Chapter 3

Leon stared at the space where the man had disappeared quietly.

Rosalin was soon by his side, "Leon, I didn't want him near you, but-"

He shook his head, '...That guy did something. used some magic on me."

"Cursed you! Oh, I'll kill him-"

"No.... He helped me."

"Helped?" She was kneeled next to him, he realized, and looked so pale, "How?"

Leon looked down at his right hand. the back of it was burned, but healed now. It was a shiny scar now. He sighed, "He did something to return my strength."

"Without that thing that that evil man had?"

"Yeah."

Leon winced, but this was because he tried to stand. It felt a lot like he hadn't stood in weeks, and his body was trying to generate the energy needed. After he stood, he stumbled back, leaning against the barn.

"Don't stand up so fast, Leon..." Rosalin snapped, "You're just waking up again."

Leon made a face.

She sighed, "I'm sorry. I just- I'm really worried. What exactly did that guy take from you? from your hand?"

Leon thought about it.

The Piece of Power.

One of three.

It clicked somewhere...

His eyes widened, "...Sacred three.... I know."

Rosalin looked terrified at the look on his face, "Wh-what?"

The piece of power.

One of three.

Representatives of the three pieces.

Leon looked to her from under his eyebrows...

"The Triforce of Power."

Rosalin looked a little skeptical, "Look Leon, you're tired. You need rest, badly. Think more rationally after sleeping-"

"Doesn't it make more sense now, Rosalin!" He shouted to get her to shut up, to jolt her into not overlooking the unlikely, "My strength... why I was called a monster! I bore the Triforce of Power!" He watched her eyes...

He found what he looked for.

Comprehension dawned on those bright eyes, "....And that evil man stole it..."

"That's right." Came a voice from behind Rosalin.

They both looked.

A person, woman by sound of voice, stood in a long black cloak.

Rosalin watched as the cloak flicked in the wind, not opening. Though she could've sworn she'd seen a flash of white fabric beneath the very lightly kicked up cloak, "....Who are you?"

Leon was silent. Something in him, deep inside, made him stand a bit more at attention and listen raptly to her and watch her motions.

The woman flourished one arm, the cloak sleeve falling down a slender arm with delicate fingers on a smooth, but not quite frail hand covered to the elbow in purple velvet and a thin bracelet to cinch off the fabric at her wrist.

The hand reached up, toward the hood.

Leon was holding his breath, the movement seeming to happen in slow motion.

Rosalin waited, a little irritated, for the mystery woman's identity.

The hood slid back in one move, smooth as the gloves.

Details were revealed.

A soft, lovely face of exquisite features and even softer eyes of a sapphire, reflective blue like the gem they were colored in honor of, a golden circlet hiding the hairline of gently and gracefully pulled back blonde hair, the color soft...

That hair caught any light around her, and cast it forth in a weak glow...

She looked like one of the sacred goddesses straight from the Realm.

Rosalin knew who this was...

She was...

"Princess Zelda." The woman said gently, "Only child, heir to the Throne of Hyrule Kingdom."

Leon looked to Rosalin, then back to her, "...Why-"

Rosalin asked for him, as if she wanted to spare him the waste of energy, "Why are you here, rather than Hyrule Castle?"

Leon listened in rapt attention. This had a lot to do with him. Him and the Triforce of Power.

"I have need for Leon's Strength." Zelda kept her eyes on Leon, "I need his help."

Rosalin shook her head, "That's impossible. I know what you're thinking... look, let's go put Leon in bed to rest, and I'll explain."

Rosalin supported Leon and Zelda followed her, watching the broken villagers look over the fire's damage and crying, pitifully, drearily, gloomily over their lost treasures and possessions.

Her eyes softened in quiet sorrow for them.

But Zelda had to be strong.

She had to stop that man from the Desert....

He and his dark wizardry...

Once at the old run down cottage, Zelda helped put Leon on his old raggedy bed, and sat in a spindly chair and scooted it near the bed as she watched Rosalin do the same.

Rosalin scooted over, and explained the whole encounter with the man with dark skin... and black armor. It was like reliving it completely... the terror. She hated that she felt scared. If she'd been that terrified... how had Leon felt?

As if reading her mind, Zelda smiled gently, her lips turning up lightly and her eyes softening ever more than before, "He wasn't nearly as scared as you think."

"....What?" Rosalin looked to Leon quietly for a moment. Then she frowned and looked at Zelda's soft face again. Did she really read her mind?

"I have capacities you wouldn't know about, Rosalin." She knew her name. "I did not realize Leon no longer had the Triforce of Power... but that doesn't mean I don't still need him."

"Then," Rosalin couldn't help asking, "Then why Leon?"

"The magic that Red-armored man used to re-energize him was magic that woke up the magic of the Triforce of Power Leon has absorbed from all these years of bearing it. He wasn't used to being as weak as normal people. It made him feeble."

"So the Red Lion fixed that problem by using the absorbed magic." Somehow it made sense.

"Indeed." Zelda nodded, and watched Leon, "But the Triforce of Power was never why I needed him."

"I see. Then why?" She readjusted herself in her seat...

The princess sighed, "Because there are things about him that can't be ignored: One being he could withstand the power of the Triforce. That means he's a rare person.

"You would use Leon like a tool?" She interrogated protectively, heatedly.

"Rosalin..." Zelda sighed, "You need to understand... I cannot stop that man alone. I need the one who can bear a Triforce piece."

"Why! Why don't you take it?"

"Because." Zelda said with a sad smile, "I already hold one. The Triforce of Wisdom told me in a dream... that I would find one boy who could hold TWO Triforce pieces here."

Rosalin, "You're crazy. In a DREAM? And aren't Triforce the power of goddesses? if anyone COULD hold three, wouldn't it be too much power, and they'd die!?"

Zelda smiled softly and shook her head, "No. Not if one piece lie dormant... like..."

Rosalin frowned, "...Like?" She watched Zelda carefully, looking for signs of madness.

She found none,

"Like the Triforce of Courage..."