Chapter 9

Zelda gradually awoke, consumed by a grogginess that threatened to immediately lull her back to sleep. The memory of the day's imperative agenda, however, stirred her, and she reluctantly flung her satin sheets off and positioned herself upright on her bed. Lingering there a moment, she struggled to determine why she was so groggy. She did not recall waking overnight, yet she felt as if she were rousing from a restless, semi-lucid dream; a dream she was fully aware of but unable to control.

At once, the harrowing events of the past month escaped the confines of her memory. Despite consciously witnessing everything, she had been unable to prevent any of it from manifesting. Her captivity imprisoned her beyond a physical sense as she fell helplessly privy to herself establishing a relationship with Link, one of her closest friends. Her friend whom she loved dearly, but did not have romantic inclinations for, knowing it was in both of their best interests to remain friends.

How could this have happened? She thought as the magnitude of these events weighed heavily on her, evoking tremors she was unable to contain. Surely there must be someone or something behind this! And what of Link? Why was he brought into this?

A handmaiden suddenly knocked and entered, denying her an answer to her queries. She must have been a sight to see for the handmaiden gasped and inquired, "Your Highness, are you alright?"

Standing, Zelda tensed and forced her trembling to stop. She managed a contrived smile. "Yes, I just had a frightful dream."

"Oh dear," the handmaiden sighed and compassionately regarded her. "Well at least it was only a dream, Your Highness."

But it wasn't and how she wished she could dismiss her concerns just as easily. Nodding, Zelda proceeded to assemble herself, knowing her absence from the meeting she was expected to attend would prompt an inquisition from her father. She did not see a choice, but she would devote all of her time to determining who or what was responsible for her recent state of mind and confide in Link upon his return. Little did she know, that would occur much sooner than she realized and would not yield the outcome she hoped.


Malon went about her morning chores reflecting on her evening conversation with Link. It bothered her to obscure the truth when she could clearly see the heartfelt concern on his face, but she did not see any other alternative aside from confiding in him. She considered it momentarily, reasoning that the assailant's threats were empty and nothing would come from it, but suppose she was wrong. Suppose there was more behind the assailant's exhortation beyond anything she could bring herself to imagine.

The abruptness of the door swinging open startled her, and she lurched in surprise. Wade soon appeared in the doorway and greeted her with an apologetic nod before proceeding to claim the task list on the bulletin board behind her. Although she vaguely remembered him visiting the ranch before, she did not recall anything uncanny about him, yet for reasons she could not discern, she felt unsettled by his presence. She confided her concerns in her father, but he guffawed in his usual manner before the familiar gleam appeared in his eyes and he quipped, "You can't go chasin' every fella away!"

Outraged, she demanded to know what he meant, wondering if his remark was in relation to Link's hasty departure. The surprise and affliction on her father's face, however, revealed that he was simply jesting.

"Um, Malon…" Wade suddenly spoke, displacing her thoughts. "Shall I go to the riverbed to mow some hay?"

Noticing the nearly empty bale beside the horses' trough, she nodded. "Yes, I would appreciate it."

There was an eerie familiarity to his voice that she could not place though she incessantly tried from the three days since his hire. It was nothing about his disposition as he seemed nice enough, addressing her with an almost timid reverence. Even his appearance from his neatly combed chestnut hair to his linen trousers, the standard attire for a Hylian ranch hand, was unremarkable. It wasn't until she noticed his eyes boring into hers with an intensity that sent a shudder down her spine that she found herself overwhelmed by a heightened awareness. She held his gaze, at first dismissing her harrowing notion, but she knew she would never forget the eyes of the one who peered at her from behind the mask. He was the assailant!

Fighting to maintain her composure, she realized she hadn't heard a word he said. He gazed at her expectantly, not betraying any knowledge he might have had of her stunning epiphany. Stepping toward the tool shed, he retrieved a sickle, and the way he beheld her was so austere she felt an immobilizing terror grip her when he rhetorically stated, "Don't think for a second I don't know."

A puzzlement replaced her fear which was soon transformed into enlightenment.

The potion! Surely by now he realizes that I did not entrance Link, she thought as fear consumed her.

It took her several moments to respond, but she forced herself to, lest she make her awareness of his identity any more obvious.

"W-what did you say?" she finally stammered, glancing nervously at the sickle he gripped tightly in his hand.

He shot her a strange glance. "I said, don't you think I'd better go?" She followed his gesture toward the door as thunder cracked in the distance.

"Y-yes, please do," she replied, fighting to control her wavering composure.

It wasn't until he exited the barn that she realized how erratically her heart was beating. She had been so tense, in fact, that the bristles from the horse brush she held painfully prodded her palm. Releasing it, the brush roughly landed on the floor, emitting a clatter that caused a few of the horses to abruptly turn and investigate. Malon's mind was elsewhere, however, as a ghastly insight commandeered her. Recalling the love potion, she wondered why she hadn't considered this before.

