It was their second and final day traveling back from Gerudo town. The hours had been uneventful, Link never spoke about what happened their first night in the desert, but besides that he had been a little talkative. Over the couple hours he had figured out her favorite color, animal, and region and vice versa for Zelda. Even though it was small and useless talk, it was better than silence.
Their plans were to arrive back at the castle that evening, and were following it so far. It was a warm fall day, summer was dying out and stretching its finger tips out to last as long as it could, but the cozy winds shook leaves of the trees, and the days would get cooler than the nights usually were. It was sunnier earlier when they had left the stable, but during the afternoon an overcast took it's place.
Suddenly the temperature dropped a couple of degrees, and rain began to trickle through the atmosphere from the skies. Droplets landed on the ground every now and then, and sooner than later Zelda and her prince started to notice it.
"Mama used to tell me that whenever it rains, it is because the clouds are crying for a soul who has no one else to mourn them." He mumbled reaching his hand out, palm up to feel the water cool his slightly sunburned skin from the desert.
"That's..." Zelda commented.
"Unscientific? Yeah, tell me about it." He finished with a laugh what he thought she was going to say, but he was far off track.
"I was going to say sad, but that too." She smiled politely as to not cause offense.
The drops grew thicker and would come down faster than before in slightly larger quantities, and the wind had woken up to brush the leaves off trees. The pace quickened now and the rain started to pick up its intensity, growing heavier every second.
"Your highness, I believe we should seek shelter somewhere," She told him as she pulled up her hood. He nodded and looked around. They were in the middle of nowhere, not a single campfire or building in sight, but there was a cave nearby. "I think that will do," She pointed to the entrance into the hillside.
Once they had comfortably settled in the entrance of the cave, and after Zelda killed a likelike nearby, they started a fire and laid out their outer cloaks which were wet from the rain. Link was poking around some twigs in the fire while Zelda rested her face on her hand.
"I doubt this will let up anytime soon." Link commented.
"Storms like these often stay for a few hours, despite its suddenness." She replied.
"Father won't like my late arrival, can we not leave now?"
"Settle down, we've only stopped for a little less than an hour. Plus, having traversed this road many a times, I can confidently say that you do not want to cross Hyrule field in stormy and muddy conditions," She shuddered, "It is not fun." Her head turned towards him while he continued to stare at the beauty of the flames. "Plus, I don't think the king would like if I brought his son back with boots covered in mud and soaked to the bone." Zelda added.
"It's a lose-lose situation." He with a shrug added.
"Yeah exactly," She let out a small giggle.
"Sorry. My father isn't very kind, just know it isn't your fault,"
"Oh, you needn't apologize, I find you do that quite too often in cases where you've done nothing wrong." She replied and his eyes dropped to the floor with a soft smile. "And if I may -with your permission- say something about the king,"
"Go ahead," He nodded.
"I find he's quite... controlling, is he not?" Zelda hesitated to speak, but felt that Link would share a similar opinion.
"He is... yes. And he is much more that that," He said while readjusting his sitting position.
"Wha-" She broke her sentence with a hesitant inhale, "What do you mean, your highness?"
"Simply that he is like a puppeteer, and I his doll, and my strings are knitted together by the goddess herself." He sighed, "I wish that I wasn't a prince, and that I didn't have to awaken these stupid sealing powers, I have spent a decade praying and it's all..." He scoffed. "All useless," He frowned with a defeated tone.
"I..." Her words never came out louder than a whisper as she decided to let Link talk some more.
"I wish I could've chosen a different fate. You would know, wouldn't you? Your father was a knight, yes? Well then, would you have chosen a different path?" He turned his head towards her.
"I... I don't know. For as long as I have been able to remember I've been sword fighting, and I've never despised it but rather thought it to be a blessing that I was able to train from such a young age. And even since I was 13 this blade chose me," She turned her head over her shoulder looking at the Master Sword, then stared back at him. "So it's not like I have had a choice since then anyways." Her unsure reply frustrated Link ever so slightly.
