"Bye!"
And there she was again, saying goodbye to a person she would likely never see again. Zelda let out a sigh as she started walking away from the person she had been a random conversation with. It was someone named Fi, and they conversed about the former royalty of Hyrule, the two seeming to have the same interest. Additionally, Zelda had the name of the former princesses. This had evolved the small conversation into a bigger one, like if Zelda was in any way related to the royalty from back then; all Zelda had told her was that she was just a normal girl who so happened to have the name Zelda.
Honestly, Zelda wasn't even sure if she was once a princess of the old age. The monarchy had ended over five centuries before.
She always avoided telling people she was the daughter of the richest man in Hyrule, even living in a mansion full of maids and servants, because she feared they would all only want to try and befriend her for the money her family had. So as a cover-up, she'd say she was just a junior who went to Hyrule High, studying in science and living on Hylia street, with most of the Hylians.
In actuality, though, she did live on Hylia street, but in the humongous home people would call a "mansion", overlooking almost all the houses on the slight slope of the mountain with that big gate for an entrance. The truth of her school life was that she was studying in science as an 11th grader, but the only problem was that she was homeschooled.
Also, if it weren't obvious by now, the reason people weren't all over Zelda was that people did not know who she was. Everyone knew her dad, Rhoam, had a daughter, but they didn't know who she was, per se. All people knew was how she looked as a newborn; her name and current appearance were unknown.
It was like that because her father cared about her and wanted to protect her the best he could.
When she had turned 10 years old, he'd even asked her if she wanted to be publicly known. She simply declined because she wanted to experience life as an average girl without having people come up to her for being one of the most well-known people in Hyrule. She'd seen people go up to her father, which is why she hadn't seen him go out very often. It was usually the servants or maids doing what he needed from the outside because people didn't know the maids or servants.
Zelda had a light smile on her face as she strolled through Hyrule's central park, one of more popular parks in Hyrule. She glanced around as she took notice of the children, the families eating and having a small picnic out in the open near the benches close to the hoard of trees, the couples walking around and conversing as they held hands, obviously deeply in love...
Sigh... Zelda shook her head and started making her way toward the Fairy Fountain. Love...such a foreign word and feeling. Since Zelda did not really make friends from the outside, she'd never really felt something so deep for anyone; it all had just come out to being acquaintances or strangers all over again.
She shook her head again, trying to get those thoughts out of her head, and spotted the fountain. She basically bounded over to it, walking up the steps of pedals and looking into the pond of water. The reason this little pond of water was called the "fairy fountain" was because it was said that long ago there was once a fairy named Cotera in this very fountain--one of the few fountains left--helping the ancient Hero of the Wild, the Hylian champion of Hyrule, who came to her and fulfilled any wish he asked for... But, that was only just a saying, a rumor she couldn't help but want to believe was true.
Just like any other fountain, people throw a green rupee in and make a wish. But for the fairy fountains it is said that every wish positively comes true. Zelda grinned and pulled out a single rupee, closing her eyes and holding the rupee close to her. She wasn't going to take any chances, so she took her few seconds of silence to herself to make her wish. Afterwards opened her eyes and tossed the rupee into the pond, watching it descend down into the bottom of the water.
Zelda sighed happily, knowing that her wish coming true was a one in a million chance, but she was willing to just give it a shot since she had never had rupees with her to be able to do this.
The blonde teen sighed and turned around to face the park, taking in sight of all the people—a mix of Zoras, Hylians, Gerudos, etc. It was truly a wonderful sight. Zelda was going to sit down on one of the petals she was standing on, but she took notice of a Zora and a Hylian having a conversation off to the side near a tree close to the fountain. She knew it wasn't so polite to listen in on a conversation, even moreso one between two strangers, but the conversation was one she had never witnessed in person.
"I...I know we've been best friends since we were just little toddlers, Mipha, but...I-I have a confession to make..." The Hylian with light brown hair had spoken very softly, but she understood, and he bit his lip, fiddling with his hands and taking a few breaths.
Zelda slowly started to smile. Immediately she assumed that the young man was going to confess to the red Zora known as Mipha. She had read enough romance novels to assume this may be it.
"Well, out with it. What is it?" Mipha smiled and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Her voice was faint as well, but Zelda still understood.
Zelda sat down and tried to make it seem like she wasn't paying attention to them, but she peeked as sneakily as she could.
The Hylian spoke up again. "I've...grown...to have, like...feelings, for you." The boy looked up from the ground and grabbed the Zora's hands in his own. "W-will you...go out with me?"
