As quick as he could be, Link had finished up his shift before dashing all the way home to ask his parents that same question that had been on his mind all day long; Why was it upsetting to him that Zelda was upset? They didn't give him a firm, straight answer but he could tell they shared knowing looks before explaining it was just common for people to dislike others being upset.
Yet, Link felt uneasy with that answer. That couldn't be the sole reason why he hated seeing the princess upset like that. It just couldn't. He wasn't going to accept that answer; in his eyes, someone had to had a different answer than the one he got from his parents. There had to be someone who could explain this weirdness to him.
Tora was no different from Dovina and Larkin's answer. He simply stated it was merely a friendship concern. After all, what friends liked seeing another upset?
Link couldn't help the feeling of anger that washed through him at Tora's answer; there was no way. "Friendship?"
"What else could it be, squirt?" Tora's deep voice said.
There had to be something that he could say in reply; to show Tora he was wrong just like he wanted to show his parents. But he found nothing within that could remotely tell him otherwise. He wasn't good in terms of understanding other points of views. All he knew was he didn't like seeing Zelda upset like that.
As if sensing Link's discomfort and woe, Tora sighed. This was going to take a while, he could already see the long talk. "Squirt, are you sure you're not like this because you like her?" he asked gently.
Link's head shot up. "Of course I like her! We're friends."
Amusement flickered in Tora's expression. "No, not friendship. A romantic way of liking."
Immediately the younger man stopped, "A romantic sense?" he hesitated slightly as he thought more about Tora's suggestion. There was no way he could like Zelda in that sense, could he? She hated him. "Even if I did like her in that way— she hates me. There's no way she would ever go for me."
"Maybe that's why you hate seeing her upset." Tora said.
"But there's no way I could ever see her in that light! She'd murder me if she ever found out about it," Link continued. He folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. "All I want is a simple answer as to why I hate seeing her upset."
"Squirt, I just told you why you hate seeing her like that," Tora grumbled under his breath. "You like her, squirt! There's no explanation."
He didn't want to accept it, but the more he thought about it; the more he realized he couldn't fight it forever. His father had said he hated seeing Dovina upset; that was the realization point for his parents about their own feelings for each other. Link swallowed heavily as he knew what was real— this was his realization point for his own feelings concerning Zelda.
"I like Princess Zelda," Link breathed out. "I like her and she hates me. This will never work out for us. She'll always reject me if I ask her out."
Tora watched as he came to terms with his feelings and genuinely felt bad for the kid. It was no secret that the princess didn't like him. As a knight, he knew the feeling of having pride wounded; it would deeply hurt pride if someone rejected you.
Instead of telling him the odds of her returning the feelings, Tora's eyes lit up as he encouraged his friend, "You can do it."
Link's eyes darted to him with slight hope sparkling in them at his words. "You think so?" he asked softly. "You think I can get her to like me back?"
"I don't know how long it could take, but I think you could make her feel something for you. Even if it isn't love; you could always strive for friendship. It's what I would start off with— friendship, then make your way towards romance."
For a split second, Link felt a strong wave of determination wash through him. He gave Tora a smile before nodding firmly. He could do this; he could get them back to the point they were at as children— best friends, or rather, good friends at least. Then, if he was feeling brave enough, he would try to get them to a romantic sense, hoping they would be able to enter a relationship.
If they weren't, then that was okay too. As long as they were able to be friends.
"I'll try to make us become friends again. I'll try to aim for friendship before I do anything in terms of romance, I promise."
A proud smile appeared on Tora's face. "Good man."
With that in mind, Link gave him a nod before strolling off, hoping to snag in a few more practices by himself before Nikolai had been training with someone else to see how his skills were coming along.
He stopped shortly after he realized the last Champion was going to be picked today and he smiled; it was going to be Urbosa, without a doubt. It was an easy guess.
…
The Gerudo desert hadn't changed much. It was still blazing hot as the sun hit the sand directly and for a split second, Zelda had wished she had brought cooler clothes. There was no going back now; they couldn't just turn around and head back to the castle because of some heat. It was important they name the Gerudo Champion, the last to be named.
"This heat is killing me, I swear to the Goddesses," one of the knights whined out as they walked behind her. "How long until we reach the Gerudo Town and find some shade? I'm melting in this armor."
Zelda wanted to make a snide remark about the fact they wouldn't be allowed in, but it seemed his buddy beat her to it as he mumbled words of complaint to him, and immediately a loud groan escaped past the knight's lips. As they came up to Kara Kara Bazaar, she turned on her heels to face them.
This would be as far as they would go; besides, they deserved a rest where they had shade and they could get drinks here. The Trading Post was the perfect place for the knights to rest while she dealt with the Gerudo Town.
