The next day, the sixth day of travel, Zelda spent in the medical area with Shad, Maryse, Oton, and Ellie, among the other volunteers. Ellie was the only one without training, so she was taught how to do simple things like cut cloth to the right size, and the names of the items in the tent.

They talked while the army moved, and Zelda found herself lighter, freer. There was something about being with people who'd thought her to be someone else that was incredibly comforting. It was like Link, in many ways.

But that idyllic fantasy of being someone else was shattered when Link and a few other soldiers rode over to find her

"Yes?" she asked.

"Princess," one of the other soldiers said. Commander Ashei would like to speak with you urgently.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, directed at Link. He just shrugged, so she turned to follow them with Epona, weaving through the marching troops until they reached the front of their company, and went further on still, far from the safety of their numbers. She was grateful Link was with her, but she didn't fail to see his scowl at how little armor she was wearing.

Finally, Ashei came into view atop a horse on a hill, and Zelda rode up to her.

"What's happening?"

Ashei didn't answer but gestured with her head for Zelda to ride beyond the hill a bit.

And when she did, she saw hundreds of troops who burst into raucous applause and cheers when they saw her.

"What's this?" she asked, looking back at Ashei.

"These are some of your parents' troops that never made it to Damel."

Wide-eyed in wonder, Zelda let out a breath.

"They're all here for you, Princess."


Later that night, she sat cross-legged in her tent, aimlessly waiting for time to pass.

"Princess?" Bardo said from just outside the tent flap.

"Yes?"

"You have someone here who says he knows you. He came in with the troops today. Calls himself Owl."

Zelda's ears perked up and she was scrambling out of the tent. Her eyes locked on an older man, hair a mix of grey and white. He wore a wide smile, and old armor that she immediately recognized as some that had been issued by her parents.

"Princess," he greeted with a quick bow, but he was up immediately to catch her as she threw herself into his arms and he swung her dangling legs playfully. "I'm so glad to see you are alive. I'm sorry to hear what happened to your family."

Owl, the man who'd taught her nearly everything she'd known about medicine and who she'd volunteered under, was one of the last pieces she had of her old life that still remained, and she welcomed his presence with a bursting joy. She'd lived in that camp with him for months, and she'd come to think of some of them like family.

"You're alive? I never found out what happened to everyone. How's your son?"

"We made it, mostly," he said, leading her out into the night air for a walk. "But we eventually scattered for safety. I was in Western Hyrule Field when the garrison received the call to head to Damel. Rauru survived, but he was injured. He stayed behind. I then heard again that you were there in town, safe, alive. It warmed my heart. I wouldn't miss being here for anything, Princess. I might be getting older, but I didn't know if you needed any surgeons."

"I'll take you to meet Shad. He's our head physician here. He isn't a soldier, but he'd actually been at our camp in Hyrule Field to help out on a particularly bad day. He recognized me when I was still in hiding, and he's been helping us since."

"Sounds like a good man."

"He is. I know you like to be in charge, but he's a good leader."

Her eyes darted around, looking to see where she was in relation to the medical tent, when she spotted Finn, Bardo, Leon, and Link all spaced out, watching her. She rolled her eyes. Though she was used to it, it never failed to strike her as odd that she had four people lurking in the shadows, waiting for something bad to potentially happen to her.

She excitedly waved Link over, and he brushed up against her arm before stopping. When Link saw Owl's posture, distinctly that of a higher-ranking soldier, potentially even a Knight, Link straightened up and fell into his more proper stance.

Owl's large eyes narrowed at the spot where Link rested too familiarly against Zelda—so much so that he didn't even seem to notice their contact—and looked questioningly at her. "Who's this?"

"This is Link Forrester. He saved me from the castle dungeons and has been my guard ever since. Link, this is Owl, the—"

"Physician who trained you," Link finished, extending a hand, which Owl took forcefully. Link didn't grimace but was relieved when the man's extra tight grip let go. "Princess Zelda has told me many good things about you, Sir."

"You talk about me to your guards?" Owl laughed, though his humor was directed at Zelda, not Link. "I feel I should be honored."

"Link is a trusted friend, not just a guard."

"And a trained soldier," Owl noted. "Wise choice for a guard, unlike one of Prince Daltus' guards I met earlier today." He looked Link over and gestured to an old scar on his facer. "You've seen battles."

"I have, Sir."

"Link," Zelda said, accidently grabbing him casually by the wrist before letting go. "Do you know where Shad is set up? I haven't seen him since we stopped."

"I do," he said, gesturing for them to follow him through the camp, listening to Zelda prattle to Owl with pure excitement as she talked about what she and Shad had been doing, and her potions skills. Link couldn't help but glance over at her and smile.


