The twins had been alive for two months. Though the war raged between the many people of Hyrule, they knew nothing of it. Their father, who was the king of Hyrule, often went off to fight in the many battles of this war, but they were to young to notice. In fact, Link and Zelda probably never would have needed to know of the war if something terrible hadn't happened shortly before the end of the war.
It was a stormy morning, and a three year old girl had shown up at the castle. She had brown hair and turquoise eyes. The guards, not having the heart to throw her out, took her to the king and queen. She was obviously frightened, but the king questioned her anyway. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Karesa," she answered, her voice shaking.
"Where are your parents, Karesa?" he asked next.
"They're dead, sir, killed in the war," she replied.
The king pitied her as she answered. From the look on her face he could tell she had seen them die. "I'm so sorry," he responded, "why don't you stay here a while?"
She agreed. She met young Link and Zelda later that day. All seemed well. When night fell however, the castle was attacked. As the queen ran towards her children's room she was gravely wounded. It did not stop her, though, she needed to save her children. She ran into the room grabbed Link, and ran out of the castle through a secret passage. Once outside she waited for her husband to come running out with Zelda as he was supposed to, but he didn't. When she heard Zelda's wails stop she was sure her child was dead. Knowing she needed to save Link, she ran to the Kokiri forest, the only place that knew peace. Bleeding and crying she found the Great Deku Tree, told him about Link, asked him to take care of Link, then walked off to die.
Zelda, however, was fine. When Karesa realized the king was to busy fighting to protect his daughter, she grabbed Zelda, quieted her cries, and hid. When at last the guards defeated the attackers, the king found Karesa and his daughter. He was pleased to see his child safe, and took Zelda from Karesa, but demanded, "Where is my son?"
"I don't know, sir," Karesa answered, her eyes wide.
The king was filled with rage at this statement. "Get out!" he yelled, "Leave Hyrule, you are no longer welcome in my kingdom!"
Karesa ran from him, and didn't stop running until she was to tired to move her body farther.

Ten years later, that war was over, Zelda and Link had met, traveled through time, and defeated Ganondorf. They were now enjoying being ten. Night had fallen before Link could get back to the forest, so he went to the nearby Lon Lon Ranch, where Malon always allowed him to stay the night. Tonight he heard the sound of horse's hooves. As he walked forward he saw a brown haired girl riding a large black horse. He saw Malon watching the girl ride and went over to her. "Who's that?" he asked.
"Her name is Karesa, she's a friend of mine," Malon answered.
At the sound of her name, Karesa looked over at them. She pulled on the horse's reins and dismounted. She walked over to them and looked at Malon questioningly. "This is the fairy boy I told you about," Malon said.
Karesa nodded and gave him a half smile. He smiled and said, "My name is Link."
Her spine stiffened and she said, "What did you say?"
"My name is Link," Link repeated.
She looked him in the eyes and saw how blue they were. "Who's your father?" Karesa asked.
"I don't know," Link answered in surprise.
Karesa leaned against the fence for support. "Your his son," she groaned, "His son!"
Link didn't know what this thirteen year old was talking about, but Malon did. "You don't mean..." Malon began, and Karesa nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Link demanded, "I'm whose son?"
"Your the king's son!" Karesa exclaimed, "You have to go see him tomorrow!"
The next day the two of them snuck into the castle. Karesa led him to the throne room. He hid while she went forward to speak to the king. The king recognized her at once. "How dare you come back here," he spat, "Guards, arrest her!"
"Please, sir," she began frantically, "I only came here because I found your son!"
Link stepped forward as guards ran up and grabbed Karesa. As the king's eyes fell on Link, he knew the girl was telling the truth. "Link?" he said, "Link? My boy's finally found his way home!"
A thought just struck Link and he voiced it, "Does this mean Zelda's my sister?"
"Yes," the king answered, "You're twins."
"Uh... I hate to interupt this reunion, but can I go, or are you just going to have the guards hold me here forever?" Karesa asked.
"Oh, right," the king responded, "guards, take her to the dungen."
"What?" Karesa exclaimed.
"I warned you never to come here again," the king said, "I keep every promise I make."