"How do you just... not know? I mean you're so luck-"
"No." She stopped his sentence. He turned his head towards her and raised an eyebrow while the other furrowed. "No, I would not have chosen a different path. I believe that this is my destiny, and if I had failed to fulfill it then Hyrule would be doomed."
Link huffed and went back to staring at the fire, or really to look at anything besides the knight. Silence befell the cave for a few more minutes, lightning struck and thunder clapped here and there as the storm went on.
"But are you only doing it for Hyrule?" He spoke again. She shook her head."Then why?" He inquired again.
"For my family mostly, especially my younger sister Aryll."
Link's head piped up in response, "Sister? I didn't know you had a younger sister,"
"Mhm, she's pretty annoying but also pretty fun," Zelda added.
"Where is she now?" He asked.
"Lurelin village, she's 14 and works for some fishermen and women down there all by herself. Although she assures me that she has lots of friends, I bet it's lonely." Zelda chuckled with a smile.
"Is having siblings fun?"
"Well, you love them," She explained, "yet at the same time they're the most annoying people on earth," Zelda huffed sarcastically.
The fire cackled some more, and the heavens kept pouring out rain.
"Oh, by the way," Link spoke and Zelda gave a 'mhm' in response, "On our first night in Gerudo Town, you had come back from the Canteen and told me you would 'tell me something later,' so now, I'm rather curious, what was that something?" Link not so carefully chose his words but asked nonetheless.
Zelda tensed up from embarrassment,
Have I made a promise that I don't even remember? She thought to herself, I don't even remember talking to him for Hylia's sake!
Her mind raced trying to recall what she was going to tell him. "I... I actually have no clue," Zelda blinked with a straight face.
Her straight forwardness caused Link to laugh, he even raised his hand to conceal his laughter a bit. Zelda, being an empathetic laugher, joined in on the chuckle.
Conversation flowed back and forth for a while, until it was evening. Though the dark clouds gave the appearance of the sun already being set. The rain had calmed to a light drizzle, but the road was still muddy, however, it solidified and became more solid and less slushy from before. The cloaks laid on the stone floor of the cave and were warm and dry from the warmth of the fire, ready to be used.
Link stood up from his spot and grabbed his cloak, clipping it around his neck and fixing the hood over his head.
She hesitated with how to address him, as in Gerudo town all formalities had been gone for identification protection. "Your highness?" Zelda called, settling back on that, she stood up to and walk towards him.
"I liked it when I wasn't called 'prince' or 'your highness' so please called me Link. And I know it's late, and we won't get get to the castle for another 3 hours, but I'd rather arrive really late than get there in the morning." Link paused slightly and turned his head to face Zelda, who was standing him. "I can stay up easily, and am willing to, unless you don't want to. Do you?"
Zelda paused for a second to contemplate the pros of cons of leaving right then. After all she is the appointed knight to keep him safe, and if that included saying no traveling at night then she would do so. But at the same time, if the prince was ready to leave then she could follow.
She nodded, "Yeah, let's go." Zelda put on her hood and readied herself to leave. "There might be some Stalkoblins or other skeleton enemies, but we should be fine."
-
The pair had already been walking for some time and finally arrived at the castle. It was a mere hour and a half past midnight, the entire castle was dead quiet, nothing could be heard except for some crickets which had snuck into the castles walls.
After being awake for so long, and walking for so long, it had seemed as though anything was funny. Once passing through the stage of pure exhaustion came hysteria. A shooting star? Absolutely hilarious. A weird book name? To die for.
"OHMYGOSH LOOK!" Zelda pointed while pointing towards the end of the hall. Link quickly shushed her as to not wake anybody up. He looked where she was pointing and low and behold, there was a cat at the end of the hall.
