When Link woke up from his nap, he read the flipping of a page and he couldn't help but smile when he realized Zelda was still reading through her book. Outlaw and Storm were still trying to eat as many apples as their stomachs would allow and he had just caught up on some sleep. He would never keep himself awake long enough to act all drunk-like and not give a care about anything in the world.

He couldn't risk it and he didn't want to risk his friendship with Zelda.

Slowly, he moved off of Zelda's shoulder and rubbed his eyes, groaning as he did so. His body still demanded to head back asleep, it was almost like he could sleep for a hundred years and go a day without sleeping or so.

Like that would ever happen.

"Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yeah. I feel more refreshed, like I could do almost anything," Link smiled as he stretched his arms out. "How's the book?"

Zelda gave him her own smile, but he could see how it was slightly forced out onto her features and his stomach dropped. "It's been good. It's been telling me where to go for awakening the power… when it should come naturally and—"

"Stop." Link demanded, taking her hands into his own. "You have this tone like something is wrong and you're not really confident in yourself. I hate that. You're going to awaken this. Look, let's go to some of these places— the Springs, yeah?"

"You… you'd be willing to try this so soon?" she questioned, sucking in a sharp breath. It was almost like she was asking him to drop everything and run away.

Link shrugged, hopping onto his feet. "Why not? In three days, I'm the wielder of the Master Sword and your Appointed Knight. I can take us anywhere you want in order to awaken this power," he flashed her a grin. "Besides, we're almost seventeen. We can do whatever we want at this age."

"You mean, you're almost seventeen," grumbled Zelda. "I'm not."

"Doesn't matter how far apart our birthdays are! We're still old enough to travel around Hyrule and it's for Champion business anyways." Link pointed out. "It's not like King Rhoam will mind."

Zelda tried to hold her flinch at the mention of her father; her mind visibly showing all the times he had favored Link over her because of his bravery and how he would always manage to complete tasks in a certain amount of time while she had to take her time in order to make sure everything was perfect. It was hurtful and the recent fight still fresh in her mind made her want to scream at the heavens to ever bring up her father again until she was over it.

She didn't even realize Link was reading her thoughts through her expressions, because if she looked at his face; she would've seen a guilty one for bringing up her father and his stupid idiotic ways of stuffing his foot into his mouth.

"Forget him." Link suddenly stated. "We'll go later today. We'll make it a huge trip and I'll cook for us every day and night. It'll be like camping— like old times."

Zelda sucked in a breath. "What about the Champion meetings?"

"We can last without a couple," Link answered, helping her up. "We only ever speak about the Divine Beasts and where we're going from this point anyways. They're getting better at piloting and the Sheikahs are helping them."

He did have a point about the Sheikahs being with the Champions and Divine Beasts, making all the necessary arrangements for them to control the powerful beings more easily and she had no doubt that they were getting all the help they would ever need which meant they had time to venture around Hyrule.

Plus, it would certainly help awakening the power early on...

With a deep sigh, she marked her page before shutting the book, nodding in reply, earning a wide smile from her friend and she swallowed. This would be the perfect chance to cool down from her father.

Everything would be fine.

"Okay," Zelda sighed, giving in. "We can go visit the places."

Link smiled. "There we go! Look, we'll get everything ready and head off when you're good to go; plus I know Outlaw would love to travel around and get to know you and Storm better— he already likes her." he jammed his thumb towards the horses where Outlaw was getting Storm another apple to munch on.

"Alright. I believe you." Zelda laughed.

"Great, where do you want to go?" asked Link.

Zelda took a deep breath as she made up her mind. "Anywhere. Anywhere that I don't have to see my father to bug me about being a better commander."

Link frowned but didn't comment on it. "Okay," he breathed. "We'll head to the Spring of Power, okay? We'll go there first. I think it's the closest anyways."

With a tight nod, Zelda turned on her heels to change into a much more flexible outfit while Link sighed heavily, slumping against the tree. His mind was racing on how he had accidentally brought up that fight she had with King Rhoam and he was beating himself up more by thinking about it.

God, he was stupid.

She wanted to forget about the fight she had with him, not keep remembering and he was reminding her of it. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to speak with him when they started their journey off by heading to the Spring of Power.

Hopefully she wouldn't be too mad.

…

For the past few minutes they had traveled in complete silence and Link didn't know how to break it. Zelda kept her eyes on the trail in front of them while he was dedicated to keeping his eyes out for monsters that had been recently seen around Hyrule as Calamity Ganon's return drew near. Everyone was a bit fearful in wandering around without something to defend themselves and it was understandable.

Outlaw and Storm didn't sense the tension as they kept trotting towards their destination; Outlaw followed his new friend as she led them through the right path, but he could sense something was wrong with his owner but he couldn't just stop to gaze.

It wasn't like Link would let him stop either.

"Princess." Link called out as he eyed a fire pit. His stomach was growling and in high demands of food. "Let's stop for a bite."

Zelda glanced over her shoulder and huffed. "But we should be able to make—"

"Please?" Link pleaded, swallowing as he pictured what he could make. Everyone knew it wasn't wise to travel on an empty stomach or you ran the risk of collapsing right there and then; who knew what could happen. "We can't keep traveling without something in our stomachs."

He was right and she knew it. Her own stomach was demanding something to feed it; something to give her energy to keep going until it was in need of more. In all honesty, she didn't think she even ate at all today.

For how long she had until she, herself, passed out; she didn't know.

"Alright." she sighed, turning Storm over to trot over to the fire pit. "But make it quick. I don't want to lose daylight."

