I'm pretty sure you guys are pretty upset and demand an explanation; well, here it is:

I'm fully aware that by posting this chapter I'm going against FFN's rules and policies, but I think they'll forgive me considering this case.

First of all: Thank you everybody for reading and reviewing my story "The silver dagger and its sheath." It would have never grown so much otherwise. Ultimately though, that's what made me end the story like this.

Originally, this story was meant to be one big (but not too big) one-shot. I did not intend to put much time or effort into it. "The Wise Queen of Hyrule" (for the sake of my newer readers, that was the original title of "The silver dagger and its sheath") was meant to be one quick, short, light story... just like the original folktale. When I decided to cut it up into small chapters, it was simply for convenience; it simply made encoding, posting and updating easier and quicker; especially on a regular basis. I also did not expect much out of this story because my prior LOZ stories were all failures.

Then you guys came along and showered me with all sorts of praise and ratings from 7 -10. Chapter one I already had 2 tens! I got motivated, I didn't want to disappoint you and... to cut it short I kept writing, and the story just kept growing and developing, as I smoothed out rough parts, and explained others that were vague before. And of course I had to tweak things a bit so that the story takes place in the LOZ universe.

But over all I still use the original folktale as my basis, and intend to do so until the end.

But then a small problem came up that seemed a little trickier to fix. You see... in the original tale, the pretty maiden used her wits three times to "defeat" the king. The first time was the riddle our wise, fair Zelda had to unravel.

So why the cut? Because the first "defeat," the riddle, is not really related to the following defeats.

At least, as I recall the story, there was no smooth transition between the riddle and what happens after. The second and third victories of the clever maiden over the, for a lack of better word, foolish king are clearly related, the second defeat leads to the third.

But the first, the riddle, seems like a totally different event.

The more I thought about it, the more I got the feeling that my original folktale may have been originally two! It might be that someone took two very short stories, anecdotes maybe, and glued them into one without smoothing out all the rough parts.

What also led me to make this cut here is a pair of sister-stories that I have read while I was working on "The silver dagger and its sheath." Both stories revolve around the same two characters. The first story tells you where they came from and how they met. It also tells you about their first adventure together. The second story tells you what becomes of them after their first adventure. It also tells you about their second, and last, adventure together and how their tale ends. But even so, there is no good way that you can combine the two into one good, big story; at least I don't think so; better leave the two sister-stories separate.

That's why I decided to make this cut. I decided to trust my gut-feeling and cut the maybe two-stitched-together-stories into two sister-stories (again?)

And that's why I had to change the title of "The Wise Queen of Hyrule." I had to because our wise, fair Zelda was not going to become queen anymore! Not in this story.

Anyhow, this story, "The silver dagger and its sheath" will now serve as the "alpha-" story; it introduces all the main characters, tells you who they are, where they came from and what they are like. The next story, the "omega," will bring them back and tell you how their lives will continue.

In short, in the next story our wise, fair Zelda will continue her adventures "against" the young king Link.

Why did I decide to rename my story a second time? Why did I not stick to the second title "Wise, fair Zelda?"

Remember those sister-stories I mentioned? Well, you can kinda tell by their names that they are sisters, and I also wanted the titles of my sister-stories to reflect that they are sisters. You see, I had decided on the title of the second story long ago; "The Queen's most precious treasure."

And that's the story you'll have to watch out for if you want to what adventures, or rather trials, our wise, fair Zelda will have to overcome in the years to come.

I hope to see you all review again in "The Queen's most precious treasure!"

Still miffed? Look at the bright side! The adventures of the wise, fair Zelda are not over yet! You'll read from her again!

And say what you want; you can't accuse me of not putting enough effort and/o thought into my story!

On the down side... I'm taking a break. Well... sorta. I have only barely started writing "The Queen's most precious treasure." (For your info: I write my stories on paper first, and then I encode them. I still got the manuscript for "The silver dagger and its sheath," every single page. Right from the start.) I hate to keep you guys waiting, but I think it's better if I first write up a whole big bunch of chapters before I start encoding and posting. 'Did the same thing with "The silver dagger and its sheath." Besides, I can't rush this! By cutting the story into two, not only do I have to write a worthy successor to "The silver dagger and its sheath," I also have to write an ending so great it's totally worth reading two stories! Talk about putting pressure on yourself!

In the mean time, I think I'll kick out a few side projects... maybe I'll post the next chapter of "The sword and the shield." Oh, and I will definitely post a Link-Tetra one-shot!

Some final words:

I am no one special; what I can do, any one can do! If I can write a great story, you can write one too!

Okay, I have written everything I wanted to say and I have explained my upsetting decision; NOW you're free to badmouth me!

PS: Once you let everything out, would you mind going back to the last chapter and leaving behind an honest, objective rating from zero to ten? (Remember: 0 = Delete this shit. 10 = Perfect.)