"You two can rest here," she stated firmly. "I'll go and deal with the Gerudo Town."
"We can't," stressed a knight. "We have to look after you! Remember what King Rhoam said? It's our duty to look after you, Princess."
Zelda arched an eyebrow. "Do you honestly want to walk through this blazing desert a moment longer or would you rather rest here in the shade and have some drinks?"
The knights looked at each other sheepishly and straight away their answer was quite clear to her; they wanted to stay behind and rest up in the shade while she dealt with the town and naming the last Champion just as she had done beforehand. But at the same time, they couldn't allow her to leave their sight; King Rhoam would have their heads if this ever got out to him.
But their need for rest and something to drink and perhaps eat was much stronger than their need to stay with her for the rest of the trip. Besides, it was only to Gerudo Town. Everyone knew her there and Urbosa wouldn't have anything happening to the Hylian; it wasn't like there was anything to worry about while she walked the rest of the way to the town.
The younger knight coughed. "I rather the drinks."
"I would too, but I— we — need to keep our eyes on the princess," his buddy replied as he nudged him. "We can always stop for the drinks later. King Rhoam would have our heads if we allowed something to happen to her. I rather not face off with a pissed off King."
Zelda frowned. "But I'm offering you the chance to stay out of this blazing hot heat. If I were you, I'd take the chance without much thought. I'll be fine getting myself to the Gerudo Town safely. I know the route perfectly. Nothing will harm me."
The way she spoke was much like her mother in terms of making people understand where she was coming from. There wasn't a doubt in the knights' minds that she could; she had been here enough with her mother as a child. Yet, the thought of angering her father made them shudder— but if she was willing to keep her mouth shut, then who were they to fight her on this?
She was offering them the chance at being in the shade. They couldn't exactly pass that up at all.
It wouldn't feel right.
"Alright," the first knight sighed. "You can go by yourself. Just don't get sidetracked. I want to get home soon; this heat shouldn't be allowed to exist."
"Ah, get over it," the second scoffed. "At least we're not freezing to death at the Rito Range y'know. I prefer this over the coldness." he spared her a glance. "Get there safe and sound, princess."
Zelda gave a firm nod as she turned on her heels, sparing them one last glance. "I will."
The heat had managed to somewhat cool down as she continued onwards towards the town. It wasn't until she saw the guards outside of the gate did her feet start to pick up the pace, eager to get away from the blazing hot sun. The two guards greeted her with a tight smile despite their eyes displaying slight shock at the sudden arrival, but they never questioned the arrival of Hyrule's Royal Family. The two guards exchanged a glance before one of them led the princess into the town before pointing in the direction of the palace.
With a firm nod of her thanks, Zelda began heading towards the Palace, greeting anyone who said hello to her. She even stopped to speak with a few children who wanted to speak with her. There were a few Gorons in the town, but it was no doubt because of the alliance the Gerudos had made with the Gorons; along with the Ritos as she saw one or two Ritos in the town as well, in front of the market stands, looking to buy something for their families.
Inside the Palace, Urbosa was sitting on her throne, whispering to the bodyguard next to her as someone was in front of them, gazing downwards. Zelda froze when she realized it was a male Hylian, she paled in color; the Gerudos weren't exactly the nicest when it came to intruders. The man was frozen as he awaited his sentence for trespassing in the Gerudo Town; hoping his life would be spared, having to have heard tales on what could happen.
It wasn't until Urbosa caught sight of Zelda did she stiffen, raising her finger to her goddaughter, watching as Zelda nodded, stepping to the side so she could deal with her case as she was.
"Your punishment is decided," Urbosa announced, voice firm and strict. "For trespassing into Gerudo Town when law is strict among the lands; you are hereby banished from being within sight of the town. You may walk this desert, but you shall no longer be welcomed in this town's sight."
"I understand," the man whispered, voice soft as he nodded. Neither noticed how Urbosa shared a glance with her bodyguard, who signaled to the other guards to take the man away.
They failed to notice how harsh he was grabbed and dragged away. Urbosa sighed heavily; she knew what they would do, but she couldn't exactly say the true punishment out loud where Zelda's ears could pick it up. She wasn't going to scar her goddaughter into thinking she was a monster for demanding death.
"Little Bird, come closer. I haven't seen you in a few weeks. Might I say how shocked I am at this surprise visit."
Zelda smiled happily as she approached. "Yes, well the visit is important, I'm afraid. It contains business matters."
"Business matters?" Urbosa repeated. "What type?"
"Depends; what do you call the Return of Ganon?" Zelda questioned and watched as Urbosa's eyes widened, standing up as the bodyguard's jaw dropped. She knew the Gerudos took the whole Ganon thing to heart because he was a Gerudo once upon a time. "Hyrule needs four Champions; Rito, Zora, Goron, Gerudo. The three others have been chosen. We simply need the Gerudo Champion."
