"Point it at that tree up there."
Zelda held the hookshot and aimed at some trees on top of a hill on the outskirts of the village.
"Like this?" She asked looked over her shoulder.
"Yeah. Hold on." Link was behind her making sure she was doing it right. He walked up closer so he could see why she saw. He took her arm and moved it to the left a little. "I think that's good," he said.
"You think?"
"Yeah."
"That doesn't sound confident at all."
"Well, I just got the thing today."
Zelda laughed. "Ok, ok."
She stayed still for a moment more, then pushed the button. It exploded from where she was and flew into the biggest tree at the top of the hill.
"Nice!" Link yelled. "Now, this part-"
Link's voice trailed off as she flew towards the tree. As soon as she got to it, she released the hookshot and dropped safely to the ground. She stood there feeling a rush of energy.
"Link!" She ran to the edge of the hill. "Did you see that?" she screamed.
"Yeah!" he yelled back. "Now hook on to this one!" He patted a tree to his left.
"Ok." Zelda took aim and shot. It hooked on to the trunk perfectly, and she flew down the hill. She detached at the right moment and slid on the grass.
"This is amazing!" she studied it more. "Good job, Purah."
"Right?" he said. He sat down on the grass and watched Zelda play around with it some more. She studied it, aimed it at more things and asked questions. Link answered all that he could, but he explained that Impa didn't really, well, explain anything. She played around with it for a few more minutes. The sun began to set making their shadows long across the ground. It shined through her golden hair and made it look like she was goddess of a different world. The longer he looked at her the more he realized that the silent princess pedals were flowing through the wind.
To Link, she was beautiful.
"Zelda?" he called out.
Her eyes stayed glued to the hookshot.
"Zelda," he repeated.
She finally broke her trance. "Yes, Link."
He looked up at the purple sky. "Maybe Paya was right. Time for some rest."
She smiled and nodded. "Alright."
She handed the hookshot to Link and he attached it to his waist. He noticed the slate on her own hip as they've walked through the village.
"How has that been?" he asked.
"Oh, the slate?" she said. "It's been marvelous. I've been taking lots of pictures with the children studying some plants around the area."
"Very you."
They walked by Paya's house and Link saw Sheik plying his harp as always at the top of the stairs.
"Hey Zelda. I'll meet you inside." he said walking towards the house.
"Ok," she answered. "Don't be too long." She watched him walk up the stairs. Then she grunted and frustratedly turned around.
"'Don't be too long,'" she mocked herself. "Ugh! Why did I say that? Zelda, what are you thinking?"
Link creaked up the stairs to Sheik. He had an old paper in front of him with faded notes painted on and was trying to figure out the melody. It was the same one he had been attempting inside.
"Hey, hero," Sheik said.
"Hi Sheik. You know, you can just call me Link," he said. "I don't need a special title at all."
Sheik laughed. "Ok, Link."
Link sat down next to him. He shielded his eyes from the descending sun. "What is that?"
"It's a song from Lady Impa's papers. It's incredibly old and hard to decipher, but I think I'm making progress." He plucked a few strings and listened to see if it sounded correct. He shook his head. "Must be a B flat," he muttered.
Link looked at the paper. "What does that say?" he asked pointing to the top of the page. There was a word in a language he wasn't familiar with.
"It just says: Village. It's Old Sheikah language."
"And you can read that?"
Sheik paused. "Yeah."
"How did you learn?"
"Uh... I was close to my teens I think. Taught myself." He returned to playing.
"You're funny," Link said.
Sheik kept his eyes on the paper. "How so?"
"We know nothing about you yet you've helped so much," Link turned to him. "You don't even know us."
"True," Sheik said. "But I know that you are good people. And I want to help good people."
Link smiled. "I don't assume you'd tell me why you're like that."
Sheik smiled with him. "No, he said. "No, I don't think I will."
Link laughed. "Why don't we duel tomorrow?" he asked.
Sheik squinted his eyes. "Like fight?"
"Sure. It'll be fun."
Sheik nodded. "You know what? Why not?" He looked at him through his hanging hair. "Let's do it."
"Great. See you tomorrow, then." Link got up and started to walk down the old steps.
"Bye, He- I mean Link."
"Night, Sheik."