Suppose the princess was entranced. That has to be why I was instructed to redirect Link's affections. What other reason would there be? She reasoned.

With that, she realized that she now had no further reason to conceal this from Link. In doing so, she would reveal much more than she intended.


Charged with trimming the grass growing against the barn, Link paused a moment to plunge his shears into the ground and evaluate his work. It was a tedious chore that he could have completed much more easily using a simple sword technique, but he didn't mind the labor as it gave him time to collect his thoughts. His thoughts that hadn't settled despite Malon's reassurance that nothing was amiss. He knew that wasn't true, and he suspected that she likely knew he was aware of this as well, so it perplexed him that she didn't just confide in him.

"Link," he heard Malon speak behind him. She waited for him to turn and regard her before she continued. "Can we take a walk?"

He greeted her before steadily arising and moving to stroll alongside her. He expected her to precede her concerns with small talk as she often did, so nothing surprised him more than when she plainly divulged the reason for her distress. In all of the circumstances he imagined and attempted to attribute to Malon's behavior, he never suspected it was something this grave. He could hardly contain his rage when he learned of Wade's actions and how certain Malon was that he was the culprit. Clenching his fists, Link strode to the guest room to retrieve his sword. Obviously realizing his intentions, Malon immediately interceded.

"Link, please don't!" she pleaded, gently clasping his hand. Her tender glance with a hint of conviction mollified him enough to pause mid stride. "There's more…"

Turning to face her, he could see the weight of the burden she bore seemed enough to crush her. He couldn't imagine what could be more burdensome than the event she already shared, but somehow he knew what she revealed next would be even more harrowing.

"What is it, Malon?" he asked, hoping his genuine concern for her would be more detectable than his apprehension.

Sighing, she glanced down momentarily before meeting his gaze. "Link, this isn't easy for me to say, but-"

"Just tell me," he interjected before immediately regretting it.

The initial surprise on her face faded into a frown, reflecting the hurt she felt at his brusque comment. Instead of diverting her attention to his terse remark as he feared she might, she adopted a stoic expression, revealing how arduous these next words were for her.

"I have reason to believe that the princess has been entranced by a love potion."

This was anything but what he expected. Not giving time for his astonishment to seize him, he perplexedly shook his head.

"I don't understand. Why would you suspect that?"

Sighing again, she firmly gripped his hands, her uneasiness becoming contagious. "Because Wade asked me to enchant you so that your affection would shift to me."

Staggering back, he freed his hands from her grasp. "Malon, please don't tell me-"

"No!" She quickly replied. "I didn't…I couldn't…"

Her voice wavering, she favored him with a meaningful gaze, as if to convey what her words could not. Her expression stirred the memory of the time he freed the ranch from the clutches of Ingo during Ganondorf's seven year rule. Using the master sword to travel those seven years into the future, he had been but a child in an adult's body, so the tender glance of adoration she favored him with as she expressed her gratitude did not resonate with him. He found the emotions that stirred within him as she gingerly clutched his forearm even more perplexing, a gesture which his childlike mind was unable to comprehend. That same expression of tenderness and marvel glimmered in her cerulean eyes now, leaving him with an astonishing intuition.

"Link…" Malon trailed, seeing at once his enlightened expression but clearly too apprehensive to say more.

How oblivious he had been! It was excusable that he wouldn't have discerned her feelings for him in his childlike innocence, but he was unable to explain why he had been rendered so blind in his adulthood. All of the indicators of her love for him emerged from the recesses of his mind, exposing his folly, and it quickly became too much to bear.

"I have to go," he suddenly replied.

It was terse. It was dismissive. He could see by the tears glistening in her somber eyes that his words deeply afflicted her. Yet, he was so overwhelmed by both her revelation and the turn of events involving Zelda that for now it was all he could manage.

"Let's talk later," he weakly suggested, fully aware it was a half-hearted attempt to soften the abruptness of his departure.

The reality was, his mind was already on Zelda, and he had to learn for himself if her love for him truly was a factitious infatuation manufactured from a potion.


Reeve waited for his brother to depart for his new job at the ranch before he hastily returned to the abandoned building, the location of Wade's mysterious operations. Seeking his inventory, he located the lavender, a key ingredient in the intelligence potion, and substituted it for another ingredient which would yield the side effects he desired. Replacing the lid on the vial, he was careful to return it to its rightful place, hoping Wade would not learn that his recipe was sabotaged until it was too late.

Now, we let the cards fall as they may, he bitterly thought.


Due to the weather conditions which transformed into a downpour as Link reached Hyrule, Zelda received him in the lobby outside her chambers. She instructed the guard positioned by the door to leave, a strange and unbecoming request that Link suspected would yield a stern lecture from the king, but he could tell that was the last thing on her mind. As the guard's footsteps faded, she glanced at him, her expression void of the endearing smile and gaze of loving admiration he had come to expect. In its place was a foreboding that revealed the answer to the question he journeyed here to ask. Unable to accept it, he broached the matter anyway.

