Back in Her Hands (NOT MINE)

Chapter 16 [Final]

When Zelda awakened, it was almost noon in Termina. The rays of the sun angled straight down into the canyons around the Snowhead Temple, rousing the princess from her peaceful slumber. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and after a few seconds she sat up, stretching and letting out a sonorous yawn that echoed all around her.

Zelda looked all around her, at all the edible mushrooms that had served as a perfect mattress for her titanic body. She snatched one up and slowly began to eat it. As she gobbled it down, she turned and looked at the nearby canyon wall. On a small protruding ledge, Link lay wrapped up in a giant, silky handkerchief Zelda had in her pocket, which she bundled him up in after he had fallen asleep snuggled up to her. The ledge was still submersed in a shadow, and thus the sunlight hadn't awakened him yet.

Leaning over for a better look, Zelda gazed down lovingly at the sleeping Hero of Time. He looked so adorable when he was sleeping. And when he looked about three inches tall, for that matter. But Zelda decided that both of them had had enough sleep and it was time to head out for the final sanctuary. She reached down and gently shook him with her index finger. It took a few nudges before she was able to wake him up.

"Huh? Wh-what?" he muttered weakly as Zelda continued to prod him with her finger. His eyes slowly opened, and he was greeted by the site of Zelda's enormous, smiling face gazing down at him adoringly.

"Morning, love," she said sweetly as Link sat up in his makeshift bed. "Feeling any better?"

Link let out a yawn, then answered, "I guess so. What about you?"

"Having some mixed feelings." Zelda admitted. "We only need one more mask and that salesman can undo my giantism, and I'm anxious for that. But.... part of me still gets a thrill from being your giant-sized girlfriend."

Link looked up into her gigantic blue eyes, and said, "Heh. Me too." Zelda smiled again, then brought up her index finger again and carefully brushed her fingertip along Link's side. Link then took her fingertip in both hands, and kissed it. Zelda giggled, feeling giddy from Link's cute romantic display.

But then Zelda noticed Link suddenly hang his head, as if he had remembered something shameful. The princess understood immediately. "Saria," she muttered empathetically.

"Yeah. I wonder if she'll ever get over all that's happened to her," Link replied in a sullen voice.

For a while after that, the two of them said nothing to each other. They merely prepared themselves for venturing outward, dining on a quick breakfast of mushrooms and drinking some cold water obtained by melting what snow remained in the canyon.

Eventually, Zelda felt it was time to get going. "So, Link, where's the final sanctuary?" she asked, a bit eager to get underway.

"Let's find out," Link replied as he pulled out the salesman's map and unfolded it. His eyes darted over the large piece of paper, trying to find a third ink mark pinpointing the location of a sanctuary.

There wasn't one. All he could find were the ink marks depicting the two previous ones. "WHAT!?!" Link cried out in disbelief as he looked over the map again. But he couldn't find anything pointing out a third dungeon.

"Link, what is it?" Zelda inquired in a concerned voice. Sighing, Link explained it to her. "How can that be?" she asked nervously. "You're JUST noticing this!?"

"Um, oops?" Link muttered sheepishly.

Zelda frowned at him, and said, "It doesn't make any sense. There's got to be FOUR locations marked out on there. Unless, maybe...."

"Unless what?" asked Link, wondering what Zelda was thinking.

"Unless two masks were hidden in each sanctuary," Zelda offered.