Part Two: Surprise
Link was waiting for her outside of the gatehouse - her makeshift office until the rooms on the eastern side of the castle were fixed - with a passive look on his face as the new Minister of International Relations, a Hylian named Serta, walked past. He watched her as she walked down the path and made her way inside the Castle with that same, strange look. By the time Zelda reached him, he was frowning and pinching his lips together in a tight line.
"Rupee for your thoughts?"
He blinked away the daze and his head swiveled towards her, surprise evident in his now-expressive eyes, and then he pulled his lips up in a bashful grin. "Sorry. Lost in thought."
Zelda sniffed and strode past him, giving him ample time to follow her as she made her way up the path towards the Sanctum. "You better shape up, Sir Knight. I need you in top condition if you are to protect me. I cannot have you slacking off while on duty."
She heard his feet fall in step with hers as he replied softly, "My apologies, Your Majesty."
"Is something on your mind?" She looked over her shoulder to him, three steps behind as he always does when they were in public, and she smiled. "You can speak freely to me."
There was something in his eyes that spoke more than his words ever could. I know I can, was what he was conveying there. He gave her a soft smile and then a shake of his head. So Zelda sighed and continued on towards the Sanctum.
"We were discussing the incoming entourage from Labrynna," Zelda supplied, figuring Link would need to know considering he was the General of the newly-reinstated Royal Guard and basically her Second-in-Command for the whole country. "They should be arriving in a little over a month, King Hector and his son Prince Ralph, as well as some of their courtiers. Since the destruction of Ganon and my invitation sent out to the neighboring countries, he has been enthusiastic to restore trade and relations between our two countries. Serta was just prepping me for their arrival and what she felt needed to be done while they were here. She recommends including Beedle in the discussions, since he is the Minister of Trade."
She stopped at the entrance of the Sanctum before turning on her heels and looking him square in the face. "We have to leave for our trip to the Akkala Citadel in two days time, and should be back before the entourage is due to arrive here. Hopefully by then we'll have more of those guest suites available."
"I would recommend having them stay in those rooms we were looking over the other day," Link replied evenly. Zelda saw the teasing hint in his eyes and could barely fight the flush she felt spread across her chest. "I'm sure Hoz would prefer them staying there instead of in the Guard Chambers with the trainees."
"I'll see to it being finished before we return, then."
She spun around and stepped into the Sanctum with Link right on her tail. This was the second time she would be visiting the destroyed throne room since the final battle with Ganon. At this point in time, the sack he had been festering in was removed from the ceiling and most of the floor was filled in with wooden planks. The dais where the thrones had once rested was bare, save for tools and some tomes rescued from the ministers offices in the surrounding towers.
As Zelda carefully made her way across the room, she heard Link shuffle to the left and check out some newly-recovered flags that had been laid on the stairs.
Her eyes drifted over to him, his profile sharp and eyes focused as he took in the details of the embroidery. He bit his lip, deep in thought, and she noticed his hand was flexing near the Sheikah Slate on his hip. Not a good sign.
"Link?"
His head snapped up, eyes unreadable when they locked onto her. After a few breaths and still silence, he blinked before bounding over to her, no questions on his lips. She frowned and took his hand when he reached her side and rubbed his knuckles with her gloved thumbs. "How are you adjusting to living in the castle? I know it hasn't been that long since my coronation and our 'official' move in, but I want to make sure you're not getting overwhelmed."
"I'm fine." His words were unconvincing.
Zelda frowned and her eyes darted around the Sanctum, wary of hidden and prying eyes, then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you, right?"
He nodded, but the frazzled look returned to his eyes. Frazzled! That's what the look was. She lifted one hand and caressed his cheek with the backs of her fingers. "Promise me. I don't want you to have any issues with being back here."
"I should be saying the same thing about you," he countered quickly, almost in a defensive manner. But when Zelda gave him a flat and unamused look, Link sighed and dropped his shoulders while he averted his eyes. For a moment, he shifted his weight back and forth on his feet, like he was preparing to run, before he quietly replied, "Being here is different. A lot of old memories are starting to pop up, that's all. I apologize for getting distracted."
Her heart ached for this man. "Don't apologize for something you can't control, my love. We're in a safe, quiet, and familiar place. I'd rather you recall your life before the Calamity here than out in the wild. The last time you were checked out for almost a half an hour. I'd hate for it to happen to you again where you could be in danger."
Link gave her that warm smile that made her insides melt and he leaned into her hand. "I'll try my best to keep them in check."
