Chapter 28 Let It In
They spend a week on the snowfield, Zelda opening a portal and Link trying to not lose himself in the onslaught of her doing so. He went back to his own bed after the first day with a blood shot eye in addition to a nosebleed, and found odd bruising on his body the next morning. He felt almost hung over on top of it. The sunlight streaming into the room was nearly blinding and he decided he prefered the honesty of steel. Even if there is magic folded into it.
Impa meets him each morning with coffee. They have been sticking with small talk in the mornings, avoiding discussion of their afternoons on the snowfield.
By the end of the week, he can stand and think about swinging a blade, but he is not ready to spar under the new conditions yet. Zelda's control and power have grown each day. He almost wonders how necessary he is. After a week, she decides it's time to return to the castle. Some afternoons, and a couple nights, they open portals on their way home. Each time, she easily wields her power and each time, it's marginally easier to hold his ground and try to swing his sword. Impa stands in as their nemesis, during these sessions, and she disarms him with ease.
How much time did they have, he wondered. If using this portal was required, it was going to be much harder than the run-ins they'd had already.
He has dinner with Zelda one night on the way home, though his head is bothering him and he feels every minute he has been alive in his soul. He excuses himself early, and apologizes for being poor company and she takes his hands and says "You should stop fighting yourself out there. It's easier if you just let it in."
He cocks an eyebrow at her.
"You won't get lost in the portal magic. I won't let you. Concentrate on dancing with your sword, like you already know how to do. I won't let you fall."
He has been mostly sleeping alone on the way home, though he and Impa tend to camp close by. On this night, he brings this revelation to Impa and asks for her thoughts.
"She'd be the best person to ask about how to work in it, Link. I'd try to do what she suggests"
"I am still used to doing things on my own, it's odd to remember there are people who, I don't know, are on my team?"
Impa laughs. "Aren't you courting her? Why would she not be on your team?"
"That word seems a little...formal? I always thought it was for a person you intend to marry and I don't think I was ever really going to do that. I don't know, I'm not good at introspection.
"I never put a name on other relationships, they just were what they were. They ended when I was told to go somewhere else. It was never courting."
"I think it is now, " says Impa, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't be afraid of the word. It doesn't mean you end at an altar, either. See where it goes and don't worry about it. Let it in." She pauses and grins. "Maybe she didn't just mean magic."
He lies down with more than one thing to puzzle over that night.
They are a night away from Hyrule castle when he finally decides to just breathe in as the portal crackles open, and let it wash over him, trying to not think of the weight of the air around him, but his grip on the sword and that's the night he finally disarms Impa.
Castletown is nearly a different place when they arrive. It's become commonplace to see a moblin in the countryside, and there are enough to make people nervous. There are even whispers that Lynels have been sighted. Every little settlement in the area seems to have picked up and moved inside the walls. New people arrive every day. Link notes that the various merchants seem to have less inventory and what they have is more expensive than he recalled. There are hastily built shelters in the green spaces and parks, and he sees what seems to be a communal dining hall. Zelda's oldest, Marran, has had his work cut out for him while they have been away. Link picks up his pace to head back to his rooms in the castle.
There's a meeting over dinner in Zelda's private dining room to get the status of the castle. Marran ordered the construction of the communal facilities once people arrived at the gate, as well as releasing castle stores to try and keep people fed and settled. It's probably helped, but he is obviously relieved to have his mother home.
"There's one more thing," he says as he wraps up his report. "I had a group of advisors study reports of monsters as people started showing up at the gates. The little villages that have been destroyed? Eppon apparently had a silver moblin in their square a week before it vanished. There was a lynel outside Tabantha, close enough to shut everything down for a night. It seems there's enough to make people nervous, but not quite enough to flee, until now."
Zelda nods. "Perhaps we can predict where this might happen again, and prevent it. Why don't you take your team and continue to work on that? We will meet every morning going forward."
Zelda orders the archery field closed to serve as a place to set the portal stones and allow for a continued practice area. She places it under round the clock guards and gives Link the following day off so she can finish coming up to speed with her governing duties. She promises they will be back at things the day after, early afternoon, every day going forward. She also calls to have the great hall in the castle set up as a public dining room, as soon as possible, and requests as many members of her court attend dinner with her in the public room in the evenings when it is ready.