On the seventh day, Auru emerged from deep within his own troops' area to convene for a strategy meeting while they took a short break from travelling. They'd just breached the edge of Hyrule Field and expected another day or so of travelling before they'd reach the castle.

A letter from Viscen explained that Ganondorf was well aware of their proximity, and his troops were gathering in front of the castle to protect it, but also within it in case of a breach.

The meeting between the leaders was brief, simply a means of catching up on everything, and Zelda was glad it lasted for as short a time as it did.

But before Daltus could leave, Zelda pulled him aside.

"Daltus," she started before taking a deep breath. "Listen, I know what we've talked about in the past. I know the promises you've made, and agreements between us. But if anything should happen to me in that battle, anything at all where I even look injured, I want you to take our best people and get out of here. Leave someone else in charge of the troops, but get out, because Ganondorf will turn the full force of his army on you. He wants this kingdom, and you'll be his next target. You can't let him have it. And if you don't think you can withstand torture, you have to run to safety. Do you understand?"

"You want me to be a coward?" he balked. "It's how you've always seen me, so how fitting."

"No, Daltus, I'm asking you to be a hero and save this kingdom by keeping it from that man's hands. Don't trust Auru, get away from him as well."

"I will consider it, cousin. I do not plan to run… but I understand your logic, so I will consider it."

She was surprised to see some of his old haughtiness, and she'd never thought she'd be glad to see it, but it reminded her of someone who had life to them. No matter his words, someone with fight was exactly who she needed for this.


"So, Shad's coming with us?" Link asked curiously as he and Zelda took a deliberately slow route back to their tents from the other side of the encampment.

"Yes, he's going to be the field surgeon. Owl is going to take lead over the main tent."

"Shad knows how dangerous it is, right?"

"I'm sure he does. I didn't ask." Zelda stopped walking and cocked her head, hearing a noise in the distance. "What's that?" She looked first at all the patrolling soldiers, and none of them seemed to be on high alert, which immediately set her mind at some small ease. The camp was heavily patrolled, scouts were out in every single direction, guard rotations were constantly rotated to keep awake soldiers out, and it wasn't as if they'd been making an effort to hide their location. So the fact that the soldiers weren't nervous in any way had her letting out a deep breath she didn't realize she'd taken.

Link paused to listen and grinned. "Music. You tired, or do you want to check it out?"

She rubbed her eyes but nodded. "Let's go."

They followed the sound of the music until it boomed. Several large fires were built up, and soldiers with instruments, or banging on makeshift drums to keep rhythm, and the sound of claps perfectly timed with a beat rang out across the camp. There were soldiers laughing and dancing, though none were drunk as they wished to be unless some alcohol had been smuggled into camp from a local town.

There was an energy that Zelda had never seen before as people spun each other around or laughed heartily.

It was possibly their last night alive, and they were determined to enjoy it.

Link pointed to a couple dancing by the fire and nudged Zelda. "I told you my dance was real. Do you see anyone doing your stuffy one?"

She scoffed as she pulled him with her into the crowd, looking around in amazement. She caught sight of a few people she knew. Commander Ashei appeared to be having the time of her life dancing alone near the fire, lost in the music with the world drowned out entirely. She could see Shad sitting and watching a crowd with interest, eavesdropping with perhaps too much fascination.

As they kept walking, they found Finn with a few soldiers, dancing a structured dance rather than the wildly free movements some others made. Link and Zelda watched him as he hopped from foot to foot, his hands moving opposite of him as he laughed.

"Do you consider that stuffy?" Zelda had to shout over the close music for Link to hear.

His hand went to the small of her back as they moved closer to Finn and further from the ear-busrtingly loud music that began to echo as more people crowded around.

"No. Just because some dance has structure doesn't make it stuffy. It's fun, if he was doing it right, anyway."

"You know that one, too?" she asked, turning to him accusingly. "But you wouldn't do my formal dance."

"It was so slow," he whined, laughing.

Looking around, she spotted Daltus watching everyone.

"I'll show you how 'slow' it is. Come on," she said, pulling Link by the arm as she made her way to her cousin. "Daltus?" she asked finally, and Link eyed her suspiciously.

Daltus looked over at her and nodded his acknowledgment of her.

"Come dance with me, cousin. No one else here knows how to dance like we do, and I miss it. You look like you could use a bit of fun anyway."

With a harsh sigh, like it was a struggle to take her outstretched hand, Daltus nodded and followed her a little ways into the crowd.

"Watch," Zelda muttered to Link as she passed him.

She bent her arm up, and Daltus nodded, knowing immediately what dance she wanted to do, and he mirrored her, then the other arm, and they repeated it before erupting into an elaborately designed dance, that—as Zelda had said—was fast enough for the music that was playing. And while it admittedly looked fun, Link's forehead wrinkled as he tried to memorize the moves. They were gone from his brain almost immediately, too precise, too structured.

