Dancing with the Fire

By Fox McCloude

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda and all related characters belong to Nintendo. All rights reserved.

Part I: The Red-Haired Dancer.

Hyrule Castle courtyards…

"I've told you, I'm not doing it."

"Yes you are."

The young heirs to the throne of Hyrule were at the central courtyard of the castle, having a… small disagreement. One glance at them was enough to tell they were fraternal twins, they had the same, dark brown straight hair, and similar facial traits, although Prince Zeil was taller and burlier. His hair, barely going down below his neck, was tied in a short ponytail hanging over his shoulder, with a long strand hanging between his eyes, and another pointing upwards like an antenna, and he had his late father's green eyes. His sister, Princess Zelda, had a slimmer and more slender figure, her hair fell reached halfway down her back and was tied in an elaborate braid, and she had her mother's blue eyes. Despite their physical resemblance, both siblings had very different personalities, tastes, and general tendencies, which frequently caused them to clash and argue with one another.

"Zeil, whether you like it or not, you must have learned by our coming-of-age ceremony." said Zelda. "Remember that we will turn 18 years old in one month's time and there will be a grand ball in the celebration. You need to be ready by then."

"Zelda, you already know how much those ceremonies bore me; besides, I hate dancing." Zeil replied.

"You're hopeless. There's much more in life than just going around swinging a sword."

"Says who? Little-Miss-Bookworm who's always all day long locked up in the royal library?"

"That's none of your business." said Zelda. "Mind you, if I do that is to keep up to speed with my studies, something that you could do every now and then."

"There are things you can't learn from books, you know that?"

"Our dancing instructor is very upset at the way you stormed off yesterday."

"That wasn't my fault, she did nothing but scolding me every time I made a mistake. Even I have my limits."

And so they were. The Prince was a rather headstrong young man when it came to formalities, he had a rebel streak and a fiery temper, and adding up that he hated being told what to do, let alone being lectured, well, it wasn't hard to imagine the result. The Princess, in stark contrast, was much more obedient and disciplined, and always tried her best to keep her brother in line, although sometimes her brother's stubbornness just made her lose her cool, and her patience was wearing thin. None of them wanted to relent in their stance.

"Zeil, listen to me, Mother is really worried because you don't make an effort to behave as you should." Zelda was struggling to control the anger in her voice, trying to keep civil. "Please consider that many nobles and kings from other lands will attend our ceremony, and you might earn a very bad reputation if you don't behave yourself."

"Hah, if they don't like me the way I am, that's their problem." was Zeil's response. "And if you're done with your lecturing, I'm off to take care of my business. By your leave, dear little sister."

"Zeil, I'm not done yet, get back here!" Zelda shouted, but Zeil paid no heed to her and left the courtyard, leaving her alone. The princess let out a sigh in resignation. "For the Goddesses, what did I do to deserve such a stubborn brother?"

"You know there's just no way to get him to change his mindset." A voice spoke up behind her.

Zelda turned around to see who had spoken to her, it was a young man about the same age as them, as tall as Zeil, and dressed in a green tunic with a matching floppy cap on his head, covering his messy blond hair, and had dark blue eyes. On his back, he carried a sword inside its sheath.

"Ah, it's you, Link. Were you listening?" asked Zelda.

"Sorry about that. I came over to ask Zeil to come over for some sparring, and when I arrived, you guys were arguing." The young man apologized, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Don't worry, I'm just sorry you had to see that, it's so embarrassing having to tell him how to behave himself." said Zelda. "But I'm still worried, we're just one month away from the ceremony, and he's not helping at all."

"I can see that." said Link. "Although, to an extent, I can sympathize. The instructor has been rather harsh on him."

"Why don't you talk to him instead?" Zelda proposed. "I get the feeling he would be more willing to listen to you."

That could be the most feasible option. Link and Zeil were the best of friends, almost like brothers, albeit still keeping a certain level of rivalry with each other since they were kids. All because the prince wanted to compete on a tournament for young swordfighters trying to prove himself. He reached the final with little to no complications, but it was then that he met his match, who was none other than Link. In terms of skill the two were evenly matched, except that Link had a small yet significant tactical advantage by being left-handed, which ended up making the difference. Zeil didn't take this defeat well at first, but it did serve as a motivation to train harder. A couple of years later, Link would join as an aspirant to the Royal Guard, and it wouldn't take long before the two became sparring partners. Even though Link was of low birth, the blond young man had formed a strong friendship with the prince and princess over the years, and his superior sword skills despite his young age, not to mention the unconditional loyalty he showed them, had earned him acknowledgement from the Queen of Hyrule herself, who even treated him like a second son.

"I can't promise that he'll listen to me." Said Link. "The way things are looking, I don't think Zeil would try to dance even by himself."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." Zelda replied. "My mother feels somewhat uneasy at the impression Zeil could cause in the ceremony."

"I think I can help him vent his frustrations. Then I'll try talking to him, when he's cooled off, is that OK?"

"I'd be really grateful." The princess smiled at him.

Link smiled back at her, and calmly walked in the same direction as Zeil. The princess looked at him, and sighed, as she placed her hand on her chest. Over the years, Link had become the closest friend she and her brother ever had. Zeil sometimes would describe him as "the brother I wished I had" if only to make her angry. As for her, however, things were quite different. Her affection for Link had gone way past the point of considering him her best friend, or another brother, it was much deeper, and stronger. Admittedly, she considered him very handsome and he was definitely her type, and even though she was very often praised for her beauty, she often wondered if Link would consider her attractive.

Outside the castle, moments later…

Zeil had left the castle's walls, and had gone walking off to the castle town. The prince just wanted to have some time for himself, and get away from the lecturing of his sister and his superiors. At the lack of a better entertainment, he started throwing pebbles over the water canal streaming through the castle town's square, trying to get them to hop over the water surface. After a while, when his arm was too tired to keep up, he sat on a bench to rest.

"In a bad mood again?" Link's voice asked from behind.

"Hey there, Link." He greeted halfheartedly. Link sat next to him.

"The dancing lessons aren't going well, are they?"

"I don't want to talk about that." Zeil snapped back.

"You can't escape them forever." said Link. "Even I know that."

"Do you need to keep reminding me?"

"Come on, don't be like that." Link gave him a few friendly pats on the back. "How about we do some sparring? It'll help you vent out a little. Shall we go to the usual spot?"

"Nah, I'm not in the mood right now." Zeil replied.

"In that case… shall we go for a drink at the inn? My treat, if you want." Link offered.

Zeil hesitated a little, but he finally agreed. They both had a few rounds, and took their chance to chat for a while, which had the expected result, Zeil left his earlier anger behind. However, at nightfall, when they left the in to go back to the castle, they stopped at the square for a bit. A large crowd had gathered around what seemed to be an improvised stage, with people cheering and clapping loudly, and there was also a very upbeat music. They both approached to check it out, and they realized it was a troupe of traveling performers, so it seemed. And they both quickly took notice of the real center of attention, the dancing girl on the stage.

She was quite beautiful, tall and buxom, dark skin and red flaming hair falling down to her knees despite being tied in a ponytail. Her pink skintight costume only flattered even more her curvaceous figure, and her moves filled with grace, elegance and a small touch of sensuality left everyone speechless (mostly the males, at least). And speaking of speechless…

"*Whistle*, that girl does know how to move, huh, Zeil?" Link nudged his companion with the elbow, but he didn't reply back. "Zeil? Hey, I'm talking to you."

"Eh, what?" Zeil seemed like he was in a trance, which he didn't snap out of until Link waved his hand and snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Well, well. If I didn't know better, I'd say you've just fallen in love, eh, loverboy?" Link gazed at him mischievously.

"Aw, come on, I don't even know her." said Zeil, turning around so his friend wouldn't notice he was blushing.

"Really, then why don't you take this chance to meet her? Come, let's get a little closer." Link grabbed his arm and dragged him along.

"Hey, wait!"

Against Zeil's protests, Link dragged him amongst the crowd, until they finally reached front row to see the red-haired dancer up close. Despite his initial refusal, in the inside Zeil admitted that she was quite attractive, not to mention very talented for her performance. It was like a show of dancing fire, her long, red hair gave her a perfect complement to her moves for that amazing effect of flames circling around her. They kept watching for a while, until, without warning, she glanced exactly in their direction, or more specifically, in the direction of the prince. The girl gave him an enigmatic smile, and then gestured with her hand, inviting him to come up to the stage with her.

"Hey, buddy, I think she means you." said Link.

"What, me?" Zeil didn't believe it.

"Yeah, what are you waiting for? Go get her!"

"Are you insane? I don't even know how to dance."

"She does, you can ask her to teach you."

"Hey, but I…!"

Zeil just couldn't finish her protest, because between Link's pushing, and the redhead grabbing his hand and practically dragging him by force on the stage, he was already there. He felt really flustered, standing right there in front of everyone, and furious at Link for pushing him into it. Although, looking on the bright side, the dancer's beauty was even greater upon seeing her up close, and that was something that, as much as he hated to admit it, wouldn't complain about.

