Zelda knelt in the grass, running her hand along the dirt again and again until it stopped feeling like anything; it just became a numb sensation across her palm. Despite how much she'd healed in the past week, her other wrist was still bandaged. She held three flowers, each different, but ones that she thought were equally beautiful. The petals were soft as she ran her thumb along one.
The sun was beating down on her, demanding that she finally stand up, but it was more difficult than she thought. Her eyes were glued to the massive stone, elaborately decorated, carved, clean.
Here Lies the Royal Family of Hyrule Who Died in Service to their Kingdom
King Nohansen Daphnes Harkinian Hyrule
Queen Llyan Oren Hyrule
Princess Aelia Neri Ciela Hyrule
May You Find Peace with the Goddess
It took a long time for her to move her eyes off the words and down to the flowers that had been planted all around the stone. The dark, freshly dug dirt was still soft, but the flowers hadn't been too disturbed. Zelda had picked a lush spot where the flowers had bloomed on their own, and her family could rest on a hill where there was a clear view of both the sunset and sunrise. It was a hill with the Goddess's blessing smiling down on it all day and night.
It took until orange cast a glow across the sky for her to finally stand from her first visit to the grave. Her face was streaked with tears. But they weren't all sad. She was relieved that it was over, that they were finally able to rest.
She brushed off her knees and headed down the hill, moving much better than she had the week prior. She'd been thankful for Shad and Owl's attentions, especially on the day they told her that her fever had broken. Her feet carried her a little too quickly down the hill, and she bounded a few extra steps toward the waiting carriage.
"You okay?" Link asked from where he'd been waiting to give her some privacy. She rested against the side of the small cart beside him while the coachman settled a few things into place.
"I will be," Zelda said, leaning into him. "Going back home for the first time probably won't be pretty."
He helped her into the carriage and climbed in behind her, both healing, but still unable to bear the rock and bounce of a horse for long journeys.
The journey to Hyrule Castle wasn't actually long, but the time spent in the carriage between the grave and the castle seemed to drag on forever.
Since the battle, there were already people living in the castle, preparing it and cleaning up after Ganondorf had lived inside. There had been a lot of blood. It extended into Castle Town, which had been nearly abandoned and ransacked. In the few weeks since the battle, people had begun to reclaim their homes, and settle on new ones.
Nobles began to return from where they'd hidden and sought refuge, and Zelda had been more than a little surprised for familiar names to be written in her letters. They were people who'd held land or power before, some people who'd lived in the castle but had been away, some who'd even been on her father's council.
While they hadn't been terribly useful during the battle when she needed them most, she'd invited them to return to their original positions or homes. Normalcy needed to happen quickly, and she needed the nobles with experience to help her learn how to lead an entire kingdom. She couldn't rely on instinct for every single decision.
Daltus was already at the castle, staying in Hyrule until her coronation before he'd be returning home. He'd return to Damel once she was settled—since the town was still a large hub with too many people and no set leadership yet—then he'd ride back to the castle for the coronation.
So, when Link and Zelda stood in the courtyard, staring at the massive structure in peace—unlike the chaotic mess that had prevented them from properly looking at it before—Zelda struggled to take another step. Her mind was flooded with memories of a different time. Her sister running out the door to greet her, her parents waving from their balcony a few floors up. The sight of their bodies in cages outside the door…
It was a while before she got her legs to move, going inside with a heartache that she had been preparing for. She'd warned Link several times that this first week was going to be difficult for her, seeing the rooms where her parents slept or lived in. She'd prepared him for the inevitable waterworks she'd have and that she just needed some time to feel their loss for the first time. She'd never been able to safely grieve, always on the run or preparing for a battle.
The entryway was lit by the wide windows, sending streaks of light on the ground and bouncing off the light floor and walls. Link noted that there was something different about it than the last time he'd gone through the entry. The darkness that loomed over everything was gone.
Zelda's legs carried her to a doorway, and she peered inside to see some servants cleaning and stoking a fire. Zelda glided through the room, smiling at everyone as she took in the sitting room and the fireplace and the piano in the corner that her mother used to play with her, and the doorway into a small study with books neatly stacked away
She'd found as much of the reserve rupees as she could to employ as many refugees who'd lost their homes as she possibly could until they could get back on their feet. And, as promised, she'd set aside some rupees for Maryse and Oton to rebuild their farm.
Ellie, on the other hand, had spent the past week begging to be allowed to return to the castle with Zelda rather than home to a farm with her mother. At first, Zelda had adamantly declined, but as Ellie's persistence began to wear her down, she'd agreed to consider it as long as they all had a very long conversation with Maryse.
So, it wasn't a surprise to see Seres walking through a hallway in the distance, pushing Ellie along as she tried to instruct her on how to do something.
Curious, Zelda followed, Link still behind her, though she peeked into several rooms as they went along. There were many that were still unfinished, but it was enough to live in.
She went into a room and saw Seres bent down with an open drawer, but what caught her eyes was Ellie standing on the edge of an arm of a couch as she reached for the top shelf of something.
Zelda took a hasty step forward to steady Ellie, but Link moved Zelda to the side and easily caught Ellie long before she even knew she was falling off the couch. He set her down, relieved that the burn in his ribs was minimal, all things considered, and handed her the jar she'd been reaching for.
"Ellie," Zelda choked. "We're responsible for you now. I promised your mother to take care of you. You can't do that to me on your first day here."
"I didn't know I was going to slip!" she countered as she handed a jar of old, dried out plants to Zelda. "But look! I found them! I knew I saw them yesterday!"
