Hey Everybody!

It's been a looooooong time since I wrote a Zelda fic, right? I've missed writing them. They can be so much fun, considering the ridiculous number of characters that're available to mess with.

And I only recently realized that I ADORE Fi. She is like, my new Navi. So, a story about Fi it is!

Hope you enjoy!

His Sword Arm

They Meet

Fi Gladios was wandering around the Castle grounds, getting used to the maze of corridors that would act as her new home.

It was a lovely day, despite the nippy wind, which Fi in retrospect suspected was why so much laundry had been hoisted up, to take advantage of both sun and wind. She herself had decided to venture outside to admire the leaves, going from green to red and gold, a wonderful combination that only a select places in the country boasted, of which the Hyrule Castle Gardens was one of. It was when she was skimming the edges of these gardens that she heard the commotion, so suddenly erupting by her it felt like a bottle had been thrown and smashed at her feet. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the subsequent conversation; she just had the (unfortunate) knack for going unnoticed, and happened to be a very good listener. Besides, if people didn't want others to hear what they were saying, they should speak with lower tones.

This child in particular didn't seem to understand the concept of low tones as he started screaming and rampaged through the courtyard by the corridor in which Fi had been walking, swinging a stick as he charged through the rows upon rows of sunning sheets on strings, the vast white linens billowing like sails.

Sails which were being torn down and stomped into the dirt. And all the while he kept screaming.

"What on earth-"

Fi stepped aside as a plump woman hurried past her, after the screaming child and the harassed maids, blinking. She watched the maids skitter to a stop at an archway that seemed to lead towards another courtyard, the plump woman right behind them, gasping, "Lord Prince!"

Fi raised her brows. Lord Prince, meaning Prince Link. Was that child that Prince? That couldn't be right, he was meant to be her age, around seventeen, not… ten? Younger?

Not, she reminded herself, that it was any of her business. As much as she wanted to go see the autumn leaves close-up, since the party of consternated adults seemed to concentrate around the archway leading to said leaves and trees, she would either have to wait or give up sightseeing for another day.

Another day, then, she decided, continuing on her walk with a mild sigh. With her father newly appointed advisor to the King she would have plenty of opportunities to visit the gardens.

"Yes!" came that little child's scream, making Fi jump, "And I'll do it again and again because I hate them I hate them!"

"Zelda!" said a young man's voice, shocked and reprimanding.

"They said I killed my mother!"

And the child broke into gut wrenching, inconsolable sobs.

Fi shivered. Goddesses, no wonder that boy (no, it must be a girl, they'd called her Zelda) had terrorised the young women; hearing that would turn anyone into a monster.

Fi hurried away, embarrassed that she had heard even that much. She would head to her new room, wipe her face down with a wet cloth and get ready for the Royal Hearing. Her father was going to be in attendance and she wanted to know what it was like; she was sure he wouldn't object, though the King may be another matter.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Fi had not taken the Prince into account.

She'd been right; he was her age, though a year or two older. Handsome as rumoured, she supposed, though he seemed a rather... angry man. The scowl had been obvious when he and the King had entered the Throne Room, though that had disappeared in favour of a smile very quickly.

"Master Gladios," he greeted as the King nodded at her father, the two of them sweeping past for their ceremonial seats, "Good day to you,"

Fi briefly curtseyed, comfortable in the knowledge that she would go unnoticed for the rest of the Hearing.

Except she hadn't. Not even close.

She'd thought she'd imagined it after the first few complaints and issues had been discussed. Then, as she exchanged comments with her father she definitely saw a pair of eyes flicking away in her pereferrals, and then coming back to her. She felt his gaze on her, constantly coming back and fluttering around her like an errant moth. Between them was the King and her father so he had to glance around them both, him shifting his weight and darting his eyes just making it painfully obvious that he, in fact, was staring at her.

Worst of all she wasn't the only one to have caught on. The subjects saw his odd behaviour, searched for its reason, and found her. Often they smiled as they came to some fanciful conclusion, and Fi was mortified. What could possibly be so interesting about her, anyway? She'd heard rumours about herself, to be sure, none of them good (none of them terrible either, but the point still stood) but were any of those worthy of warranting such attention? No. Never.

Either way, it was such an affront to her usual sense of existence she felt completely off-kilter, and worse, he was the Prince. It was his duty to pay attention to his people and he decided to divide it between them and her? For some, cheap entertainment value? Fi turned her head and watched the Prince till he inevitable tried to give her a furtive look, and their eyes met, and he looked somewhere beyond her before slowly, deliberately, looking away.

