Link explains that over the past year, he's been playing hide-and-seek not only with Cottla, but also with the koroks. When he finds a korok, it gives him a korok seed as a prize. What is a korok seed? It's better not to ask. Link then gives these seeds to Hetsu, the largest korok Zelda has ever seen, who has spent the past few days up in the Deku Tree's canopy, where "The music rings every which-y way! Shakala!" In exchange for korok seeds, Hetsu enchants Link's many pouches so he can magically store more and more weapons. But even after reaching the uppermost limit of how many swords he can have, Link continued to find koroks and gather seeds. How many more? It's better not to ask.

Before they leave the forest, Link coaxes Hetsu down to the ground and spends an overly-long amount of time negotiating for Hetsu to put those extra seeds towards enchanting the pouches on Zelda's belt.

"This way you can carry more bows," Link explains.

"Could I carry more books?" she asks. "Or journals? Or samples?"

"Shakala! Ample sample!"

Link raises an eyebrow. "Does that mean yes?"

"Yes!" Hetsu shouts. "The princess needs to carry her book-a-looks!" Then he does a dance. Zelda claps for him when he's done. Then she claps again for the next expansion. And the next. They're there a while. Zelda reaches the limit of how much Hetsu can help her before they run out of korok seeds. Link won't meet her eyes. She tries to do the math to figure out how many seeds Link has found and how much time he's spent on this, but the mind reels.

She redistributes all her things, packing them away, and she's ready to set out to the Rito Village, when she catches Link finishing a conversation with the Deku Tree and staring wistfully at the plinth for the Master Sword. "What is it?" she asks.

He shakes himself and turns to her. "Nothing. Are you ready?"

She narrows her eyes, trying to figure him out. Then she remembers, "There's a challenge here that you wanted to do!"

"Yeah, but I can do it later."

"Or you can do it now. We're already here."

"We can glowy-string-travel here anytime. It's fine."

She argues, "A month ago you were looking forward to this."

"And two days ago you were worried sick I was leaving you to fight the Yiga."

"But that was the Yiga and rescuing endangered children. This is just a shrine trial."

He blinks at her. "You know I can still die doing a shrine trial, right?"

It probably should have occurred to her earlier, but...no, she had not considered that possibility. She frowns at him. Does this mean she should be worried about him more often? Link regularly throws himself at wizrobes, so worrying about him every time he's in danger seems like it won't go well for her.

"If I may interject."

Zelda startles, but Link doesn't, and they turn to look up at the Deku tree.

"If you should fall during the Trial of the Sword, you will simply be returned here, having failed the trial."

"So I won't be dead dead?" Link asks.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have told you that. With foreknowledge of the consequences, you may not take the trial seriously."

Link scoffs. "I thought we knew each other better than that."

The Deku Tree says nothing.

But Link's frowning again. "Aren't you in a hurry to get to the Rito Village?"

"No," she says. "Do your trial."

"Do you want me to bring you somewhere first? I can take you back to Death Mountain. Yunobo's right, he and Vah Rudania can protect you as long as you stay onboard. Or I can take you to Hateno and you can stay in the tech lab with the Sheikah."

"I'm fine here."

"Do you want me to get Paya?"

"Link." She takes his face in her hands. "I'll be able to get some work done. This is important to you, so please go."

He still hesitates. "I don't want you to be lonely."

Her heart melts in such a way that it wells up in her eyes. "There are hundreds of koroks here, and if I figure out how to farm glowing seedpods before we leave, we'll be better off inside Vah Medoh."

He doesn't know what she's talking about, but he says, "Okay." Zelda takes a step back, and he takes out his sword, turning it to plunge it into the pedestal. He takes a breath, then disappears as if he's warped away.

Zelda stares for a minute. The sword is back where she set it a hundred years ago, so eerily similar without its master that she shivers and looks away. She promised Link that she'll be fine. "How long will he be gone?"

The Deku Tree answers, "It is impossible to say."

She nods, sighs, and heads off to chop down a glowing pea pod.

