They avoided King Rhoam like the plague after Link had been filled in more. Both decided it would be a better idea to continue on their way as they had been doing, making plans to try and awaken the power deep within Zelda. But they couldn't ignore the fact they would need to check in with the Champions in their own regions sooner or later— Link had a plan with that one.

Instead of having Zelda always being the one to check up on the Champions, they would split the two into half. He would get Daruk and Revali while Zelda got Mipha and Urbosa to see. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about the blazing heat and the coldness of the Rito Village.

When he told her the plan, she didn't answer for a moment, thinking long and hard about his plan.

"Are you sure you can handle the heat Death Mountain brings? It's not the easiest thing to deal with."

Link nodded. "I can handle the heat. I can bring Heat Elixirs with me."

Zelda sighed as she leaned back in her chair. If Link handled the Gorons and Ritos, she wouldn't have to deal with the cold and heat they would bring. "Fine," she said, nodding her head. "You may go and see Daruk and Revali. Due make sure you report back to me."

"Right," Link grinned. "I'll make sure I report back whatever they have to say."

With a tight nod, Zelda stood up to grab whatever she would need for the trip over to Zora's Domain. She wasn't looking forward to having two people with her, but she couldn't have Link come with her when he would be heading either to Daruk or Revali.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Link leaving her study to gather up two men for her.

She couldn't see him going to Revali first. Though it would make sense getting the one person who disliked him out of the way, she knew he would rather get the blazing heat out first; that way he could focus on dealing with the cold, plus the Rito Village didn't give off that much coldness. But there was something about his brotherly bond with Daruk that made her think he would be heading to see him first.

Not that she minded much— as long as he actually saw them she was fine with whatever order he did them in. In her own mind, she had already decided she was going to visit Mipha first, considering Urbosa's warnings about the Yiga Clan running around in the Desert.

She didn't want to risk running into them.

When she had everything ready, she turned on her heels and walked out of her own study and down outside to see Link with two knights already. He was instructing them to follow her closely and to not allow anything to happen to them or else he would be speaking with their Captain. Zelda couldn't help but smile softly at his concern and judging by the looks on the knights; he was really showing his dominance as the Master Sword's Chosen and Appointed Knight.

Her heart pounded slightly as she watched before she came up close enough to them, making Link silence himself as he beamed widely at her.

The two knights gave a sharp bow as they stood straight, watching with slight nerves as Link glared at them with all that a Captain could muster. In their minds, they were wondering why he wasn't Captain instead of Nikolai.

"They're all ready," Link grinned, giving her a charming grin. "I sent someone to get your horse too. She should be here soon."

"Good," Zelda replied. "I assume you're off to see… Daruk?"

"Yes," Link said, rubbing his neck. "I assumed Revali wouldn't want to see me this early or at any given time really— so I'm saving him for last. I don't think he'll mind too much honestly."

Zelda laughed. "He doesn't hate you. He's just prideful."

"Too prideful. But what can we do about him? Anyways, I'll leave you to it! I'll see you when I get back from Death Mountain and the Rito Village."

Zelda nodded, planting a small kiss on his cheek, making him flush. "For luck," she quickly explained herself, not really knowing why she had done that. "That's all it was for— luck."

Link nodded, placing his hand on his cheek. "Okay. For luck. I got it."

With that, he turned on his heels and walked away. As he walked, he couldn't help but grin widely. He had gotten a kiss from her; even if it was on the cheek— it still counted in his eyes and he couldn't believe how happy he was feeling.

Maybe they had a chance at being together.

…

Death Mountain was blazing hot like Zelda had warned him about. Thankfully, he had stopped at the Stable quickly before and had gotten himself some Heat Elixirs he could use. It didn't help how hot the sun was and it had gotten to the point where he stopped and took off his tunic, retying his sword around his back before continuing on his way.

He was even more lucky when Daruk saw him coming his way. Vah Rudania was crawling around up the Mountain which meant the Goron was trying to get more used to the feeling of controlling such a beast. Link watched as his brother stopped the Divine Beast before hopping down, chuckling at the attire the Hylian was wearing at the moment as he eyed him before watching Link down another Heat Elixir and winced.

Just how many of those did he have left?

"Little guy, how many Elixirs do you have?" Daruk questioned as he stopped in front of him. Concern was bleeding through his tone because he knew Hylians couldn't stand the blazing heat.

"A few," Link admitted with a slight burp. "I bought… maybe around twenty-five? These things don't last that long though."