"Excuse me, but… I'm not much of a dancer…" Zeil whispered, so only the girl would hear him.

"No need to worry, sweetheart. Leave it all to me." She replied, winking.

Zeil gulped down, but since he was already there, it wasn't like he had much of a choice. In the end, he let the redhead to take control of the situation (and him), wishing that everything came to an end as soon as possible. Indeed, it was her who put him to spin around the stage and do whatever she wanted. Amongst the crowd there were many males clearly jealous of him, they'd do anything to trade places, even though it didn't seem like she was enjoying it very much, or at all, for that matter. Once the accursed dance finally ended, Zeil felt a huge relief to finally jump off of the stage.

"We're leaving. NOW." He said to Link without a second thought.

Link hated missing out the fun, but he shrugged and followed his friend. Even so, and even though Zeil just wanted to get away from there as soon as possible, a strange impulse made him stop for a moment and turn back towards the stage. The redhead still smiled at him, and bid him farewell with a flying kiss. Zeil felt his face burning up even more and ran off without turning back anymore.

Inside the Castle…

Princess Zelda was still where Link had left her, still waiting for him as well as her brother to come back. Looking back now, she felt somewhat guilty for being so harsh on him. As soon as he came back she would apologize, and try to reason with him again without sounding as if she was lecturing him.

"…really embarrassing, you have no idea." Zelda heard her brother's voice approaching. They had returned.

"Hey, you have to admit it was fun." This time it was Link's voice speaking, and surely enough, they both appeared around the corner. "And I think she took a liking for you, too."

"Say one more word, and I'll rip your tongue off." Zeil growled. It was then that he spotted Zelda. "Ah, hey, sister."

"Did something bad happen?" Zelda asked, somewhat worried upon seeing that Zeil's mood didn't seem better than when he left.

"Nothing bad, Zelda." Link spoke up before Zeil could even utter a single word. "On the contrary, something VERY good."

"You got me to embarrass myself in front of all those people!" Zeil yelled. "Ah, that's enough. We'll talk about this later, when I'm in the mood."

And then he stormed off, stomping furiously. Link still had an ample smile in his face, but Zelda still wondered what had happened to make her brother so mad.

"What's he talking about? What happened, exactly?" She asked.

Link, trying to hold back the laughter, explained to Zelda their visit to the castle town square, they had stopped to watch the show of a dancing girl, and how she had "forced" Zeil into dancing with her. The blond young man also mentioned to the princess that her brother had been left dumbfounded for a while upon seeing the redhead, and no matter how much he said otherwise, Link was certain that Zeil had actually enjoyed it.

"You just wait." Link said. "Surely enough he's going to sneak out tomorrow to try and find her again."

"Are you going with him?" Zelda asked. Link couldn't help but notice a little streak of jealousy in her voice.

"Nah, I don't think so." Link replied. "If he wants to know her… I don't want to get in his way."

Meanwhile, at his chambers, Zeil was lying on his bed, unable to get that little… "show" out of his head. Despite everything he had said to Link, looking back now, it hadn't been so bad. As much as he hated to admit it, Link spoke truthfully, that dancer girl was quite beautiful, and with so many men gathered around her, which were the chances she would have picked him of all people? Once it finally sunk in, he realized he had been lucky to have danced with her, and he acknowledged it hadn't been unpleasant at all.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked himself aloud. "I can't stop thinking about her, and I don't even know her name."

The next day…

That morning, Link could see, while he was in the middle of the usual early training session, Zeil seemed more distracted than usual. Yet he didn't say anything, because he already suspected (and correctly) which was the reason. So as to avoid making his friend feel bad, he intentionally let him win a couple of rounds, so the accounts ended up more or less even. The prince, however, did take notice that his partner had left openings on purpose, and when asked why, Link just played dumb. At lunch time, Zeil ate with a bit more of hurry than usual habitual, which didn't go unnoticed by his sister and mother.

Queen Selena, sitting on the table's main chair, was a lady seemingly in her late thirties, perhaps even early forties. Anyone who glanced at her could describe her as a more mature version of her daughter Zelda, as she had the same facial traits and eyes as her, although unlike her children, her hair was blonde instead of brown. Age didn't affect her attractiveness at all, for everyone agreed that she possessed an air of elegance and the kind of beauty that is only reached with maturity. She could be strict at times, but was also a loving and caring mother to her son and daughter.

"Thanks for the meal." He said, picking up his plates before the maid did it for him. Even more, he didn't even stay to wait for the dessert.

"You seem to be in a hurry today, my son. Is something amiss?" The Queen asked.

"Huh? No, no, of course not." Zeil replied. "I'll take these to the kitchen myself, thanks. By the way, Mother, I'll take a stroll around the castle town. Please don't wait for me on the afternoon. Later."

Zeil left the dining hall in quite a hurry, and Queen Selena was rather surprised at this. She glanced at her daughter, who didn't seem surprised at all, so the Queen guessed that she knew something.

"Zelda… do you know if your brother is up to something?" She asked directly.

"I can't say for sure, but…" Zelda made a pause before continuing. "… I believe, he's going to look for someone in particular."

After leaving the plates at the kitchen, Zeil went off to his room to get changed, skimming through in his closet for everyday clothes. Also, just in case, he'd take along his sword, he could never be sure of what he could run into out there. All set, he went towards the castle town.

He had gone directly to the square, exactly at the same place where he and Link had seen the red-haired dancer the day before. Just as Link had suspected, he was hoping to find her in that place. Unfortunately, the performers' troupe apparently was not making a show that day, so he didn't spot her anywhere. Still not giving up, Zeil decided to ask around if anyone had seen her, but nobody could give her any clues to her whereabouts. It seemed like the redhead had vanished just as soon as she had appeared. After spending the whole afternoon looking and asking just about everyone, he finally decided to stop by the inn in frustration, regretting not having followed through with Link's advice to take the chance to properly meet her when he had it. He sat by the bar and decided to ask for a drink.

"What's the matter, Your Highness?" The innkeeper asked. "You look rather… dispirited today."

"It's nothing." Zeil replied halfheartedly. "Bring me the usual, on the rocks, please."

"Right away."

The innkeeper and a couple minutes later he brought a very large and foamy glass jar. Whenever Zeil stopped by the inn for a drink, he only asked for rootbeer, taking into account that he was not authorized to drink any kind of liquor legally until after his coming-of-age ceremony. Nevertheless, it wasn't like he cared much about that, he was happy just to get something cold to drink whenever he was upset or frustrated about something.

After finishing his drink, he leaned on the bar, thoughtful. He was quite angry at himself for his own stubbornness, having wasted the chance of getting to know that red-haired beauty, and not even asking for her name. In stark contrast with his temperamental, rebel usual self, Zeil was rather shy when it came to women, and that was partly because never in his life he had given a shot to a sentimental relationship. His sister had beaten him on that area, as she had maintained a close relationship with Link from almost day one, going beyond being close friends. While at first Zeil was not amused at all at the idea of his sister getting involved sentimentally with his best friend (a typical overprotective older brother instinct, even though he was the older for only a few minutes), over time he had to resign himself to accept it. Thing was, they hadn't formally confessed to each other, but he knew it was but a matter of time. Even more, once the coming-of-age ceremony had passed, he was sure his sister would be the one to confess.

A while later, the innkeeper came by again, and placed another jar full of rootbeer next to Zeil. He was a bit puzzled because he didn't order anything else.

"Excuse me, I didn't order this." Zeil called out.

"The lady over there ordered it for you, Prince."

The innkeeper pointing at the other side of the bar. Zeil looked, and was quite surprised to see that the red-haired dancer girl was sitting over there, giving him a flirty smile. The girl raised her mug as if making a toast, and Zeil, shocked to see her appear when he had stopped looking for her, couldn't do anything but smile back at her. They were not too far off, yet for some reason, he didn't dare approach her. She was about four seats away, and he still didn't make any move to get close or try and talk to her. The girl didn't break visual contact, although she gave off the impression that she was waiting for Zeil to take the initiative. Maybe she had tried to break the ice by treating him another drink, hoping that this would give him the "little push" he needed. Still, Zeil didn't move an inch from his seat, he seemed to be content just with looking.

"Come on, do something, talk to her." He told himself mentally.

A few minutes later, Zeil tried to open the mouth to say something, yet the words got lost upon reaching his throat. The redhead seemed to be getting impatient. It was as if she was trying to test him. Finally, she let out a sigh in resignation and decided to take action by herself. She stood up and started walking towards him, slightly wiggling her hips with style. She took the seat next to him, and still smiling, finally spoke up:

"Why is such a handsome young man like you so lonely around here?"

"Hmm… Would you believe me if I said… I was looking for you?" Zeil replied, trying to not to get nervous.

"Oh, that's interesting. Did you enjoy my dance yesterday?"

"You could say that yes, I did. I had never seen such a talented dancer."

"Why thank you, I feel flattered."

