Chapter Two

The sun set as they ate their dinner on the grass. As the crickets and the fireflies came out, Zelda and Link headed inside.

Link found a few extra blankets and laid them on the bed upstairs for Zelda. "Here you go," he said, gesturing to his rather small and very humble bed.

"But…where will you sleep?" she asked.

"Downstairs. I have a bed in the cabinet, it folds out."

Zelda was skeptical but agreed. She went to bed. The next morning she woke up earlier than him. She crept downstairs to find him sleeping on the dining room rug with only the tablecloth over him, his mouth open and drooling. She thought of waking him, but then decided against it. Instead, she tiptoed upstairs and took the covering off of her bed and then snuck down to lay it on him. He deserved to be warm at least, she thought. It had been cold last night.

She got very close to covering him, but when the blanket touched his feet he leapt up, sword in his hand, ready to strike. Zelda froze. She hadn't noticed, but he had slept with the master sword within reach.

Link saw it was Zelda, but had to rub his eyes to make sure. "I'm sorry," he said, lowering the sword. "It's just a reflex." He sat back down.

Zelda's eyes started to burn. How many times did he wake up to enemies before that became his reflex? And why had he lied to her and said he had some strange foldout bed?

She crouched down next to him and placed her hands on his, which were still wound around the hilt of the master sword. "You are going to go upstairs," she said, gaining strength in her voice, "And you are going to lie in YOUR bed and get some sleep for the rest of the morning. Princess's orders. And I will make you breakfast."

Link shook his head. "I'm not leaving you where someone could hurt you because I'm not there," he said. "Not now, not ever. I failed you once, I won't let it happen again."

"Link," Zelda started to speak but then puffed her cheeks out in frustration. "Link, why are you so stubborn?!" Tears filled her eyes. "Link, you don't remember, but…"

Link looked at her. His eyes grew wide.

"Link," she said, "I—I loved you and now you don't remember but I had just learned to love you and—" she was cut off by a sob. She stopped crying and looked at his face. "Do you even remember me?" she asked.

He wrapped her hands in his, squeezed them, and nodded. "Not everything," he said, "Not even very much, but I can tell you this," he placed her hands on his heart, which began to pound with nervousness. "Just like you said about courage, love need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten."

Zelda smiled, but then her breaths caught in her chest and she fell into Link and sobbed. He held her close, just like that terrible day in Hyrule field when they fled the Calamity, the two of them crouching in the mud. The sky had been slate gray, the rain deafening. He had felt nothing in his cold, over-burdened heart. Not because there was nothing to feel, but because he wouldn't let himself.

He remembered now. He could feel her pain as if it was happening to him. He was different. He was new again. From mud, muck and despair now there was earth, light, and resurrection. The world had changed, and so had he. He could love now, for real. Just as the weight of remembering had settled on him before, now it lifted like clouds after rain. And two things remained: Zelda, and his love for her.

He held her a little tighter. He told himself he would never let her go. Not this time. Except maybe if she wanted to make breakfast.

"Link," Zelda whispered into his shirt, "I love you."

"I love you too," he said. Tears fell from his eyes now. They were finally together again, and everything would be okay…right? But so much had changed, and it would be hard to move forward, even for the lightness of his heart.

They stayed that way, in each other's arms, for a long while.

They later dragged Link's mattress to the door and under her orders he lay down to rest. He just needed to be close enough to defend her, and then, as she suspected, he could sleep. And so he slept within fighting range of the princess. And she cooked him a big breakfast, with eggs and meat and oatmeal and toast and milk. She took all the food over to him on his mattress and he woke up gently to the smell of a breakfast. He ate the food and thanked Zelda many times as he ate more and more... and more and more and more.

Zelda munched on her toast. Then she reached out and put a loving hand on his arm. He looked at her gently, his mouth full of food, grinning. She smiled, but then her eyes teared up and she put her face in her hands, sniffling. Link took her by the shoulders, his eyes filled with worry.

"I love you and I know it's okay," she said, "but I also know my father wouldn't approve but he's gone and that means I can love you but it also means he's DEAD and I just can't—I can't—" sobs broke up her words.

"Hey, hey, Zelda, it's okay, it's okay. I met your father's spirit. He loved you so, so much. And he was going to apologize. He was practically on his way to apologize when the Calamity hit. He loved you, and he would want you to be happy. You are unhappy now, and he would never want that. So don't let him be the thing that's making you cry. Know that he loves you enough to love who you love, okay?"