He didn't let her say anything else. When his lips hit hers, she sighed and closed the distance between their bodies. Link's arm wrapped around her waist and he gripped the sash that was bound at her hips. His other hand mirrored hers and caressed her cheek. Zelda rubbed circles into his hips with her left hand while her right hand hovered over where she knew his most jagged and pronounced scar was on his chest. Link flinched, but he didn't break the kiss until her left hand started drifting down to his leg.
"Zelda..." The warning tone in his voice was not lost on her. It was almost dangerous and it sent a warm wave through her body.
She grinned up at him and gave him another kiss, this one full of promises and suggestions. "There's no one up here right now."
Link glanced over both of his shoulders before nodding and kissing her again. He broke away from her for one moment as he whispered against her lips, "If I hear anything, you stop. Okay?"
Zelda nodded emphatically before dropping to her knees and untying his pants. Her mouth salivated at the thought of servicing him, kneeling right in the middle of the Sanctum of her Castle. She may be the Queen, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with taking care of Link and submitting to him. As soon as his member was freed from his undergarments, Zelda grabbed his shaft and stroked him a few times until he was fully erect. By the time he was throbbing, Zelda took him into her mouth all the way back to her throat. Her gloved hand slid up and down his shaft in time with her bobbing head as her tongue swirled the tip, ending with a little suck when she got to the top.
Link's hand shot to her hair, careful of her crown, and he rubbed her scalp while she swallowed around him. He gasped and groaned in the back of his throat, and Zelda chanced a look up at him to see his eyes practically rolled to the back of his head. Her free hand held his thigh while she took him all the way in her mouth. Link was panting now, his hips starting to grind into her to get himself deeper into her mouth. Zelda felt her pussy quench with he thought of taking him all the way, and she couldn't stop the moan that vibrated out of her.
His responding groan spurred her on even more, but she needed him to slow down his hips. She lifted her free hand and placed it on his hip to stop him, but her fingers brushed the hard material of the Sheikah Slate.
Immediately, Link stilled and she heard him curse before everything was drowned in blue light.
It felt like everything was being torn from her body, piece by minuscule piece. When she was in her ritualistic stasis with Ganon, her body immaterial and light, she still felt whole. Her legacy as the Goddess-Blood Princess gave her the ability to be connected to the land, from every blade of grass and the restless crickets that hide between them, to the mountains and the Divine Beasts that roosted themselves on the tops. She was always whole and grounded, despite being almost spiritual and transparent.
Now, however, the link she had with Hyrule was severed, snipped clean as she floated in oblivion between atoms. Her soul felt like it was being shredded between rusty and jagged claws and scattered into a nonexistent wind.
Just as quickly as it started, Zelda felt herself return to her corporal form bit by bit. She was hit with a blistering cold wind and her stomach upheaved itself on the ground. She body shuddered and cramped, rejecting whatever the hell had just happened, and her head spun before she completely felt her body become one again and collapse onto the ground.
"Fuck!" She could hear Link frantically moving about as he became himself once again. She managed to open her eyes and despite her double vision, she could see snow all around - that would explain the painfully cold wind biting into her skin - and she saw the blue burr of Link fumble with his pants and his packs. "Holy shit! My dick is going to freeze off!"
Had she not felt like her soul had been ripped from her body and whatever was left become inside out, she would have laughed. Instead, she tried to lift herself up from where she collapsed and stop that obnoxious spinning that was happening with her head.
"Whoa! Zelda, keep still! I need to get you somewhere warm. Shit!"
She vaguely felt him lift her into his arms and carry her into what she assumed was the entrance of a cave or alcove or something. The stone she had been laying on was smooth, so it couldn't have just been some rocky crag. Though, in her muddled mind, she figured her finger must have brushed one of the fast-travel locations on the map. Perhaps they were at a shrine? She couldn't remember exactly where he placed his Travel Medallion, but it wasn't somewhere this cold, that's for sure.
Zelda tried to open her eyes again, but they were quickly covered with something soft and - oh - so warm. Link's familiar hands were tugging this garment down her body and he was stuffing her feet into some boots over her normal flats she wore at the Castle. Then he was stuffing a bottle into her hands and ordering her to drink while the sound of him unholstering the Slate and selecting something filled the little cavern.
She took a drink from the bottle and immediately her nausea subsided and subtle warmth spread to her fingertips and toes. Now, she was able to open her eyes and focus on Link standing out in the blizzard, dressed in his Champion's Tunic and trousers like he always was, and the Slate extended in front of him. Like the glowing blue that had taken over her being, a new object materialized out in the snow in front of him.
Like the Divine Beasts, this... thing was made out of the same ancient Sheikah materials. But it was smaller, and shaped in the likeness of a horse. Link pulled out several ancient cores from his pack and shoved them into the center, then straddled the what she assumed would have been the saddle. He flexed his wrist a couple of times, causing the beast to make a loud, roaring noise that echoed into the shrine's entrance. She heard Link curse again, this time in the rough tongue of the Goron, and he dismounted before running back to her.