Alright, they had managed to strike a conversation. That was the first step, no doubt the hardest one. The next one, was a proper introduction.

"By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. I..."

"I know who you are." She interrupted him. "You are the Crown Prince of Hyrule, Queen Selena's son, your name is Zeil."

"I see that my reputation precedes me." Zeil said. "Well, since you already know my name, will you grant me yours?"

"You can call me Din."

"Din? Like the Goddess of Power?" Zeil seemed a little surprised at this.

"Yes, that's my name." The redhead confirmed. "Is it wrong that a simple mortal like me is named after a deity?"

"No, no, of course not." Zeil answered. "Well… Din, how about you tell me a little about yourself? You're not from around here, are you? I mean, I had never seen you before around the castle town."

"That's because I come from the land of Holodrum."

"Wow, that's quite a long way." Zeil said. "So, what brings you here, to Hyrule?"

"Oh, nothing special, just… I'd love to share my dancing with the people of other lands." She said. For some reason Zeil had the feeling she might be hiding something, but didn't press any further.

"Well… do you have something to do at the moment?" Zeil asked. "We could… maybe, I don't know, take a walk and chat for a bit?"

"Gladly, that sounds good to me." Din said.

They both left the inn and began strolling around the square. After giving that first step it turned out to be much easier than he expected to talk to Din. The girl listened to him, and seemed to understand him well, something that he sometimes felt unable to do with his mother and sister. Before he realized, he was already telling Din about his lack of enthusiasm for his upcoming coming-of-age ceremony.

"… and she's always telling me "Zeil, that's how the tradition goes, you need to learn it", and all that blah, blah, blah…"

"You don't seem to like parties very much, do you?" Din commented.

"I have nothing against parties, but… I always feel out of place when there's a ball." Zeil replied.

"Then why don't you try to learn how to dance, if only a little?"

"Bah, it's just… I don't know, it's kind of silly… twirling around as if I were a wind-up toy or something."

"You think I look like a wind-up toy?" Din seemed to take offense at that comment.

"Eh? No, of course not. That wasn't aimed at you." Zeil immediately regretted what he had said. "You are… with you it's different."

"It's still dancing, one way or another." Din said. "Listen, dancing can be fun, and it's a great physical exercise to keep in shape."

"I don't doubt that." Zeil couldn't help but gaze at Din's curves with an appreciative eye. "But it can be a bit hard when your instructor does nothing but scolding you whenever you make a mistake or something."

"In that case, how about that you simply change instructors?" Din suggested. "How about to be taught by someone more… flexible?"

Zeil immediately caught the indirect. Still, he decided to play along for a bit.

"Someone like who?" He asked.

"I don't know…" She said, as she adopted a more or less provocative pose. "Perhaps… me?"

"You? No offense, but… I don't think that kind of dance would look good at a formal ceremony. Even I know that." Zeil pointed.

"Do you really think that's the only dance I can perform?" Din challenged him. "Please, I can do much more than that."

"Hmm… I can't be sure whether my mother would approve." Zeil became thoughtful. "I mean, having you as my dancing instructor…"

"We could meet in secret." Din suggested. "Well, it's not like I can force this upon you if you don't want to. But in case you change your mind…" She approached to whisper on his ear. "You can find me at the Northeastern Woods."

And saying no more, she left, once again swinging her hips with style as if she was trying to tease him. That girl really knew how to move even for something as simple as walking. Zeil remained thoughtful for a while. It seemed like a bit of an "indecent" proposal, meeting alone with such an attractive young woman, and if someone found out maybe they could spread rumors around. On the other hand, the perspective of replacing his current dancing instructor, a grumpy, fat old lady, for a younger and more charming one was too tempting to let it slide. And if Din had said the truth, about being more flexible as an instructor, he might even grow to like it…

Three days after, Hyrule Northeastern Woods…

Why hadn't Din given him a more concrete place to meet up? She had said "Northeastern Woods", but nothing else. Zeil wondered what a dancer like her could be doing in a place like that. Maybe she just didn't want to pay for the inn's fee or something like that. In any case, he had decided to take her up on her offer to learn how to dance under her, but now the problem laid on the fact that he didn't even know where the lessons would take place.

For the past three days, after their initial encounter, Zeil had been considering the redhead's proposal. The reason he didn't agree immediately was because he thought he should first consult his mother about it, after all, there was still one month left before he would turn of age. The Queen was a little skeptical when her son told her that he wanted to "change teachers" in regards to his learning how to dance, since, even though she was pretty much aware on how much he despised such classes (as well as the current instructor), she wasn't fully on board with the idea of leaving his son in the hands of a total stranger. As he refused to go into further details, it was Link, at Zelda's request, who spoke in his stead, even though Zeil tried to stop it. The young swordsman explained the Queen that the new instructor was a dancer who was stopping by the region. Queen Selena didn't agree until Zeil had a slip up with her name, that she was called Din. For a very short instant, a strange glint crossed the Queen's eyes, and afterwards she agreed. Zeil wondered if perhaps his mother knew something else about Din that he did not, yet he decided not to press with any more questions, lest that she could change her mind.

"Well… you told me I would find you at the Northeastern Woods. Here I am." Zeil said, speaking to nobody in particular. "The question is, where are you?"

He had been walking around in circles for about two hours, and he was starting to get annoyed. When he finally got tired of walking, he stopped at a clearing, and sat on a fallen log to rest, wondering if it had been a good idea to accept Din's proposal. Maybe she was just messing with him, maybe she didn't even have the intention to teach him and just said that to get him to come to this place for nothing. Well, he couldn't pass judgment without knowing her, but she certainly didn't seem like the "sweet and innocent" type at all.

"Bah, what was I thinking?" Zeil said as if he suddenly understood. "How could I trust her so easily?"

"Trust who?" A female voice spoke up behind him.

Zeil instinctively turned around, and his hand went straight for the sword hanging from his belt, but held back from unsheathing it once he saw who it was: Din stood before him, still with a smile in her face.

"Were you talking about me, perhaps?"

"Maybe I was." Zeil half-admitted. "Where did you come from? I've been lost in this forest for at least two hours looking for you."

"The master appears when the disciple is ready." Din replied in an enigmatic tone, although Zeil had the feeling she just wanted to dodge the question. "I assume that, if you're here now, you decided to accept my proposal?"

"Hmm… alright, yeah." Zeil said. "What I'd like to know is why, of all places, it had to be here."

"I like to be in contact with nature." Din replied. "Plus, nobody will interrupt us."

Zeil didn't say anything, but Din was right on that. At least he could avoid his mother and sister's lectures, and it was a rather quiet and relaxing place, far from the noisy castle town.

"Well then, follow me." Din turned around.

He followed her without a second thought. They went through the thickness of the forest, going even deeper. Zeil wondered if she actually knew where they were going. Eventually, after passing through a tricky path full of vines everywhere, they reached their seeming destination. Din had guided him to a tree which, from the looks on the outside, had been turned into a house, since in its incredibly thick trunk there was a door with some stairs, and a window on each side. He also noticed that above the tree there was some smoke, like a chimney. Din opened the door to invite Zeil in. In the inside there was one single big room, but with everything needed to live comfortably. There were some rugs on the floor, a table with two couches, a bookshelf, and a wooden rack full of plates, mugs and other stuff, close to a large stone fireplace with a large cauldron hanging over the fire. There was a stepladder leading to an upper level, with a large bed, which the prince quickly guessed was her sleeping place.

"Humble, but I hope you can be comfortable." Din said with modesty. "Shall we have a drink before we start? Some tea, perhaps?"

"Sounds good." Zeil said, still a bit surprised. "Hey, did you… build this place, by yourself?"

"Yes, I did." Din replied as she went towards the rack for a couple of mugs and a teapot.

"Had you been here before?" Zeil asked.

"Once or twice." Din replied, not paying much mind to it.

Din filled the teapot with some boiling water from the cauldron, and then added some herbs on it. To balance out the temperature, she added next a bit of cold water. She then mixed everything and poured it on two mugs, handing one of them to Zeil. The prince blew a little before taking a sip.

"Hmm, this is good." He said after tasting it. "So then, about your proposal before…"

"Yes, of course." Din interrupted him. "Still, there's no need for us to hurry. Before that… I thought that we could, maybe, chat a little, to get to know each other."

"Din, I came here because you promised to teach me how to dance." Zeil said directly. "I don't want to fool around."

"With all due respect, if you're going to become my disciple, you'll have to accept my terms for teaching you." Din replied, still smiling at him. "You might be the Crown Prince of Hyrule, but if I'm going to be your teacher, you'll have to do as I say, am I clear?"

"You're sounding a lot like that fat old hag." Zeil replied, frowning. "If you're going to be like that, I don't even know why I came in the first place."

"I promised I would be flexible with you." Din answered back. "But I need you to put your effort as well. I promise, I'm not going to bore or annoy you in any way."

"*Sigh*, alright, but… I don't get what's your interest in getting to know me."