Link and Zelda exchanged looks before aggressively shouting 'pspspspsps' at the cat. It soon turned its head and started leaving dirty paw prints on the long rug as it pranced towards them. Link crouched and picked up the small critter.
"Awww," Zelda adored as she scratch the cat in Link's arms, right on its chin and behind the ears. The cat leaned info her hand, providing a purr of pure happiness. "How did he get in?" I question.
"No clue, I really want to keep him though," Link said while he held the black cat in front of him. He had one white ear, and three white socks, and a white nose, most likely the cutest cat Link or Zelda had ever seen.
"Time to go little guy," Link mumbled with a sad smile as he set the cat down. Zelda waved goodbye as the cat walked whence the knight and prince came.
Zelda yawned and covered her mouth,
then stretched her back and arms out. "I'm getting pretty tired, my legs are like chuchu," She sleepily spoke.
"Yeah me too," He nodded, "I've ought to get something from the library first,"
"Oh?" Zelda asked.
"Gerudo history stuff, I'd like to write down real quick in those books." He informed her.
-
After the small corrections had been made in ink, Link returned the books to the shelf ans dusted his hands off. The two descended the steps, and just as they were going to continue walking out, Link saw the king start to open his study door. Due to the gracefully dim lighting of the library, the king was unable to seem them from across the hall. Link gasped quietly and grabbed Zelda's hand, her giving a cut off 'what-' mid snatching.
Link rushed underneath the library steps into a small crook, and pulled Zelda into the space. With both their legs crouched against their chests, knees touching each other with the limited space, and hands still linked, they silently -or not so silently- giggled.
As Rhoam's footsteps approached -he was supposed to leave the library- Link leant forward with one finger now in front of his lips and the other moving to shush Zelda. She quickly picked up the hunts and hushed her voice or any noise that could come from her. They waited until the footsteps -or any sounds for the matter- heard earlier deceased.
Link's shoulders slouched in relaxation, his hand from his lips rested on his knees providing support for his head, and Zelda caught the other hand as it still formed a slight shushed state. Zelda bowed her head and bit her lip to restrain laughter, while Link tilted his head back as his mouth pressed into a thin line with the same purposes as Zelda.
They managed containing their laughter for just a little more longer until they simultaneously glanced at each other. With a chortle and a snort laughter broke out again, proving true joy can never be contained. What they were laughing at? Slightly unsure, but it was funny, it was fun. Zelda tightened her grip slightly on Link's hand in laughter, and he covered his mouth. Nothing is more funny than laughter itself, in every case -especially Link and Zelda's- it had proved to be fatally contagious.
All fun and games must eventually come to an end. And this end came with a giant boot stomping in front of them. Soon a whole man towered over them. The king stood. Laughter was stifled into a deadly silence, and the pair looked up horrified at the king.
"Wha-" The king shook his head in disbelief, "What in the name of Hylia are you doing, Link?!" He demanded slightly infuriated. It wasn't before long when they suddenly remembered how close they were and how inappropriate it seemed. Link swiftly withdrew his arms and held them to his chest and Zelda repeated his actions.
Zelda and Link glanced at each other with smirks, as they remembered the 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' conversation from earlier. Somehow being fortunate enough not to laugh.
"Link!" Rhoam called, forcing the attention back on him, "It is nearly two hours after midnight. Must I spell that out for you? H-o-u-r-s. Yet, here you are with your knight i-in here!" He shouted pointing with open palms as he gestures towards them.
"But father the rain-" Link tried to justify himself.
"Hush. I'm not done." The king raised a hand, "I asked you to tolerate Zelda, not woo her! For Hylia's sakes child." He sneered in disappointment.
"W-wait your highness that's not- Not what Link is doing." Zelda fumbled out with bright red cheeks, silently wishing he would do something like that.
"Link?" Rhoam suspiciously asked. Knowing that others should not be calling his son by his first name.
"I mean his highness, the prince." Zelda corrected.