"Zelda…our courtship. Has it been…" he stammered, trailing as he caught the somberness in her eyes.

She paced forward and nodded. "So, I see your enchantment has faded too."

"My enchantment?" he asked, bewildered.

The puzzled expression she bore transformed to an expression reminiscent of the gaze she beheld him with as she was trapped by Ganondorf's magic shortly after revealing herself to be Sheik. As he helplessly attempted to breach Ganondorf's barrier, he finally looked at her in resignation, seeing a horror and impending despair reflected in her eyes. It was a gaze that instilled him with the desire to summon all of his strength to rescue her and salvage Hyrule, yet this time it served only to convict him.

"Link…" she trailed in astonishment. "This entire time you were acting of your own accord?"

His stunned silence was answer enough. In truth, he hurried to the castle so quickly he hadn't taken the time to anticipate how Zelda might react to their relationship if she truly was enchanted. Now his conviction weighed heavily on him, mercilessly reminding him of his folly. Zelda, likewise, remained silent, seemingly contemplating the magnitude of these events. Turning her back to him, she aimlessly paced, and when she finally did face him, the expression she wore contained such incredulous disillusionment that he self-consciously glanced down.

"I could understand someone attempting to claim my hand or the the throne as such attempts are not new and have always existed. But my closest friend? The man I trusted more than anyone in Hyrule…how could you, Link?"

Aghast, he immediately met her eyes. "What? Zelda, it wasn't like that…" he paused, assessing himself.

Or was it? He found himself wondering to his horror. Recalling the suspicions he had of her behavior when they first reunited, he knew then that something was amiss. So why hadn't he taken more time to deliberate? Why did he so quickly succumb to his romantic desires instead of getting to the heart of the matter?

"Then what would you call it?" she persisted, beholding him with a thinly veiled fury.

He started to affectionately reach for her as he often had this last month, but wisely stopped the moment he saw her tense.

"Zelda, I thought your feelings for me were sincere. If I had known other-"

"If you had known?" Zelda interrupted, her tone no longer concealing her ire. "I thought you knew me, Link! How could you believe that I would heedlessly fall for you in a matter of days when we have known each other for years? Did it ever occur to you that something else was behind my nefarious change of character?"

Link was speechless, not because he felt undeserving of or didn't want to address her contempt, but because he felt this was a distraction from the real issue. She had every right to be angry at him, but they still had yet to determine the motive of the one who entranced her in the first place.

"Zelda, I'm really sorry and you know I wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt you, but there is more at work than just this. Please-"

"Just go," she pleaded so softly he almost didn't hear her.

Tears lined her eyes which was a rare sight as the royal composure demanded of her forbid her from displaying such emotion. The only time he ever beheld her in such a state was when she confided in him her outrage over her father betrothing her to a suitor she could not stand. Her overwhelming indignation prompted her tears on that occasion, and Link knew that the same emotion was behind her loss of composure now.

"Zelda-"

"Just go!" she repeated with renewed fervor.

Sighing in resignation, he obliged, planning to pursue Wade and learn his connection to this.


Sullen, Malon sat on the wooden crate positioned around the corner of her house, hoping her father would not feel compelled to search for her anytime soon. Although she understood Link's urgent desire to see the princess, she couldn't deny how grief-stricken his curt responses left her nor how embarrassed she felt at having him learn of her affection for him. Having spent the last few years mentally rehearsing her confession, this was anything but how she imagined it occurring. She confided in him to help him, to shield him from further heartache, and now she had the suspicion that she sent him into great peril. It was this notion that instilled the greatest distress in her and would have consumed her had she not been drawn to a commotion near the entrance to the ranch.

Arising from her perch on the crate, she peered around the corner. Her faint hope that Link returned was immediately dashed as she observed Wade stumbling toward the barn shouldering a sack full of hay. As he shot around, she quickly sidled the wall, hoping she was hasty enough to avoid detection. The sound of him approaching revealed that she was not. He favored her with a gaze as menacing as the crack of thunder that resounded in the distance.

"It is clear by the hastily departing swordsman that you have decided to renege on our agreement," he callously stated.

She was drawn to the vial he wielded in his hand, containing a carbonated emerald-colored substance. He slowly pried the cork off, and his composed mannerisms sent a dreadful chill down her spine.

"You will regret crossing me."


A/N: We have been snowed in this week, so I was lucky to have some more time than usual to devote to writing. This chapter contained some heavy subject matter, but if you've read any of my other completed fics, you know that I bring resolution to everything by the story conclusion.

Anyway, please share your thoughts in a review or PM. I love discussing ways to improve my writing or just chatting about LOZ in general. Thank you for reading and the next chapter will be up soon.