Chapter 2: Resolve
As the sun rose five days later, Zelda and Nabooru could be seen walking down the hall to Link's room. The two ladies stopped upon hearing a sort of music from the closed doors of his quarters. Nabooru, absolutely lost, asked, "What is that racket?"
Zelda sighed a smiled sadly, "The newest thing from Hyrule, it's called music." Nabooru chuckled and the two pushed their way in, biting back their shock at the state of the place. Small balls of paper littered the entire floor, and Link sat in his desk chair, whistling on his ocarina, his hair even more unkempt, his white shirt untucked, and a small amount of stubble showing on his face.
"Link… where is the document?" Nabooru asked cautiously.
Link slowly put down his ocarina and reached over the side of his chair, picking up a paper wad from the floor, and tossed it to Nabooru. She unfurled the crumpled parchment and muttered, "We are hereto resolved to hither… this is terrible! Where's the rest of it?"
Link sighed and pointed to all the paper balls on the floor, sinking into his chair with another long sigh. Nabooru regarded him with horror and asked, "Do you mean to tell me it is not yet done!?"
Link looked at her for a moment, and simply said, "No ma'am, I mean to tell you it has not yet begun."
Nabooru slumped against a wall and gasped, "Good goddesses… a whole week! A whole week gone and nothing done… this kingdom was created in less than a week!"
Link scowled to himself, and then looked at Nabooru with a respectfully emotionless face. "Someday… you must tell me how you did it." Nabooru narrowed her eyes for a second and only said, "Disgusting, Sir Link… but come now, we haven't lost hope yet… go on, get back to work… Zelda, tell him to get back to work."
"I think she's asleep."
Indeed, Zelda was seated in a nearby chair, dozing peacefully. Apparently she had been having a terrible lack of sleep too.
"ZELDA, WAKE UP DAMMIT! THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE!"
She grunted as she awoke, casting a groggy glance to Nabooru as the door opened once again, quite quickly and suddenly.
Link looked up and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. There in the doorway stood a young woman his age, with a simple gray cloak, emblazoned on which was a green Triforce emblem… to signify Farore, the goddess of courage. Her long red hair fell about her fair, pretty face, her big aquamarine eyes widening at the sight.
"M… Malon!?"
"Link!"
Before anyone could say another word, Link had risen from his seat, swept over the floor to his wife, and the two locked in a deep kiss. Nabooru looked at Zelda, absolutely nonplussed, and asked, "Who is that girl?"
Zelda yawned and said, "That's his wife, Malon…"
"How do you know?"
"Because I sent for her, that's why."
Nabooru looked to Zelda with an impressed glance. The princess merely shrugged and said, "Well, I figured as soon as his problem was solved, ours would be." Nabooru smiled widely and said, "Good thinking, princess… pardon me miss, allow me to introduce myself, I am Nabooru."
This went blissfully ignored, as Link and Malon were far too busy kissing the daylights out of each other.
"Nabooru, chieftain of the Gerudos? Oh, and let's not forget Princess Zelda… miss?"
The two separated for a second, only to take a breath and dive into another kiss.
Nabooru turned away with a blush and said, "Link, kindly introduce me to your wife… she is your wife, isn't she?" Zelda chuckled and said softly, "Of course she is, look how they fit."
Nabooru chanced another glance and had to admit, they did look pretty good together. Zelda smiled and said, "Come along Nabooru, let's let these two be." Nabooru followed her out the door and closed it behind her, yelling ahead,
"Zelda? Wait, where are you going, there's work to be done!"
"Obviously." Zelda said with a giggle.
Nabooru froze in her tracks and sputtered, "Wait… don't tell me they... they're not going to… in the middle of the morning?" Zelda merely smiled and said, "We aren't all from the desert, Lady Nabooru." Nabooru shuddered and grimaced and Zelda laughed lightly. They walked off, with the intention of not returning till the following day…
The next morning, Zelda found Nabooru outside the east side of the castle, leaning against the wall and looking quite at a loss as to what to do with herself.
"Nabooru? Why are you out here? I figured you be up there, cracking the whip."
Nabooru stumbled on her words, "Oh, ah… well… well, the curtains are still closed." Zelda looked up to Link's window and found that, indeed, the shutters were closed tight and the curtains blocked the view of the room. "Oh look at that, they are indeed. Well, I guess what they say about newlyweds is right…"
"Oh please, spare me your bawdy Hylian humor, this early in the morning…" Zelda laughed and her head shot up as she heard the shutters and window open. Malon stretched her arms and leaned out of the window, looking all across the courtyard, finally noticing Zelda and Nabooru down near the wall. She motioned for them too wait, and disappeared back in the room.
She reappeared in the courtyard fifteen minutes later, in a nightgown and woolen shawl. "Please, pardon my husband, he isn't up yet. I apologize for my rather abrupt entrance yesterday…"
Zelda waved her hand and said, "Do not apologize, your mind was quite taken elsewhere. This is Lady Nabooru of the Gerudos." Malon curtseyed respectfully and Nabooru bowed in return. "Please, lady Malon, tell us more about yourself as we go wake up your husband."