He spends his day off getting up early to dance in private with the Master Sword, and then takes to the gardens. The roses are out of season as the weather is turning cooler and other flowers take their place. The koi still swim and swirl in the pond and he watches them for a bit.
He spends most of the day thinking. He ponders this pattern of monsters. Where had the silver moblin he had seen been going? Had that one been random, or did it have purpose? Had he accidentally made himself known that day? And there were the about the encounters with the apparent holder of the Triforce of power. There was so much magic involved, more than he had imagined might be. He wondered what he was teaching this new player. And what had he learned, himself?
Damien seemed young. Youth could be reckless. It might be at the height of its strength and speed, and unaware of its mortality. It was easy to underestimate youth, when you lean on experience. Youth could see things that experience blinds you to. Link would have to take this threat very seriously. Whatever was before him was unlikely to be anything he might be familiar with.
If they really could predict where he might strike, that could be turned to their advantage. They could be in place and ready. Maybe. Hyrule was a big place, and Damien seemed to show up wherever and whenever he felt. Link wondered if they could bring him to them, instead. He had said he needed Zelda. Did that mean he physically needed Zelda? Maybe they could draw him out with her, the way he came to them in Tabantha. Zelda could serve as bait for a trap.
Oh. He suddenly didn't like that idea. Bait could be stolen.
There must be a way to bring the end sensibly. He spent the day, walking the gardens, running over options.
Life in and around the castle continued to change. Guards were doubled around the walls of Castletown, and the great iron gates closed from sunset to sunrise. A curfew had been set inside the walls. The great hall had been quickly converted to the dining area Zelda asked for, and the kitchens were on duty serving in the evenings. The first night Zelda formally takes a seat at the elevated head table, her introduction is met with applause and cheers. Link finds it a bit overwhelming, but it does seem her presence comforts people, at least for now.
Over the next several days, Link and Zelda are on the archery field where she is opening portals and he learns how to fight inside its periphery. He finally brings Impa to a decisive defeat one afternoon, stepping outside his boundary as she calls to stop and breaking the spell Zelda spins. He still feels oddly battered inside that bubble of magic, buts almost tolerable and at least the nosebleeds have stopped. Maybe, he thinks. It's time to bring up the next step.
"I think we are done for today," says Zelda. "That was well done."
He straightens up. "Zelda, I have some ideas. Perhaps the three of us can meet after dinner and discuss it."
She nods. "I hope you'll join me at dinner then. You can escort me to the hall."
"Of course." He feels like he has hardly seen her since they have been back. There's been no time for walks. When she hasn't been working with him, she has been in meetings, managing the kingdom. She has delegated much of the day to day of the castle to Marran but he still seeks her counsel. He misses the slow and quiet time they had. He should have made more of it.
He spends probably more time than he needs getting ready, leaving his hair long, putting a set of blue enameled hoops in his ears and donning a blue tunic he knows matches his eyes. He arrives early to get her and when he offers her his arm, she looks him up and down before taking it.
"You're very handsome tonight."
He feels warmth spreading over him, and he smiles. "I have missed you, it's been all work of late."
She returns the smile, and there's a sparkle to her that makes him catch his breath. "I've missed you too. At least we have a moment now."
He purposely slows his pace. The castle halls aren't as nice as the garden and the koi pond, or even the camp on the road. He thought it would be hard to keep the discretion she had asked for, in a large place that seemed to be full of eyes and ears in every corner. It's not a challenge, he thinks, when you're hardly together. He stops before entering the hall, takes her hand and presses a kiss to it, meeting her eyes as he does so. Then he brings her to the head table overlooking the rest of the hall, as her presence is announced, and the people filling the tables cheer. At least they still feel good enough to cheer, he thinks. He heads to a side table on the dias and takes a place next to Impa.
"You did well today," she says, passing him a basket with warm bread. "And you clean up nicely."
"Thanks. I feel like I haven't seen you since we got back, unless you are trying to fight me."
"It has gotten busier. There's a lot to do."
"Everything is ok then?" He taps at his own forehead, on the place where her scar is.
"It feels safer here. Hopefully we don't have another traveling road show, I don't think I'd be up for that."
He nods. "I have some ideas about the next step for after dinner. None involve a road show for you."
"Good. Can we talk about something else? Surely you have some story about a horse."