Link flashed her a smirk. "I'm a quick chief. I promise."

"Then again, you throw whatever you can find into the pot," Zelda smirked in reply, wiping Link's off of his face. "I'd hate to get food poisoning over your cooking skills."

"That's a low blow."

"I didn't realize." there was a smug smirk that sent him into laughter.

Half way through the cooking process, Zelda learnt that Link had been able to contain himself when adding ingredients to the pot. He dropped a few spices into the pot, stirring it around while whistling, adding some salt before adding butter until he was satisfied with the way it turned out. Carefully, he took the finished product out of the pot and the smell caught her attention and she couldn't help but hum.

He had gotten good over the years.

Taking up the spoon, Link divided the food into equal parts before handing her plate over as he sat down with his own, wasting no time as he dug into the freshly made meal, giving a few crumbles to Outlaw, who gladly ate up the crumbs, licking his muzzle before trotting over to the small pound near them for a drink.

Storm wasn't much interested in watching the pair as she laid down with her eyes closed for a brief nap.

"Is it good?" Link asked shyly. "I've been trying out new recipes."

Zelda blew on her spoonful before eating. "It's good," she replied. "I admit, you've gotten much better at this than Revali claims."

Link stuck out his tongue. "Revali doesn't like me. He's always so salty with me."

"He likes you," Zelda responded back. "He just doesn't like admitting it— he's a prideful Rito. You know how prideful people are. They can't admit things."

"Maybe he should."

Both of them laughed.

Eventually, once they were done, Link was focusing on cleaning up when he got sight of a traveler walking towards them and he stiffened. That didn't look like anyone they knew or did they look friendly. His eyes darted towards Zelda and he swallowed; she was tending to the horses, so she wouldn't know if he quickly checked out the traveler to ensure they were safe to be around.

Slowly, his hand inched towards his sword as he watched the traveler approach them. This couldn't be good news. If this was someone who could harm them, then Link would be taking care of them without thinking because he was suppose to protect her and he damn-well would until his dying breath.

Unfortunately, Zelda had also taken notice of the stranger and stiffened. She tried acting natural but it was clear she was starting to become anxious.

Link took in the stranger's appearance.

Dark hair, dark eyes, traveler wear… this didn't look like he could trust the guy, and he made it quick clear as he stepped in front of him, narrowing his eyes dangerously as the traveler nervously darted his eyes around.

"Who are you?" Link questioned. "What do you want?"

"I… I uh… I wanted to ask for directions," the man replied and Link could sense the lying in his voice.

What did Urbosa say about strange travelers again? Something about not trusting them and they might very well be in a Clan out to get them; then it hit Link.

The Yiga Clan.

"Oh, yeah? Where do you want to go?" snarled Link.

"... Death Mountain…" the man swallowed.

The Hylian scoffed as he drew his blade. "Nice try… Yiga."

The man's jaw dropped before a snarl formed. He brought his finger up to his lips and smoke covered him entirely before fading away to reveal his Yiga Clan outfit with his weapon. Zelda almost let out a shriek as she watched the pair fight to the death; it was painfully clear that Link was trying his hardest to make sure he got the memo about staying away from them.

Yet the Yiga was also clear that he wasn't going to give up. Storm let off a dangerous huff as she moved in front of Zelda to protect her, and the Hylian jumped when she felt Outlaw come up behind her to provide her moral support while the battle raged on until they all heard a cry echoing around.

A pained laughter rang out before it formed into an even more painful cry. Cautiously, Zelda peeked out and gasped when she saw Link crouched down over the Yiga, the Master Sword deep in the Yiga's chest, and she could guess correctly if he pulled it out— the blade would be dripping and stained with the blood of the enemy.

She swallowed; he had murdered someone.

It didn't matter if it was a Yiga because he still, at the end, killed someone and took a life away. There could've been the chance the Yiga could've been reformed, but she knew it was for the best.

What was stopping that Yiga from coming back at them?

"Link…" she whispered.

Link locked eyes with her and she paled when she saw the bloody cut on his cheek. Yet despite the wound, he was still fucking smiling. "You're okay," he breathed out. "I'm glad. Thank Hylia there was only one, huh?"

"You idiot!" she raged as she rushed over to check his wound. "You're fucking hurt!"

"Look at that," he whistled. "The princess is swearing."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're bleeding, Link! You killed him. You killed someone, Link! You couldn't have allowed him to live?"

"Urbosa told us about them," he stressed. "They want you dead, princess. I have to protect you. I did what I had to do in order to ensure your safety, didn't I? No one is going to know I did it. We'll just say the blood is monster blood."

She couldn't fight him on that; Urbosa had told them all about the Yiga Clan and their goals. She made it quite clear to Link to do whatever it took to protect their commander, and he wholeheartedly agreed to the Gerudo's reasonings, promising he would do just that.

But did he really have to kill him?

"Link…" Zelda whispered out, blinking away the tears.

Link smiled as he tugged the sword out; Zelda visibly winced when she saw the blade dripping with blood, but he looked like he didn't care. "We should head off soon," he ordered, glancing around.

"Your wound needs to be attended to," she whispered out. "You'll scar."

"It's worth the scarring," Link winked as he cleaned off the blade. "But… if it makes you feel better you can clean it up. There's some bandages in Outlaw's pouch."

Wordlessly, she turned and made her way towards Outlaw, wondering how to deal with the information that he would kill someone to keep her safe; even if they were the enemy, it didn't fit right that he killed the Yiga.

It would never fit right when it came to killing.