Sakaratte smiled at him as he walked toward her, beaming back at her. He joined her at her seat by the crackling fire. Aikoka listened intesively to every word she breathed and concentrated on the shadows that the fire cast along the fine curves of her gentle face. He found himself drifting away from the conversation and instead immersed in the gentle glow that filled his home and made the person that he cared most about even more beautiful than her usual radiance.

            "What do you think Aikoka?....Aikoka?" Sakaratte asked, realizing that he had entered a slight stupor, "What the hell are you staring at?"

            "Oh! Oh, sorry, it's just the fire light, it's casting these-these...these shadows. I was listnening at first, but I was distracted," he said dazily as he recovered from the state of near-unconciousness.

            "By what?" she pondered, "Am I really that boring? Boring enough that you'd rather sit and stare at shadows on the wall?"

            "No, not the shadows on the wall, I was watching the shadows accenting your face." He explained, finding himself staring at her soft visage.

            "I hate to disturb your staring, but why don't we move outside? I'm getting bored of talking to myself, and it's hot in here," She said, annoyed. She stopped in the doorway that led to the balcony that encircled his small home. From the balcony you could see most of the small village that they called home. She spun around on her heel and gazed at him, he was still staring at the fire.

            "Are you coming?" She asked, he turned to look at her. She had leaned against the door frame and was glaring at him through curious eyes.

            His face finally snapped back into reality as he turned to look at the only thing that he could think of when not with her, but when he is actually talking to her, he can be easily distracted. It was hard of course, for they both were quite different than the rest of the village. Height was the most apparant, but the one thing that set them apart the most apparent, was the lack of a fairy. Neither of them had been given one at birth. Sakaratte had the oppurtunity, but Aikoka was not given that oppurtunity.

            They managed however, being each other's fairies, watching out for the other. They constanly found themselves together, not speaking, just enjoying the company of the other.

            Aikoka managed to drag himself from his spot near the hearth. She took his hand and led him outside onto the moonlit haven of the balcony.

            Aikoka walked ahead of her and pulled her to a part of the balcony where you could see Hyrule Castle through the tree branches. He pulled her into a gentle kiss, lasting only a few seconds. Aikoka pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her. They gazed out across the landscape of the Hylian countryside, basking in it's beauty.

            Aikoka pulled her in to a deep, passionate kiss. She moved her hand up to run her fingers through his thick, brown hair. He pulled away and smiled sweetly at her. She smiled back. Sakaratte took his hand into hers and they sat there like that until they both faded into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Sakaratte woke to the soft sound of a fire a the bubbling of water in a pot above it's flames. It took her eyes a few seconds to focus on what she realized was Aikoka fixing a breakfast for two. He glanced up and saw her sitting there watching him.

            "Ah, good, your awake," he commented and mumbled something that sounded like "finally". He watched her get up and stretch, then returned to his chore of preparing the meal.

            "What are we having?" she inquired.

            "Do you always think about food?" he said.

            "Yes...yes I do."

            "We're having a breakfast stew," he said nodding his head toward the boiling water.

            "And what, if you don't mind, is in the stew," She asked sarcastically.

            "Just some cocco meat and some random vegetables."

            She walked behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She ran her fingers across his stomach. He smiled, but continued to prepare the meal. Giving up, she went and sat on the floor by the fire place.

            They enjoyed a delicious breakfast and started toward the market. Aikoka stopped into a fishing store to buy some extra bait for their trip to Hyrule Lake. Sakaratte, however, stopped and bought them a few sandwiches just in case. (She had seen Aikoka fish before and he hardly ever caught anything.)

            They set out towards the lake on Aikoka's horse. Sakaratte sat behind him and hugged his mid-section. They arrived to find the lake filled to the brim with other couples and a few Zoras. \par

            "So much for the fishing," Sakaratte said.

            "Why, I see there are some really big fish out there right now," Aikoka commented sarcastically.Sakaratte didn't hear anything past "Why", however, she was already off toward the lake. A few moments later she dived into the deep lake and joined the other beings in the lake. She surfaced another few moments later and looked toward Aikoka. She motioned for him to follow her into the lake.

            He joined her after shedding his shirt dived into the lake and joined her. (She had, of course, stripped down to a set of swimming clothes.) He pulled her towards him and she put her hands upon his chest. It took them a few seconds to coordinate kicking their feet so they could stay affloat.

