Music is what emotion sounds like.

[hylianxsheikah]

[It's a cold afternoon, but not an icy one. The snow falling gently on the Lost Woods makes the world seem muffled in white. The notes of an ocarina drift faint and husky through the trees, from the Forest Temple clearing where Zelda plays seated in an old, gnarled tree, bent with weight and age nearly to the ground. Wedged snugly between a thick

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[hylianxsheikah]

[Movement in the corner of her eye draws her gaze, and she sees Link emerging from the trees, though she doesn't stop playing--the Lullaby again, this time--until he sees her, and comes over to the tree where she sits.]

Hello, Link.

[She hops carefully from the low branch, landing with a gentle thump in the snow. She had wanted to see him, though she hadn't thought to see him here.]

[hylianxsheikah]

[She can't help but be a bit tentative when she first speaks to him, but at his smile she relaxes, smiling back.] Comfortable enough, but I need to stretch my legs.

I thought I'd find a quiet place to be by myself for some time. I know it's a bit out-of-the-way, but--well, I suppose that's the point.

[doublehelixhero]

[The forest makes him feel sleepy. Well, it's not really him, but the loudest voice in his head right now is half-asleep, dozing from the winter chill. Still, he hears music and goes to investigate, mostly because the songs are familiar.

[He sees the figure -- no, the woman -- sitting on the tree. Is that...?]

Zelda? What are you doing way out here?

[hylianxsheikah]

[Zelda pauses in her playing, looking down across the clearing. Here's a Link she recognizes, though it still always takes her a moment or two to remember that she met this one when he was a young boy, and that he had aged in mysterious circumstances she still didn't fully understand.]

Playing. [She smiles and holds up the ocarina for him to see.] What better place when one is out of practice?

[doublehelixhero]

Ah, okay.

[He rubs the back of his head but walks closer.] Why are you out here, though? You can practice anywhere you want to.

I'd ask to practice with you, but well... [The music's different. Sure, Sheik taught him a couple of the songs, but he's not sure he can remember them well enough to play. And he's sure that she doesn't know any of the songs he knows from Termina.] Never mind.

Mind if I listen for a while?

[hylianxsheikah]

It's a good place to be alone with your thoughts, I suppose. And it's sacred. [She glances toward the Forest Temple, half-hidden in foliage.] These kinds of places call to me.

[She tilts her head at Link.] Are you certain you don't want to play? I can play for you, but I warn you, I am out of practice. What would you like to hear?

[elixirsoup]

*Lost WW!Link is so very, very lost. After all, it is the Lost Woods. After what seems like forever, he finally finds someone!*

U-um... waagh! *Trips over a tree root. Smooth move, Rinku.*

[hylianxsheikah]

[The yelp makes her look up, pausing in her playing, and then down, scanning the clearing for the source. When she sees the young boy (blond-haired and dressed in green...another Link, no doubt) sprawled over a tree root, she quickly hops down to help him up.]

Are you all right?

[elixirsoup]

Mrph mrrph.

*He lifts his head, grinning bashfully and wiping the dirt from his nose.*

I-I'm fine! *Stands up and brushes himself off.* I just gotta be more careful...

[OOC: I'll continue later, when I'm back from visiting Mom in the hospital.]

[hylianxsheikah]

[Zelda smiles, brushing a bit of snow from his shoulder that he missed. It's Link, all right, though he looks a little different from the other boy Link she met once.] I'm glad you're all right. Were you looking for the temple?

[in_to_shadow]

[It's peaceful, here. Drifting fairies unlike anywhere else in Hyrule, soft snow muffling the sound of his footsteps. Cloak wrapped securely around himself, hood up, a few other bits and pieces he's found to accommodate the weather, and he's warm and content under the snow.]

[But there, at the very edges of hearing - is that the Minuet of Forest?]

[Frowning a little, now, he climbs the stairs to the sacred meadow where he met little Saria, stopping when the music switches seamlessly in to Zelda's lullaby.]

[Almost automatically, he pulls the flute from its pouch, playing along with it. Once he reaches the end, he ascends the remaining steps - and stops.]

[hylianxsheikah]

[Zelda looks up when she hears the husky notes of a flute joining in, but she doesn't stop playing. It may be one of the Skullkids come to play with her...but no, the figure who's appeared at the end of the clearing doesn't look like a Skullkid.]

[He looks like another Sheik.]

[in_to_shadow]

[It's her. It honestly is her - the princess he had spent six years with, the princess he loves, the one he would obey above all others, even Impa.]

[For a moment, he can't quite draw breath. It's only when he remembers how this Hyrule works, that this can't literally be his princess, that he remembers to breathe.]

[But she looks so much like her - the delicate features, the pale hair, the clear blue of her eyes. When he speaks, it's barely a cracked whisper, but it carries in the strange air of the forest.]

Zelda...

[hylianxsheikah]

[She watches him, lowering the ocarina to her lap when he doesn't move. He seems astonished by something, staring at her like he's never seen anything like her before. She gazes back--it's strange for her too, truly, seeing someone who looks so much like Sheik outside of her own body--and just hears his whisper. Her head tilts slightly.]

[Gently:] Yes.