Hyrule Castle, Moat Bridge, 3:59 P.M., Mid-June
Chapter 9: Best Friends
The royal duo walked ahead towards the castle while the young Hero walked a few feet behind them.
Zelda felt strange. Her head was suffering excruciating pain due to a migraine-level headache from the recollection of memories. She had been continuing life with crucial parts of it missing and nobody had let her know. Her kingdom, including herself and her people, would have been ashes if Link hadn't been the Chosen Hero to save the day. She and Sidon wouldn't be here right now, standing beside one another, during the overwhelming era of peace.
"Sidon." Zelda quiet hums the Prince's name, having him turn over to acknowledge her. "Why did you obey Purah's command to keep the Hero a secret from me?"
"It wasn't like I agreed with it," Sidon begun, looking forward with his side gils slowly pacing with his breath. "She had told all of us that it would be bad to mention a detail that your mind couldn't pick up or recall. We had to keep our mouths shut to avoid causing you mental damage, Queen."
"'All of us?'" Zelda picked up, squinting her eyes curiously at the Zora. Sidon nodded, allowing Zelda to figure out who he had been talking about. "So when you all visited yesterday…"
"We all knew not to mention Link," Sidon assists, "Purah had gathered us all and informed us never to mention him in your presence. Upon such instruction, it expanded to our people as well. So all of the Zora, Rito, Gerudo, and Goron know not to speak any word about the Hero whenever you're around."
Zelda narrows her eyes to the floor while they slowly stride over to the castle's entrance. "Do…" Zelda starts, her words quickly trailing away but her tongue immediately retrieving them, "do my people know of this rule?"
"There were no Hylian representatives present during this meeting," Sidon informs her, "but I'm pretty sure the guards picked up on it; though they already don't say a word so it wouldn't have really mattered much."
Zelda widens her eyes right then, "s-so that's why she keeps me locked up in the castle!" The Queen wanted to rush into the castle and yell all sorts of disgusting words to Purah and her way of advising. She went through the greatest of lengths to keep her from finding out about a boy who is the literal pride of the Hylian race. He is the reason that she and Purah were living peacefully in her castle today. "So Riju knew the entire time and didn't even consider pulling me aside to tell me…"
"We all kept our mouths shut even though we didn't want to," Sidon attempts to defend, "we didn't want to do any more damage to your brain, My Queen."
"The damage has already been done!" Zelda counters, halting to look up at Sidon. "Since I have been freed, I thought it had been me that saved my land, my people. But the truth is-" she glances over at Link painfully, who gives her a soft frown. "-I only helped save my land while this man went through everything in order to do just that!"
Sidon remained silent, expressing genuine regret for keep such a secret from Zelda. But he would never really understand the amount of hurt this woman had felt upon figuring out the truth. She has been spending months, happy as can be, without knowing the most vital pieces of a prophecy that she had been born into. For this long, she has been ignorant and kept in the dark about things that would have helped her understand more about her own history as well as kept her closer to her own self before the Calamity.
"But wait," Zelda stopped herself, another thought tailing her original one as she continued their walk once again. "Riju had spoke to Purah about a voe… The Town of Gerudo is still populated solely of Gerudo vai, correct?" Sidon thinks for a moment before nodding. "And the Goron technically do not count as voes so… could it be that…"
The two glance back at Link, who begins to blush slightly. Zelda and Sidon watched as Link began to quickly sift through his bag to pull out a small blue piece of material. He held it at the ends and lifted it to veil it over his mouth. Sidon snorted as Zelda watched awfully at the Hylian with the vai mask covering half his face.
"Speaking of that," Sidon catches Link's eye and chuckles, "Purah hasn't yet come to you to inform you, but Lady Riju is expecting a visit." Link blinks a few times before nodding, mentally reminding himself to make a trip towards the Gerudo Desert. "And I believe she mentioned the vai outfit she had gifted you from your last visit?"
Link quickly blushes once again, shoving the translucent mark into his bag. Sidon emits a hardy laugh, causing the Hero to scoff before fixing up his posture once again and waiting for the two to resume the stride over to the castle.
Zelda, though, was in pure astonishment. She couldn't lie; this Hero seemed far too friendly and endearing to be the man to seal away the darkness. His light, healthy skin was practically licked perfect by the gods with features favorable for a typical Hylian woman (or any for that matter). His gentle brown hair danced so calmly in the wind, like even nature knew who they had been behaving around. But just that genuine behavior of his must reflect exactly in his heart. Link is the perfect man to be the Hero as told in the prophecy Zelda has clearly not remembered completely well.
She was growing fond of someone who is the breathing definition of a familiar stranger. Link is the only man alive who had seen everything she had to go through during her time as a Princess prior to the Calamity. He watched as her father forced her day and night in order to obtain a power she clearly couldn't get before Ganon showed up. He went with her to all the Shrines, the villages, and the sacred areas that had only truly been designated for her. She could see why anybody would be fond of him upon first glance as well- look at him.
As they went back on their walk, Zelda glanced over at Sidon in curiosity, "it seems that you and he get along quite well. Are you fond of Link?"
Sidon could only smile warmly, clearly with great fondness without even having to give Zelda a look. He fixes the armor on his shoulders a bit before starting, "as you know, next to his title as 'Hero,' he was also the Hylian Champion. So, although you don't remember this, Link spent a lot of time with the other Champions. Especially with my older sister Mipha."