Urbosa exchanged a glance with her bodyguard. "Name our best warrior," she declared with a firm nod. "Toko, who—"
"Urbosa, Hyrule wishes to have you as the Gerudo Champion," interrupted Zelda.
"Me?" replied the Gerudo Chief. "They wish for me to be one of the Champions? But I'm—"
"The Champions will have meetings throughout the course of preparations concerning Ganon's return; we'll also have you work on piloting Vah Naboris here," she explained, knowing she would need to go through who Naboris was. "Before you ask; Vah Naboris is a Divine Beasts— an ancient relic we can control— the other Champions have their own Divine Beasts to pilot. Vah Naboris is a camel in terms of shape."
Both Gerudos stopped at the name of the Divine Beast. It sounded so similar to that of a famous Gerudo, Nabooru. She was celebrated throughout the ages of their race's history, a legend of them all; which meant Naboris would be a legend as well because of the namesake.
No doubt the Sheikah had named the Divine Beasts after famous ones in each race. Urbosa couldn't help but feel the pride that Nabooru had been the one Naboris had been named after. It would make victory all the more satisfying to her.
That is— if she agreed to become the Champion. She knew it was important to Hyrule to have all four Champions, but surely one of her finest warriors could do wonders like she would. Yet if Zelda was saying Hyrule wanted her and only her, who was she to say no? This was a huge honor; anyone with eyes could see it was a huge honor to be named the Champion of your race.
"You need my agreement and approval, correct?" Urbosa hummed.
"Correct," Zelda nodded. "We need your approval and agreement."
The bodyguard watched as her lady began to consider the offer and she suddenly felt ill at the thought of Urbosa's life being in certain danger. They already had to deal with the Yiga Clan on the raise; who was to say they wouldn't try something while Urbosa was out dealing with Champion business?
"Lady Urbosa," the bodyguard coughed. "What of the Yiga Clan? They shall certainly try something while you're at Hyrule Castle when Champion duties call."
Zelda stiffened. "The Yiga Clan?"
Urbosa sighed heavily as she leaned against her throne. "Yes, the Yiga Clan," she mumbled. "It's an enemy group that's recently formed. We believe they're all former members of the Sheikah Clan. From what my soldiers could find; they swore allegiance to Ganon. We have no clue who leads them. We found an ripped banner a while ago, it was from them; an upside down sigil of the Sheikah."
"They openly oppose their own Clan," added the bodyguard. "They've been after our Thunder Helm. I have no doubt they would try and slaughter you and all who stand against Ganon, I'm afraid. Do be careful as you return back to Hyrule."
"And as for the Champion offer— I accept," Urbosa said.
Zelda nodded. "Thank you, Urbosa. You'll receive a summons from us telling you to arrive at the castle for the Champion Ceremony to welcome them."
"Who's leading them?"
"I am."
Urbosa couldn't help but feel pride for Zelda. "Excellent," she purred out happily as she grinned at her goddaughter. "Don't hesitate to ask me any questions about leadership, especially when it comes to the Champions."
With a firm nod, Zelda bid her goodbye before walking out, hoping she wouldn't run into any Yiga members as she did so. She had gained a slight fear of the newly made Clan; much like the Gerudos had.
She hoped they wouldn't be too much of a problem.
…
Impa had just finished the last stitch on the tunic she was working on when Purah burst into her house with a loud sherk of, "Impa!" making her jump. She was gladly she didn't have the needle still in the shirt or else she would've ripped it completely and would've had to start over. Her eyes darted to her sister, watching as Purah rambled on about all the failures she had Robbie had while working on the Guardians and Divine Beasts until they finally had some sort of success. The younger sister watched as the older one moved through her notes before slamming the notes down in front of her before pulling out a full blown layout of a Guardian.
Whilst Purah rambled on about all the failures concerning the Guardians, Impa was trying her hardest to keep up with her sister until she found herself lost. She chuckled weakly as she watched Purah flip over to the Divine Beast side of the map; markings were clear in red with the terminals and main control unit they discovered.
"Purah—" Impa tried saying as her sister kept gushing over the discovery they had made, her words coming out in mere gambles of mixtures that Impa had lost understanding of what she was trying to say. "Purah—"
"We'veactuallydoneit!" Purah said all at once. "Weactuallyknowhottocontrolthem!"
"Purah," Impa stressed. "I can't understand you!"
She had failed multiple times as she watched her sister quickly go over the controls, amazed she hadn't ran out of breath. But then again, it was Purah and she barely ran out of breath. Impa waited until she saw an opening to place her hand on Purah's shoulder in order to call her sister down from her excitement. The older sister jerked out of her excitement when she felt Impa's hands.