It was a long Hearing.

Once done the King stood to converse with his advisors (her father last of all, since he was the newest blood), which she used to her advantage. This affront could not be left unsaid, undiscussed. She would be civil about it, of course, her father's career depended on her irreproachable behaviour. But she was going to give him a piece of her mind, no question on that.

Schooling her features, she cleared her throat. "Prince Link."

She saw the muscles of his back tense at her voice, turning around from the circle of nobles with a Princely smile on his face.

"Lady Fi, good day to you."

She nodded back, her expression blank. "I do not mean to seem forward, my Lord, but why were you staring at me?"

His smile slipped. "Ah, well… was I?"

"You were looking at me for most of the first half of the Hearing, I believe."

He gave an embarrassed cough, and after a hasty look at the ceiling, nodded. "Yes, I may have."

She cocked an eyebrow, a move she'd practiced in the mirror for the past year. "I… see."

"Master Gladio spoke only after consulting you," Prince Link added, rather hurriedly, she thought, "I found that interesting. Your opinion must be worth much, if an advisor such as your father seeks it."

Fi cocked her head, a little surprised that he had noticed that. Then again, how could he not, after staring at her so much? "If that is the case, I would have thought the first few minutes would have sufficed to come to that conclusion."

That undid him. Colour rose to his cheeks and he stammered, looking anywhere but at her. Fi braced herself for a childish excuse, already concocting a few choice words about responsibilities and power as he admitted: "I, well, yes. It, it's just, well you see I uh, I noticed that you're very pretty. I couldn't… stop looking."

Fi's tally of stock phrases halted. Her small tower of affront crumbled. Out of all the answers she'd been expecting, that was on the bottom of the list. She doubted it would have even been on the list. Intelligently, she replied: "Oh."

He hurried on, virtually tripping over his own tongue to speak, "I meant no disrespect, and I do think what I thought about your opinion, I mean…" he glanced back at the group of adults, and she felt herself blush, really blush, because how embarrassing would this be if any of them were paying enough attention to them to hear what was going on? "If most of what Master Gladios said was influenced by you, then you have excellent judgement. I hope I haven't offended you with my… attention."

He looked like such a hopeless puppy she didn't know whether to be amused or pained by his expression. Opting to not look at it in favour of retaining her sanity, Fi smiled at herself for thinking him a rather adorable young man. "Now that I know why, I'm more inclined to feel flattered, Prince Link."

"Actually," he added, surprising her, "There's a matter that I could use some advice on. About my little sister. Would you, no, could you indulge me with a moment of your time?"

Fi blinked, surprised by such show of decency (honest decency, at that) by this Prince; he could have ordered her help, which wasn't unusual considering how many people asked for her counsel, but it had always been expected, an entitled thing instead of a gift. What was more, he had given her an out, despite the fact that she couldn't really refuse, considering who he was. Yet he had given her one anyway.

Fi was intrigued, more than a little flattered, and impressed. "It would be an honour, Prince Link."

"Oh, great. Thank you. One moment." he stepped aside to have a word with the King and her father, who both nodded, and Link returned to her and led her away, which was puzzling.

"...Where are we going?" she asked, once he closed the servants' door to the Throne Room.

"The gardens," he replied, leading the way, "They're the pride of the Castle at this time of year."

"I have heard," Fi conceded, though cocking her head none the less. "Is this relevant to this advice about your sister?"

"No," he admitted, glancing back at the door, "But I needed a pretext to have a private word with you."

Interesting. "You do not want the King to know you're seeking my advice."

He winced, but nodded. "He thinks the matter settled."

"Ah."

They walked in silence for a while, attracting curious stares from the staff as the two of them strolled on. Link greeted his subjects warmly by name, and they in turn addressed him with honest fondness, a compliment she could not say of her own brother with their own staff. She noticed that he wore his thin crown under his hair, the blonde covering the gold and silver of his station, making it barely visible. He enquired after her mood and whether she looked forward to living here (she was fine, and yes), commented on the weather and asked about her home in the Skyloft Cliffs.

"It'll be getting much colder, which I won't be missing. The birds, on the other hand..."

His eyes lit up at the mention of birds. "Do you have a Loftwing of your own?"

"I do, yes. A White with blue wings. I named her Sheerow."

"Sheerow?"

"I mispronounced 'White' in Old Hylian as a child. She responds to nothing else now."

The Prince grinned. "I have a hawk named Hawkie, if that makes you feel any better?"