Zelda bit her lip herself, feeling quite anxious despite there being a smile on her face. She was anxious this would go wrong, but the smile was one of interest, for she had never witnessed this type of scenario in person before, once again. To her, this was quite adorable. But, right as she saw the look on the Zora's face from afar, Zelda knew this would not end well.
"O-oh...Link...um...heh." The Zora seemed to have let out a sigh as she carefully removed her hands from the boy, now identified as Link, and said, "I...I'm very happy you feel that way...but...I...cannot reciprocate those feelings. I'm sorry."
Link, the Hylian, seemed to have deflated immensely. "Oh...I...I'm sorry."
"This...isn't going to make anything awkward between us, is it?" Mipha asked.
Link seemed to be in his own world, looking down at the grass and seemingly not able to face his best friend. Zelda wasn't sure if he had heard Mipha's question, but all she saw come out of him was a little shake of the head, maybe even a little "no", but she wouldn't have been able to hear it from her spot on the fountain.
"That's good. I'll see you later Link. I've got to get home... I'll see you at school." Mipha gave Link a small smile, even though he wasn't looking, and walked the opposite direction of where they were standing, walking toward the streets.
Zelda immediately felt sympathy for the boy named Link. She didn't know how heartbreak felt herself, but she could understand that it really was a slice to the heart. She waited a few seconds to make sure the female Zora was gone and then made her way over to the sulking Link, who was sitting against the tree with his knees up to his chest, his head in between them.
She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew she wanted to comfort him the best she could. She wanted him to feel better, even though the two did not know each other whatsoever. She stepped up beside him quietly, not sure if he heard her coming. Even if he did, he didn't show signs of interest.
"Hey," she softly said. She went down onto her knees and tentatively placed her hand flat on his back, feeling him flinch a little at the contact. But he relaxed as she started to rub small circles on his back. "Hey, are you okay?" She knew he wasn't, but it wouldn't hurt to ask to see if he'd be honest about it. Likely not, considering he didn't know who she was.
Link looked up from the ground and turned over to the Hylian girl who was kneeling beside him. He didn't answer but only stared at her.
"I saw what happened... I'm sorry if it irks you that I did but I couldn't help it, I was really close by." Zelda saw a shift in his expression, but she kept her gaze strong on his. It took a few seconds, but a little nod came from him instead of a verbal answer.
Zelda frowned and sat down on her bottom on the grass beside him, facing him. She moved her hand from his back to his shoulders and shook him a little, in a friendly way. "I'm not sure if that was an answer to my question, but if it was...I know you're not fine. I've...personally never gone through heartbreak like this before, but it's obvious you love her so much. I can't imagine, but I can understand the pain you're going through right now."
Link just stared at her, his mouth opening with a little gap between his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but he just sighed and nodded, closing his mouth.
A better thanks than nothing. Zelda smiled slightly and stood up, extending her hand out to Link. "Come on."
Link curiously looked up at the mysterious blonde towering over him, glancing at her outstretched hand. He raised an eyebrow.
Zelda let out a sigh and pulled her hand out a little more to emphasize her meaning. "Get up. Let's go, I'm taking you out for ice cream."
For the first time in forever, Link finally spoke out. "...why?"
Zelda inwardly groaned, but she explained her reasoning. "Well, for one, you can't be moping around all day waiting for a miracle to happen. And two, I know we don't know each other at all, but I want to try and make your day better. Come on, let's go." In the end, she let out a smile that seemed brighter than the sun at that moment.
Link was hesitant, but he grabbed her hand and hoisted himself up with her help. With more light than there had been while sitting under the shade, Zelda noticed that his eyes were swollen-looking and red, and his nose was red as well. Zelda started to feel a million times worse for the kid; he loved that Zora so much as to even cry over her.
"Alright, let us start venturing over to Tarrey's Ice Cream." Zelda smiled and grabbed his wrist, leading him the way over to the little, but lively and full, ice cream shop over near Tarrey Town.
Link was being half-dragged behind the blonde he never got the name of, but since she was ahead of him she never got to see the small smile he had.
Hi so this is officially the first chapter, likely not the best but we are getting there :) I'm quite enjoying this, I'm having fun writing this. Chapters may not come out very often but I will try, because school can be a big pain. I hope this chapter was enjoyable (: continuation of zelink's encounter will be next chapter. I apologize for any mistakes.
Thanks for reading :D Till next time.