#

If she plants a pea from the glowing pea pods and waters it thoroughly, it will sprout in about an hour. It reaches full size, complete with a pea pod containing three peas of its own, within four hours. Once removed from the pod, a seed will glow for another six hours. Once it has dimmed, it begins to glow again if exposed to direct sunlight or if submerged or doused with water. She is in the process of testing how the durration of sun exposure relates to how long it glows on its own, how many times one seed can be recharged, and how long she can go between recharges and have it still work. All these experiments will need to be repeated outside the Korok Forest.

The koroks are not unhelpful during her experiments. (They even told her about the water trick.) But they do like getting off topic in their chattering, and they like to take the freed peas and carry them away, forcing Zelda to stop her work and chase them.

While her experiments run, she sits by the sword plinth and works on embroidering her paraglider. In the mid-afternoon, the koroks hit a specific rhythm that triggers a memory of malice bubbling and popping, the sound of the wind in the trees reminding her of the constant, full roar of Ganon's breathing. She goes to find Hetsu, who pleads with Zelda to dance with him. She teaches Hetsu and the koroks to waltz, which they do poorly but with enthusiasm, and they teach her a song with words that change each time you sing it.

When night falls, Zelda makes herself dinner and brings it out so she can continue to sit by the sword. She wraps the blanket from inside the Deku Tree around her shoulders. The sword glows like the silent princesses beside it. With no one around, she removes her kerchief and tries for the first time to braid her hair into a crown the way she used to wear it all the time. It doesn't work. Chunks of it are still too short, and they stick out of her braids no matter what she tries. She dozes off to the sound of the koroks singing.

Link reappears at about four in the morning in a swirl of magic as the strings of his form bind together. He's in the same posture he was in when he vanished—head bowed and both hands gripping the sword. As soon as the color comes back into his form, he unfreezes. He straightens, the sword coming free.

He topples over backward.

"Link!"

She throws off her blanket and clambers to his side, taking his face in her hands. "Link! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he groans. His eyes are closed and his chest rises and falls in great waves. He's spread-eagle, the Master Sword still held tight in one hand even as it's thrown out at a careless angle. He coughs. "There was a Hinox."

"A Hinox? You had to fight a Hinox?" But he fought Hinoxes all the time. They almost never even bruised him, much less took all day.

He flops his arm onto his chest, squeezing her hand, which is over his heart. "It was like—" He coughs again. "—Eventide Island all over again. They took all my stuff." He sighs. "Zelda, I like having my stuff."

"What stuff?" Knowing Link, that could mean anything from foraged food stuffs to heart containers, from bundles of wood to the magical gifts he received from the champions' spirits. From the way he's gripping the Master Sword, she has a pretty good guess it was the sword.

"All my stuff. No supplies. No weapons. They even took my pants. I hate it when they take my pants."

"You fought a Hinox naked?"

"I fought a lot of things naked."

She has no idea what to say to that.

He squeezes her fingers again and opens his eyes enough to grin up at her. "But there's a pair of pants at the end. In a chest. And a cooking pot. I wasn't in good enough shape this time to keep going, but I'll do better next time."

"Next time?" She's not sure that's the best idea.

With a groan, he hauls himself to sitting upright. "Yeah. I did the first part, but there's definitely another, and I'd bet a hundred rupees there's another one after that. Maybe I can skip the first part. I need to go back and finish, but I just..." He adjusts his grip on his sword. "I'll do better next time." He grins up at her again. "Look!" He holds the sword out for her to see.

She's not sure what she's looking at. It looks like the Master Sword. She's been watching it all day.

"It's more powerful now. All the time. Not just when there's malice around. The next round, I'm going to get it even stronger."

He reaches for her, and she helps him to his feet. He manages to stand on his own, but she keeps hold of his hand anyway. He threads his fingers through hers.

"It's late," she says, guiding him towards the Deku Tree. "You should sleep before you go back in."

"And eat," he says.

"Of course."

"I should take a defensive elixir right before I go back in. A really strong one. I can't bring it in with me, but maybe the effects will still work."