Fi did snort, and she did feel less silly. By then they were entering the gardens, and she marvelled at the marbled hues of autumn in the trees. There were only evergreens on the cliffs, or shrubs that frosted white in winter and bloomed very briefly in summer; the spectrum of colour in these maidenhairs and fire-maples were incomparable to the dreary autumns of home.

She found herself staring at the rustling leaves for a long time, and the Prince sitting at a bench, fiddling with a fallen leaf the colour of cherries.

"Forgive me," she said, sitting beside him, "I'd almost forgotten why you brought me here."

He grinned. "Do you like autumn?"

She shrugged. "I prefer winter."

"Really? I have a soft spot for spring."

She smiled. "You sought my advice, your Highness?"

"Oh. Yes. Um," abashed, he tore a small line into the the leaf, sighing. "My sister. She needs to be punished for having a tantrum, and my father thinks two weeks is sound, but I… I think it's too long."

She cocked her head. "Two weeks of what?"

"I don't even know," he snorted, rolling his eyes, "That is, apparently, my decision."

"What exactly was this tantrum about?"

He tore the leaf messily in half. "She heard something that upset her. Eavesdropping on some linen girls, probably, and then… for the lack of a better word, she went on a rampage."

Oh, Goddesses. That incident before the Hearing, that had been the Princess?

"I see. Do you…" she faltered, not sure whether she should let on that she knew of the incident. "Do you believe the way she reacted was justified?"

He tore the leaf again. "Yes. If what she heard was exactly what they said, then yes."

"Yet you have to punish her, regardless."

He threw the leaf pieces down, scowling. "Of course I do, she disrupted their work and acted like… I don't know. But it's not the way a young lady should act, especially in her position."

"How old is she?"

"Ten."

"I have a cousin that age," Fi sympathised, wincing, "It's hardly fair on them to expect such decorum. Yet we do."

"Which is why I think two weeks is too harsh. I could probably justify keeping the punishment to weekdays, but still."

"Hm." Fi thought of her little cousin back home, imagined what she would have done in that same situation. She cringed at the imagined rain of broken pots. "She would have to clean up the mess she made, then, wouldn't she?"

"Already done, though not by her. The staff here need to keep moving, constantly, and I needed to get her away from there." Link rubbed his face with a tired groan. "I needed to get away from there."

"Mm," Fi pressed her forefinger against her lips, nodding. "And I suppose she has lessons to keep up with on a daily basis? So you would need to work around that time constraint also."

"Yes."

"What exactly is this punishment you're thinking of?"

"I suppose…" his knee jiggled in a habit her brother liked to call the Peasant's Jig. His thumbs twiddled too, his body a nervous decision-making ball. "Father did say she should help their work, and I can't think of anything better, or worse, so that would be it. Helping their work."

"So, you do not want to punish her, because you understand her upset, but must. She must continue her studies but work at once, which is impossible, unless certain times are allocated from one to the other. Finally, you do not want to seem the villain to her."

He stopped and looked at her, smiling wryly. "You've summarised it perfectly."

"I apparently have a gift for stating the obvious."

He grinned wider. "Then what should I do, if it's so obvious?"

"She simply need not help for long periods of time in the day. Allocate two hours, perhaps in the morning, a day. I'm sure the staff, considering their regard for you, would be happy to compromise on arrangements for Princess Zelda. And once these two weeks are done, reward her. Perhaps with the knowledge that she would be earning a treat at the end would motivate her to take this… exercise, let us a call it, with grace."

Fi never quite understood why people stared at her like that once she dispensed her advice, considering it all seemed like such common sense. Usually it gave her no sense of satisfaction (in fact it usually made her lament the mental capacity of her peers) to state the obvious, as her little cousin had so aptly put it.

But when Prince Link huffed with a self-deprecating roll of his eyes, Fi found herself smiling.

"Well," he said, "I feel like an idiot now."

"Why?"

"Because what you told me was so obvious it's disturbing I didn't come up with it myself."

She snorted.

"Do you do this all the time? Suffer people coming to you for answers they should already have?"

"I wouldn't go so far as say 'suffer'..." she demurred, but Link shook his head.

"You're too kind. Thank you. This has… really helped."

"It was my pleasure, Lord Prince," she replied, and for the first time in a while, she meant it.

I promise I'll try to update as often as I possibly can. XD Especially since I don't technically have anything to do now, except possibly write an essay.

Please leave a review!

Sincerely,

S.S.