Chapter 4

Ophila wrung out her ragged shirt, then added it to her makeshift laungdry basket. She dipped the next dirty garment in the waters of Lake Hylia to wash it.
She was not rich... as a matter of fact, she had no money whatsoever. She was lucky if anyone donated a few rupees because they felt sorry for her. Ophila was a street woman, and had been all her life. At age 40 (Or was it 41? She didn't keep track of her age much.), she still remembered when she and her parents had been evicted from their home. Her father had soon been imprisioned, captured by a guard for theft, and she hadn'st seen him since. Her mother was unable to live off her wits on the streets, and didn't last ong, either. Ophila had learned there was no time to mourn them, and had been hardened almost past emotion. Still, ever time she saw a young child alone on the streets, she felt a pang of sorrow, and remembered herself. That was how she had met Janneh.
The poor child had been wondering the streets, and looking so forlorn that Ophila thought her heart would break. As a memorial to her mother, Ophila had adopted the girl, Janneh, to raise her. That was two years ago, and Janneh was now six, though she had beenforced to grow up fast. They lived together and took care of each other, Ophila did he chores while Janneh stole food. Children were rarely caught, or punished, for their petty crimes.
As Ophila folded one of Janneh's shabby dresses, she noticed something floating in the water. It looked like... no, it couldn't be. Could it?
Ophila put the dress down and waded into the water. She tugged on the object, and flipped it over. It was a little girl!
The child was unconscious, and couldn't have been older than 14 months. She was blue from not breathing, but Ophila felt her chest and found that she had a pulse. How could that be possible?
She dragged the baby to shore, then pushed on her small body to eject the water from her. The small child coughed and spluttered, and colour returned to her face. But still, she was barely alive.
"Who would do this to a baby?" Ophila wondered, "And how did she survive this? She must have had the blessing of all the goddesses with her! Still, I can't leave her here, lucky as she may be. She's an infant... she'd never make it. But I can't afford another mouth to feed... Janneh and I can barely live off what we have."
The girl coughed again, and began to whine, "Mommy...? mommy...?"
"If she survived , the goddesses must have intended her to live. She was given to me for a reason, and I must raise her."
Ophila picked up the small child, who had slipped from consciousness again, and brought her back to her pitiful home.

When Ophila opened the door, Janneh called, "I had a great haul today! You should see all the stuff I've got! It's enough to feed us for a solid week!" She appeared in the hallway of the rundown shack and noticed the bundle in the laundry basket, "What's that, Mom?"
"I found a baby, Janneh. You have a little sister now."
Janneh's eyes lit up, then worry crossed her face.
"I know what you're thinking, but I can tell she's been through a lot. The goddesses meant for me to raise this girl."
"What's her name?"
"I don't know. We'll ask her when she wakes up."
Janneh picked up the baby and put her next to fireplace, where she could lie until she woke up. Then she and Ophila returned to their chores.
They had been working about fifteen minutes when Ophila heard a whining coming from the fireplace. The baby must be awake. She left the chores to Janneh and went to tend to their new arrival.
The young girl saw Ophila arrive and asked her, "Who you? Where is I?"
"I'm Ophila, and you're at my house. I'm going to be your Mommy now. What's your name?"
The girl's eyes widened, "You no Mommy." She remembered very little. It felt as though the memories had been extracted from her mind. She could picture a man with blond hair, who had been nice to her. She felt like she knew how he felt, what he was thinking. Other than him, all she remembered was a woman with red hair being Mommy, and a woman with red hair throwing her away. She came to the conclusion that her mommy had tried to hurt her.
"Alright, you can call me Ophila." The woman seemed puzzled, but friendly enough. "What's your name, little one?"
Funny, she couldn't remember. A letter came to mind, L. But that didn't seem right. Well, she'd have to live with it.
"L...Llllll..." she said.
"L? What about it? Is that your first initial?"
The baby nodded.
"Well, what's your name? Uh...Laen?" it was the first name that popped into Ophila's head.
The girl knew that wasn't her name, but she didn't know what her name was, so Laen would do.
Just then, another person, a girl who looked about six, entered the room. She smiled and said to Laen, "Hi. My names Janneh, and I'm going to be your sister. It's going to be great having another member of the family!"
Laen smiled back and said, "Hi...Janneh. I'm...Laen."