiri villagers were seen as adults, she would able to get married and begin to have children.

Although she knew that deep down they were only concerned about her well-being, she didn't take too kindly to the fact that they were pushing her to do something that she didn't feel comfortable with doing. She wanted to do her own thing and if she found a husband while doing so, that would be that. But she didn't want to force something that she didn't feel wasn't there. At one point during her time under their care, they became concerned that she perhaps felt attracted to people of the same kind as her, but she knew that that wasn't the case. She was strictly interested in guys only and the only reason why she hadn't pursued one or allowed one to pursue her was due to her parents' words echoing in her head.

Eventually it got to the point where she was so fed up with it that instead of doing what most women in the village did when they came of age and got married, she instead decided to move out. Luckily, there were a few other people who lived in the village who sympathized with her and felt the same as she did and helped her with the process. For that she was forever grateful for them for helping her at a time when she needed it.

Once a place of lodging was taken care of, she decided to enlist as a Kokiri Hunter and follow in her parents' footsteps. At first some people were appalled by her decision, but at the same time it wasn't as if it hadn't been done before. Her mother was one and there were a few other women who were hunters, but as a whole it was a decidedly 'man' thing. Even now with both her and Navi in high positions, very few women still made the choice to join the ranks of the hunters simply because of how the village as a whole viewed it. She silently sighed. She loved her village, don't get her wrong, but there were some things it did that she couldn't agree with.

She smiled at Fado in an attempt to prevent her from realizing how annoyed she was with her previous statement. "I don't know about that. Honestly I don't have time to even think about that right now. I'm just planning on going to visit Malon and her two sisters. No guys are going to be involved in that one." 'Unless you count Sheik as a guy who's going to be involved in her journey. But even then, the chances of us developing into something that Fado's thinking of is slim to none. I'm hoping that we do become good friends though.'

Fado could hear the irritation Lin was trying to keep from leaking out into her tone of voice towards what she had said to her. She honestly couldn't blame her. She felt jealous of the woman. Although Lin had her shy moments where she wouldn't be able to speak her mind about things, she still had the strength within her that she could call upon to stand up against things that she didn't agree with. Granted she didn't do it loudly, but her silent statements was loud enough to speak volumes. She wished she had some of that inner strength. She fought to hide the frown that wanted so desperately to fall onto her face.

Sometimes she was sick of her parents.

She wasn't of age yet, but with only a year away until she did cross that threshold, she felt the pressure from her parents to find someone suitable to be with. This pressure was the reason why she didn't have anything ill to say against her best friend. She was proud of her being able to journey across the world and do her own thing without have to worry about much. Sure, she did have people gossiping behind her backs about it, but if Lin knew about it, she never mentioned it to her. Fado wished she could be in Lin's shoes sometimes. To be free to make her own choices and if she did find someone to marry, it would be on her terms.

…But, that was a fleeting dream. A dream that she feared she'd never get the chance to live out.

But it wasn't just her who was affected by it though. Her brother, Mido, was being pressured too. She wasn't sure entirely how, but she had a hunch that it had something to do with how he had started to act towards Lin since she obtained her promotion to be the leader of the Kokiri Hunters about a year and a half ago. Lin had brought her concerns to her a few times and asked her to see if she could get Mido to stop, but unfortunately it didn't do much of anything. Although she didn't know exactly what was going on in her brother's head, she knew that deep down he didn't really mean to act the way he did towards Lin.

She returned Lin's smile. "Well, who knows, you might. But at the same time you're right, you going on this journey to see your friend, not go on a romantic love quest." She laughed at her words and could see that the smile that had formed on Lin's face was genuine and not forced like her last one. Fado decided to drop the topic of men for the time being and instead began asking her about the creature that attacked her. Although it had been a week since the incident had occurred, due to her and Lin's busy work schedules, she hadn't had time to ask her about it and she really was curious about it. She had seen her fair share of technology from her small usages of it in the village, but she was certain that all of what she saw was nothing when compared to what Lin found out in the forest.

~~

After ensuring that he had everything he needed for his nightwatchman job that evening, Mido exited his room and began walking down the steps located near his room to go down to the lower floor of the home he shared with his sister and parents. As he was walking down the stairs, he found himself thinking about Lin and how he hoped she was okay after that incident back in the forest. Although he projected a flirty and womanizing aura when he was around her, he genuinely cared about her well being.

He grimaced as he though about how he acted around her. He really wished he could stop it, but…

He stopped walking and glanced over at the kitchen where his mother was cleaning up after the evening meal and his father was hunched over at a nearby desk working on something. He frowned. They were the reason behind why he acted the way he did around Lin. They were also the reason why Lin left when once she was able. Not that he could blame her either. He would too, if he was able to get a chance. But unfortunately he wasn't as lucky as Lin was. At his current level in the hunters, it didn't pay him enough rupees to allow himself to move out and until he was able to do that, he was stuck.

At first they didn't push the issue so much, but once Lin gained the promotion she always dreamed of and finally fulfilled her goal of becoming leader of the Kokiri Hunters like her late father, it began. They had begun to pressure him to force himself to flirt with her and make her fall for him in the process. Then once the two were married, his parents would find a way to take the position from her and let him have it.

