The war was over. Cia was gone. Ganondorf was beat. Hyrule was returned to peace. And Zelda was bored out of her mind. Yes, the war had been stressful, but at least Zelda had been doing something, going places, seeing the world, leading her own troops.
Since then, her life has been filled with frivolous parties and meaningless diplomatic meetings and one annoyingly persistent suitor. And Link, Link had faded back into the Hyrulean Royal Army, refusing the position of general Impa had offered him and instead choosing to take up an open captain position. At an outpost. On the border. Far away from the castle. Zelda tried not to think about it much.
But she miserably failed. Zelda thought about Link constantly. What he was he doing? Did he like his new position? Did he get along well with his men? Was he thinking about her? It was hard not to think about Link because there was just so much to wonder about. They had left things so incomplete, deficient, unfinished.
There was no closure, at least not for Zelda. They had gone from fighting side by side daily, trading the occasional secret kiss, talking through all hours of the night, to nothing. Zelda was too scared to even write Link, fearing the gossip that would ensue, or worse, Link not writing back.
"I think I need some space away from being the chosen hero."
Zelda hadn't thought that meant space away from her.
Link sighed. It was raining. Again. The outpost he was stationed at could only be wetter if it was in the ocean. But that was honestly the worst part. Besides the loneliness. Sure, Link loved his men. They were a bunch of hilarious guys around his age and freshly graduated from the training academy in Kakariko Village. Which meant they didn't recognize him as the chosen hero.
He loved it here, really. He wasn't a knight, which had been his dream ever since he could walk, but he had done all that while fighting against Cia and Ganondorf. Now he was a captain at his own outpost, a better gig than he thought he would get straight out of training.
But he was so far away from Zelda. He missed her. Constantly. It was an ache in his chest. He wanted to go back to the castle, back to her, but he couldn't. Not with how he had left things. He was always terrible with words. He just didn't know how to say he didn't want all of the lauding and praises Zelda and Impa and everyone wanted to throw on him. He just wanted to be Link. Not the chosen hero. Not the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. Just Link. And he couldn't be Just Link at Zelda's side.
She would argue otherwise, Link knew. He had played out thousands of conversations with her in his head. Every argument he staged against her, she won, simply because Link couldn't stand saying no to her.
He still loved her, though. But everything between them was just so complicated and imperfect and unfinished.