He is up early the next morning, getting lost in motion as he swings the sword. He moves through his forms with grace and ease, mind almost completely separate from his body. Working alone with the sword has become akin to meditation for him, and he welcomes a chance to be in the moment when there is so much to weigh on him.
He is warm and loose when he is done. He quickly cleans up and heads to Zelda's dining room for a late breakfast and to hear whatever Impa has found out. When he enters the room, instead of settling in for coffee and ordering some eggs, he sees Zelda leaning on her forearms on the table - intently taking in a report from some captain in a wing of the guard. Impa is taking notes and looks grim. Link wonders how long they have been going. He slips in next to Impa as quietly as he can, meeting her nod of greeting.
"It's apparently more difficult to make a larger town like Eldin's Bridge vanish quietly overnight, your majesty, but that is the word. Fields burned, livestock slaughtered in their barns, a handful on the edges managed to get out and run. There were moblins and lizalfos - maybe more than a handful."
Link feels a small drop in his gut. Oh. Things are very different than last night.
"Impa," Zelda starts. "Where do you think the next strike is due?"
"I was going to say Eldin," she reports. "But perhaps you should look at Faron, instead. Ordon has seen Lynels and a gold moblin."
"Gold," Link interejects. "Are those real?" He could handle a lizalfos, he never thought they were mythical.
Impa seems incredulous. "Are you actually asking that? Yes, it seems they are real."
"So, we should ride to Ordon in Faron." He asks.
"Yes, and soon. You appear to have a fortnight between a lynel and destruction, and the lynel in northern Faron was two days ago. You should ride out in three days, four maximum, if you intend to head off destruction there."
He turns his head to catch Zelda's eye. "Just you and me? Quick and maneuverable?" He asks.
She nods. "This seems the best plan."
In the end, she orders reconnaissance riders out to Ordon immediately - with pigeons to send back if needed. Plans are put into motion for her and Link to ride out together under cover in a few days. She orders one last round with the portal for the afternoon before the stones are to be packed up for them. Finally she orders a meal the night before they are to leave, with all her advisors, to leave final plans in place while she is away. The next few days are full to the brim for him.
He makes time to check in with Impa the following morning, sitting next to her at breakfast and lazing over coffee as the dining room slowly clears.
"Impa, it's going to be strange to ride out without you. I will miss you."
She smiles at him. "This part of the story isn't for me. And I am not ready for whatever you two might be facing." She shivers and he puts his arm across her shoulders. "I'll wait for you both here. We will have drinks when you get back."
He gives her a squeeze, and a quick kiss on her cheek. He waits a few minutes before posing a question to her.
"Impa, how long have you known Zelda?"
Impa shakes off his arm and taps her cheek, thinking. "I've been serving as an advisor to her for almost ten years. I came on board a year, maybe two? After the king died."
"So, were you around, then - um." He stops and runs a hand through his hair, unsure of the best way to phrase his question. "She was in love with another.. ah, after the king?"
It is Impa's turn to be quiet and consider her words. "I wondered if she would tell you about him. I don't think she was in love with him, not really. I think she was lonely, and under pressure, and he provided escape. I think she loved that. Maybe she thought that meant she loved him, too. I never really liked him. I don't think he saw her, but rather the idea of what she might make him mean. He was in the royal guard, a little arrogant. Didn't like being on the side. I think it ran a year before he asked to be transferred somewhere like, Eldin, maybe?" She shakes her head.
"He made her cry. More than once. Did she tell you his name?"
Link shakes his head.
"He was a Link. It's seems there are always one or two in the royal guard. He wasn't anything like you, though. Dark hair, dark eyes, taller, broader. Much more closed off. He shut me down any time I approached him. I was not unhappy to see him leave.
"How did he come up?"
"I seem to remind her of him."
"I suppose he was going to come up eventually. She has been closed off to others ever since him, until you dragged yourself back from the Zora's Domain the way you did. And when you turned on your charm enroute to Gerudo." She gives him a playful shove.
He gives her a glare. "Impa."
"And there is yet another thing that is different between you and him, I've yet to quash a rumor about you that you started. Thank you for that."
He grunts, uncomfortable with the idea she has heard anything in the first place.
"Her immediate staff is discreet, but chambermaids are everywhere." Impa shifts in her seat. "Tread carefully, hero, and please don't step on her heart."
"She sets the pace," he replies. "I follow her lead. Impa. I love her. I thought I knew what that meant before."
"You should tell her."
"She isn't ready to hear it."
"Tell her anyway," Impa whispers. "You only think she isn't ready."
It's only a couple days, he tells himself, but there is so much going on. There is an urgency to things that was not really there before, as the reality of this is running to its end starts to strike. There had been so much time until there was not. The night before they are to leave is before them in what feels like hours from that morning meeting. Instead of dinner in the great hall; he meets with Zelda, Impa, and a handful of advisors. Marran is to take the reins again while his mother fulfills her sacred duty, so he is there, as well.
These meetings with advisors always seem slightly over Link's head. He never feels exactly sure he understands what is going on, and is never sure he actually needs to. He drinks the wine he is served and attempts to look serious until things begin to break up.
Link feels hazy by the time Marran approaches him. He has only had formal introductions with Zelda's sons, there had never been time for much more.
"Sir Link, if I may have a word?"
"I am at your service, your grace."
"Forgive me if this is personal, but I feel I need to tell you. I have noticed." He stops and Link maintains his posture, unsure of exactly what is about to happen. "My mother is lightened by your presence. I am not sure what may have gone on, or is going on, between you, and forgive me if I am overstepping, but - you would have my blessing to court her while you ride out together. If that is what you are doing."
He still thinks courting is formal for what they are doing, but he swallows and says thank you to the young man who is entrusting his mother to him.
"Please be careful with her," Marran pleads. "She is precious to me."
"To me, as well, your grace," he replies. "I will take care of her."
He had already made plans to meet with her after that last dinner. He is on her balcony, off her parlor, and they are trying to find stars again despite the lights around the castle. He stands behind her, with an arm around her waist, his other hand holding a glass of wine. He's probably had a little more than he should have tonight. She rests her hands over the one he has around her.
He has been asked to be careful with her, and this is on his mind as he holds her, conscious of how she feels against him, focusing on her warmth and presence to distance himself from the mission they are to embark on in the morning.
He drains his glass - setting it on the side table as she rolls her head against his shoulder, turning her face to him and whispering "Kiss me," He turns his head to oblige her, savoring how she tastes, and how soft she feels against him. Had she said she felt like a teenager? He doesn't feel exactly like that. He had thought he had aged past the butterflies and the way one person can be everything, if just for moments. It is good to learn that he hasn't. When his emotions finally overwhelm him, he breaks off; catching his breath and sliding his hand on her cheek. "Zelda, I need to tell you,"
She places a finger on his lips. "Link. No. You don't need to."
He pulls her hand away and meets her eyes, whispering "But I want to. I love you, Zelda. Whatever happens after tonight, I want you to know this. I love you."
He bows his head and tilts his chin to look into her eyes, feeling naked before her. She rests a hand on his cheek and strokes his face with her thumb. "Link." Her voice is soft.
"You don't have to say it back," he whispers, though oh, he hopes she does. "Just know I love you."
She looks into his eyes, and continues to run her thumb on his cheek. She says nothing, but leans into his lips with a sigh, slowly working her mouth against his. He slips his hand to the nape of her neck, drawing her closer.
He is not sure what is before them in Faron, but he knows things will be different once they have ridden through this cycle they are entwined with. But that is tomorrow, he thinks. Tonight he can still curl into her and forget there was ever anything else.