To Zelda's surprise, Daltus began to get into the dance and smiled, even laughed, though it sounded choked and unused. If nothing else, Zelda was glad she could take his mind off things. Despite her lack of desire to be friends with her cousin, she wasn't cruel.

When the music wound down, she kept hold of Daltus. "You should go dance with some people. Have fun."

He patted her hand pulled his free. "Perhaps another time, if we survive."

She nodded and smiled her goodbye before turning to see Link, watching her with an amused grin.

"Did you have to write that all those steps in a notebook and study it when you learned that dance?"

"I know about a hundred more that are just like that, all without a notebook."

He snorted and stared at her, listening to the music resume with another upbeat song that fumbled a bit before all the musicians got on the same page.

Link held out his hand to her, almost sheepishly, as he started to bouce to the music.

"Link," she muttered, gesturing around at all the prying eyes.

"You just danced with your cousin, and we danced before we'd even kissed. It's a friend thing. I'm asking you to dance as your friend. Come on. You can even leave me for someone else, if it makes you feel better."

Biting her lip, she looked around nervously and took his hand, feeling him immediately pull her against him. In the dark, it was harder for anyone to see that they were just a little too comfortable with their proximity. She knew that if she danced with Finn, he would have left room between them, and his grip on her wouldn't be nearly as secure as Link's. And his hand wouldn't be precariously low on her back.

Letting themselves be taken in by the music, Zelda didn't look for another person to dance with, no matter how suspicious it seemed that they'd danced with only each other until the moon had risen.

Later in the night, Zelda clung to him, little more than swaying, grateful for the darkness as he rested his cheek against her head and closed his eyes. They looked like any two soldiers to the casual bystander, not the Princess of Hyrule and her guard.

But still, the nagging feeling that someone would notice them hit both of them hard, and at once, they seemed to have the same idea, pulling each other away from the music and towards their tents. The area was surprisingly sparse with all the working soldiers vigilantly patrolling the edges of their camp, and everyone else either sleeping, or enjoying a last night. Both he and Zelda ducked into Link's tent.

"Do you really think we'll be there by tomorrow?" she asked Link, who'd been more involved with Ashei and planning the trained technicalities and smallest intricacies of a battle that she had given up on trying to understand in such a short time. Instead, she stayed with Shad, helping teach others what she did know.

"I do. Probably by nightfall tomorrow. Full moon, thankfully."

"How long do you think the battle will take?"

This time, he shrugged and took her hand, running a light pattern across her palm with his thumb. "I don't know. Hours, at least. It all depends. We might be at it until daybreak, or long after. We won't know." Link's expression was a mix of playful concern as he tugged at her armor. "And, speaking as a concerned soldier, you really need to wear every layer of armor from now on. We can already see the castle."

"So, you should sleep. I'll let you sleep," Zelda said, wanting him to be rested and awake for that battle far more than she wanted to satisfy her own desire to be with him.

"Wait, Zelda," he said, keeping hold of her. He looked almost unsure. "Will you stay? At least for a little while? We've been in the same area for days, but we haven't really talked or been together. I… I miss you, and tomorrow is going to be… it's going to be hard to find a minute to ourselves. Then, you know… potential death."

Zelda knelt back down, getting comfortable as she watched him, his words sinking in. "Okay, tell me, how has training been going, especially with your ribs?"

And that's how they started the first of several hours just talking, lying beside the other, telling stories, and most importantly, calming each other down.

The battle would start in under 24hours, and all nine hells would break loose on them. They'd lose sight of each other quickly, and their fates would be left to their imaginations.

As those thoughts began to overtake them, their conversations slowed, and they relaxed into each other's soft touches, memorizing as many dips and bends on the other's body. Which escalated much further as their thoughts turned more desperate, realizing this could be the last night they ever spent together as friends, as a princess and her guard, or as lovers.

They were both drowning in the other, willing to risk their relationship being discovered if only to spend one final night together. Completely captivated by one another, they only became aware of their surroundings again whenever one of them made a noise that could have been just a little too loud to alert the guards or any passersby of her presence in his tent and silenced the sound with a deep kiss or muffling it into one another's skin.

And they spent the remainder of the brisk night warmed only by the flimsy blanket that had been provided to every soldier, and by each other.


For once, Link hadn't woken before Zelda. She hadn't woken either. Both were perfectly content, Zelda lying on her stomach against his side, pressed into his chest with his arm wrapped around her, resting limply against her skin, his face practically buried in her hair. And somehow in the night, they both locked their other hands together across Link's bare chest.

"Link, so much happened during the morning session that you missed… Farore, Nayru and Din!"

Link shot up and instinctively moved to block Zelda before relaxing his tense muscles, though only marginally. "Holy waters of Nayru, Finn! What in the nine hells are you doing here?"

