A/N: Legend of Zelda isn't mine.

Hopefully updating more than once a day will make up for my extended absence? No?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was a week before Sheik allowed Link out of the house. In the meantime, the restless hero had to content himself with cleaning Impa's dusty house and retraining his healing, but woefully underused, arm. Though he tried to keep his mind and body moving, his thoughts kept straying to his missing companion. Where was Navi? She had never been gone for so long.

Sheik was no help in the matter, she was always either fending off Anju, the cucco lady, or she was taking part in the rebuilding. It had taken a lot of persuasion on his part, but Link eventually got her to tell him about their reaction to her. After seeing Mutoh's obvious mistrust of her, Link had found himself worrying for his quiet companion's safety. The townspeople were scared of the unknown, she had explained, and as a mysterious being, they didn't trust her either. Through her assistance, however, she was slowly being accepted.

Link smiled and stretched out in the shade of the potion shop by the well, plucking at the grass with lazy fingers. Currently, most of the townspeople were at the archery game shop repairing some of the fire damage there from Bongo Bongo's attack under Sheik's guidance. The hero had wanted to help at first, but his friend had snapped that if he aggravated one of his wounds even slightly in the attempt, that he would be chained to his bed for the next month. Brave though he was, he wasn't stupid. So they agreed that he was well enough to lounge outside, out of sight.

He looked down at his gloved hand and flexed it with a small frown. Only recently he had learned that the great power of the Triforce of Courage rested there, yet he felt as he always had. He didn't feel more powerful for it, nor did he feel any more courageous than he was as a child in the Deku Tree. If it hadn't been for that final confrontation between himself and Ganon, he would have laughed the idea off.

A sound yanked him violently from his thoughts. His arm shot downward and he pushed himself into a crouch, listening carefully to the whistling breeze. His sharp ears picked up the sound of boots on grass that came ever closer and he cursed. The well was bound to attract people, and he had brilliantly chosen to hide next to it. His practiced fingers drew the Master Sword as he watched a form move to the well to draw water.

Anju let out a shrill squeak when she looked up, her eyes meeting his in the deep shadow. "Oh my," she muttered, fluttering her hands over her heart in an effort to calm it. "You looked like—oh, I don't know why I thought you were, but in the shadow and with your sword—you looked like a wolf about to pounce! You frightened me."

Link didn't bother to tell her that he was actually ready to pounce. Too many times life had proved that one could never be too careful. He sheathed the Master Sword gracefully and rose to his feet. "Anju," he smiled, though memories of chasing her cuccos around Kakariko threatened to pull a frown on his lips instead. "Sheik told me you wanted to see me…"

"Oh, yes," she placed her empty bucket on the ground and fluttered her hands around uselessly. "The young man wouldn't let anyone see you. He said that you were badly hurt… I just… I had to make sure that you were alright. Did you… did you really kill Ganon?"

Link sighed and ran a nervous hand through his blonde locks. "Yeah, I did. He's gone."

She smiled with happy tears shining in her bright eyes. "I-I would have never guessed that the boy that always chased my cuccos around Kakariko would one day save us all. It's a miracle. You're a miracle, Link."

The hero's face turned the color of Anju's hair and shifted uncomfortably at the praise. "I don't know about that," he looked up at the position of the sun. "It was nice to see you, Anju, but I really need to go. Sheik will lock me away in the house again if sh—he knows that I was out." He fumbled in his pouch for his hookshot; the fastest way out of the conversation.

"Is it true?"

"Hm?" Link voiced absently as he continued to look.

Anju grinned widely, "That you took down the Goron elder with nothing more than your bare hands?"

He groaned and withdrew the sought-after item, aiming it at the roof. "If you haven't heard it from either Sheik or I, it's not." With a press of the trigger, the hook extended, latched onto the shingles above him, and carried him far away from the conversation. He was so relieved for it that he almost didn't feel the pain in his healing arm from using the contraption… almost.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Did I not tell you," Sheik chastised him though her cheeks were slightly reddened, "that you needed to stay out of sight?"

Link sighed but didn't bother answering. He tried to relax as his companion slathered more of a potently peppermint smelling ointment on his aching shoulder. He had tried to massage the pain away from using the hookshot earlier, but when it didn't diminish, he approached Sheik with a lowered head.