At first he vehemently was against the idea. He knew how Lin was towards the idea that most inhabitants in this village had towards women needing to be married and he didn't want to force it on her. Plus quite honestly he didn't feel that way towards her. Yes, he did really care for her, but not in the way his parents were pushing him to be.

Eventually he was forced to give in to their plans when they threatened to kick him out of their house among other things. So hence why he was now forced to perform the act of someone who was interested in her just to gain his parents' approval. It was something he always dreamed of. He, nor his sister, were never able to do much that gained their attention so it made them desperate to have them look at them with pride when they achieved something.

His parents always wanted to gain some fame or notoriety of some kind. And since they had failed they projected their dreams onto their children. They were pushing his sister, Fado, to marry someone of a high position and where doing the same to him towards Lin. They had even attempted to get Lin to marry someone sometime after she came into their care. And now they were even still attempting to do it through him.

He internally sighed. He didn't want to play around with Lin's emotions and hurt her in the long run. Luckily for him though, and unfortunately for his parents, it looked as if his attempts to charm her weren't working. And for both of their benefits, he hoped it stayed that way. If it was one thing he knew for certain, he didn't want her hurt.

He looked away from his parents and towards the door leading outside. He began walking towards it.

The only other thing he knew for certain was that he wanted to chart his own path. One that his parents weren't forcing on him.

~~

The sound of a door opening came to her ears and Lin turned to find the source. She internally groaned when she saw who was coming out of a nearby house. How could she not recognize that she was that close to their home? She blamed her train of thought. Regardless of how much she didn't really want to interact with him, she also knew that she didn't want to be rude to him either. So she gave him a small wave. "Hi, Mido! Headed to the nightshift, I see."

She fought to hide the frown that wanted to form on her face when she saw him plaster one of his trademark smirks on his own. "Well, hello there, beautiful!"

It took everything she had not to roll her eyes at his statement. If she could say one good thing about Sheik was that he didn't do this to her every time she encountered him. Suddenly an image of Sheik doing just that entered her mind. Oh, goddess, now she had to remove that image from her imagination! That was a nightmare in of itself!

She spared a quick glance at Fado to see that she could obviously tell that she knew Lin wasn't comfortable with Mido's excessive flirtatiousness. And although she appeared to be able to tell this, she wasn't doing anything to stop it. She internally sighed. Perhaps this is why Mido never stopped perusing her when Lin asked her to talk to him. Either that or she knew that no matter how many times she did talk to him, that he'd still pursue her.

Why was her life so unneedlessly complicated?

After hearing Mido spout off a few more charming words in her direction, Lin decided that it was time for her to head home. She did have something she had to get ready for and plus she knew that Sheik, although he was one of the Sheikah, would probably grow impatient at waiting for her to return. As much as she hated to be rude to Mido, she decided to cut through one of his statements towards in order to try and break herself away from the conversation. "Well, it was nice to see you guys again! I need to get back home and start packing for my trip. Don't want to accidentally forget something if I waited last minute to do it." She scratched the back of her head sheepishly to help emphasize her words.

She hid the smirk that was attempting to grow, when she noticed that the two took the bait. 'Ah, score one for me!' Fado waved 'goodbye' to her. "Be safe during your trip and make sure you come back to us safe and sound now!"

Lin reluctantly turned her attention to Mido and was a little surprised to see a look of true concern on his face. But although she saw it for a moment, it quickly disappeared and soon the normal expression she saw normally on his face replaced it. "Yeah, like my sister says, be safe out there, Captain."

And there was another shock. Very rarely did he ever call her by that name unless they were in the presence of other hunters or Navi. Was his feelings more real that he was showing? As she was wondering the deeper implications of that statement, she knew deep down regardless of how he felt, she didn't feel the same. He was too much like a brother to her. But perhaps she was just reading into it a bit too much.

With a nod of thanks to the pair of siblings, Lin turned around to follow the path that lead to her home. Once she got far enough away from them, she was unable to hear the quiet bickering the two siblings were having about her. If she had heard this conversation, it would probably have given her a big hint as to why they acted the way they did around her.

"Why did you have to push her like that for, Mido? You know she felt uncomfortable!"

"You know darn well why, Fado..."

~~

As Lin neared the place where she was training earlier that day, she found Sheik focusing on a tree that was located at the edge of the grounds. She was a little confused as to what he was doing, but she didn't say anything to him since she thought that he might've been doing some Sheikah ninja thing and didn't want to interrupt. She had accidentally done that to him about a few days ago and needless to say, she was lucky he was in such control of his movements otherwise she wouldn't be standing here.

Her hunch proved to be true when she saw him suddenly throw an unknown amount of knives at the target that had been put up on the tree by the people who made the grounds. Her eyes widened when she saw that every single one of them hit the bulls eye. She knew he was good, but it wasn't until then that it hit her how good he actually was. If the two were to challenge each other to a target match with him using knives and her arrows, it would be really close; perhaps even a tie.

She quickly pulled herself out of her stupor though when she saw Sheik turn around to look in her direction. She waved at him meekly while smiling in an effort to make it seem like she wasn't spying on him just a few seconds ago. "I'm back!"

