Link knelt before his Queen. "To you, Hero of Time," she began, much quieter than she intended, "I entrust my royal army."
His head bows in acceptance.
"My people have requested it, and so it shall be."
He looks up to meet her eyes, something protocol forbids, but he has never been one to follow protocol.
Link's boots were muddy. The messenger occasionally glanced at them as they rode side-by-side on their slow trot to Castle Town. He had also made note of his appearance upon arriving in Ordon Village. "The Queen, Zelda, requests your presence," were his first words. When Link nodded and immediately mounted Epona, they messenger's eyes went wide. "You will stand in her Grace dressed like this?"
Link only stared at the man, then brushed some dirt of his shoulder.
The messenger had gasped at Link's audacity. He none-the-less unraveled the parchment he had been carrying. "Queen Zelda has requested you, Link, Hero of Time, to her Majesty's Great Hall to bestow upon you an honor granted by the People of Hyrule." Link's face contorted to mild confusion.
"Your Queen, Zelda." The messenger waited for a reply, but none was given.
"Okay then. To the castle," the messenger stated, and they rode off.
When they arrived, Link had sighed. The castle was still left unfinished, many parts remaining unlivable. The Great Hall was more of an outside theater at this point. The charred grass still lingered.
Shortly after returning to Ordon, requests for workers had been issued. Despite the outpouring of effort by the Gorons and Zoras, as well as his people, the castle would not be finished for some time, it seems.
The horns blew, and the crowd cheered. Bits of paper clouded the sky as flags were waved. Link humbly stood, never taking his eyes of hers. Nothing was said. Zelda presented him the Master Sword and Hylian shield, and he received them. Dressed in his green tunic he looked nothing like a soldier.
Zelda raised her hands to calm the crowd. "Your chosen protector," she told them, "stands before you."
The crowd roared. She watched the procession carry him away, out into the town.
Zelda returned to her thrown, resigned. Neither of them wanted this, but if happiness was to truly return to Hyrule, the people needed to know their Queen had them in mind. The citizens of Hyrule, and of the other provinces, had demanded Link be honored with a position in the high court. They saw him as their savior, truly the Hero of Time.
She could not disappoint her people again.
Link wandered through the crowd, acknowledging smiling faces and shouts of "HEY! Link!" He was honored to see the pride and confidence the people had for him.
As he walked, his sword and shield rattled. It was a familiar sound and weight. One that centuries could not make him forget.
He had managed to make it to the castle door. "Sir." The guards stood at attention.
Link gestures to the door, hesitant to make it a command.
The guards understood. "Of course, Sir." The door creaked open. He felt like he should say something, but the situation was so foreign.
He began to walk through the corridor from the door, and into the central part of the castle: the only part that was finished.
"Master Link," a voice called to him. He turned to find a stout man in royal garb.
"Are you looking for Her Majesty?" Link nodded. "She is in the library," he tells him, pointing. "That way." He walks away, and Link follows the man's directions.
When he finds her, she is sitting at a table, running her fingers along a page in a book. "These are from the library in Castle Town," she says to him at the doorway. "In them the entire history of Hyrule is documented." He walks closer. "It seems that this is not the first time the castle has had to be rebuilt." She stands, facing him. "Or the first time you have been appointed head of the Royal Guard."
She sighs. "It seems we are bound to repeat ourselves."
Link is standing before her now, listening intently.
"There are tales here, spanning ages. Nowhere is there a Hero of Time without his Princess."
She closes the book.
He holds out his hand palm downward. The mark of the Triforce shows.
"We will never escape this," she whispers.