"I'm not sure how this item works," she continued, trying to keep her eyes from straying to the strong muscles of his back. "But it must be a thing of magic. I'm surprised that it doesn't rip your arm off when you use it."

"S'not as jerky as it looks," the hero sighed in contentment as Sheik's strong, yet skilled fingers continued to work the mixture into his skin.

The woman patted his arm once and sat back, finished with her task. Link groaned longingly, but obediently pulled his tunic back on and turned to face her. Sheik's face was still flushed but her glare drew Link's attention away from that. "I should keep my promise to keep you indoors." She looked around. "In truth, I have never seen Impa's house look so clean in the past seven years, so it is not too bad of a punishment. I do hope you didn't misplace anything though,"

"I'd go crazy, Zelda," he said lowly, trying to convey his desperation for action through his eyes. After months of constant travel and fighting, this peace was strangely unfulfilling. He felt out of place in this world. In her vast wisdom, Zelda had been right: there was no room for a hero during peaceful times. Link knew that when he had fought her will instead of returning to the past, but he had no place in the other time. "I need to be out there, helping to rebuild that which was destroyed while I slept."

"Link," she muttered and took his hand in hers, the gentleness in her touch and the callouses on her fingers contradicting one another. "I-,"

Her words stopped as she snapped her mouth shut and jumped to her feet, long daggers between her fingers. Link was only moments behind, his sword hissing from its sheathe as the door flew open. A man stumbled in and looked up with a look of horror in his panic glazed eyes. Sheik did not move from her defensive stance, but Link sheathed the Master Sword and moved forward to grip the man at his shoulders, as if to transfer his own physical strength over.

Still unwilling to let her guard down, Sheik considered the man. He was not of Kakariko. His clothes were old and new tears adorned his sleeves and soaked up oozing blood from small injuries. His shaking hands clutched at Link's and he looked at the hero in awed silence. Link didn't notice the attention, but was searching his body and mentally tallying each wound.

"What happened?"

The man blinked when Link spoke. While still a young man, the hero's voice betrayed how his adventures had aged and hardened him. "W-we were attacked."

"We?" Sheik finally advanced with silent steps.

"Yes S-Sheikah." He fumbled over his words, intimidated by the red eyes piercing into his own. "A small village, formed when G-Ganon took over. You wouldn't know it."

Link helped the man to a chair and rummaged through their supplies for bandages. "I likely do. I've been around." He began dabbing at the cuts.

"What attacked you? Where are the rest of your people?" Sheik hand twitched in impatience. She understood that the man needed attention, but there were likely others that were in a much more perilous position. Knowing that it was in Link's nature to help, she tried to calm herself.

"I rode ahead," he wiped his brown hair from his sweat-drenched brow. "They asked me to find the hero… are you…?"

Link looked up from his work. "I'm just a man with a sword, trying to do the right thing." He patted the man on the shoulder and stood. "You'll be fine. What, may I ask, attacked you?"

"Skeletons… burst from the ground." He shuddered. "It looked like they were running from something… maybe to it? The attacked when they ran into the village… Terrifying, it was."

The hero nodded curtly and walked to where his shield and pouch were sitting on the table. With practiced fingers, he strapped them on and turned to Sheik. "They might be fleeing because they know that light will return to the land soon."

"Are they Stalchildren, or Stalfos?"

Even as the man was shaking his head in confusion, Link answered. "I haven't seen a Stalchild for seven years." He turned to the man and offered a comforting smile. "I'll go to them. Where are they?"

"Likely between here and Lon Lon Ranch."

Link turned to Sheik. "I'm going now, Sheik, stay here."

"You're still recovering from your injuries, hero. I must protest. Another hand would—"

"It would be nice, yes." Link responded, tightening his belts and pulling on his boots. "but I need someone here to ensure that the people don't panic. Come on, Sheik, I've faced worse in much worse condition."

She was frowning, Link couldn't see her mouth, but he could tell from the way her eyebrows lowered. "I will not pretend to like this, hero. Go."

Link grinned hugely, the victory won much more quickly than he had imagined it would have been. "I'll send the people here and guard their backs. Expect me in a few hours." The hero turned and, with a confident air, strode out into the thick darkness of night.