He was warm, like he had always been.
She shifted in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. She could feel the press of something hard, curved, under his tunic, and she knew it was the whistle. She smiled against his neck, and he made a soft noise in response, a low grunting sound, one he made often when he wasn't sure what words he should use. His arms tightened around her slightly, solid and steady around her waist.
They'd been like this for a while now, standing on the wooden floor of his house, holding each other in relative silence. She had seen him the night previous polishing his shield, and now she had slipped into his house early in the morning to find him in that green tunic again. He was up to something, and she didn't know if she could bear for him to leave again. Maybe he'd not come back this time.
She tensed her fingers into he rough fabric, not sure how she felt about it. She had to admit, the clothes suited him in some way she couldn't really understand, but it scared her to see him in them. It made her feel distant from him somehow, like he wasn't the sweet, gentle boy she'd grown up with. It was like fate was trying to make him into something different, something not-him.
She was jarred from her thoughts when she felt his arms move, his glove-covered hands move to rest on her hips, squeezing gently. She peered up at his face, and found him looking back, those soft blue eyes that were so familiar to her looking down at her with confusion behind them.
"Don't go," she whispered.
"Sorry," was the only word that passed his lips.
She knew Hyrule needed him. She had seen the letter on the table, bearing the royal seal of the Princess- no, Queen now. But she didn't want him to leave, to never come back, leaving her here in Ordon all alone.
She felt her cheeks start to heat up, eyes welling up, and she struggled to push the tears back, but it was like he noticed before she did. She felt his hands leave her hips, rough fingers cupping her cheeks so gently, pulling her carefully forward to meet his sweet lips in a tender kiss. She gripped even tighter at the chest of his tunic, shutting her eyes and just leaning into him.
They stood like that for a long time, she didn't really know exactly how long, but it felt like forever and even then it had ended far too soon. She soon found herself looking up at his blue eyes again, rough pads of his fingers rubbing her soft cheeks gently.
"I'll come back," she heard him whisper. "I'll always come back."
And then she was in his arms again, not caring that his tunic was scratchy and the whistle was pressing sharply against her breasts. All she cared about was his warm body, the scent of hay and summer that surrounded him, and the thought that he would always come back to her.