-1Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda -' so don't sue...k?

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The smell of cows and straw filled the air. Not a place for a princess. But Zelda wasn't one to take notice of where one did or did not belong. Cautiously, she peered around the door of the stable, only to find her good friend Link fast asleep on the straw. Link had lost both his parents when he was young, and had been taken in by the Great Deku Tree. But when Link had realised he wasn't a Kokiri (the hint being him growing tall whilst his friends were still midgets), he had looked for work in the castle. Partly because there were many stable boy positions available, and partly because of Zelda.

Link and Zelda had met one day, when Link had snuck out of the forest to see Hyrule Field. He had been warned about the consequences of leaving, even if for one day, and had been scolded brutally by Mido when he returned, but, Link had thought grinning, it had been worth it. Because as he had been taking in the breath taking scenery of Hyrule, a blonde haired girl around his age had run up to him, taking his hand, and had explained that she needed someone to hide her as she too was not allowed out. After a day of running away from a rampaging Impa (Zelda's carer), the two had become good friends, and snuck out often to play.

Back in the stable, Zelda stood over Link, and trying to do her best impression of her father, the King, she coughed loudly and impatiently. Link awoke with a start and jumped up, trying, and failing, to tidy his messy blonde hair.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He yelled, looking around wildly. When he saw just Zelda quaking with laughter, his expression changed from surprised to extremely pissed off.

"Zelda, what are you doing here?" He asked, "This is no place for a princess, surely?"

Zelda stopped laughing enough to reply "I came to see if you were doing your job properly, by the looks of things you were doing just fine."

"For your information, I was taking a break. It's hard work in a stable." Link said coolly, "And it doesn't help that idiot Luke is ill." He finished with a sigh, looking around at the dirty stable.

"What? You mean it's just you on night duty tonight?"
"Yer, well, it's not really hard work" Link explained, "All it is is making sure the cows don't get nicked or accidentally kill themselves. Cows are pretty stupid."

"Not the only stupid thing in here..." Zelda muttered.

Next thing she knew, she had been tackled by Link onto the straw covered ground, and mercilessly tickled.

"Link!" She screamed between laughs, "I'll get straw on my dress!"

"Serves you right for calling me stupid" Link laughed, continuing to tickle her some more.

When Link stopped tickling her, she felt a blush grace her cheeks, as she realised how close they were, and how blue his eyes were...

A sound outside broke them apart, and Link quickly got off Zelda while she stood, brushing straw off her dress and tided her hair.

"I better go back, dinner will be soon." She smiled, in a way Link knew was genuine, not the one she reserved for people of importance who visited from time to time.

"Bye." He muttered, smiling back. At that moment though, he would've given anything to keep her there with him, to lie with her in his arms. But she was gone, walking gracefully through the stable door, unlike one who had just been pinned down and tickled, Link thought with a smirk.

And so, he continued with his 'work'.

Dinner was a boring ordeal. As usual, Zelda sat listening to, or pretending to listen to, her father drone on about current affairs taking place in Hyrule, visitors planning on coming to the castle, and so on and so forth.

Then there were the usual questions from Impa, such as which dress would she like put out for her? And whether she was to visit anyone the following day? As Zelda had no idea whether anyone required her presence or not, she decided to answer in the negative to that question, and asked if she be excused from the table as she had finished.

Once in her room (which overlooked the stables, surprise surprise), she walked over to the window and gazed out, and sighed. She could see a shadow in the doorway of the stable, working hard it seemed.

Or making himself a bed of straw Zelda thought with a smile.

And then she looked up to the night sky, to find it decorated with the shine of many stars.

There was chaos in the morning in the stables, as a cow had gone missing. It was later found stood in the small pond behind the castle, lazily chewing on the weeds growing in the pond.

Link, of course, was blamed for the whole mess, but was sent to bed anyway, as he looked like the living dead. Having has no sleep at all that night, thanks to the snoring Cucco, Link made his way slowly to the servants' quarters.

The servants' rooms were on the same wing of the castle as the kitchen, or underneath the castle. Only the higher servants such as the chefs and butlers had the rooms near the kitchens, while the stable boys, cleaners, and maids slept underneath the castle. The soldiers occupied the wing on the opposite side to the kitchens, where it was easier to exit the castle in case of emergency in Hyrule.

Link slept a measly 2 hours before he was shook awake by none other than the Princess herself.

"Zelda? What are you doing here? I swear, you like the servants' quarters more than you like the main castle." Link mumbled sleepily.

"Come on Link," Zelda said while pulling fruitlessly on Link's arm, "We're going to the Lake today."
"We?" Link asked, turning over to face her, "I'm sorry, Link is unavailable, please try again later." He said whilst turning back over to face the wall, which was decorated by little artistic scratches made by Link in times of boredness.

"Oh come on Link! I bet you've been sleeping all night in that stable."
Link rolled over again, a look of absolute murder on his face. "Not, thanks to that Cucco. Why must that Cucco snore, I ask you?"
Zelda sighed. "If it was put in the pen with all the other Cuccos, none of them would get any sleep, and we would get no eggs."
"And when put in the stable, you get no work from the stable boy." Link replied.

"We get work out of you when you're asleep then?" Zelda muttered sarcastically. "Come on," She whined, pulling on his arm more, "I need to get out of the castle, and you know I can't go alone."

When receiving no response, Zelda looked down at Link's face, and snorted with laughter. For Link had an expression on not dissimilar to that of a dead man, his eyes rolled back and his tongue lolling out.

"Link, I know you're not dead, so come on!"

And with renewed energy, Link leapt out of bed, striking a pose, one hand on his hip, the other pointing enthusiastically towards the lake. "To the lake we go!"