"Oh, nothing special, it's just that… I like you." Din said the last part with a flirtatious tone, giving him a mischievous gaze. Zeil couldn't help but flush a little.

"Please be serious."

"I'm serious." She insisted. "I consider myself lucky, not every day I can have a guest as handsome as you."

"Din, stop it, you're embarrassing me." Zeil warned her.

"Do you know that you look cute when you're flustered like that?"

"I'm warning you, stop it." Zeil said again. "I'm not that kind of man."

"Oh, then is it that you don't like me?" Din attacked him directly.

"No! I mean, yes, I mean… aw, do you see what you're doing? I don't even know what I'm saying here."

Din giggled a little. She seemed to be having a lot of fun at teasing Zeil that way. Nevertheless, she knew her own limits. She now knew the prince could be rather temperamental and didn't want to get him to storm off due to her flirty teasing. Rather, she would take another approach.

"Pay no mind to me, I'm just teasing." She said. "You don't seem very used to little jokes, are you?"

"I guess not." Zeil admitted. "Not this kind, at least."

"If it bothers you, then I'll stop." Din said, this time with a much more serious face.

Zeil gazed at her. Din was just trying to break the ice between the two of them, and he had to ruin it by letting his stupid temper get the best of him. It was understandable, though, he had little-to-no experience about this kind of interaction with women, and about the question on whether he liked her or not, he had to admit to himself that she was far from being unattractive. He just didn't know how to act, let alone when she tried to take the initiative.

"*Sigh*, I'm sorry. It's just that… Look, to be honest, I'm not sure if I want…"

"A dancing instructor?" Din interrupted him. Zeil didn't say anything else, but she took his expression as an affirmative answer. "In that case… how about a friend?"

A friend? Zeil stopped to think about it. Considering all, aside from Zelda and Link, he actually didn't have many friends his own age, and not counting Zelda, he didn't have any female friends at all. While Din seemed to have a rather provocative sense of humor, in the outside he could see she was a very nice young woman, in her own way. It wouldn't be bad to have someone to talk to, someone who didn't scold or lecture him, unlike his sister and mother.

"A friend… that doesn't sound bad." He finally said, a bit timidly.

"You can talk to me of anything you want." Din said. "What you like or what you dislike. I'll gladly lend you my ear."

"Well, since you insist…"

Once he felt she understood him, Zeil finally dropped his defenses. Before he noticed, he had begun asking Din personal questions as well. It was much easier than he expected to talk to her, to the point they didn't seem like two people who had barely met each other twice. He had no idea, but that was the redhead's original intention: she knew that if she presented herself as understanding, without pushing him, he would open up much more easily. So when she finally told him it was time to get started with their first lesson, Zeil apparently took it with a lot more enthusiasm than when he first arrived.

Just like Zeil had hoped and wished, Din turned out to be a much nicer and more flexible than his former instructor. The redhead proved herself to be knowledgeable of, not only that exotic dance she had performed at the Castle Town square, but also the formal dance for royal parties. When Zeil asked how did she know about it, she declined to give a direct answer, she just said that she "had been previously invited to other parties hosted by important people". Seeing in her eyes that she wouldn't say anything else, at least for the moment, he didn't press any further.

The lesson took up a large part of the afternoon. When Din saw the sun was setting and the sky was starting to get red shades, she finally said that it was all for the day. The redhead took him back to the clearing she had found him. On the way back, Zeil commented that he lost track of time and the lesson had been rather short, to what Din replied that "time surely flies when you're having fun".

"You better come here earlier tomorrow." Din said. "From now on, we'll meet up in this very spot."

"Right here?" Zeil asked. "Why don't you come to the castle instead?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Din said. "I'm just fine here, I've told you, I like to be in contact with nature."

"Hmm…" Zeil looked a little suspicious at her, once again he felt she was hiding something, but decided to forget about it. "Alright, as you wish. See you tomorrow."

Zeil turned around and walked away as Din waved him goodbye, since he had to return to the castle soon. In his hurry, however, he didn't notice when Din lowered her hand and her smile vanished making way for a much more serious expression, as if she was concerned about something.

That night, somewhere else…

In another corner of Hyrule, covered in the darkness of the night, five shadowy silhouettes were kneeling before a bigger and more imposing one, who seemed to be their leader. They couldn't be clearly seen, yet the moonlight reflections made it evident that they wore heavy knight armors, with spikes on the shoulder pads and gauntlets, and horned helmets. They were in the middle of a mission, more specifically, in search of someone.

"Have you found her yet?" The leader spoke, with a deep and creepy voice which could shake anything around in terror.

"No, my lord." One of the kneeled silhouettes answered. "She's smart. She knows we're after her, and she's hiding well."

"Well, she can't stay hidden forever." The leader spoke up again.

"If you allow me to suggest something, my lord, we might be able to lure her out of her hideout if…"

"We've already discussed that." The leader interrupted. "I've told you this time and time again. If the royal family finds out we're here, they'll take measures, and that wouldn't be to our benefit."

"Of course. My apologies, my lord."

"For now, just keep going with the plan. And more importantly, keep a low profile. The less they know about us, the better. Now go."

"Yes, sire."

The five lesser silhouettes vanished in a purple fire explosion. Meanwhile, the bigger one gave a few steps forward, resounding on the floor, gazing at the moon on the sky.

"Oracle of the Seasons… no matter how much you hide, you can't escape from me forever."

As the days went on…

One week had passed since Zeil began his lessons with Din. Every day he had to fix up his routine in order to go to the agreed spot to meet with the redhead, always warning Link and Zelda not to follow him. While Link couldn't care less about what they were doing, Zelda was much more interested in getting to know this mysterious dancer, and Zeil found it much harder to get his sister off his back. He argued that he didn't want Zelda to be around to lecture him or something, but when the princess asked her brother directly if he was attracted to that girl, the prince got so mad that Zelda had no doubt. The truth was, Zeil seemed more cheerful and less prone to disobey the rules since he started those lessons, he was less temperamental and angry, so there was one thing for sure: that girl was making an influence on him.

That day, Zeil was at the library, making an effort to finish quickly an essay for the old history teacher, while Zelda and Link watched. The princess thought it was really weird to see her brother like that, after all, he had always been much more skilled with a sword than with a quill. Of course, the real reason to want to finish it quickly was so he could go to the woods to meet up with Din.

"Are you mad at him?" Link asked her.

"I wouldn't say mad, more like… worried, that's the right word." Zelda answered. "My brother has been quite different the past few days."

"Yeah, I noticed too." Link agreed.

"I'd like to meet that girl, Din." Zelda said. "You know, I find rather curious that she has the same name as the Goddess of Power, could it be just a coincidence?"

"I have no idea." Link said. "Although… that girl certainly had a beauty I could almost call divine, I have to admit it."

Zelda got a little tense at that comment, not exactly sure why, and she looked at Link in a rather strange way. The boy took a little to notice that the princess was glaring somewhat menacingly at him: clearly she didn't take kindly that comment.

"What?" Link asked innocently. "Just saying."

"Hmm…" Zelda didn't say anything else about it, and just pretended it didn't happen. "I'd like Zeil to invite her to come over. Maybe we could become friends."

Link wondered if Zelda had changed topics on purpose. That glare she gave him, just for a little comment he made, could it be jealousy? No, that couldn't be… could it?

Meanwhile, Zeil finished writing his essay, rolled up the scroll and not wasting any second, he left the library to deliver it to the professor, not even stopping to say hi to his friend and sister. Clearly he was in a hurry. After he had left, Zelda whispered to Link:

"Shall we follow him?"

"He'll be mad if we do that." Link said.

"Not if he doesn't notice." Zelda suggested. Link smirked at that.

Just as soon as Zeil left the castle and went towards the woods, the couple had to wait for a while so he would get far enough to not to notice them. For a moment they almost lost sight of him, but once they went deep into the woods, his red clothing easily gave him away in between the green, which made it much easier for them to follow him, the real problem was not making any noise. A couple of times, Zelda's dress got snagged in the bushes, and Zeil almost found them out. Link had a better advantage at hiding because he was wearing green, so he could easily serve as a cover for the princess.

Once they were deep into the forest, Zeil stopped to sit on the fallen log. He had done it since day one, Din told him to go to that spot, and wait for her to pick it up. He didn't quite understand why, since she only said that she "didn't want him to get lost". Meanwhile, Link and Zelda remained hidden, wondering why Zeil didn't move from the log. Was he waiting for something, or someone? Or maybe he had already noticed them following him? As if it were, Zeil absentmindedly took a small stone from the ground, played with it for a while… and then, without warning, he threw it in Link's direction.

"Hey!" Link yelled, jumping out of his hideout. The stone didn't hit him, but it passed dangerously close. "What was that for?"

"I thought I told you guys not to follow me." Zeil said. Then he looked the other way. "You come out too, sister, I know you're there."

"I see you're sharper than I thought." Zelda said as she came out too.

"What are you doing here?" Zeil asked.