Taking a deep breath, Purah breathed deeply like Impa was instructing her to do. This was a regular occurrence whenever Purah had discovered something during her research.
"Sorry," Purah apologized sheepishly. "I can't help it."
"I know," Impa smiled. "Now, what did you say? I couldn't understand you. You're combing your words into one big sentence."
Purah chuckled. "I said, we actually discovered how to control them," she explained, making sure her sister could understand her. "The Divine Beasts and the Guardians. We've figured it all out. They're up and working as good as new."
Impa's eyes widened slightly. "Really? That's amazing! How soon can we tell King Rhoam?"
"As soon as the Ceremony begins," Purah noted as she flipped through her notes, eyeing the map. "How are the Champions' clothing coming along?"
"The clothing is all done and ready to be handed over," Impa said, gesturing to the four blue pieces of clothing with each Divine Beasts carefully stitched on, and beside them was a blue tunic. "Whilst the Hylian Champion has the blue tunic— or rather the Champion tunic. I managed to finish before you burst in here."
"What luck!" Purah grinned happily. "Robbie will be happy to know. We just need a little bit longer with the Guardians to figure everything out with them while the Champions can take over the Divine Beasts as soon as we get them to their correct spots within their regions. Naturally Vah Medoh needs to be in the air, but the Ritos can figure out where to place him."
"Him?"
Purah shrugged. "It's just what I dubbed Medoh as. There's really no genders to these things," she added and Impa nodded. "I'll send word to Hyrule Castle that the Ceremony can start as soon as we're able to come."
Impa gave her sister a firm nod as she took glance at Purah's notes, wincing slightly when she saw how messy it was written, but she could tell her sister was in a hurry in order to write them all down while Robbie was working on the relics. In reality, it was a massive relief to finally know they were able to control the Divine Beasts and how they were up and running like they had never shut down in the first place; their ancestors certainly hadn't made it easy on them.
But now, they finally had a chance to stand against Ganon with them running again. As soon as the Champions could control them, they would make a few adjustments in order for it to be easier to control.
Everything would be turning out okay.
It had to turn out okay; they couldn't lose against the Demon King. Their ancestors hadn't lost to him and they wouldn't be the first ones to lose. The Master Sword was drawn, and they had the power of the Divine Beasts to back them up.
They would easily win against him.
That was a fact.
…
King Rhoam was overjoyed to know the last Champion had been picked. He was also overjoyed to know Purah and Robbie had been able to get the Divine Beasts up and working along with Impa finishing the Champions' clothing. In his own response to the Sheikahs, he sent a letter explaining how the Champions were picked and any date would work them— suggesting a few of his own.
Hopefully the Ceremony would be able to take place a week from now. It would leave time for the chosen ones to get ready and sharpen their skills, Link would be able to control the Master Sword better, and Zelda could deem herself ready to lead the Champions firmly and sternly.
The Sheikahs could be able to work on the Guardians a little more before Purah and Impa were needed at the castle as Robbie and a few others could test out of the Divine Beasts, walking ( flying in Vah Medoh's case ) them around a little in the lab's area. Soon enough, the Champions would be introduced to the Divine Beasts and would be able to get them over to their regions.
As soon as Link overheard the news, he made his way to Zelda, finding her sitting underneath a tree with a book in her lap, dressed in her usual blue dress. A wide smile over his features as he bowed respectfully.
"The Champions are all set then?" he asked.
"Yes," Zelda replied. "We have all of them picked. They should be arriving within a week for the Ceremony; we're awaiting Impa and Purah's word of approval for a date."
Link beamed as he leaned against the tree, glancing down at her, one arm on the bark as the other rested on his hip. "I can't wait," he hummed. "And the Divine Beasts are working again too?"
Zelda nodded. "Purah mentioned how long she and Robbie had worked on them; and they finally managed to get them working again. The Champions will be able to see them as soon as they can."
"I assume that's after the ceremony."
"Correct."
Link nodded. "Can't wait," he clicked his tongue. "Soon enough, we'll be able to show Ganon who's boss and take him down."
There was a slight hesitation from Zelda, and he frowned slightly as she mumbled her agreement. Was there something they didn't know? Link felt his heart twist slightly as he failed to figure out what he should do in this moment; he wanted to ask what was wrong, but he also didn't want her shutting him out again.
Choosing to ignore it for now, Link slid down to sit next to her, giving her a tight comforting smile, and he knew it would let her know he knew something was up and it would be okay in the end. She just had to wait and see.
Zelda just took a deep breath before nodding in return to that tight smile, returning her attention back to her book she was reading.
She just hoped things would be okay with the Champions once they were all settled.