"I'll see what I can do."

"I know what I'm doing this time," he says again.

#

Link gets a few hours of sleep, then goes back into the trial. He's gone for nearly two full days, during which time Zelda finishes her paraglider, makes herself a simple dress out of the green fabric she bought a month ago, and plants a small orchard of peas. The koroks like watering them. They teach her the knots they used to make the blanket. It reminds her of how the wires inside the guardians are bound together.

She tries not to think about Link running around naked in a shrine. He's probably cold. Maybe she can make him a blanket!

It's almost midnight on the third day of his trials when he reappears. She catches him before he falls to the ground. His body hasn't changed, but there's an exhaustion under his eyes, in the hollow of his cheeks. He looks like he ought to be covered in bruises and grime, like his tunic should be wrinkled and dirtied, his hair a mess of sweat and dirt. But it doesn't. He looks as put together as he looked yesterday morning.

She wedges her shoulder under his armpit, and holds him up with one hand on his chest and one on his back. For a second she thinks he might be dead, or passed out. Her heart cramps more than it pounds, a constant, panicked flutter.

Then he sucks in a breath and cringes, and her whole body sags in relief so much she almost drops him.

"Link?"

He grins down at her. It's tired and loopy. "Guess what?"

"You did it?"

He grins at her. It's the one that spreads slowly over his face and makes her legs weak. He squeezes her in what is unquestionably a hug rather than a need to keep his feet. "I did it," he says, and presses a kiss to her temple.

She promised Paya that she would speak to him about the kissing. She'd forgotten how frustratingly tingly and confused it makes her. She ought to be irritated with him, but he's back and he's tired, and she'll speak to him tomorrow and settle everything.

He re-sheathes his sword and heads toward the Deku Tree with a contented sigh, Zelda still tucked under his arm.

"First there was wind everywhere, and then I had to fight in the dark, and then there were a bunch of guardians. Then it was thundering, and then it was hot, and then it was cold and I didn't have any pants for that. Then I shot a lynel. And then—then it just got ridiculous."

She presents him with food she cooked. It's extra hearty, and the koroks assured her that it was "scrummy." She's not sure she trusts their judgement, but Link eats it with a soft smile, and says nothing about how bad it is, but then maybe he's just being nice.

As soon as he's done, he falls back onto the bed she ought to have been using these past few days. He moans as his back pops. Then he snags her wrist and pulls her down on top of him and closes his eyes.

It's unfair. Unfair how her heart squeezes at the smallest sweetness. Unfair how he's asleep within minutes and she lies awake, wondering how on earth she should handle this.

#

"Before we go," she says as he's packing his things the next morning, "could we take a walk? There's something I wish to discuss with you."

He gives her a look that says her words came out far more ominous than she intended, and she gives him a beaming smile to soothe his worries. It doesn't seem to work, because he still looks distrustful, but he sets down his shield and follows her out of the tree.

She smiles up at the sun and clasps her hands behind her back to show that she's enjoying herself. There's no problem here. Just a friendly walk and talk between friends who are friendly.

Link is watching her more than where he's going, looking wary as if he expects her to spin around and stab him at any second.

There's no putting him at ease, so she charges right in. "I've been thinking."

He waits.

"You should be more careful about the ways in which you show affection."

His eyebrows pinch together in confusion. They stop walking between a pair of tree roots taller than she is.

"I'm not at all offended, but others might be. Physical contact of the sort you've been preforming comes with specific connotations. With certain assumptions. People may assume that you're trying to establish a romantic relationship. Or a sexual one. So if you're unprepared for that, I think it best you not kiss people who don't understand the situation."

His face has shuttered into his unreadable, blank look.

He must not understand her. She will have to explain further. "It's really nothing to be embarrassed about. Or ashamed of. We all need physical contact, especially after long bouts of solitude. And you're unused to traveling with a companion. I understand that it's a friendly gesture, but I know you quite well at this point, and other people may not understand that it's no more than a display of joy and comradery. Other people may not understand that, so I think it best that you not kiss other people."