"Well, we just… I wanted to meet your new dancing teacher." Zelda replied, there was no point in trying to lie to him, so she just told him the truth. "And… I asked Link to come with me, for protection." She added when she noticed Zeil looked sideways at Link.

"Sorry, Zeil." Link said. "I told her you wouldn't like this."

"Yeah, sure." Zeil replied, as if he would buy the story. "Hey, don't get me wrong, but these lessons are private. Private, get it?"

"Zeil, is there anything wrong with it? I just want to meet your teacher." Zelda said.

"To meet her? And why the sudden interest?"

"Am I interrupting something?" They heard Din's voice, she had just arrived to pick up her student. "Oh, Zeil, I see you brought some guests."

"I didn't invite them, they followed me." Zeil was quick to correct.

"Well, there's no harm in them being here." The redhead said, approaching them to properly introduce herself. "I remember you, you were with Zeil that day at the Castle Town."

"I'm his best friend." The blond young man said with pride. "My name's Link."

"Pleased to meet you." Din said, and then she turned towards Zelda. "And you must be…"

"Zeil's twin sister, Princess of Hyrule, Zelda." She said while bowing respectfully. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Din."

"The pleasure is all mine, but please, there's no need to be so formal." Din said. "Would you like to accompany us for some tea?"

"Why of course." Zelda happily accepted.

Din turned around going back through the same path she came from, while Link, Zeil and Zelda followed her behind, throughout the vine path. The redhead told them to remain close by and not to get separated. Meanwhile, Zelda noticed something the others apparently missed out, or rather, something they couldn't perceive. Thanks to her training in magic and sorcery, Zelda could sense around them some trails of magical energy floating in the air, albeit very faint ones, almost imperceptible, but she decided to forget about it when she realized that they almost left her behind and continued walking. They continued the march until they reached Din's place. Zelda was too quite surprised upon seeing how Din had turned that tree in such a homely place. On the other hand, Zeil wasn't quite happy that his best friend and sister had discovered his "secret place". He was getting used to the idea of the "private lessons", since he could be all alone with the redhead, something he was taking a liking to. In fact, when Zelda and Din were enjoying a little chat, as if they were the best of friends, Zeil had to clear his throat to remind the redhead what they were supposed to be doing in the first place, so they went outside for the lesson.

The presence of Link and Zelda actually began making some negative influence on Zeil's performance, something Din quickly took notice of, since he had made a notable progress in the past few days, and yet now he was making mistakes like in the beginning. The prince couldn't focus well having the eyes of his sister and his best friend on him, let alone when they snickered at him whenever he made a wrong move or stepped on his teacher's feet.

"Zeil… those boots you're wearing really hurt my feet." Din said after a while, although she didn't seem to be angry or even annoyed.

"Sorry, it's just… I can't focus." Zeil said. "Not with those two looking."

"Just ignore them, pretend they're not even here." Din whispered.

"That's easy for you to say."

"And not that hard to do." Din insisted. "Just look at me, look into my eyes, and forget about everything else."

"Alright, I'll give it a try."

As surprising it could be, looking into Din's eyes had an immediate result. Zeil quickly forgot that Zelda and Link were staring at them. He was fully focused on what he was doing, something that really surprised his sister. And he wasn't just focused, but also, she could clearly see that he was enjoying it, a lot. But of course, how could he not enjoy it having such an attractive girl for an instructor?

"Well, well, he's done quite the progress in a very short time." Link commented.

"You're right." Zelda agreed. "I'm just hoping he can do just as good in our ceremony."

"Speaking of which… have you already decided who's going to be your dancing partner at the ball?" Link asked, quite boldly.

Zelda looked at Link through the corner of her eye, and gave him a half-smile. As if it wasn't obvious, she had decided a long time ago, but she chose to play along.

"I was hoping… maybe… it could be you." She said with a fake shyness.

"Me? Come on, Zelda, stop joking." Link said.

"I don't want to go with anyone else." Zelda continued. "I want my partner to be close to my age, and obviously it wouldn't look nice if I danced with my own brother."

"Heh, it's not like I have much of a choice, is it?" Link chuckled. "And what will your mother say about it?"

"I am certain that she would want me to go with you." Zelda replied. "After all, you know that she cares for you like a son, and there's nobody else she would trust more."

"There's no need to exaggerate." Link said, slightly blushing.

Even though Link had first come to the castle as an aspirant to the Royal Guard, the truth was that Queen Selena had clearly grown fond of him, and even though many of the members of the court didn't approve of this "special treatment", the Queen had argued that her children "needed a friend their own age". Zeil sometimes had said that his mother treated Link better, which wasn't entirely untrue, yet that was mostly due to the fact that the blond boy was more polite and well-behaved than the prince. Although what Zelda said, that her mother cared for Link "like a son", went more than just having fondness for the boy. The Queen was quite aware that her daughter's feelings for Link went well beyond than just friendship or loving him like a second brother. Many other kings and queens would be outraged at the thought of letting their daughter to get that close to a young man whose birth was so low, but Queen Selena used to say that "true royalty is only in the heart", and not only approved of the relationship of Zelda and Link, but she actively yet subtly encouraged it.

Once again the lesson took until the sunset, yet when the time came for them to leave, it was clear that Zeil wanted to stay for a little longer. Obviously that was because, since Link and Zelda had followed him to that place, he hadn't been able to spend the time alone with Din as much as he would have liked, yet he didn't admit that from the mouth outside. Nevertheless, Din insisted that since the lesson was already over it was best for them to return. Once again, Din accompanied them back to the clearing, and said goodbye to them, so the trio went back to the castle.

"She's a very nice girl." Zelda commented. "Although I can't understand why she chooses to live in this place."

"Too humble for your taste, Zelda?" Zeil asked.

"No, it's not that." Zelda answered. "I was thinking, perhaps we should invite her to stay at the castle. I mean, that way she'll have more time to give you the lessons, right?"

"Actually, I already tried that, but she said no." Zeil stated. "Apparently she prefers to be in contact with nature."

"I can sympathize with that." Link intervened. "If I had grown locked up in between stone walls, I would have grown bored to death."

"Yeah, you were so lucky." Zeil replied sarcastically. "I'm guessing she has her reasons, who cares."

None of the three teenagers said anything else for the rest of the way until they returned to the castle town. However, Zelda's intuition told her that perhaps Din had some special reason to be in that place in particular. Moreover, she had escorted them back and forth on the way to the clearing, and there were those magical energy trails she sensed around the path. Reflecting on this, Zelda theorized that those trails could be some kind of hiding/protective spell around Din's place, and the actual reason for her to accompany them was so they could pass through it safely. And the only sound reason to place that kind of spell would be to keep away undesired visitors. But that placed the question: what kind of visitors was Din trying to keep away? And more importantly, why?

One week after this, in another place…

The dark silhouettes had once again gathered in front of their leader, except that this time there were only four of them instead of five. Despite the darkness, if anyone were close at the time, they would have noticed that the leader was not very happy, let alone when his henchmen only came to deliver bad news.

"I can't believe this!" His voice echoed with fury. "Not even the whole lot of you was capable of capturing a single woman! And you call yourselves the Knights of Darkness!"

"We're so sorry, my liege." One of the knights spoke up. "She's just hiding too well."

"And why do you think I've sent you to look for her?! You're nothing but a bunch of useless fools! My patience is wearing thin, if you can't find her, I'll…"

But whatever he was planning to do to them, he didn't get the chance to say it. In that very instant, in a purple fire burst, the missing fifth knight appeared. He immediately kneeled to his leader respectfully.

"My lord."

"For your own good, I'm hoping you bring better news than the others." The leader said.

"I can assure you they're not bad news." The newly arrived knight said with determination. "I believe I have discovered the Oracle of Seasons' hiding place."

"You "believe"? I don't care what you "believe", I need facts, proof."

"There was a trail of residual magical energy of the nature around the Northeastern Woods." The knight said. "I went to investigate, and I noticed that every day, at the same hour, a young man with brown hair and red clothes appeared around that place. A few days later, I saw him meeting up with a woman whose physical appearance matches with that of the Oracle of Seasons."

"Are you sure about this?" The leader's rage subsided a little upon hearing this. "What happened with them?"

"I tried to follow them, but they suddenly vanished from sight shortly after they went deeper into the woods." The knight replied. "And every time I tried to try and follow them through the same path, before I realized, I was back on the same spot, as if I was walking around in circles."

The leader took his time to ponder on this new information. Interesting, they had vanished as if swallowed by the earth, and if his subordinate spoke the truth, then that could only mean one thing. The Oracle of Seasons most certainly was hiding at the Northeastern Woods, protected by some kind of magical barrier that kept her concealed and prevented entry to any undesired visitor. Like them, for example.

"Tell me something, did they notice your presence?"

"I doubt it, my lord."

"Good, then we can use that on our favor." The leader said. "With luck… that man she's meeting with will be our key to catch her at last."

"What are your orders, my lord?"