Zelda pays very close attention, slowing down their pace even more to listen to his story before confronting Purah. "She has always been fond of Link since she met him," Sidon speaks warmly, clearly reflecting Mipha's softness. "She knew him before the two became Champions. She watched him train from afar since he was four years old, and they had always hung out since Link visited the Domain a lot. He helped her gain the confidence she needed when she had stressed out during her time learning to control Divine Beast Ruta."
Zelda glanced back at Link, who had been trying his best to keep from eavesdropping their conversation. But Zelda shot him a small smile, in which Link had blushed and began dragging his tame blue eyes everywhere but towards her direction. She looks away to look towards Sidon again, "but you were very young during this time. How did you happen to get so close to Link?"
"Well," Sidon starts, playing with his tail(?) in the back of his head, "I was in desperate search for a Hylian when my sister lost her life trying to keep control of Ruta. Vah Ruta was behaving violently, causing eternal downpour over Zora's Domain and the area surrounding it. And I was very fortunate to meet Link upon my search for a Hylian, who had the very intention of claiming the Divine Beast back for us."
"Link… took back control of Divine Beast Ruta?" Zelda asked in a hush tone, completely in shock to hear such words. How could such a small knight like himself be able to enter such a large beast and take back control? Sidon nods. "So he had been the one to free her soul…"
Sidon nods once again, "he relieved my sister of the pain she was going through after failing to defeat Ganon's disgraceful monster he sent to kill her. And it surely wasn't easy when none of my people believed that Link could do it."
"They doubted him?" Zelda raises her eyebrows. "But he's the Hero!"
"The Hero who had been gone during the 100 years of the Calamity," Sidon added with a heavy sigh. "Nobody had been fond of Link as they believed he abandoned us and the rest of the people of Hyrule. But, I knew Link could do it," the Zora Prince glances back to watch the Hero adjust the gauntlets protecting his wrists, "and surely enough, he did it."
The more she had been learning about Link, the more Zelda felt terribly that she had forgotten him. Not only in her consciousness, but also her physical head. The headache that 'coincidentally' came upon her fainting was throbbing further, likely due to the accumulation of information she was lacking. But she needed to know everything about the prophecy and the missing pieces of her past.
"If my sister believed in him," Sidon begins confidently, "then I, too, believe in him. After Purah had informed him and us about her plan to keep him distant, I invited Link to reside in Zora's Domain."
"Link was to be a Zora resident?"
"The honorary guest of the Prince," Sidon titles, flashing his familiar toothy grin. "But Link didn't want to be too far away from the castle. He insisted to stay close in order to protect you if need be."
"That's why he's a guard assigned in the perimeter," Zelda put 2 with 2, having Sidon nod to encourage her. "So the Hero of Hyrule had been just feet away from me this entire time?" Sidon nods again, having Zelda come to yet another sudden halt.
But this time, she completely turned to face Link head-on. She walked up to him, having Link keep still but flinch from the unexpected closeness. His heart dashed from the closeness of the Queen, unsure as to how to react. He kept his arms tightly to his sides, looking down to see what Zelda had been intending to do. But Zelda was glaring up at him, with a crinkled nose that expressed anger.
"Why didn't you just walk in here and tell me who you were?" Zelda jabbed Link's chest. He backed off slightly, surprised by her strength, but went back into his position. "You're the Hero of Hyrule; you don't have to listen to anybody!"
Link hitched his breath right then, shaking his head desperately in attempts to subdue her anger. Sidon quickly saw Link's gesture for help as he gently placed his hands on the Queen's shoulders and pulled her away. "My Queen, Link was told that he would do damage to you if he did so much as meet your eyes!"
"Who cares about that?" She exclaimed.
"He does!" Sidon shouted, having Zelda's anger diminish almost instantly. Her chest heaved quickly from her frustration, but she was quickly calming herself down. She looked into Link's eyes once more, noticing that no fear coated them. He was just curious and somehow content with her sudden angry outburst. It was like he was happy that she was furious with him. "Purah is a very smart woman, regardless of how absurd this plan was. The only thing Link is perfect at is protecting and he desires nothing more in life than protecting you."
Zelda lets out one last sigh before tightly putting her lips together. "So why can't he say that to me himself?" Link looked at her sheepishly before looking down on the ground with sorrow. She notices that he clenched his hands into tight fists, waiting for Sidon to help explain himself to her. But even Sidon knew that he couldn't exactly do his reason justice.
"Link has told you the reason before, My Queen," Sidon quietly informs her as they continue walking. They finally reach the entrance, where the guards truly fixed their posture upon seeing Link right behind Zelda. She caught this detail and ensured that she wouldn't forget it. "Just think a little harder and I know it will come back to you."
"Does it not irritate you to speak for him?" Zelda asks quietly as maids rushed over to remove the bag she had been holding on her body. Sidon grins and shakes his head.
"I will never be able to thank Link enough for what he did for me, my family, and my people," Sidon admits without any shame or embarrassment. "This is the least I could do for the man I confidently call my best friend."
-W-
Sorry for a late update but here you go! We are close to confronting Purah of her bs as well as pulling our two favorite Hylians together! But for now, a little Zelda/Sidon moment to explain himself! As always, thank you so very much and I hope to see lots of reviews and more follows/favs! I am ever so happy that you guys are enjoying this and I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!
-Darrion