"Okay, we've got to get somewhere safe," he muttered to her as he swept her into his arms and stood. "I may have just alerted all three Lynel that hang out around here so we have to go now."
She was still feeling a little numb from the cold, her fingers fumbling with the bottle as she was jostled in his grip, when she mumbled, "Where are we? What is that?"
"Hebra, in the Northern Tabantha Tundra," Link supplied right as the cold air hit them both. She saw him flinch and grimace as he strode over to his contraption. "And this is the Master Cycle Zero, the fifth Divine Beast."
As he lifted her onto the saddle and straddled it in front of her, Zelda gasped at the new information. "Fifth Divine Beast? There were no records of it in the ancient texts..."
Link did that thing with the handle, the loud noise coming out from underneath her, and suddenly they were jolting forward. Zelda screeched and clutched onto Link's tunic, her frozen fingers digging into his skin as they sped through the snow-covered plains between the mountains. Faster than any horse she had ridden, this cycle raced past what Zelda registered as a Silver Lynel, whose roar was lost over the whipping wind and rev of the beast.
They passed several empty monster encampments, through a small patch of trees, and up a small hill before they were launched into the air. Link leaned forward as Zelda cried out, her stomach dropping and her body feeling as if it was drifting out of her seat at the same time. This was nothing like joining him on the paraglider, at least then they had a way to slow their decent and almost cushion their fall. Now they were just plummeting to the earth with no way of stopping or slowing down.
"Hang on!"
They slammed into the ground, but the shock was absorbed by the wheels of the beast, then they were speeding forward again. Soon, Zelda spotted a stable and they were rounding the outcropping of rocks adjacent to the tent and they skidded to a stop right in front of the registration counter.
Link stood and dismounted, then without a word he swept Zelda into his arms again and bolted into the tent. Over his shoulder, she could see the Master Cycle Zero dissipate in the same slivering blue light that it had appeared through. Link went to the counter and it was in the warmth of the stable inn that she could tell he was out of breath and still had that pained look on his face.
"Link-"
"A soft bed, please," he cut in as he spoke to the attendant. That grimace returned as the attendant took a look at her and suddenly recognized both of them.
"Your Majesty!" he exclaimed before bowing his head. "My apologies for not recognizing you sooner!"
Still slightly weak from this... experience, Zelda merely gave him a dismissive wave and a small smile. "Please, sir. No need to fuss. We just need somewhere to rest before we head out again. There was a..." She met Link's eyes and he shrugged. "Mishap... and we will be on our way shortly."
The man, Varke if she remembered correctly from discussions with Link, smiled and looked up to her knight with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Messing with your contraption again? You know better than to come out here without the proper gear. Look at you, kid, covered in snow and not an inch of cold-protection gear. For shame."
Link had the grace to look embarrassed as he set down one silver rupee onto the counter and led Zelda over to the two vacant beds against the back wall. As he started shaking the snow out of her hair and off of the warm armor he put on her, Zelda kept her eyes on him. The weather was well below freezing and the snow was coming down heavily. Yet, like Varke had said, Link was not wearing any of his cold-weather gear. Not even a diadem or headdress.
"Link-"
"It was my reward for conquering the challenges that all of the Champions face before they were deemed worthy to pilot their Divine Beasts." At her confused silence, Link looked up from where he was dusting the snow off her skirts and added, "The Master Cycle Zero."
"Oh..." Their eyes were still locked for a long moment before she blurted, "Aren't you cold?!"
He blinked a few times, almost as if he didn't think of it, then he clicked his jaw shut before reaching into his pack and pulling out a paper-wrapped parcel. She quickly recognized it as a steak smothered with some peppers and mushrooms, and in the typical Link fashion it was scarfed down and not a morsel was left behind. After he licked his fingers and patted his belly, he fished around his pack and pulled out his ruby circlet and another insulated top, this one green and heavily worn-in.
After he pulled them on, he moved over to his bed and grinned at her. "'M fine now."
Nonplussed, Zelda gaped at him for another minute before looking to where the Sheikah Slake was holstered on his hip. "Well... at least there was something to gain from this... experience. We now now the Sheikah Slate has the capacity for two persons with fast travel."
Link scowled and folded his arms over his chest. "Yes, but not without side-effects."
"Side-effects?" Zelda titled her head and frowned. "What side effects?"