"Patrol around the area you saw them. If it's true they're always meeting at the same hour, she'll have to leave her protection to meet with him. That will be our chance. And whatever you lot do, keep your presence hidden. You don't want to ruin the surprise factor. Now go!"

"Yes, sire!"

And once again, they vanished in a burst of purple flames. The leader walked again, and hit his huge palm with his equally large fist, echoing in the night, and causing the terrified nearby animals to flee in terror.

"The hunt will come to an end soon. No one escapes Onox, the General of Darkness."

Several days later…

The lessons with Din continued, and three weeks after, even Zeil could feel the difference. He had improved quite a bit in a short amount of time, and not just that, but also, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was actually starting to enjoy dancing. He wasn't as worried as before about mucho his coming-of-age ceremony, now he wouldn't have to put any excuses to avoid dancing, neither he would complain about having to do so. That afternoon, the lesson ended much earlier, and Din was quite pleased at her disciple's progress. However, as the days went by, he had stopped seeing her as his instructor. During the brief breaks they took in-between lessons, when they started talking, they almost always talked about Zeil, as Din usually asked him what was up at the castle, about his sister, his mother, and his friend Link. He didn't mind telling her, and she clearly enjoyed listening to him. However, he came to realize that he knew next to nothing about her, and that he wanted to know more. It was more than just enjoying her company, as a dancing instructor, or even as a friend. In fact, he sometimes imagined himself dancing with her during the ceremony, picturing her wearing a beautiful nightgown that would only highlight her already great beauty. Yet he didn't dare invite her, and he didn't understand why. Maybe he was afraid of a rejection?

"If she volunteered to willingly to become my instructor, why wouldn't she come to the ball with me?" He thought.

The fact was, with the coming-of-age ceremony getting closer and closer, Zeil knew he couldn't wait until the last minute to ask her out. He wasn't sure his mother would approve of him inviting an exotic dancing girl to the ceremony, yet if she was willing to let her be his dancing instructor, that said a lot. Plus, he didn't want to go with anybody else. Sure, Din was barely getting out of the "perfect stranger" area with him, but she was very nice and attractive. And the ceremony would be a great chance to get to know her better.

"Zeil? Is anything wrong?" Din suddenly spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Eh? No, nothing, I was just… thinking." Zeil said, trying to regain composure.

"About what?" Din asked, as she gave him a flirtatious look. Interestingly enough, that was what made him most uncomfortable, yet at the same time what he liked the most of her.

"Well… the… coming-of-age ceremony … is getting closer." Zeil answered, trying to control his nerves.

"Ah, yes, of course." Din replied. "If memory serves, we have only 10 days left before it takes place?"

"Yeah, that's right." Zeil nodded, playing along. He had to break the ice himself. "Din, I was thinking… during all this time we've done nothing else but these lessons. I'd like… to change a bit the routine, if you get what I mean."

"Change the routine?"

"Also… I know this is a quiet and peaceful place, and that no one can disturb us here, but… I don't know, after a while, it can just become a little boring." Zeil explained. "Just for a change… we could go somewhere else, perhaps to eat something in the castle town, if you'd like."

"Zeil… are you asking me out on a date?" Din challenged him with the look.

"No, of course not!" Zeil yelled, almost panicking. "I just… I didn't mean to… *sigh*, alright, yes I am."

"Well, this is unexpected." Din said. "You seem like you've never asked a girl out before."

"That's because I never have." Zeil confessed. "So then?"

"I don't mind going for a meal with you." Din replied. "But I do like this place."

"So do I, yet I'd be happy with a change of scenery, if that's OK for you." Zeil insisted. "Din… I couldn't help but notice, whenever I suggest we go somewhere else… you seem to try to dodge it, why is that?"

Din remained silent, as if she meditated on the answer. How hard could it be? If she didn't want to go with him, he wouldn't force her. Yet the time she was taking to answer was bit weird. Once again, Zeil got that feeling that Din was hiding something. She was taking a rather… mysterious attitude.

"It's nothing in particular." She said. "Really, it's nothing you should be concerned about."

"Saying it that way won't work on me." Zeil insisted. "Din, I'll be honest with you. I've come to really like you, and I'd love to do other things with you. More than just learning how to dance."

That direct answer caught Din off-guard. The redhead unconsciously placed a hand on her chest. In the short time she had known him, Zeil wasn't very open with his feelings, at least not at first, yet now, he had said up front that he liked her. Maybe he was hoping that, by being sincere with her, she would be too.

"All done, I finally did it." Zeil said, although mostly to himself than Din. "Listen, if you don't want to have a date with me, or you just don't like me, then…"

"No, I never said that." Din quickly cleared up. "It's just that… I have my reasons."

"But you can't tell me? If you don't want to, just say so. You've done a lot for me during this time, I'm not going to force you to do more."

He said that he didn't want to force her to anything, yet it was crystal clear that he was dying to have a proper date with her. And inside, even if she didn't say it directly, she didn't find the idea unpleasant at all. But there was something… something that didn't allow her to leave those woods unless it was absolutely necessary. However… going out for just a few hours, and then returning… just to have a good time with Zeil for a bit, there would be no harm in that, right?

"I guess… we could, just for today." Din said. "It won't do any harm to break the routine just once."

"Then… you accept?"

"Of course."

"YES!" Zeil couldn't help but feel triumphant. "Shall we go now?"

"Hum… sure, let's go." Din replied, still a bit hesitant.

The couple left the house. Feeling a bit more confidant, Zeil offered Din to hold his arm, and she accepted timidly, yet gladly. He was planning on taking her to the inn at the castle town to treat her something, and right there to ask her to be his partner at the ball in the ceremony.

Along the way, however, Din struggled to keep her worries concealed. She was leaving the safety of her shelter. Even though she was confident that she could handle anything that came up, she didn't want to put Zeil at risk. Nevertheless, and paradoxically, when walking across the path, clinging to the prince's arm, she had a sudden and comforting feeling of being safe. She wasn't sure why, yet for some reason she believed (or rather, she knew) in the case that something "unexpected" came up, he would protect her, and that managed to ease her hears somewhat.

A few minutes later, when they were at a considerable distance from the shelter, Din suddenly stopped on her tracks, and looked above her shoulder, catching Zeil off-guard.

"Is anything wrong?" Zeil asked. Din just looked around and took a few seconds to answer.

"I thought… I heard something." Din said. "Maybe… it was just a wild animal. Let's go."

Once again, Zeil felt that Din was keeping to herself something that she didn't want to say. But he chose not to press further, and they continued their walk.

Not far from there, hidden amongst the shadows created by the treetops and the thick bushes, two large black silhouettes came out. They were two Knights of Darkness who had appeared before that bigger one that called himself Onox. They had been waiting for a while for her to appear, but upon seeing their prey wasn't alone, they thought it would be better to wait. Then they could catch her.

"That was close." The first said to his partner. "They almost spotted us."

"Better be more careful next time." The other said. "But now she's out of her shelter, the better for us. It'll be easier to capture her later."

And keeping a safe distance, they followed the couple along the path, careful not to let them out of their sight.

Later, at the Castle Town…

The residents of the Castle Town were quite surprised to see Zeil and Din passed through the grand door, and holding to each other's arm. Zeil felt rather uncomfortable of everyone staring at them, but after all, he had been the one who invited her, so he chose to deal with it. Din, on the other hand, while she looked calm on the outside, inside she felt a little uneasy at having left her safe shelter. However, since she didn't want to worry him anymore, she kept it to herself. And should something come up, she knew how to deal with it. For the time being, her only concern was to have a good time with him.

They made their way towards the inn, which that day, fortunately, was a lot emptier than usual. However, Zeil knew that in just a few days, the place would most certainly be completely full of people coming to attend the coming-of-age ceremony, so he congratulated himself for choosing that very day to avoid the crowds. They approached the bar, and the innkeeper immediately came over to serve them.

"Good afternoon, Prince Zeil. I see you're not coming alone today."

"Yeah, I decided not to refuse a good company today." Zeil said half-jokingly, and the innkeeper couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"The usual?"

"No, today I'd like the house specialty. We'll have dinner here."

"I see. I'll bring it immediately." The innkeeper said. "Will you order something to drink as well?"

"I'll have a firewhiskey, if you have it." Din asked.

"And a rootbeer on the rocks for me, please." Zeil added.

"Coming up. There's a free table over there, please wait."

Zeil and Din went towards the table to wait for their meal. As they waited, Zeil, trying to open up something to chat, asked Din if she used to drink firewhiskey with her food, to what she replied that "only occasionally". She also said that it was a pity he couldn't drink it yet, it was quite good. He then reminded her there were only a few days left to be of legal age, so the next time he would gladly treat her with one. Din smiled at the idea, admitted that she would be happy to be on the receiving end of the treat for a change. A few minutes later, the staff brought them their meals.

They both spent the afternoon enjoying their chat, and before they realized, night was falling. They were enjoying themselves so much they lost track of time, until the innkeeper told them he would be closing in about half an hour. Zeil asked if they could stay until then, since most people had already left and it was rather quiet so they could talk a little more. The innkeeper said they could, but past that time they'd have to leave.