            Heads turned at the young couple, for it wasn't common to see people in close relation to the king and queen swimming in Lake Hylia with the "serfs" of the Hylian society. Sakaratte and Aikoka didn't seem to notice it at all however, and kept to themselves. Eventually they moved to a shallower part of the lake and talked for hours.

Silence.

            The lake had cleared. All of the people had left, they were alone. A sparring practice dummy sat on the north shore of the lake. They moved themselves to the small island in the middle of the lake, where they began to eat the meal Sakaratte had bought them in the market.

            They ate the small meal and sat watching the water wash up on to the shore. Even the Zoras had returned to the their watery home. The only thing even resembling a human was a practice dummy on the north shore that was left there by some fool.

            "Let's go swimming," Sakaratte insisted, "The water might be a little cool, but I think we can deal with it." She said this as she faced him and wrapped her thin arms around his waist.

            "I think I'll just stay here and join you in a few," he said smiling.

            She grumbled a quick "fine" and ran off toward the water. A second later she had dived into the water and the cold water surrounded her body. The world under the surface of Hylia Lake had always amazed her. She gazed at it's emptiness. No fish swam tonight, when usually at this time the lake would be full to the brim with carp and roaches. She swam to the bottom and then surfaced again. Aikoka had moved to the north shore and was pounding away on the practice dummy. His chest gleaming with sweat as he kicked and punched the dummy.

            Aikoka delivered a swift kick to the dummies head and it upset itself onto the ground. Aikoka looked exhausted, he seemed to be giving his all in recent practices that she had seen. Sakaratte stared at him, amazed. He was everything she had been wanting. After her father was killed by the rogue group of bandits and rebels she felt abandoned by her human side. Her mother  (, as a sage) gave birth to her miraculously despite the history of the Kokiri people. Sakaratte's father, a common-born Hylian man, met Saria when he was taking a delivery from Link to her in the forest.

            She moved herself to the island and sat underneath the tree to watch him practice.

            Sakaratte turned her thoughts again to Aikoka, the one human in the history of Kokiri Village, besides Link, to live there. He was put under the care of the forest people afterhe was abandoned at the entrance to the Lost Woods years before, when he was only six or seven. He looked like he was of Hylian and Gerudo ancestry. She looked at him, his dark skin was the thing that made it obvious of his Gerudo relations. He had never spoken to anyone about life before the forest however, and that status wasn't going to change any time soon.

Thump

            Sakaratte looked up. Aikoka had fallen to the ground. He looked to be unconcious. Panicing, she dived into the water, wanting to get to him as quick as she could to make sure he was okay. She swam through the murky waters of the lake as something grabbed her leg. She flailed and tried to swim to the surface. She failed miserably and soon found her self losing conciousness herself. She drifed off, down to the depths of Hyrule lake.

            Aikoka woke a few seconds later and realized what had happened. Everyone leaving, the silence, someone was coming for them. He looked at the island and around the lake, Sakaratte was nowhere to be seen

            A man emerged, dragging what seemed to be a woman's body. Aikoka ran as fast, and as silently, as he could towards them. Aikoka saw a pile of weapons and armor to his left and remembered a lesson of battle from his past.

            Aikoka grabbed a knife from the pile of assorted weaponry and walked silently toward the man, who had managed to sit on the woman's stomach and arouse her from unconciousness. It became clear to Aikoka then that the girl was Sakaratte. The man pulled a knife from his thigh. He held it above her neck.

            Sakaratte looked up, into the eyes of her abductor. \par

            He stared back, eyes filled with fury and hate, "I see you've awakened. Good. I like finishing the job myself." He moved to cut her throat. Sakaratte managed to free an arm and swing her arm to block. The knife cut deeply into her right arm. Her arm became soaked with blood in a matter of seconds.

            Aikoak gave up on the silence and ran full out toward him, and drove the knife deeply into the back of the attacker. The man fell on top of Sakaratte, covering her face. Aikoka pulled the corpse off of her and looked into the face of him. He was a man from the desert, evident from his tanned skin. Aikoka froze, he recognized him. It was a faint memory, but became very destinct as he gazed into the eyes of this ruthless man.