She still cried, leaning away from him. He wrapped her up in his arms tight. "It's okay," he said. "You're okay." And he began to sing:

"When hero's blade and Hylia's light

Join together against the enemy's fight

Never once should they cry

For their father's love lifts them high

The hero's blade and Hylia's light

Vanquish evil at twilight's last light

Even though they watch friends die

Never once should they cry

For their father is watching, loving and believing

That they have the strength to fight this enemy that's breathing

And come dawn their father will see them anew

But he will love them the same as they always knew

For mothers and fathers never really leave us

They just go somewhere that can better teach us

That never once need we cry."

Zelda stilled. She looked Link in the eye. "Where… where did you learn that?" she asked.

"There's a mother in Hateno who is raising her son all by herself. Her husband died of sickness when their son was still very young. She sings it to him at night. I used to hear it. I couldn't forget it."

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you. She just wants her son to know that his father loved him, just as your father would want you to know that he loves you."

Her eyes filled with tears. Link held her and she sobbed against his chest again. There was much to be grateful for, but even more to mourn. She lifted up a prayer of thanksgiving that she had Link with her.

A thought poked into his mind. A new memory. It was love, but different this time. He'd loved her as a child…

Mipha.

It was Mipha. Mipha who had healed him and saved his life a thousand times, who watched from the same place that Zelda's father watched from now.

Link stayed still for a while, remembering.

"You know, whenever you are ready, I will go to Zora's Domain with you," he said. "It must be difficult for Mipha's father to face that he lost her, even after all these years, just like you and your father lost each other. Maybe it scares me, but that's not important. I will go."

Zelda looked up at him. "I'm happy with you here," she said. A smile broke across her face. "We can rebuild Hyrule tomorrow. Or next week." She tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. He smiled at her. She grinned and looked away, shy. Then she noticed the remains of his uneaten breakfast.

"You didn't finish your food," she said.

"Yeah, that's because I'm holding you right now," he said. "And that's much more important."

Zelda smiled and snuggled in deeper to his chest. It was warm, cozy and comfortable. Now she was the one falling asleep.

Link felt her falling asleep so he remained still. He watched a Hylian retriever prancing towards them. The dog looked exactly the same as the one last night. She panted and looked at Link excitedly, eyeing his food. "Go on," he said. "Go on and finish it."

The Hylian retriever dug in enthusiastically. He watched her, thinking, We should name that dog. I always wanted to own a dog. But I should probably leave the naming up to Zelda, or she's going to walk away named "Goldie" or something dumb like that. The dog was, after all, rather golden in color.

After she'd eaten the scraps, the retriever snuggled down against Link. Link smiled. He and Zelda had won. Calamity had drained from the castle and he felt more like himself than ever before, as if he was remembering. There were still unanswered questions—should he look into what happened to his parents 100 years ago? Did he have any parents? Siblings? Relatives? Friends who weren't Champions? Where had he lived? Where had he been born? Who had he been?

But those were tomorrow questions. For now, he had Zelda at his side, and that was all that mattered. He was the hero of Hyrule, and the best part was that nobody knew yet. This was home. He had come home. And he hadn't come alone. This was a home he had built for himself in the absence of anything to come home to. And now he had the makings of a family—a person who knew him to his soul, two horses, and a dog. So this is what home feels like, he thought. He knew he'd felt it before, sometime.

He watched the world, the cooking pot, the moved mattress, the princess, the dog, the leaves, the grass, the flowers he'd planted. Silent Princesses bloomed everywhere. He could hear his horses cropping for grass nearby. And for the first time in 100 years, he was too happy to want to sleep. If he closed his eyes, it was only to hear the gentle breathing of his Zelda.

He told himself that when she woke up, he would kiss her. Not right then, maybe, but he would. Soon. He was remembering more and more now—feelings first, nothing else yet. His memories might be coming, but even if they didn't, that would be fine. His love for Zelda and his courage need not be remembered, and that was all that mattered.

Author Note: Thanks for reading! Follow me for more ZeLink in the future! I have more that I'm just editing. Also, I thought of naming this fic "Love Need Not Be Remembered" but decided I didn't want to spoil that line. What do you think? Thanks for leaving a review!

Peace,

Ninja