"I'll say it again, time flies by when you're having a good time." Din said.

"So, does that mean you had a good time with me?"

"A wonderful time." Din nodded. "After your ceremony, we should come here again."

"Whenever you like." Zeil smiled at her.

They both remained silent, looking into each other's eyes. For some reason, as they did that, Zeil once again experienced that same feeling he had when he and Din danced together during their lessons. That sensation of being disconnected from the rest of the world around them, that it was just him and her. And as weird it sounded, he loved that sensation. A part of himself wanted (some would say, wished) that only Din would exist in his world. Only Din. The time he had shared with her had not been too long, but it had been amazing. After all, she was an amazing girl, and that was still falling short. She was attractive in many ways, not just in physique and talent, but also in personality: she was easygoing, fun-loving and with attitude, a strong-willed woman, but she knew how to make use of her femininity and charm when she had to. She was one in a million. There wasn't any point in waiting more. Gathering up his courage, he began speaking up.

"Din, about what I said… my coming-of-age ceremony… there's something I forgot to say."

"What is it?"

"Well… obviously, since there's going to be the ball… I'll need… you know."

Once again, the nerves were getting the best of him. But since he had begun already, he couldn't hesitate now. Still, Din smiled at him, as if pretending she didn't understand. Zeil felt a little rage boiling inside. She wanted him to go upfront, no indirects. Then again, that was one of the things he loved the most about her.

"Din, what I'm trying to say is… I want you to be my dancing partner at the ceremony." He finally said. After a moment of silence, Din's smile made way for a little giggling that soon turned into a happy laughter. Zeil couldn't believe it, she was making fun of him. "Hey, what's wrong with you, what's so funny?"

"I'm sorry." Din finally said upon catching her breath. "It's just that… I was starting to believe that you wouldn't invite me. I was planning on doing it myself instead."

"What did you say? What do you mean by…?" And then Zeil finally caught the message. "Wait a minute… you wanted me to invite you?"

"That was the idea." Din said, still smiling.

"Are you trying to make fun of me?"

"No way." Din said without losing her composure. "I was just trying to make you a little favor."

"A favor?" Zeil still didn't get it.

"Isn't it obvious? When I first met you, you were too closed up, not to mention very temperamental. I thought that, maybe, I could help you open up, and with a bit of luck, perhaps I could also cool off that fiery personality of yours."

Zeil opened up his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He couldn't refute that, she was totally right. She had helped cool off his temper a bit, and to open up more of himself. Proof of that was, in the past few weeks, he had never dared to reply back to his mother and sister anymore. In fact, he couldn't recall that in that time, they had scolded or lectured for something, which usually was an everyday thing. He hadn't noticed, but his time with Din had influenced him positively in more than one way.

"It's true." He admitted. "As of late, I haven't felt angry at all for anything."

"You see?" Din said. "And not only that. I got you to open up enough for you to invite me to the ball, and all by yourself. Tell me, would you have dared to do this one month ago?"

"Hmm… no, I guess not."

"Which means, my plan was a success." Din concluded. "Although… maybe you could have been a little more subtle with words. I mean, you just went "I want you to be my partner" like that…"

"Stop making fun of me." He snapped. "I've never been good with words, let alone when…"

"Shhh." Din interrupted him, placing her finger. "Do you want a little advice? Sometimes, actions speak louder than words."

And removing her finger, still smiling at him, she leaned in closer, slowly. Zeil felt an electric current going down her spine. Was she planning to…?

"Oh, Goddesses… is she going to…?"

But right when she was about to do it, unfortunately, a loud noise, like an explosion, resounded outside. As if it was an alarm, Din stopped, and the kiss she was about to give Zeil never came. But of course, after such a noise, he wouldn't care about that.

"What was that?" Zeil asked.

"I think it was… oh, no, they're here." Din said.

"They're here? Who?"

"Wait here, I'll be right back." And immediately, she got up from her seat, getting out of the inn in a hurry.

"Hey, wait! Where're you going?"

But Din didn't answer, and she went through the inn's entrance doors, going out to the castle town. Zeil was so confused at this sudden action that he took a few seconds to react. There was something up, and it definitely wasn't good. Din seemed quite fast on her feet, since when the prince left the in, after doubling back to pay the bill for their meal, she didn't see her anywhere. People seemed to have been alarmed by the sudden noise, but now they were going back to their homes, either they didn't care, or they were too scared to try and find out. Zeil called out Din's name aloud, but she didn't reply, so he had no choice but to run around the town to try and find her.

Din had gone into a dark alley, in between several abandoned houses. She looked around everywhere, as if she was following something she couldn't see, but she could sense. She had to get away from there, otherwise she'd put everyone, and specially Zeil, in danger. If it really was them… she wished from the bottom of her heart to be wrong. But upon turning around a corner, she could see that she wasn't. In front of her there were two huge dark knights, dressed in heavy dark armors and matching capes.

"We finally found you, Miss Oracle of Seasons." One of them spoke.

"I knew it." Din said.

"You've caused us no small amount of problems." The second one said. "But General Onox was right, you couldn't stay hidden forever."

"Oh, no; it's worse than I thought." Din thought.

Meanwhile, Zeil was still looking for Din. By mere coincidence he entered the same alley where she was. His brief relief was trounced when he saw the two huge and dark figures in front of her.

"Oh, my… this seems like bad news." He said as he ran off into the alley.

Worried at the thought of the two dark figures being up to nothing good, Zeil first hid himself behind a wall to analyze the situation and act when needed. Spying carefully, all he could see were the black cloaks they wore, which easily helped them blend in with the dark alley, something that could easily be linked to "shadowy" purposes. He just wanted to make sure, but if things got ugly, well, he had his sword at hand. He listened carefully at their talk.

"You can't run anymore, gorgeous." One of them said.

"You better come with us quietly, it would be a shame having to hurt you." His friend added.

"I'm really sorry, but my answer is no." The redhead replied, defiantly.

"You have no choice. We have orders to bring you in, and if you don't cooperate…"

"What will you do? You'll take me by force?" She spoke again with the same defiant tone. "I'd like to see you try."

"That can be arranged."

The two dark knights pulled out their weapons, one of them had a large axe, and the other a heavy mace. Surprisingly, Din didn't give any sign of being scared or something, but Zeil wasn't going to stay put and leave her to fend by herself, so he finally decided to act.

"Hey." He said as he pulled out his sword. The dark knights turned around, and it was then that he could finally get a glance to their armors. "Didn't you hear the lady? She said no."

"And who do you think you are?"

"Get outta here, kid, if you don't want to get hurt or worse."

"On second thought, maybe we should get rid of him, we mustn't leave any witnesses."

"Do your worst." Zeil took a guard stance with his sword ready.

The one with the axe attacked first. Zeil wielded his sword with both hands and parried the attack, and despite making him flinch, he was able to push back the enemy. As they exited the alley, he could get a clearer view of the knight, his armor fully covered him, giving him a virtually impenetrable protection; however, it was also quite heavy and made his movements a tad slow and sluggish, which the prince knew he had to exploit to his own advantage, especially being one against two. The one with the mace tried to deliver a hard strike on him, burying his weapon on the ground with a loud cracking noise, yet Zeil was able to avoid it by jumping backwards, and trying to think quickly which zones of his adversaries would be the most vulnerable. The axe knight jumped on him and tried to deliver a horizontal strike to cut off his head, Zeil ducked to evade it, while he delivered a full circle strike as hard has he could towards his opponent's leg, causing him to lose balance. He then struck the knight's hand with his sword blunt side to get him to let go of his weapon, which Zeil then grabbed and threw away from him. Which wasn't easy, since it was too heavy, he needed to use both hands, and he wondered how in the world this guy was capable of swinging it one-handed. Then again, maybe his large size was not just for show.

"You accursed little brat, I'll show you!" The mace knight yelled, preparing to deliver a strike on Zeil.

The prince was ready to take him on, but he didn't have to: suddenly, without a warning, Din jumped above him, and in mid-air while performing a somersault she used her hands to turn around his helmet and obstruct his view. She jumped and twirled a little more before landing next to Zeil, who was quite impressed.

"WHAT THE…! GET THIS THING OFF ME!" The mace knight yelled, swinging his weapon in fury.

"I can handle them, but thanks for the help." Din said smiling at Zeil.

"GRAHH! I DON'T NEED TO SEE YOU, I'LL JUST CRUSH YOU!"

Even unable to see where he was going, the mace knight was even more dangerous for wildly swinging his weapon and he had already left several holes and cracks on the floor and the walls, hoping that he would hit one of them. Zeil and Din just kept their distance. Meanwhile, the axe knight, even though he had lost his weapon, had finally managed to get back on his feet (with difficulty, due to the armor's weight), and ignoring the prince, he ran off to try and capture the redhead. Din, not leaving for a second that defiant smile of hers, simply evaded his strikes moving in a way that Zeil easily recognized as the dance she was performing on the day he and Link first saw her in town, with a lot of grace and style, and the heavy knight didn't so much scratch a hair of her head.