Meanwhile, Zelda struggled to maintain some modesty. Their small blanket was not meant to fully cover two people, and she felt Link slide most of the fabric towards her to wrap around her waist as she hurriedly pressed herself up against Link to cover her chest without enough of the blanket.

"Finn!" she hissed over her shoulder. "You were made to be with Seres! You have the same bad habits!"

"Get out of here!" Link grunted as one hand tried to vaguely cover Zelda's bare back, and his other stretched out for the nearest piece of clothing. But he stretched a bit too far, leaving the safe covering of the blanket…

"Finn, did you find him?" a female voice rang out before the entrance to the tent flapped open with another visitor. "Oh gods," Ashei whispered, though—unlike the stunned Finn—she had the decency to look at the ceiling. "Never mind. I'll be outside." And she hastily left the tent.

"Finn," Link practically growled as he moved back, feeling Zelda shaking against him as she stifled her laughter into his shoulder blade, far more amused at the situation than Link could manage in the moment. "First, hand me that," he said pointing to a white thing, not caring what it was or whose. "Second, stop looking at her. And third, is someone dying? Because if not…"

Clearing his throat, Finn grabbed—what was apparently Link's shirt—and tossed it into Link's outstretched hand as he spoke. "Well, during the morning training—"

"Listen to me, Finn," Link's chest rumbled as his grip tightened around Zelda, draping the shirt across her shoulders. "If you can wait to tell me this, get the hells out of here. If not, then have the decency to turn around for the Princess, you ass."

"Sorry," he was about to say with unabashed sarcasm towards his best friend, but hastily clicked on to who Link was referring to—not just some girl that Link was with—and it came out far more remorseful, turning away as he spoke.

Simultaneously, Link and Zelda groaned, realizing he wasn't going to leave. He had the same familiarity with Link that Zelda had with Seres, but Seres at least had the propriety to at least try to leave them. Though, like Finn, Seres had stayed to talk a bit as well. Zelda glanced quickly at Finn's back before pulling away from Link enough to throw his shirt over her and adjust the blanket as Finn spoke.

"Viscen got word to us this morning. Ganondorf's troops were seen amassing outside of the castle, and there is a large number inside as well. Then, our scouts reported finding some of theirs just on the outskirts of the camp. They know where we are, and their forces still outnumber ours. We have to move soon."

"Okay," Link mumbled, running his hands through his hair. That's important, at least.

"Finn," Zelda said. He couldn't quite meet her eyes, still preferring to look at the wall behind her. But she waved her hand to get his full attention. "You cannot tell anyone what you just walked in on."

"Have you two… are you two …?" he trailed off, not even sure if he was allowed to finish his thought.

Link let out a sigh. "We've been…" he glanced at Zelda as he fumbled for an explanation for his best friend. "We've had some kind of relationship since before we got to Damel."

"You've hid it from me for months?" Finn hissed, far too concerned with the wrong thing. "It explains a few things, like that time you threatened to kill a king."

"Can you two catch up later?" Zelda asked impatiently. "Would you ask Ashei to wait for us. We have to talk to her now, too. Oh, and please don't let anyone else into the tent."

When Finn finally ducked out of the tent with an awkward bow, Zelda's head crashed into Link with a groan.

"I told you we're cursed for people to walk in on us!"

Link shook his head, running a hand through his tousled hair. "We asked for it. Crowded army camp the night before a battle? One of us could have realized that it wasn't exactly private, no matter how quiet we were."

Leaning back into him, Zelda bit her lip playfully. "But I suppose now I know you will, rather possessively I might add, defend my honor in an indiscreet situation."

"And I know you won't!" Link chuckled as he reached over to grab the rest of their things. "You're just laughing away when Ashei walked in."

"I don't see the point in being jealous when you look at me like that," she whispered, a deviously flirty glint in her eyes.

Link's eyes hungrily raked over her. "If I might die later tonight, I'm damn well going to look at you now. You look good in my shirt, but I'd rather you were out of it." He teasingly placed a light kiss on the back of her neck before remembering Finn and Ashei just outside, and he groaned in annoyance. "Gods, I hate that they're standing out there right now, waiting."

Zelda laughed, though she covered her mouth to avoid Ashei and Finn coming up with any assumptions of what was happening.

Link grabbed her shirt from the pile of clothes and held it out. "I'm not flirting with you when I say you need to take mine off and give it back. You have your own shirt but there's no way I'll fit in it, so I'm going to need my own back."

"I'd love to see you try to fit in mine!" she snorted.

He wriggled his eyebrows at her as he helped her off with the shirt and tugged it over his own head. "I'll give you a show some other time. Somehow, I just need to live through tonight."

"Hey," she said, grabbing his arm. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I command that you stay alive."

"Yes, Princess," he said with a bow of his head before kissing her softly. "I'll do my best."