AN: Takes place in the Ocarina of Time game setting.

HF

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Zelda's POV

Power. Wisdom. Courage.

All sides of the triforce equals, but one not worth more than the other. I had thought that wisdom was the strongest, especially when combined with my gift of dreams. If you could see danger before it truly came, then what need was there for power? No armies would be gathered and hardly any bloodshed, if the dreams were interpreted correctly and proper actions carried out. No courage would be required to face the enemy on the battlefield.

Wisdom could triumph over all of that.

I had been wrong, of course. But childish logic is not always amiss. I do not repent for trying to use my gifts to prevent warfare. What I do regret is the single minded determination, the absolute arrogance I had in my younger years.

For how could two children stop a madman?

How could I have thought that a boy from the woods and a sheltered princess had the ability to do what my sire had tried - and failed - to do? If war could be so easily avoided, the scrolls of history would not be so bloodied.

"Calm, highness," Impa murmured from behind my throne.

I unclenched my hands and let my fingers gently curve the rounded parts of the armrests. My memories frustrated me more than I had thought they would, especially as the years went by. Time travel seemed to be simple, in the theoretical sense. If you return to the moment before the most major decision you made and do the opposite, then the future could be altered.

However, only select magical items could alter reality.

The Ocarina of Time was one such artifact, and was overall considered to be a part of Hyrulean mythology. I have no inclination to prove to my subjects that it was indeed real. Think of the chaos it would create; think of the wars that would occur to have such an object in the enemy's possession. Why, anyone could do anything, alter anything at will, whether it was on a large scale or not.

Such as removing Ganondorf from the timeline completely...

This is why only Wisdom held the Ocarina.

I keep it with me at all times in a secret pouch under my gowns, sealed with magic of course. I wouldn't be foolish enough to accidentally drop it as I took a turn about the gardens or tripped on my skirts. Not that I would do something as embarrassing as to trip on my clothes. Prim, proper, respectable: those were the words that described the Queen of Hyrule. There was no room for mistakes.

Not anymore.

"Highness," the court herald called out into the grand hall, "Sir Arken, Leader of the Free Arms, has returned."

I raised my right hand.

The herald signaled the servants at the doors and they opened them swiftly. A man in armor strode in, his greying brown hair braided for court, though by the breastplate with Hyrule's crest, everyone knew he was a knight. The multiple sashes of red around his waist signified his wealth and status, just as royalty wore purple to signify their importance - however redundant it was.

If a person couldn't tell they were in front of their sovereign, he must be a fool of the highest order.

Thankfully, Sir Arken was one of the few courtiers that managed to not irk me whenever he entered a room. His duties to Hyrule rightly earned him his titles and wealth.

"Sir Arken," I give him a head nod deeper than necessary.

"Mi'lady," he bowed at the waist and then straightened up. "I have completed my survey of the main traveling routes and placed men along each of the merchant ways."

"Good." Hopefully the bandits will leave the merchants alone now. "Will you be at the banquet tonight?"

"Yes, Mi'lady."

I nod in approval. "We will discuss proper compensations for your volunteers."

"Of course." Pause. "There is another matter I wish to discuss."

"Oh?"

He shifted on his feet. "Along my way to survey the roads, I came across a young man." He shook his head in amusement. "He helped me fend off some bandits bringing the castle milk solely with his walking stick."

I stiffen in my seat.

"Calm," Impa murmurs so softly that for a brief moment, I wonder if she had spoken.

I relax again.

"I would like her highness to meet with him, if possible."

I pretend to think about it, though I already know my answer before he had even formed the sentence.

"That would be fine."

HF

"Don't start," I say as I set about undoing my hair.

"I wasn't intending to speak, Princess," Impa coolly intoned from her perch on the window seat. "But now that you have mentioned it..." She stood up and walked over to my armoire, her arms crossed. "This young man along the Milk Road. He is peculiar."

"Impa," I lightly bit out.

If I hadn't told her, she wouldn't have known about the change. But I was only a child when I re-set time after the final battle between Ganon and Link. I had lived a lifetime in hiding and then, in a moment, I was back inside a girl's body. The suddenness unsettled me for days. Since I had been the one to play the Song of Time, I kept my memories.

Everyone else forgot - as I had intended it to be.

Unfortunately, like most of my plans, I hadn't accounted for everything. I had counted on keeping my mental maturity, my fortitude I had build up for years as Sheik - and to a certain extent, I did. However, I was thrown back into a little girl's body with a little girl's emotional limits. So when I saw the boy in green as a child, and I too, was a child, but he looked at me as if he did not recognize me, I broke down.

I had cried.

He had been confused as to why I was crying. The poor boy tried to get me to cheer up, but nothing would do. We had been comrades in arms, saving Hyrule from the foulest of men to have ever graced the earth and succeeding in our quest.

...And he didn't remember it.

He had just been a boy helping his friend's dad deliver milk to the castle and had been tempted to go exploring. There was no purpose to him coming into the inner gardens, no familiarity whatsoever in his words or body language. So I came up with a lie, saying that a bee had stung me under my dress to prevent him from looking for a sting that was not visible.

My plan had worked.

Perhaps too perfectly, sadly.

"By the way you act," Impa quietly assessed my face, "I would venture a guess that the helper had been your friend that doesn't remember you."

"Possibly," I admit, "but nothing is for certain."

Impa's forefinger tapped along her arm. "What will you do when you meet him?"

I run the brush through my hair. "Greet him."

Impa quirked a white brow. I pointedly pretended to not see it.

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AN: So I've read some LoZ stories but not written one before. So this is my first ever for this genre. I think that very last scene in Ocarina of Time after all the credits is so achingly wonderful but it also makes me wonder what happened after that and how does the time re-set work.