"Stop dancing around and get serious! RAAAAAAAH!" He yelled in rage, trying to trap her with his large arms. The redhead just waited until the last second, deliberately playing herself in the same direction towards the other knight, who was still striking randomly with his mace, and she dodged her attacker, with the result of…

CLONK! The mace strike resounded with the force of a church bell on the helmet of the other knight. And it didn't stop there. The redhead opened up her arms, and closing her eyes to focus, she generated a pair of fireballs in her hands. After performing a few moves which looked a lot during a ritual dance, leaving a flaming trail whenever she moved, she placed both hands forward, combining both fireballs into a larger one.

"SACRED FIRE!" She yelled as she threw the large flaming sphere.

BOOOOM! The fireball hit the dark knight with great force, still stunned by his partner's mace strike was engulfed in a burst of flames, and after many agony cries he was consumed by the fire, leaving but a trace of black ashes. Zeil was left dumbfounded, between having seen the girl use the fire to attack like that, and seeing the dark knight vanish in the flames.

"What the…?"

"There's no need to hold back." Din said, her expression turned serious now. "They're not even human."

Despite his initial puzzlement, Zeil quickly caught the message, it meant he could use deadly force without any remorse. Meanwhile, the remaining dark knight finally stopped attacking wildly upon realizing he had hit something, and put his helmet back to normal. He felt a huge rage upon seeing that both Zeil and the girl were unharmed, and his partner was but a small charred amount of ashes.

"NO! You bastards will pay for this!" He yelled, charging again.

Instinctively, Zeil placed himself in front of Din to protect her. He dodged another mace strike, and delivered a thrust towards one of the knight's shoulders, as it was unprotected. The knight shrieked in pain, and the prince snuck behind him and pulled his cape to get him to fall backwards. The redhead once again used her fire attack, and the dark knight, just like his partner, succumbed to the sacred flames. Everything had ended as soon as it started. Zeil touched the knights' remains with the tip of his sword, as if fearing they could somehow revive.

"We better get out of here." Din said. "These two aren't the only ones."

"Let's go to the castle." Zeil said.

"No. We need to go back to my shelter." Din contradicted him.

"Why is that?"

"I'll explain later." Din said. "Come on, we have to go now."

"Din, will you tell me what's going on?"

"There's no time now, we HAVE to go. Before the others come."

"Others? Do you mean…?"

Before he could ask any more questions, she grabbed his wrist and ran off. With so many questions in his head, Zeil was sure about only one thing: something very strange was happening. Something or someone was after Din and she didn't want to endanger him or anyone else. The two left the castle town in a hurry, just as the drawbridge was about to be lifted. Outside, the redhead stopped for a moment, and looked around on every direction before heading back to the Northeastern Woods, never letting go of Zeil's wrist. In fact, the prince was starting to feel rather uncomfortable since she was holding her a little too tight (especially for a woman) and it actually started to hurt. Once they got back into the woods, Din stopped for a moment, and Zeil waited until he regained his breath to question her again.

"Din, who or what were those guys?" He asked first. "You said before they weren't humans, what does that…?"

"They're dark knights." Din answered before he finished. It seemed she had her answer in the ready. "Creatures born from the shadows, given life through dark magic. And I only know one person capable of that."

"Who is it?"

"The General of Darkness." Din said. "His name is Onox, and he's been after me for a very long time."

Zeil was confused. Why would a "General of Darkness" want to go after a mere dancer like her? Unless… unless she was MORE than just a mere dancer. Zeil then remembered that she had destroyed the dark knights with a magical fire (she had called it "Sacred Fire"). Now he didn't have any doubts: Din was hiding something from him, something serious. But before he could resume the interrogatory, Din pointed that they had to continue their way towards the shelter, their pursuers were approaching. Zeil didn't see anything, but he remembered that, back on the castle town, she got out of the inn even before seeing them, so he assumed that she maybe could feel their presence or something. If their priority was to get out of there, the questions would have to wait.

Once deep into the woods, Din went towards the clearing where she usually picked Zeil up for the dancing lessons. After getting past the clearing, she stopped for a moment, and upon watching around, she focused and threw a fireball. Surprisingly enough, the fire didn't spread around the forest, instead, it just remained contained within the clearing, creating some sort of wall.

"That should buy us some time, they'll have to circle around to catch us." Din explained, gesturing Zeil to continue.

They both continued their way towards Din's shelter. Passing through the woods in such conditions was not easy, and to take some cut shorts sometimes they had to pass through thorny bushes and roots. But they were in greater danger than they expected, for the darkness itself was an ally to the knights.

"Argh!" Zeil suddenly yelled. A sharp object had just nailed into his arm.

"Zeil!" Din stopped at the scream, and upon looking at him, she saw he had been hit with an arrow, a dark arrow.

"I'm alright, it's just a scratch." Zeil said, trying to ignore the pain. "Hurry, we have to keep moving."

"Get down!" Din cried out, clinging to him and crouching down when another arrow passed over them.

They both took cover behind a tree to shield themselves from another round of arrows. Taking a peek they noticed the dark knights were catching up to them, and they could hear their voices whispering as they made their way through. They weren't too far from Din's shelter, but until they reached it, they would still be in danger. Going a little further, they reached a hollow tree, and hid inside it to take a breather. Din took the chance to check out Zeil's arm. The arrow fortunately didn't hit the bone, neither had it seemed to be poisoned, as Zeil had been able to keep running without a problem, and didn't show any symptoms of feeling ill either. In any case, and just for precaution, Din didn't dare pull it out to avoid causing him a hemorrhage. Meanwhile, the dark knights continued chasing after them. They both clung to each other tightly, holding their breath when they heard them approaching, praying for them to pass them over. They waited for a few minutes and, for some kind of miracle, they did. The couple peeked outside to make sure they were gone.

"That was close." Zeil said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"We can't rest easy just yet." Din said. "Not until we reach my shelter."

"Which way?" Zeil asked.

"We need to go straight ahead. Luckily it's not too far." Din replied.

"We should try and get them off our tracks a little longer." Zeil picked up a stone.

"What are you doing?"

Zeil didn't answer, he simply threw the stone as far as he could so the dark knights would hear it and go in that direction, who were not smart enough to try and split up to cover up more terrain as they searched. That, of course, acted on Zeil and Din's favor. Upon hearing the stone, the dark knights ran off in that direction, while the prince and the dancer took the chance to go the other way towards the shelter.

However, just one minute later, they got wise of their plan, as once again they started firing their arrows, fortunately they missed. As they ran, Zeil tripped with a root, and when he tried to get up again, a pain on his knee stopped him: it had fallen on a hard stone.

"Don't stop for me, go on." He said to Din.

"Don't be stupid, you think I'm going to leave you here?" The redhead said. "Come on, lean on me."

Din helped Zeil getting back on his feet. The knights had ceased firing their arrows, maybe they had run out of ammo. However, Din was barely strong enough to run holding Zeil that way, and that greatly slowed her down. A little more… just a little more…

"Almost there!" Din muttered.

Zeil finally couldn't resist the urge to look back, and he saw that the dark knights were catching up to them. Din suddenly stopped without warning, but before he could ask why, when the pursuers were right on them, they vanished without a trace. Zeil was confused, but relieved once he didn't see them anymore. Before the prince could regain his breath and ask, Din seemed to read his mind and answered the unspoken question:

"We're already safe. They can't pass through the magical barrier."

"Magical… barrier?" Zeil asked.

"I placed a protective barrier around my shelter." Din explained. "Only I can open or close it. Nobody can pass through it, unless they come with me."

"What do you…?" Zeil was about to ask again but she stopped him.

"I know you have many questions, and I'll gladly answer them. But first, I need to do something about your arm and knee."

Zeil didn't dare argue that. At the very least, he would finally have some answers, but he didn't mind waiting until after she had treated his wounds. He wasn't in that much of a hurry.

To be continued…

Author's notes:

How's it going people? Well, last year when I returned to the writing fandom, I decided to take a look at my old stories to see if they were worth reediting. In this one I didn't do big deal, I just corrected a few minor errors, and edited the physical description of my OC, Prince Zeil, after I decided to revamp his design on my DeviantArt. This was my first story pairing an original character with a canon one, so I'd love to know your thoughts about it, if I managed to get it right. Also, the original story was a three-parter, yet in order to make it more consistent with my current chapter lengths, I decided to make the English version a two-parter instead.

I've considered the possibility of writing other stories in this same continuity. One I already made (only in Spanish so far) is a prequel detailing the first encounter between Link, Zelda and Zeil, as well as how they became friends. And for the future, I'm planning a sequel featuring the other two Oracles, Nayru and Farore. If anyone wants to help, I'd love to receive suggestions for that.

That's all, thanks for reading, and don't forget to share your thoughts with some reviews. I'll work on the second half very soon, so stay tuned.