—————
The inn was lit by the two candles that sat on their two nightstands. Link loudly exhaled as he leaned on the mattress of his bed. His energy was completely drained from the dungeon fight and from just thinking about things.
"Tired?" Zelda asked looking up from a book she was reading.
Link nodded. "I forgot how tiring things like that can be."
"Hopefully a night's rest will recharge you." Zelda tried to read some more of her book, but her eyelids felt heavy. She slowly nodded away.
Link got up off the bed and pulled his lobster shirt over his head and threw it on the ground. He sat back down and looked at his wound. The pain had decreased exponentially but it still burned.
He looked for some bandages lying around next to his bed. On the floor was a roll of white bandages. He winced in pain as he bent down to pick them up. Slowly, he sat straight up again, grunting a little when he finally settled.
"Are you ok?"
Zelda laid on her side looking at his back. He turned over his shoulder.
"No, I'm fine."
She caught a glimpse of his cut. "Oh, Link you are hurt!" She threw her covers off and rushed to his side. Her light pink night gown dragging behind her.
"Zelda, I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that bad."
She plopped down on his left. She studied he cut on his side. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not that bad!" he justified. "I didn't want to distract everyone with small things like this."
"Small? Look at this!" Her hands hovered over his cut. She looked up at him.
"May I?"
"Sure." Link said.
Zelda delicately placed her hands around the wound. Link winced at the pressure she put on it. He studied his cut with Zelda. The cut was still red and the surrounding skin was red with irritation.
"It's starting to get infected," Zelda concluded. "This is what happens when you wait too long to treat something." She huffed and walked to her belongings. She pulled out a hearty durian and her eightfold blade. She walked back to Link.
Using her eightfold blade, she cut the durian in half. Juice started to drip from it, and she caught some of it in her hand. She then held her hand up to his wound. Their eyes met.
"This'll hurt, but it's worth it." She rubbed her hand on the wound. Link loudly grunted. The juice stung his side. She kept rubbing.
"Hearty durians have extreme healing properties."
"I know," he said through his teeth. "I cooked these on my journeys."
Zelda finished rubbing the juice onto his wound. She held her hand out asking for the bandage wrap. Link gave the white wrappings to her and she began to wrap his torso.
"Don't be so tense," she said. "Relax. The wrappings will be more comfortable that way."
Link took a deep breath. "Sorry. It's just I usually do this sort of thing to myself."
Zelda made one more wrap around his body. "There," she said. "That should heal by tomorrow night."
Their eyes met again. Time seemed to slow down. The flame from the candles flickered across their faces. None of them dare blink. They held each other's gaze for a moment.
Link cleared his throat and broke away. Both of their faces turned as red as a hearty raddish. He acted like he was looking at his bandaged wound. Zelda's head jerked away too and she tucked some of he blonde hair being her hair.
"Thank you," said Link.
Zelda cleared her throat as well. "No problem." She stood up and walked back to her bed. She quickly hopped in and buried face in her pillow to hide her embarrassment and to slow her heart down.
Link slowly got into his bed. He looked over at Zelda, face hidden by her pillow and hair everywhere.
Adorable.
He leaned against the headboard looking up at the ceiling. He heard Zelda shuffle in her head.
"Link."
"Yeah?"
She laid on her side. "What did you remember that night?"
He thought for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"The night your house... and Impa..." she searched for words. "Before we left for Hateno you said you remembered something."
Link knew exactly what she was talking about. He had remembered what happened after he had rescued Zelda.
"I don't know... I guess I forgot it again," he lied.
Zelda playfully scowled at him, obviously unsatisfied by his answer.
"Can I ask a favor of you?" the hero asked.
"What is it?" Zelda replied.
"Can you refrain from worrying so much about me?" He turned to her. "It's flattering and I know you care about me, but you needn't stress over me."
Zelda sat up a bit. "I'll only do that if you agree to be less reckless."
"I'm not reckless!" defended Link.
"Do we have a deal?" the princess asked.
Link sighed. "Fine," he said. "You stop stressing-"
"-and you be more careful," she finished.
Link nodded. "Ok."
They both settled into their beds. Zelda blew her candle out. "Goodnight, hero."
Link blew his out, too. "Goodnight, princess."