He stared at her like she had said the sky was green and grass was pink before shaking his head and leaning forward. "When I first used the fast-travel function of the slate, I barely even stumbled when I finally became myself again. You threw up and passed out for a good few minutes. I didn't pay attention what was different for me because I was too worried about getting you somewhere safe."
Zelda flushed and averted her eyes. "I suppose that would be something we would need to consider the next time we decide to do that..."
"Next time? There won't be a next time. Not for a while, at least."
Her scowl matched his and she glared at him. "And why not?"
Link sighed and ran his hands through his hair before going to his neck and rubbing it again - that stupid habit. "That was an uncommon reaction to the fast-travel. We need to be careful and make sure it isn't a common thing in general. I don't want to risk something worse happening next time we try it."
"But it-"
"Absolutely not," he cut in sharply, his eyebrows pulling down until his face looked absolutely menacing.
Had others in the stable heard him, they would have been aghast at the tone and the almost-command he had ordered to the Queen. Zelda, herself, was a little affronted at his tone, but with all of his walls down she saw the worry and, dare she say it, fear in his eyes.
"Until we know exactly what happened," he added in a quieter, calmer voice, "I don't want to risk you getting hurt again. We need to be more careful."
Zelda reached forward and gently put her hand on his arm. "I am sorry, Link. It was my fault this happened."
He watched her for a few moments, a careful distance in his gaze, and he sighed before nodding. and leaning back. "Get some rest. We will set out in the morning."
"What about the Castle? I'm sure there are people looking for us by now."
Link hummed in thought, his eyes moving over to the other patrons on the stable before he sighed and rubbed his temple with the heel of his hand. "Would you be opposed to riding on the Cycle again?"
Her curiosity about the new Divine Beast burned and she nodded enthusiastically, causing Link to chuckle and shake his head with mirth. She watched as he stood and made his way to the counter to tell Varke that they would no longer be staying the night, then generously decline the refund for their beds. When he made his way back to her, Zelda stood - ignoring the way her head swam and her stomach protested the quick movement - and she led the way outside to where Link would call forth his beast.
"I'll drive until we get out of the snow," he said as he took out the slate and activated the rune. As the Master Cycle Zero appeared in its shining blue light, he added, "If you want, I'll let you take the handles once we get to the Salari Plain. The paths are smoother there so it won't be too bumpy for your first time."
"I'm content with bumpy first times," she murmured lowly, barely audible over the blowing wind. But Link heard her, enough to make his ears go red and a bashful look spread across his face as he sat on the beast.
After she let out a breathy laugh, Zelda followed his lead and straddled the beast like she would her horse. Link did that thing with his wrist again and soon they were lurching forward and speeding northeast on the trail. She clutched his shirt and snuggled close, considering their situation to be a good excuse to hold him, and let him steer her out of the cold and towards her home. The temperature quickly changed as they started moving downhill, the snow turning to rain before clearing up as they sped past the Forgotten Temple.
"I suppose we should pay this temple a visit sometime in the future," she mused over his shoulder. He just grunted and caused the bike to speed up. At his almost fearful reaction to her suggestion, she let out a little laugh. "What was that for?"
"As far as I know, that place is still littered with decayed Guardians," he replied to her. The thought made her shiver. "I haven't checked to see if those were defunct like the others."
"The ones in the Castle lost power after Ganon was destroyed." Her eyes wandered to the canyon where the temple slept. "For all we know, the rest of the Guardians did, as well."
"There's no way of being entirely certain without going in there," he countered. The next stable was starting to come into view and Link veered off of the path to bypass it entirely. "I'm hoping those would, as well, but we can't be too sure considering their secluded home. For all we know, they could still be waiting for me to go back and get my rewards."
"Rewards? What rewards? There's more other than this?"
After they sped past a shine on the hill, Link slowed down and stopped. After he dismounted, he turned and grinned at her. "For completing all of the shrines. I never had the time to go back because I needed to help you. And then we started traveling and went back to the Castle, so it just slipped my mind. But it's not important. What's important is for you to drive this beast and for us to get back to the Castle."
Zelda swallowed and nodded, following Link's quiet order and scooting up on the seat. Her hands gripped what he called the handles as he settled behind her. His hands rested on her hips and she felt her chest warm as he leaned forward and spoke quietly in her ear.
"Rev the engine by turning the handles back towards you." One hand drifted up and rested on top of hers. He nudged it back a little to show her the motion and his breath tickled her neck as he softly added, "That's the throttle. It'll give you the power to move."
Their feet were still on the ground, so when her wrist flexed, the beast roared and shook underneath her. Link's hand tightened on her hip and he shifted a little closer.
"Good. Now we lift our feet..."
Both of them did so.
Zelda's hand tightened on the handle.
"And we..."
She revved it back.
"Go."
