zelda gasped and turned around when she heard the statement. an old zora who looked like a manta ray was pointing at her. the king quickly jumped to her defense.
"muzu! we discussed this!"
"we discussed the hylians, not her."
"'she' is a hylian. 'she' is the princess."
"well, she isn't much of a princess anymore, is she?"
"muzu!"
the conversation muzu and the king were having troubled her. knowing that there was definitely someone who blamed her only strengthened her guilt, and it made her feel worse. sidon stepped up to her.
"don't worry about muzu. he never really liked hylians that much. they had this exact same arguement when link came."
"really? why? he did nothing."
"it may have been because he was so close to mipha. it didn't help that he had no memory of her."
link watched all of this from the corner of the room, not wanting to get involved. still, he felt like he should interfere, just to get this over with. he could tell that she was getting upset.
"excuse me, may i talk to muzu?"
he really didn't want to talk to him, but he felt it was neccessary. anyway, he wanted to give him a piece of his mind.
"why yes, you may. muzu, you are dismissed."
muzu reluctantly obliged and they left the room together.
"why in hylia's name do you hate her so much? she was visibly upset!"
"she's supposed to be the princess. she shouldn't be getting upset over a small thing like that."
"exactly! she shouldn't. she's upset because it's not a small thing! i thought you weren't a racist f*** anymore, but it seems i was wrong! you haven't changed one bit!"
"you've sure changed."
"yeah, and it makes me want to kill you and shove you in that hylia-forsaken bathtub and see if you come out with a better attitude!"
~*~
"i'm so sorry about what happened with muzu. i thought sidon and i had changed his mind."
"it's okay. i'm the one who should he saying sorry."
"why?"
"i made all of this happen. he was justified in saying that it was my fault, because it was. he just confirmed my thoughts."
"confirmed your thoughts? zelda, he's an a-hole. don't believe what he says."
"how can i not if he's just saying what i'm thinking?"
"just don't think that, then."
"it's not that simple, and you know it."
"you're right. i just don't know what to say."
zelda sighed after he said that. that one statement alone made her feel bad. he used to never say anything. she wouldn't know if it was because he truly didn't have anything to say, or if it was because he didn't want to say anything. usually, she suspected the latter.
he seemed so talkative compared to before. he still didn't talk a ton, but it was definitely more. it was... odd, to say the least. and he sure didn't say the least. he talked like a normal person would. not that he wasn't a normal person.
oh, who was she kidding? neither of them were "normal." they had both been through a lot. much more than the average hylian.
she sighed again.
"what's wrong?"
"i dunno, it's just odd to me that you speak so much more than you did before."
"i guess i changed in the shrine of resurrection."
"maybe it was because you lost your memories and had no reason to be silent."
"maybe."
it felt so odd, being able to hold a conversation with him. she'd just have to get used to it.
~*~
they decided that they would check out the divine beast the next day. they went to the inn and got two beds. zelda noticed that link got only one soft bed. she thought back to what he had told her before, about not being used to sleeping in a bed. instead of a second soft bed, he just got a normal bed.
they went inside, and again, it didn't take her long to fall asleep. he, however, sat in his bed for a while longer, waiting for her to fall asleep. he wanted to go outside again, to wait by a fire. there was a cooking pot nearby, he knew it.
he found it and sat cross-legged on the cold stone by it. he shut his eyes and willed sleep to come.
~*~
zelda woke up, and like before, link wasn't in his bed. she walked outside, and sure enough, he was by a cooking pot. he wasn't cooking anything, though. just sitting there.
"hey. couldn't sleep?"
"wha? oh, yeah."
"did you fall asleep out here?"
"yeah. i guess i'm more used to waiting by a fire."
"i guess that makes sense."
"it sounds like nonsense, doesn't it?"
"no, i understand."
she didn't understand it like she thought she did. she hadn't wandered around in the wilderness, bit knowing what to do like he had. she hadn't sat in the rain, waiting for morning to come, fearing that monsters would come out from the shadows and attack him.
but he held no resentment against her. it was just as hard for her as it was for him, if not harder. she remembered who died. he didn't. he felt guilty about forgetting everyone he knew, but that couldn't really be fixed. He couldn't exactly look for any more memories. there weren't any more pictures. maybe he could ask her if she thought there would be something he'd remember. maybe he would start to remember more if he saw the castle more like what it used to be like. he'd just have to wait for that.
~*~