"There's no need to be calling a farmer's wife "lady"… Malon will do just fine, thank you."
"Nonsense, you are the wife of a knight after all, I shall give you proper respect." The three continued to talk upon entering the castle again and making their way up to Malon and Link's chambers. "So Malon, out of curiosity, is Link much of a romantic? He hardly talks more than he has to in council, does that me he chats your ear off in private?"
Malon blushed but smiled widely. "Actually, no… Link doesn't necessarily put much stock in words sometimes, he prefers actions over words. In fact, I don't think I ever remember being wooed with words at all…"
Nabooru asked, once again puzzled, "The how did he win such a lovely girl as you, and how does he continue to keep you so close?" Malon giggled for a moment, and grinned broadly as she opened the door to their room…
"He plays the ocarina…"
Link met her in the doorway and kissed her sweetly, handing an envelope to Nabooru and closing the door before either her or Zelda could follow him and Malon inside. Nabooru looked at the sealed envelope and opened it cautiously.
"Looks like Link finally did his job…" but alas, all that was in the envelope was a small note in Link's neat scrawl…
"Your highness and Lady Nabooru,
I am taking my wife back to bed. Do not expect either of us for the next 24 hours or so, at which time I will have your document ready. Kindly go away.
Your faithful servant,
Sir Link"
Zelda laughed out loud as she walked away, Nabooru stumbling and blushing as she followed behind. "Goddesses above, how do those two survive!?"
As Link finished dressing in his white tunic and cape for the conference meeting, Malon approached him in a very formal purple dress, as if she was attending a royal ball. Upon seeing his confused look, Malon laughed and said, "Zelda wants me to attend this meeting. I want to see for myself you've had to do for six months." They kissed slowly for a long time, and then left the room for the main audience chamber.
The doors opened and all attention shot to Link and Malon, a number of excited whispers running through the room, along with some unintelligible murmurs from the elders.
Zelda smiled broadly and said, "Good sir Link, would you kindly read us your treaty?" Link nodded and guided Malon to a seat next to Zelda, as he took the seat at the head of the table, where Zelda normally sat.
"Her highness, Zelda, will not be participating in this final meeting. I shall take her place." Yaro made to object but Link shot from his chair, pulling the Master Sword from its sheath, hidden amidst his cape. "Don't speak again." Yaro quickly sat, eyeing Link nervously. The hero cleared his throat and began to read from his document, funny thoughts racing through his head as he dictated his own prose…
"Amazing…who would've thought such plain language could do so much." Link stared aghast at his own work as Malon rubbed his shoulders, smirking triumphantly. "I told you, all this needed was a hero's prose and his farmer wife's common sense."
Upon finishing the treaty, he said clearly in a very authoritative voice, "Is there still any confusion as to the terms?" A resounding silence swept the room, although some of the younger councilmen looked like they would wet themselves with excitement. "Very well, Princess Zelda and Lady Nabooru shall sign the treaty, making it official. Now if you excuse me gentlemen, I would like to take this time to say something…"
Link stood and addressed the Gerudos, "You have been terribly patient with this travesty of a conference and Hyrule thanks you for that. As for our elders…"
He cast a fear inducing glare to the elder councilmen. "Had you not spent so much time caught in your narrow minded, groundless hate of our allies this would've been done with six months ago. You are all pig headed, self obsessed, righteous snobs and I take great pleasure in being able to say that I hate each and every one of you. And if you don't like it, well… I guess you can all just take it up with my sword." Some of the younger council began to snort and chuckle lightly, causing Link to turn to them.
"You're not off the hook either, honored gentlemen. If you hadn't spent so much time fawning over me you might've been able to teach these old goats some modern day wisdom. I hate you all too." The room was silent as Link walked over to his wife, bowed low to Zelda and Nabooru, and finished with, "I hereby resign from her majesty's royal council. Now, if you excuse me, my wife and I will be returning home now."
Malon fought to contain her roaring laughter as they left a dumbfounded council in the hands of a very satisfied Zelda and Nabooru…
As Epona galloped away with Link and Malon, the red headed farm wife giggled and said, "Have I ever told you how much I love you, good sir knight?" Link chuckled with a low, warm tone and replied…
"You know I don't put stock in words Malon, you can show me tonight…" Malon blushed profusely, but smiled broadly as they galloped into the sunset, Epona giving off a loud whinny as they disappeared into Hyrule Field…
A/N: Let me say this, this was a blast to write. For those not in the know, the title of this story, and a couple of the scenes, were inspired by the musical 1776, by Sherman Edwards. I was listening to the soundtrack and went, "EUREKA! FLUFF TIME!" I'm actually proud of this one. Review if you wish, you know I love feedback .