Free to Love - A Zelda x Link Fanfiction

LVIII: Naboris

Zelda's Perspective:

Urbosa ignored my spectacle, both with the seals and with Link, holding me in his arms, almost like he was dipping me as if we had been dancing. She didn't comment after Link helped me upright, but she pursued her lips in a way that indicated she was barely biting her tongue. In all fairness, Urbosa was strong enough to have loud and strong opinions. The fact that she was holding back her remarks was amazing in itself.

She brushed off the awkward moment as if it were nothing. She paused and, when Link helped stand me up with a heavy flush on his cheeks, Urbosa squatted and whistled at Tris. The seal cooed softly, allowing the Gerudo queen to pat her affectionately on the head, before flopping onto her back, demanding belly rubs for (presumably) dealing with my bullshit. I couldn't blame her. That seal deserved every goddamn tummy scratch she received.

She straightened up and acted as if nothing happened. "Well, I should show you Naboris, shouldn't I?" She asked, crossing her arms and smiling with tight lips. Her eyes were trained on me but I could tell they kept flicking back to poor Link behind me.

"Oh, yes! Please!" I grinned, trying to break the awkward tension that hung thick in the air. "I know all the Divine Beasts have unique abilities and I'm excited to see what Vah Naboris has!"

Urbosa's sharp eyes focused on me. "Oh, you'll like it!" She managed to offer a more honest smile (or maybe just less-forced) and turned away, leading me out the front gates.

Walking to the Divine Beast might as well had been torture. Link and I kept sinking into the sand, so every step was hasty and sloppy to keep up with Urbosa. I don't understand how, but she managed to stay on top the sand, her feet never sinking. Maybe it was because she had spent so long in the desert that she knew some kind of secret trick to walking through this damned sand.

Either way, it felt like an eternity until we arrived at the divine beast. In all fairness, it couldn't have been that long a walk, maybe a few minutes, but it felt like we had been walking for days. Sand was in my boots, my clothes, and it was incredibly itchy.

I felt that I had been violated by sand.

The Divine Beast was knelt, large spider-like head bowed. This beast was taller, taller than the others, probably approximately the same size as Vah Ruta when it was on the ground. This machine was more coppery than the rest, maybe appearing more golden because of the sunlight.

Like the rest of the machines, the interiors glowed faintly pink, an indication of how the machine was powered. The real interesting thing was the two water-tower-like structures built into the spine and protruding from the rest of the machine.

Urbosa smirked at me, just a small proud twitch of her lips, as she boarded the beast. There was an entrance on the side of the beast, a little balcony with an open-air entrance. It hovered above the ground slightly, but the gerudo skillfully scaled it, nimbly hopping onto the edge.

She smiled as she helped me up and then watched Link with cool eyes as he fumbled to find his footing in order to launch himself onto the balcony-edge.

This machine was much more like a battle machine. I saw Link's eyes light up. The staircases in the belly of the beast led up to a large control panel, and Urbosa had placed several of her "favorite" spears (her words, not mine) along the edges. Weirdly, it didn't seem well-guarded.

I couldn't imagine anybody that had the courage to sneak into the Divine Beast, nevermind Urbosa's beast, but the prospect still worried me. The machine seemed more dangerous than the edges, but I couldn't tell why. Something in the air was just sharp and made my hair stand on edge.

Link glanced around the beast, trying to maintain his composure as he stared in awe. He must move sensed the same odd danger of this beast that I sensed. Urbosa grinned, smiling almost wolfishly.

"Feel free to explore, Link," she offered. "I'm more than capable of keeping our favorite princess from danger." Link shifted, but his curiosity got the better of him. He smiled slightly, but turned on his heel and left to explore.

Urbosa immediately softened, her shoulders slumping as if she had been carrying some invisible weight and the grin slipped from her face, replaced with a smaller and more gentle smile. She put her hand on my shoulder, light and delicate.

"My little bird, may we talk for a moment?"

~~~

Shana Tova. Also happy birthday. It's tomorrow (the 21st). I'll try to keep this short for everyone's sake. Sorry for the late update and I'm incredibly tired.

My entire floor is fucking quarantined and I stayed up until 3AM doing laundry. Boy, oh boy. Yeah, what else is there to say? I spent another 3 hours playing Danganronpa and then crying over the traitor's execution (not saying names for spoilers).

I wanna go back to sleep. Bye.