Our tree by Nina
One day Zelda wanted to do something out of the ordinary. She used knee-long red pants, black boots and a hood. With that clothes the guards would mistaken her as a criminal. She was sitting under her favorite tree, eating an apple from it. Then after watching the sun rise in the early morning she remembered little memories of Link and the tree. When they were age eleven, Link climbed up and with a knife, carved something on a branch. After that he took an apple of the same branch and gave it to Zelda. She was still curious of what Link would've carved. "What if it was something special to him?" she thought. After eating the apple she climbed up and when she was about to see the carving, she heard a voice calling her name. For her it was like an angel calling her to the heavens of his arms. It was Link; he was walking toward her and then in the bottom of the tree waiting for his best friend to come down to hug her. She looked at him and climbed down with a smile. He smiled back and hugged her tight. Both hearts were beating out of control when Zelda gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You look different today, Zelda" he said amazed by her change of image
She smirked with an eyebrow up "I'm investigating something"
"What, my darling?" he blushed when he realized he said 'my darling' to his best friend.
"Well, um… I want to know what you carved in my tree a few years ago"
He blushed again. He tried to entertain her so she wouldn't see what was in the tree.
"Um… Zelda before you climb up, you have to help me on something first" he said as she was about to climb again
"What?" she climberd back down
"Let's go around Hyrule for a while" they both walked away from the tree.
"Um… Link, we can't go anywhere remember? I'm grounded by that trip of yours the last time"
"We only made a little prank to the guards and sneaked off without permission"
"Still, I'm grounded. What can we do?"
"Well, you would talk with me for a while?" he said while he sat on the nearby bench
"Sure" she said sitting next to him
"So how's been your training knight?"
"Good enough, somehow I think I don't need training. You know my skills"
"Yeah, but you can always need a teacher" she playfully punched his shoulder and both laughed for no reason at all. Then both slowed the laugh until it became a sigh. Both were looking at the mountains, the mist of the early morning and they could feel the soft cold breeze in their skin but that wasn't the only thing they were feeling at the moment. The silence grew for a couple of seconds until Link's voice broke the silence.
"Zelda had you ever fell in love?"
"Maybe, but I bet I've done it with the wrong person" she said sighing
"Oh, well then I just had a head start" he said nervous, her smile faded and she looked at him in the eyes.
"Who's the lucky…girl?" she said faking a smile
"The one that for so many reasons is the right one, but there is only two reasons that make everything difficult"
"She doesn't love you back?" then she forgot of herself and worried about him.
"I don't know and she is different from me"
"Well, then. Why don't you tell her?"
"Hey, that's a good idea"
A second of silence made Zelda want to go back to the tree, both got up at the same time and both walked to the tree branch that helped them to climb up. They smiled at each other because of the coincidences, Link looked shocked and said
"You go first, please"
As she was about to climb she looked at him with an eyebrow up. She thought "Did he say please for me to climb up the tree? Then he says I'm weird" Once she reached the top. She looked for the one Link carved and when he was sitting next to her, she found it. The carving was a heart with both their names. The cuts were red since the tree was new back then; she looked at Link with a serious face. He was expecting the worse, rejection. He climbed up and sat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder and then in 3 minutes of silence.
"What's this supposed to mean?"
"I just wanted to ask if… you love me." He asked as he wanted to fly away from the world like a ghost
Both felt that question had to be asked since the day they were born, 17yrs ago.
With each word his voice became soft until the last word was a whisper and simultaneously their faces were also getting closer and he said "I love you but do you love me back?"
She pulled him gently from the shirt to her. They kissed sweetly and the kiss was so simple, deep. Their hearts talked to each other with such peace and love. Once breaking the kiss, somehow their lips were caressing each other Zelda spoke with a smile
"That's enough to tell you. Or what else do you need as a yes?"
"Nothing more, is that I feel so happy"
During the rest of the day, they enjoyed each moment together, in the field, in the tree and once night fell, near her bedroom window, Link said before helping her up. "Good night" and he kissed her again. Once up she said looking out her window "Be careful" Link was climbing to the top
"Don't worry, I will make sure your Dad and the guards won't see me" he said once on top and looking down
"Well, could I see you tomorrow?"
"Of course, in our tree" he said with a smile, send her a kiss and ran with agility making no sound through the night