Princess Zelda was disappointed when she first met Link.

She'd read about how desperately in love her ancestor—the goddess Hylia—and the Hero of Skyloft were. He became stronger for her, traveled the world and faced demons for her, and they had many children who gave rise to the Hylian race. Naturally, when Zelda started having prophecies that a new Link would emerge from the forest to help her save Hyrule, she fantasized about sharing passionate love with him.

The boy who snuck into the royal garden bearing the Kokiri Emerald, however, was nothing like what she imagined. He was a full head shorter than she, seven years younger, and too gentle to be capable of any heroic feat. The stories, the last bit of her childhood which her royal duties had all but crushed, abandoned her in an instant.

She resented him for a month, brushing off his accomplishments as luck. Retrieving the spiritual stones must not have been difficult since he was able to do it. She still held her prejudice now, though she kept her voice stoically respectful to maintain her Sheikah disguise.

"O great hero," she said to the puny thing in front of her, "Only two temples remain. I will meet you in Kakariko."

He gazed at her, having to look almost straight up due to their height difference. It was no wonder he failed the first time he confronted Ganondorf. "Sheik...do you know if Zelda is okay?"

Beneath her facial wraps, she gritted her teeth at this peasant who dared call her name so casually. "She is safe," was her cryptic answer.

"Good. I'll definitely stop Ganondorf so she won't have to hide anymore."

"I'm sure she looks forward to the day when she no longer has to cower and rely on others," she said, just a little anger creeping into her tone.

"No, I mean...she won't have to hide her feelings anymore."

Neither said anything for a moment. From the small island atop the Water Temple, she heard a fish jump. Link seemed content to let his statement hang and take in the scene—he always had been childishly eager to see the world—but Zelda wished he would spit out what he meant. She wondered irritably why she didn't just ignore him and disappear like she always did.

"I do not understand," she replied at length.

The boy smiled despite a new gash on his face from his time in the Water Temple. "It's hard to explain, but I feel like I saw through her the first time we met, like I already knew her. Everyone is sad when people around them suffer, but it's different with her. She feels Hyrule's pain. Zelda cares about a lot of people and is really warm, but for some reason she hides it. Maybe she has to because she's a princess, or because of Ganondorf."

Zelda stared blankly at him. His eyes seemed a little deeper than before, like he was remembering something that happened before either of them were born.

"I can tell that she's always angry with me...kind of like you are." She resisted the urge to widen her eyes. "And I don't know why, but I hope that when Hyrule is at peace, she won't have to be angry anymore and we can be friends." He turned his back to her to look at the sunset, chuckling bashfully. "I could be wrong, though. Sorry if I sounded weird."

She didn't know what to say. While his back was turned, she dove into the water and swam away, trying to leave behind everything she'd heard.

True to her word, Zelda didn't see Link again until they were in Kakariko. Several roofs were on fire, and she struggled as the invisible monster from the well held her in midair and thrashed her. It carelessly tossed her across the town, and she landed hard in front of a horrified Link, who had just arrived.

"L-Link," she choked out, unsure whether to ask for help or to tell him to run. It would not occur to her until much later that she had called him by his name instead of "hero".

He glared at the shadow that hovered around the well in the center of town, putting himself between it and Sheik with his sword and shield drawn. Despite his weapons still being far too big for him, he looked ready to defend her to the death.

"You're Zelda's protector, right? Then run! You have to live and keep her safe!"

Something in her heart stirred, but she would have to ponder it another time. She already knew his fighting stance was futile against an enemy he couldn't see, but he had to learn this the hard way. Her eyes widened when the creature lifted and throttled him as it had done to her. His body was smaller than hers, and he quickly blacked out. Content, the monster dropped him and returned to the well.

His face and hair fell into the dirt, his hat having been thrown off. Something about seeing him so utterly defeated made her snap. For a single moment, she was neither a Sheikah nor a princess.

"Link!" she shouted, at last finding the strength to stand. Her legs wobbled, but the knowledge that he'd been through worse than she had kept her going.

His small body had always been a point of contempt for her, but now it only worried her how easily she was able to carry his limp body into Impa's abandoned house. Even for a child, he was gaunt. His cheeks hadn't been that thin when she first met him. His face hadn't been so pained. He hadn't been so ready to throw his life away for others...

What had she done?

When she laid him on a cot, she realized for the first time how courageous he was. To protect her like that... For a moment, he looked more like the heroes in the painting in her private garden and in the storybooks she grew up with: heroes with unbreakable spirit, standing bravely between their princesses and danger.

He was so young. She had known all along—it was the source of her disappointment—but now she contemplated the consequences of forcing him into her war. She did what was best for Hyrule, but had never cared about what was best for him. She had never cared that she was sending a boy into peril by himself, with nothing but a sword and a strength enhancer that crippled him as often as it helped him.

And worse, while she had stubbornly refused to care about him, he genuinely cared about Hyrule, and more surprisingly he cared about her. No one else had seen through her that easily, like he had known her for ages. Sitting on a bed, she placed his head on her lap and stroked his dirty blonde hair apologetically, for once letting her barriers—her anger—fall.

They stayed like that for a long time, until she fell asleep as well. She awoke to someone calling her name—her real name, not Sheik. Opening her eyes in alarm, she looked down to find him still in her lap, staring straight into her eyes with his all-seeing ones.

"Zelda?" he asked, a smile playing across his boyish features. She forced herself to ignore it.

"You are delusional. It is I, Sheik." Sheik—emotionless, mysterious, and invulnerable to all harm but the physical kind.

"Yeah, but...your eyes are the same. I never noticed until I saw them up close. And your hair is the same color too. Also, um…" He redirected the gaze that made her heart skip a beat. "From this angle, I can see that you have breasts."

She could not stop the blood which rushed to her face, but it hardly mattered since he continued speaking.

"Why are you disguising yourself?"

"Zelda's eyes are blue. Mine are red," she stated, choosing the least emotional response possible.

"I understand why you're hiding from Ganondorf, and from yourself, but you don't have to hide from me."

She suddenly felt naked, like he saw past the spell which changed her eye color, past the wraps which hid her bust. She kept composed as she had been taught, but at the price of turning her face away like a coward.

"I have told you who I am. If you have energy for such pointless conversation, then you should save it for the Shadow Temple."

Silence fell over them as it had at the lake. When she chanced a glance at him, the sadness in his eyes nearly broke her heart, though she knew not why.

"Okay, Sheik," he said quietly before rising. It obviously took a lot of effort for him, and she suddenly felt cold without his head on her lap. "Thanks for taking care of me. I'll go now."

She almost reached out to him as he slipped out the door, but did not. Nothing had happened, she told herself. He was just perceptive, which was perhaps why Farore chose him to be her champion. After he cleansed the final temple, she'd reveal her identity to him and issue a quick apology, and then she'd forget this ever happened, forget that he had ever made her feel something other than contempt.