"So, what did she have to say?" Sheik turned to look back at her. Without even having to see his face, she could tell that he was curious.

"Well, you know the guy I mentioned that was supposed to help run things for the hunters when I'm on vacation?" She saw him incline his head towards her to show his acknowledgment. "Well, he's better and after managing to let Navi allow me to take my vacation, he's going to be running things for about a week while I'm not there."

"I see." Sheik brought his hand up to his chin in thought and turned his attention towards what it meant for them now. This week would allow them the opportunity to travel to the first dungeon. And with what little of a time frame that was, they meant that they would have to leave as soon as possible. Although he found himself a little curious as to how she managed to convince her leader to allow her to leave. From what he heard about her from Lin, she didn't seem like the type that was so easily budged. "So what did you tell her that allowed you to go?"

He watched her as she began to tell him what she said to her. "I told her that I was going to visit a friend of mine in Zora Village. I really hate lying to her, but I didn't want to cause an uproar by possibly having people discover that I was gone without any explanation. We already had enough of that happen with the metallic creature from last week. I don't want to put anyone through that again."

He nodded. Hearing her say the words' metallic creature' brought him to his next statement. "Did she say anything regarding the letter?"

Lin shook her head. "Only that she assumes that it has probably arrived by now."

Sheik nodded again. "Hopefully we don't run into another one of those things." He brought his hand back down to hang at his side. "For now though, we need to get prepared. We will leave at dawn." He turned to start walking towards the direction of Lin's home. He heard her footsteps fall behind him as she followed.

~~

Lin laid down in her bed as brought the blankets up to drape over her body. With everything that had happened today as well as what was going to happen tomorrow, she wasn't sure if she was going to get any sleep at all. She sighed as she looked over at the bag that sat on the floor near the wall which held the few items she thought she would need on this journey. Once she and Sheik had returned to her home, they spent the next few hours discussing what would be needed on that trip and what food they could take to ration. Lin knew she could afford to hunt during a few days they were journeying so that cut down on how much food they would actually need.

Her gaze shifted to the sword and shield that was propped up against the bag. She felt her stomach clench. It was real. This...was happening. After all this time of dreaming and wondering if something like this would ever happen to her, here it was sitting in front of her face screaming. She was going on a journey just like the Heroes of old. Granted it wouldn't be the same as the Hero of Time's story, but regardless, it was still a journey.

She took a deep breath to settle her nerves and tore her gaze from the items on the floor to her ceiling. She really hoped she did a good job on this quest. All of the other Heroes did well. Well all, except for the last one. Although she knew she could try her best and try and succeed, there was that back thought of what would happen if she failed. If she...died.

Never was she more grateful than she was now that the Sages had thought to allow Sheik to travel with her. With his expertise on certain things and plus with him supposed to be protecting her, she knew that she had a lower chance of something like that happening to her. That thought helped stifle her fear a little.

She sighed. She really need to get to bed. They were both getting up at first light, so she needed all the rest she could get.

~~

He took his hat off of his head and wiped the sweat off his brow. The bag he was carrying felt heavier than ever. He sighed. Today was definitely one of those days.

After replacing his hat back on his head, he glanced around his environment looking for the building he needed to enter. Once his eyes caught the aforementioned place, he smiled. Finally, he could get some rest, especially after where he just came from. He had to meet someone at one of the post offices that could be found at one of the many half way points that were scattered around Hyrule. The one in particular he traveled from was situated the halfway point between Hyrule Castle and Kokiri Village.

Although he wasn't allowed to look at the letters as only the Postmaster had that authority to do so if he wished, he did find himself curious as to why the Chieftess of the village would need to contact the Chieftain of Oocca. He had his theories but he knew he needed to squash those thoughts before they got any bigger. He didn't want his wonder to cause him to break the rules.

With a sigh, he reached the door of the building that lead to Oocca Town's local post office and opened it. It was time for a break.

~~

The flames from the candles he was lighting flickered gently and brought a little light to the front of the altar that was set up in the sanctuary. As he was lighting said candles, he found himself saying little prayers for each of Hyrule's inhabitants that everything in their lives would turn out alright and that nothing bad would happen.

Once he finished lighting one of the candles, he moved to the next one, only to see the flame he had just placed on the candle get snuffed out. He was momentarily confused. How would the candle had gone off? There was no wind blowing in the Sanctuary that would cause it to do so. So how did it do that?

He took the long match that he held in his hand and used it to relight the candle… only to see it go right back out just a few seconds later.

He felt his stomach turn to stone at that point. That wasn't a good sign. If it happened to anyone else, they wouldn't have considered it as a bad thing, but he had been through too much in his life to not consider it. He had learned to look past appearances and understand that things weren't always as they seemed.

He put out the match in his hand and placed the burnt item into a pan that would allow it to not damage anything. He turned to bow before the altar to pray. As he did this, he found himself thinking back to another time where he prayed the exact same prayer he was now. He hated seeing the correlation between the two and he feared how the two could be related.

All he knew for certain was that someone in Hyrule, their light was about to go out...