Daruk sighed as he shook his head. "You're tough," he grinned. "To be honest, I was expectin' to see the princess here herself. But your presence isn't unwelcomed! Tell me, little guy, you came here to check up on me, yeah?"

Link nodded as he followed his friend towards the Divine Beast, grinning when Daruk helped him up onto Rudania's platform before chucking himself up with ease.

"How's controlling the lizard?"

"It's gettin' there. A few adjustments and I'll be golden," said Daruk as he moved to restart the Divine Beast to allow him to walk around some more. "Ya should've seen the looks when I first brought him back home. Pure shock and what a load of laughter! I don't think I've ever seen such looks before."

Link visibly winced. "Is that a good thing?"

Daruk grinned his signature grin as he shrugged. "Eh, they warmed up to him as soon as they realized he was goin' to protect us," he explained, leaning against a pillar that stood. "Somethin' is on your mind."

"You can tell?" Link asked, jaw dropping.

"Little guy, we're sworn-brothers! Of course I can tell. So, what's up?"

Link sighed as he folded his arms across his chest. What should he say? He knew his feelings towards Zelda went beyond friendship. He had long since figured that out, but he just never told someone about it who already didn't know. Tora and his parents knew because they had told him in their own ways that he liked her more than friendship wise, but no one else knew.

He never thought he would have to tell someone about his feelings either. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against another pillar. Daruk was watching silently, being ever so patient with him, and Link felt bad for not knowing how to explain his feelings to him.

Which brought him to wonder if Daruk ever loved someone that wasn't part of his family.

"I… I might like someone," Link admitted finally after a few minutes. "It's probably the first time I liked someone who wasn't of my family and it's so confusing to me that I have no idea how to approach them about my feelings."

Daruk grinned as he chuckled. "Ya like someone? That's great! Who is it?"

"That's—! I mean—!" Link stuttered out, going beet red as he tried thinking of a name to cover up the fact he liked Zelda. But he couldn't think of anything; all because it felt wrong to lie about who he liked. With a deep breath, he breathed out, "Zelda."

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Daruk's eyes were wide as he failed to think of something to say and Link winced; this wouldn't go well. He would be told he couldn't love her in that way because she was out of his reach— there was no way she would ever go for him. Yet, instead, after a moment's worth of silence, he heard chuckling from the Goron and his eyes widened when he realized Daruk was smiling and clapping his hands gently together.

"Well, would you look at that! I guess I owe Revali a few rupees," Daruk commented and Link's jaw dropped. "We could tell there was something happenin' between you two at the last meeting and decided to have a bet."

Link swallowed. "You did?"

"Yeah, but it's not bad. We were just guessin' what was happenin' like feelings. Guess it's safe to say he won," Daruk chuckled.

Link couldn't help but smile. "Oh," he breathed. "That's a relief. Anyways, I have no idea what to do about it— I don't even think she likes me in that way."

"I get that feeling," sighed Daruk, running a hand through his beard. "I used to like this girl but… she didn't like me back. It's when I was kid though. But it's scary to think they don't like ya back and it turns out you were right."

"It's basically a miracle if they do," Link breathed. "I just want her to like me back— but she gave me a kiss on the cheek for luck before I came here."

Daruk couldn't help his wide grin. "That's a start."

"Not a very big start."

"Guess not, but it's somethin'."

Link laughed as he nodded. Daruk was right. It was something to give him hope that maybe Zelda liked him in that way, but there was still the lingering doubt she would never even consider him in that way like some people would. In the past, he would've joked about who liked him— because honestly, it seemed unlikely anyone would go for the farm boy. But now that farm boy was turned a Hero and everyone would suddenly be after him with heart eyes.

He didn't want them liking him simply because of what his destiny was suppose to be; no, he wanted to be liked for himself. All the faults and flaws he had— he wanted to be liked for them.

Not because he was the Hero who would seal away Ganon with Zelda's help.

Apparently his doubts showed because in an instant he could feel the weight of Daruk's strong hand on his shoulder. The Goron had a look full of disapproval and Link could easily guess it was because of his expression.

His mother would have the same look whenever he had an expression that showed his doubts perfectly and she would never stand it; always going into a lecture that would tell him to never openly display his doubts because he had to be strong and he was strong; he was strong and handsome in Dovina's words.

Even Larkin would agree.

"None of that now," Daruk scolded him gently. "You'll get her to like ya back. How could she not? You're going to seal away Ganon, after all! The pair of you grew up together— you're friends."

"The childhood friend is always screwed in some way shape or form," Link pointed out, with a heavy sigh. "They're always overlooked and their confession is hardly ever taken seriously. It's a curse at this point on its own."