Link glanced again towards her with a quiet 'hm?' asking for permission if he led the interaction.
"Father, Z-Zelda is ri...Right." Link tried to come out confident, but inwardly cursed his stutter. Rhoam raised an eyebrow. Link inhaled, calming his nerves. "Plus as I had said earlier," He paused to slow his speech, "There was a thunderstorm on the way back here, preventing advancement in our- my travels." He corrected, but also side tracked the 'woo' comment made.
Rhoam looked to Zelda for a fact check. She nodded and confirmed. "Yes your highness, the prince is right." Zelda made sure not to slip up this time.
The king sighed heavily in disappointment, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Got to bed, you two." He bid them. He finally left.
Link and Zelda sighed in relief, and giggled slightly. He gently, and casually grabbed her hand without a second thought as he got up, as if to pull her up with him. Which he did. As Link stood up and she rose too, it was only until they were standing when they noticed their proximity. Zelda's eyes bore into his for a moment, Link's cheek slightly dusted with a rosy tint. Before long he let go of her hand and turned his head to the side, scratching the back of his neck and glancing at the floor with a smile.
"Father is right," Link whispered, "We should go to bed."
"Yes," Zelda muttered, somehow more flustered than Link.
Zelda waited for a second more until Link began to walk away and almost immediately she followed close behind. They had been walking side by side the entire day, so it naturally felt odd not to... even though the rule was to stay a few feet behind, especially in the castle. But no one else was awake, no one cared.
-
It was like that for a while. After all who -besides the king- could tell the prince and the knight of Hyrule what to do? For a whole month nobody cared. Ever since that trip to Gerudo, they've been close. Closer than just physical relation of having a knight follow somebody around. Link realized that Zelda maybe didn't... hate him.
One late night in the kitchen, chewing on some snacks made by Link, and some left overs by the staff, Zelda and Link sat around on the ground, counter, wherever was comfortable. For now they were crisscrossed on the floor. The lighting was low to avoid being caught again, but bright enough to see each other faces and see the food in front of them.
"Zelda?" The prince asked with a mouth full of food. Manners soon became lost, and honestly why wait to talk because of chewing? Sure it was 'gross' but to them it was fun.
"Yeah?" She peeped.
"Do you...?" He mumbled before taking another bite, scared to ask.
She swallowed to make her speech clear, "Do I what?" She questioned.
Link glanced up at her than towards his food again, waving his hand off in dismissal for what he said. "Never mind."
"Wait now I want to know," Zelda, set her bowl down to the side and leaned forward, chin resting on her hands.
Link pretended he didn't hear her and kept eating the fruitcake on his plate. He purposely looked away, occasionally looking back at Zelda to make sure she knew what he was doing. A smile crept on his face, but a very clearly smug one in spite of the knight.
"Come on!" She lunged forward in an attempt to grab the plate -also the only plausible distraction- from him. With a hand on the ground and a knee slightly brought up to her chest to get some arm length. Not putting much effort into avoiding the approach, Link stretched his legs out for better balance as he leaned back every so slightly, keeping the plate out of her reach. "Just tell me, Link!"
"It's embarrassing," He muttered with a smile now hinting at embarrassment. Zelda placed a knee on the ground extending her reach, and practically crawling to snatch the plate.
She took another bent knee forwards, now on top of his legs, but it allowed her to grab the fruitcake and fork. "Aha!" She exclaimed and slid the plate on the floor to the other side of the kitchen. "Now you have no excuse to ask me whatever you wanted to."
As she stole the plate Link attempted to reach for but barely missed it. He glanced up at her with a bashful smile and admitted defeat. "Fine,"
"Yes!" She whispered in success.
"Okay promise to answer truthfully?"
"Yes sir!" She nodded, Link grimaced sarcastically at the title of sir, but they laughed it off. Link looked around for a second before meeting her emerald eyes.
"Do you like me?"
A/N: HAPPY EASTER!!