The Legend of Zelda- Ocarina of Time

Song of Storms

"I'm fine," Link lied as he pulled himself up, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. His dreams mocked any vestige of courage he possessed, making him feel weak before a guide who saw him as something more than he felt.

Seeking solace in the quiet night, Link looked out at the clearing, but the shifting shadows of the trees only made him feel more uneasy. Could he see shapes lurking between the trees? No. He shook his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," he offered.

"You did not," Sheik said, and Link noticed an odd hesitancy in her usually assured tone. She shifted position, looking towards the meadow. "I, too, couldn't sleep. Would you... care to come and sit by the fire for a while?"

She gestured towards the nearby fire, which Link realised for the first time must have been stoked recently.

"You've been awake a while?" he asked, surprised.

"Not that long," Sheik answered. "Dawn is not far off. Shall we?"

Link hesitated, aware that she was awaiting his response, but then he relented, deciding he could use some measure of warmth and a little comfort.

They sat silently, the fire's warmth easing the night's chill. In the firelight, he saw Sheik's expression better than before – worry lines on her brow, a slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers idly tapped at something hidden within her clothes, only to stop when she caught him looking.

"Did you get any sleep?" he asked at last, knowing she, too, carried burdens of her own.

"You are far from the only one plagued by dreams," Sheik said after a short pause, reaching down to a small bundle of supplies that included her harp. "To be a Sheikah is to be hunted. The night is both a friend and a foe."

Her unsettling words drew Link's focus away from the fire. It seemed strange to see this side of her. Not a warrior devoid of feeling but a woman with fears of her own.

"I keep thinking of the night Castletown fell, of everything that has happened," Link said quietly, looking back towards the crackling fire, imagining the burning buildings. The screams. He barely noticed Navi fly down to land on the log beside him. "I keep seeing..." he closed his eyes for a moment, and though the fire vanished, it was replaced by a memory of Saria's body disappearing in a flash of blazing light. He could still hear the phantom's cruel laughter. "I..." his voice cracked, and he broke off, ashamed at his raw emotion.

"You speak of what happened in the Forest Temple?" Sheik asked, the harp momentarily forgotten in her lap.

Link looked up, the shock jolting him out of his thoughts. He tried and failed to hide his surprise as his jaw opened.

"How-" he began weakly before looking at his fairy. Her anxious, almost guilty expression told him what he suspected. "Navi..."

Strangely, he didn't feel the anger he expected to. Instead, there was resignation as he realised there was no hiding his pain. She had read him as easily as a scroll meant for children.

"I'm sorry, Link," Navi's voice was small. "I know the Forest Temple was bad, and after you had already been through so much..." her words started soft, but as she took a breath, they became defiant. "Sheik can help you."

"I'm fine," Link replied testily.

He could almost taste the lie.

Evidently, Navi could sense it too. "No, you're not," she retorted, her voice rising as she took to the air, but still not loud enough to wake those nearby. "You can't lie to me, Link. I'm your fairy."