"Not kiss...What other people?"

She shrugs with her hands. It's a little frustrating that he's not understanding. "I don't know. Yunobo, or the people of Tarrey Town, or...Paya, or the women who work at the stables."

His lips twitch towards what could be considered a smile, his posture loosening ever so slightly. "Is this about how I kissed Paya on the cheek?"

"Not entirely. Paya understood, but we both agree that you should be more cautious. People might misunderstand, and that might make things awkward. That might jeopardize your relationships or our mission as a whole." She nods emphatically until she has a thought. "Unless, of course, you—you wanted to pursue a romantic relationship." She doesn't care for that idea. In addition to her jealousy, Link agrees to practically anything anyone suggests that doesn't involve Zelda's safety. People will surely take advantage of him. "But if that were the case, I think you should discuss it with me first, so I can properly vet them and make sure they have your best interests at heart." It would be difficult, but she would do that for him if he really wanted it.

His smirk has vanished, his posture tightening again. He crosses his arms over his chest.

She's annoyed him. He's right, of course. He can make his own decisions. "Not that you need my approval! I just want you to know that I'm here to offer emotional support and help you navigate these awkward social situations."

"So what you're saying is that you don't want me to kiss anyone but you?"

She flushes and looks away. "Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound like...I would be jealous."

"Would you?"

"That's—That's not what this is about."

"This is about how apparently you tolerate it when I show you affection, because you think I'm socially inept and don't know what I'm doing."

"You're not socially inept. Obviously, you're very personable and people greatly enjoy your company."

"So you're assuming I'm just handsy."

"Handsy is so crass. I'd call you physically affectionate."

"And I should tone it down."

"Exactly!"

"You don't want me to kiss you again."

"I—Oh. Well you could if...if you felt...motivated to do so. I assure you, it doesn't bother me."

He huffs and refuses to look at her. "If you don't want me to try to kiss you again, I won't."

"I..." This conversation is getting away from her. Clearly, she doesn't not want that. But if she says that she does, then that makes her just as bad as those women she's warning him against. "What do you want?" she asks.

"What do I want?" He stares at her like that's an unreasonable question. "Zelda..." When she gives him her interested, patient look, showing she's listening—she's trying! She really is!—he scrapes a hand through his hair in exasperation. "I want to listen to you go on a rant about technology I don't understand, and I want to help you get gears and pulleys for your inventions, and I want you to use me for your experiments, and I want to help you bring Vah Rudania down the mountain and across the fields to move things around that don't need to be moved around. I want you to boss me around until I'm too old to argue with you. I want to cook for you, and I want to keep you warm every night in the house we live in together. I want to wake up every morning and watch the way your eyelashes flutter when you sleep."

He throws his hands in the air. "I want all that, and if that's all you'll give me then I'll take it and I'll never say another word. But since I haven't been clear, let me spell it out: I want you. I want to know what—what your hips feel like in my hands! I want to know what it tastes like when you moan into my mouth. I want to know what makes your breath catch, and I want you to press me up against a wall and have your way with me, and—yes, Zelda—I want to kiss you. And I get it, okay? I know it's hard for you, and I'm trying to give you space, because I know you loved—you loved me from Before, but I'm...I'm not him anymore, and I'll never be him, and I don't want to be him, because I like the way I am now, and the only thing that sucks about being me is that you love him. And I get that that must be awful for you, but I just hoped..."

"Wait." She holds up her hand to stop him and the endless waves of confusion. None of this makes sense. What is he even saying? Where does she even start? "You think I was in love with you Before?"

He freezes. His eyes widen as the color drains from his face. "You..." He blinks, replaying through the few memories he has. In a small voice he says, "Your powers woke, because...you loved me?"

Her face heats. "Well. I mean. I certainly cared for you. A great deal. And your death was very upsetting..." She doesn't know where she's going with this.

He speaks slowly, as if questioning every word. "But, Mipha said..."

"What did Mipha say?"

He swallows. "She said her magic worked better when she thought of someone she loved."