He finds himself back in Zelda's office after dinner, where Zelda and Impa are listening to him spin out ideas.
"We are working under the assumption that this Damien is carrying the curse of Demise on this round. He seems to be acting alone, which is interesting. I don't know if that is just part of being arrogant when you are young and skilled or there's more we don't know yet. We have run him off twice though. I don't think there's a reason we can't do it for good, but there is a matter of actually doing it.
"I think we can try and force him here..."
Impa straightens up. "Here?"
"Well, um, maybe Hyrule Field, outside the grounds proper, but territory we know well. He told me that he needed Zelda. I don't know what that means. But maybe it means that if she is important in whatever he is going to do, then we can make him come to us, and that gives us an advantage.
"Uh, but it also means that we um end up setting a trap with ah Zelda as bait."
"Bait." says Zelda. "Do you have a plan for what happens if the bait gets snatched without tripping the trap?"
"Ahhhhhhh. No."
The silence draws itself out awkwardly and he feels compelled to plunge on to stop it. "I have another idea, its also not well fleshed out but we could go to him, but just Zelda and me, alone."
There is no immediate response to this either.
"So. If we know there are warnings to where he will show up-Lynels and silver moblins and all, then maybe we can predict where we could meet him. If it were just two on the roads, we could also travel much faster than any party I've been involved on that was more than me. We can stay off main roads where you might be recognized. We could disguise you. The end is just you and I, alone, anyway. Why be a huge, slowly moving target, when we can be small and agile?
"We just need to look for the monsters. Surely, people report lynels."
"There have been credible reports of lynels in Eldin and Faron recently." Interjects Impa. She is staring into the distance, and he can almost see wheels turning in her head. "I'll look into this more tonight," she leans back. "It will be nice to have a research project overnight."
"I feel like I'm still bait in this scenario," says Zelda.
"Maybe, but together we are bait and trap."
"Why don't we get Impa's research and think on this overnight?"
Impa pushes back her chair. "On that note, I'll go see what I can find and leave you two alone. Its a nice evening for a walk or something." She is out the door and gone as Link is still processing what she's said.
"It is a nice night," notes Zelda. "We can go on the balcony and look at the stars. Or not."
Its hours later when he gets back to his rooms. He feels warm and a little unraveled, still imagining her hands in his hair and on his chest. The pretense had been simple stargazing on one of her balconies, and they leaned on the railing with a glass of wine and pointed out stars to each other, though the sky over the castle suffered from too much light on the ground, even late at night. When she leaned into him, he slipped his hand to the small of her back and they both quieted, still looking up into the heavens. He closed his eyes and sighed. Let it in.
He tilted his head to her ear and whispered "Skyloft," before placing a slow line of kisses along her jaw to her mouth. She turned to meet him by the time he gets there, greeting him with soft, slow kisses. Her fingers danced along his collarbone as she slid her hands over his chest, pausing to feel his heart thump. From there, she moved them to his back, and up his shoulders and neck until her fingers are in his hair. He pushed into her a little, then, aggressively taking her lower lip in his mouth, hands on her waist. When he dropped them to her hips and pulled her against him, she suddenly broke off and turned her head slightly, huffing.
"I think I need to stop here. I'm sorry, Link, I just. Not now."
He took a hand and placed it on her cheek, turning her head to him. "Is everything ok?"
"Yes. This is just stirring things I didn't expect. Link," her eyes are soft, and there are partially formed tears now. He isn't sure what he has done. "Very few know this, but I took a lover after Dozam died." She stops for a long moment. "He was a member of the court, but not someone who would have been deemed a proper suitor for me. He did not take well to being kept in secrecy. He thought he could do it, but in the end, he was unhappy and he left. I don't want that to happen with you."
He pulls her into an embrace. "Is the hero of Hyrule not a proper suitor for the Queen?" He whispers.
He feels her chuckle against him. "I suppose you are, but, it's not really that. Just. I don't know why this feels hard for me. Can you just hold me?"
She rests her forehead on his and curls her fingers in his hair before he whispered "Yes. I am happy to keep the pace you set. But I'm not this person from your past, Zelda. You aren't the person you were then, either."
He is unsure how long they stood like that, he did not notice time passing. Finally, she gave him a last soft kiss and dismissed him.
"I'll see you in the morning, Link. Sleep well."
They don't stop in his dreams.