It wasn't long before Link went back to Lon Lon Ranch to see Malon. When she saw him return alone, she knew something was wrong. "Where's Karesa?" she asked at once.
"The king had her arrested," Link answered.
"And you didn't stop him?" Malon exclaimed.
"I couldn't!" Link replied.
"Link, you get her out of there no matter what it takes, she's been through enough!" she commanded.
Link was in shock. She had never called him Link before. That showed him how much this upset her. "Alright," he said, "I'll get her out."
He then gave her a letter that invited her to the castle and left. His next stop was the forest to see Saria. When he walked in to Saria's house she greeted him, "Oh, Link, it's great to see you again, where've you been?"
"I met my father, and found out I have a twin sister," Link replied.
"What?" Saria exclaimed, "Who?"
"My father," Link responded, "is the king of Hyrule, and Zelda is my sister."
Saria stared at him in disbelief. She opened her mouth several times, but couldn't think of anything to say. Link handed her a letter like the one he gave Malon, and said, "Well, anyway, I just wanted to say hi and see if you wanted to stay at the castle for a little while."
As he walked out of her house, she ran after him. "Let's go," she said and Link smiled.
At the castle Link was happy to see Malon came, but could tell she was still mad at him. He talked to his father that night about letting Karesa out. "No," the king said.
"Well, then, can I go see her?" Link asked, more so it would seem to Malon like he was doing something than anything else.
"I guess if you really want to," the king answered.
"Thanks," Link said and sprinted off to the dungen.
The guard allowed him to enter the cell and stood outside incase there was trouble. Karesa was sitting in the darkest corner of the cell and looked up as he approached. "What do you want?" she spat, venom in her voice.
"I just came to talk," Link answered, "and why are you mad at me? It's not my fault you're in here."
"If the situation was reversed, I doubt you'd care whose fault it was," she retorted.
Link shrugged. "You mind telling me what Malon was talking about when she said you've been through enough?" he demanded.
"I've been on the run since I was three," Karesa replied, "I had to convince the Gerudos to take me in until I was eight when I started traveling. People hated me and I had to find people who didn't care either way to buy my food and other suplies for me with the rupees I gave them. I was ripped off a lot. I didn't meet any one who accepted me until I was twelve. That, however, I won't complain about, because Malon is a friend worth waiting for."
There was an akward silence after that. Finally Link said, "So, your life sucks too?"
Karesa laughed slightly, "Yeah," she sighed, and they built a conversation off that.
Link had come down here to make Malon happy, but talking to this girl made him happy. After a while he left for bed, but not before he promised to come back the next day.
He enjoyed the hours he spent with Karesa. He learned all about her life, and was spellbound by the legends she had heard and the stories she made up off the top of her head. Not only was he amazed by her words, but also by her silence. She was a great listener and often asked Link to tell her about his adventures. After a while, he came to develop strange feelings for her. Afraid of telling Karesa, he told Saria instead. "I think I love her," Link said.
Saria smiled. "Have you told her yet?" Saria asked.
"No!" Link said, "What if she doesn't feel the same way?"
"Well," Saria replied, "I guess you'll never know then, will you?"
"You're right" said Link, and he rushed down to the dungen.
When the door was opened, however, he saw her huddled in the corner, crying. He ran over to her and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
She looked up at him and he noticed she had a black eye. She took a few deep breaths to calm down enough to speak to him. "Did somebody hit you?" Link demanded.
"One of the guards was upset about something," she gasped, "it doesn't hurt that much."
"Then why are you crying?" Link asked.
"A bird shouldn't be caged," Karesa answered.
Link was used to her talking like this. She was quite poetic when she wanted to be, and enjoyed speaking in riddles. "You want out," Link said.
Karesa nodded. Link looked down and ran off to see his father. He begged for Karesa to be released, but the king contined to refuse. Zelda, who was both very wise and very smart, went to help her brother. "Father," she said, "you said the girl would serve time and she has. Do you really intend to keep the girl who reunited you with your son in prison forever?"
The king thought about her words and ten commanded, "Guards, release the prisoner called Karesa."
Link turned o Zelda and said, "Thanks."
"Anytime," she replied.