Daruk couldn't fight him on that one. It was its own curse at this point. The 'Childhood Friend' curse is what he would call it; forever stuck in the friendzone when it was clear one of them wanted to be more than friends but would back off to let the other be happy when the signs of love showed strongly for another. In his eyes, he hoped it wouldn't happen to them— he was rooting for them.

Who wouldn't root for them?

"I think you can outsmart that curse," Daruk pointed out. "You're Link after all! You have the namesake of every Hero out there— well the ones that are written in the History Books of the Hylians."

"You read about them?" asked Link.

Daruk shrugged. "Urbosa and I found a couple of books on them…"

"Did they mention anything about… wooing?" Link questioned shyly, rubbing his arm as he slumped down to take out another Elixir, feeling the effects of the other wearing off already.

"Hmm… I think it was the ones on the Hero of Time, Hero of Twilight, and the Hero of Skies?" Daruk grumbled underneath his breath as he scratched his head. "I dunno which books had the romance part, but… you could always check 'em out— they're in the Royal Library."

Link nodded. "Thanks. Maybe they'll have some sort of clue."

"You aren't going off of 'em are ya?" Daruk asked, narrowing his eyes. "That ain't romantic there, little guy. Ya gotta have your own love story."

"Who'd want to know about the story of love during a time of war?" Link sneered out, somewhat hatefully at the thought. "They'd call me a loser for being rejected because I'm sure it would be written down."

Daruk huffed. "Ya never know, now do ya?"

Link winced at the tone and took a deep breath. "No… I guess not."

"To me— I'd like hearing about that tale," he offered with a wide grin before moving to stop Rudania from moving around. "There's something about a story told during the middle of a war that makes the heart pound with hopefulness for a good ending."

Link chuckled. "I guess so, huh? No wonder why my heart was always tense when I heard war stories."

"Exactly!"

Link couldn't help but smile at his friend; Daruk always seemed to know what to say to get everyone's spirits to raise up. He was glad he was picked to be the Goron Champion because he had no idea what he would've done if he wasn't.

But there was one thing he knew for certain; the moment he got back to Hyrule Castle, he was booking it to the Library to see if he could find anything about those love stories the pervious Heroes had with their princesses, knowing all too well that they married them considering how widely they were known.

Hopefully it would help him out too.

…

As soon as Link felt, Daruk sighed as he pressed his hand against the main panel to close off Rudania for the day. It was enough practice for the day and his boss wanted him to help out with the mines too as he couldn't keep missing his work shifts.

He was still a Goron who needed to play his part too.

"Daruk, there ya are," his boss whistled out as he slowly made his way towards the Divine Beast, eyeing it warily. "I was wonderin' where ya had gotten off to. I saw Link on my way here."

"He just stopped by to see how things were goin'," Daruk answered. "Rudania is movin' smoothly and with a few adjustments— he'll be ready to go protectin' us! I also gotta practice gettin' him in his proper place at the Mountain top."

The Goron boss eyed the mountain. "Ya sure he'll fit?"

"Yeah— Sheikahs said he will," Daruk countered with a big grin. "We all know how wise the Sheikahs are."

"Fair enough."

Daruk could feel the distrust raiding off his boss as Rudania stood silently and he swore for a split moment— he could hear his Divine Beast's own distrust of the Goron next to him and he held back a shake of his head. It would take some time getting used to hearing Rudania's roar and the Gorons made their concerns heard over the course of the first few weeks, but Daruk had pushed them to the side.

This was going to help them with Ganon after all.

"Hey, boss?" Daruk asked, voice soft.

The Elder nearly jumped at the softness. "Aye?"

"... I was wonderin'... how do you confess to someone?" Daruk asked, feeling like a child. But he figured he could use the advice himself. There was someone who caught his eyes after all.

"You… uh… you like someone?" the Elder replied, voice just as soft and Daruk swore he heard pride.

"Yeah."

This was mainly for Link. That way he could provide better help.

The Elder took a moment to decide his next few words. "Ya just tell 'em," he decided on saying. "All ya do is walk up to 'em, ask to speak with 'em before ya go and say what yer feeling for 'em. Easy as that and hope for the best."

"Thanks," Daruk grinned. "That helps."

His boss nodded before moving slowly back to the Goron City. "C'mon… the mines won't mine themselves, goro."

"Comin'!"

He hoped everything would go alright with Link and Zelda. He was rooting for them, after all and he knew so were the others.