"When did she say that?" That would have been helpful!

"I...guess she didn't really?"

She stares at him.

He stares back. She's never seen him look so boggled.

"Hokay!" He snaps his fingers and pops a fist into his palm to make a rhythmic pop pop thwack, and then he lets both hands swing back to his sides. "So! I was wrong about that. No more kissing. Got it. Good talk. I'm just going to go..." He points in a random direction and starts to walk away with a purpose.

"Wait. No. Link."

"Look, I'll just be gone a...a bit. Just let me lick my wounds and feel like an idiot, and when I come back, we can pretend this whole horrible conversation—"

"Let me finish."

"I'd really rather—"

"Ugh!"

She stomps up to him, grabs his hands, and presses them tight against her hips. He sucks in a breath, his fingers jerking as if touching her burns him. She holds him in place and glares at him until he stills. A moment later, he closes his eyes, presses his forehead to hers, and lets out a shaking breath.

She revels in every point of contact as his palms sink into her flesh, as his fingers spread and then squeeze. He said he wants her. He wants to touch her. And this must be what it feels like to be electrocuted, because her whole body's trembling with want. She drags her hands up his arms to his shoulders and digs her nails into the fabric of his shirt.

She has to swallow before she speaks, and her voice still trembles as she says, "You'll have to wake up much earlier if you're going to watch me sleep."

"Zelda," he breathes. He sounds pained. "Please don't if you don't mean it."

"I mean it."

"You just said—"

"It doesn't matter if I loved you Before. I'm sorry I got caught up on that. It's how I process. It doesn't matter, because I love you now."

"I've been kissing you for weeks to see if you're interested, and you're clearly not. You just told me not to kiss you."

She pulls away enough to throw her hands in the air. "Because you give me these little, teasing cheek pecks! They take me by surprise! And clearly you don't mean anything by them or you would have—you—I don't know! It's torture! I'd rather you not kiss me at all, if you're not going to do it properly. At least then I won't be embarrassing myself getting so wound up all the time!"

He takes a moment before he says, "Properly."

"Yes!"

Another moment. When he speaks again, she can hear the smile in his voice. "Those cheek pecks get you wound up?"

She glares at him.

His eyes are burning, and she's on fire. "You really like me," he says. "Now? Not just the me from before?" His voice is low and rough, and it makes her shiver.

"Well, right now you're being very annoy—"

He kisses her. Hungry and desperate and violent as they clutch at one another, his hand in her hair, and her chest pressed to his, and his breath hot against her cheek. She clutches at the collar of his shirt, pulling him down, closer. Her arm wraps around his shoulders as if they're about to warp away, and his thumb traces soft and frantic arcs along her cheek. And he's ducking down and pulling her up onto her toes, and she's pulling him tighter, wrapping her arms more firmly, and he's shifting his stance, and they're moving, writhing, pressing back and forth in a roll of power passing back and forth between them, trying to pull more and more and more from each other.

She breaks the kiss in a gasp, throwing her face to the sky, and he's instantly sucking wet, opened mouth kisses to her neck. Her heart pounds like the ocean in her ears, and her skin sings as she tries to get closer. But there's another song, one that he catches before she does. His lips slow and his ears perk and his hands slow, and she tries to calm her breathing to hear what danger he's noted.

It's cheering. And whistling.

Hundreds of koroks are sitting on the great roots around them, hovering in the air, twirling through the grass. One of them starts shouting, "Oo lala!" and the rest pick it up like a verse sung in a round.

Link tightens his hold on her before she can jerk away in embarrassment. His breath is still heavy as he gasps into her ear, "How much of a sin is it to kill a forest spirit?"

The puff of his words against her ear makes her shudder, and she groans and reclaims his mouth. If she were to shove him up against the tree root, she would check off every want on his list. Koroks be damned. They'll get bored in a minute anyway.

Link laughs silently against her mouth and pulls back enough to escape. "You want to get out of here?"

"Desperately."

He hikes an eyebrow and says, "Oo lala!"

She glares at him. He kisses her again.