"What is that?" Link balked, looking at the jar. It was a hideous concoction of greens and browns that looked moldy or rotted.
"So, Princess Zelda is going to teach me how to make an emergency poultice and she said that I would need to find some herbs, and when I saw them yesterday, I figured that they were perfect!"
"Ellie," Zelda laughed. "First off, you need fresh herbs for the one I was talking about, and these need to be thrown away. Second, not today. It's my first day back here and I need… I need to take it all in. Ask me tomorrow."
Unable to suppress the urge to throw her head back in disappointment, Ellie nodded. "Fine. But did you at least see the potion room?"
"The what?"
Ellie waved them on, and Seres offered Zelda a bemused but sympathetic look.
Zelda grabbed Link and pulled him beside her. "Did we accidently adopt a fourteen-year-old girl when we agreed to let her live here?"
"We absolutely did," he nodded. "All I asked for was a cat."
They followed her to a room that had Zelda absolutely floored because it did not exist before. There were ingredients lining shelves that were specifically chosen for their potion-making qualities. There was a desk with any item she could think of, including empty jars, bottles, berries, bowls, herbs. There were several books along the back of the desk, each with an introductory title.
"A gift from Shad," Ellie said, gesturing around. "He said you need to practice so he can see how much better you've gotten when he comes back to check on you two."
"This is incredible," she breathed, running her hands along the furniture.
But before she had a moment to savor the space, Ellie had her hand and was dragging her out of the room, leading her on a mad adventure from room to room, explaining who suggested what. There was a small garden with hedges and a small swing attached to a tree, there was a huge library, restocked with books that had been saved from abandoned homes. Someone had even redesigned the entrance to the library so there was a door leading outside to allow access to the public.
There was a long hallway that Ellie was about to pass, but this time, Zelda stopped her and they took the corner. They eventually headed down a dark stairwell, knowing exactly where it would take them. As if the cold and damp sticky sensation on the walls and in the air wasn't enough of an indicator, the dried blood and long corridor of cells was clear. No one had cleaned down here yet, so it still smelled of iron and death.
Zelda ran her hand along several bars before stopping at an open door, the cell looking unused since their time inside. Link peeked inside and saw the holes he'd hidden the keys in, the bucket still filled with water. Clearly, Ganondorf considered this cell either ineffective, or cursed.
"You were in here?" Ellie asked, surprisingly humbled in her expression.
Link leaned casually on the bars. "Yep. Here's where we met. Very romantic."
Zelda looked around. While the dungeons hadn't been cleaned, the prisoners had all been freed after the battle. "I wonder where Finn was that whole time?"
"Can't just bring here and ask him yet. He'll need some help if he wants to come down."
"I don't want to see my other cell, to be honest," Zelda admitted, remembering the claustrophobic hole that Ganondorf had trapped her in. "Let's go back upstairs."
In the light of the floor above ground, everything felt a little easier to handle. Ellie began to fill the silence again, and they went into a few more rooms.
But Zelda managed to free herself from Ellie when they'd gotten to the bedrooms, promising to find her later—because Ellie wanted to show her the room she'd picked out for herself just beside the one Seres had.
Zelda had asked Link for some privacy as well, and he left her to go explore the garrison and to check on Finn, who'd been moved into the Commander's room in the barracks. Zelda had already assured Link that he wouldn't be sleeping in there, so Link had given it to Finn. Zelda told him to find her later, and he headed outside.
Without any company, Zelda took the hallway very slowly, her hand trailing along the familiar walls. She passed over her own room, knowing that there were two others she had to see first. At the very end of the hall, she opened one of the double doors and stepped into her parent's room.
It was the size of a several rooms combined into one, with archways leading one open space into another, and it was extremely clean, but a sick feeling washed over her. She knew that this was the room Ganondorf had used. Old portraits that had once been on the walls were gone, and objects like end tables weren't where her parents had left them. While it was clean, the room was dirty from his intrusion into it. She couldn't bring herself to cross into the threshold of the room, backing away with far more haste than she'd intended.
So, when she stood with her hand against the knob to Aelia's room, she had to take a few steadying breaths, a little more prepared for the rush she'd feel.
The room was much more familiar, not a fake cleanliness like her parents' room had. It was literally just untouched. She managed to get into the room, picking up a worn-out stuffed animal that Aelia had always slept with. As she got older, she opted to keep it on her nightstand, but there had been a time when she'd never seen her sister without it. She pulled the creature into a hug as she made her way to the desk in the corner.
Aelia wasn't nearly as interested in scholarly work, potions, research, or medicine as Zelda had been, but her sister had loved to write, and there were private journals all along a protected shelf above her desk. But one was sitting on the desk, never put away.
Zelda sat in the chair and opened it to the first page, needing to cover her mouth when she saw the too-familiar handwriting.
"I hate today. It's too hot to go outside, and too hot to stay inside. Zelda offered to take me to the springs again, but it's a stupid idea. It's HOT. Why would I want to go to a hot spring? Sometimes she makes me wonder. I'm just going to write in this new book until I melt. You won't miss me since it's only page one. Bye forever you stupid book."
Zelda chuckled and looked at the next page.
"I'm sorry; I was having heat stroke, I think. It's so much cooler today that I can breathe without being choked on hot air. Sellie and Ashe are coming down for a visit. Their parents are doing something important, I guess, but I lucked out!"
Zelda closed the book as her tears fell, careful to avoid splattering onto the ink. She opened it again, turning further into the more worn middle of the book.
"Zelda took me to see the soldiers again. I'm friends with a few of them, which I didn't expect. I think she still feels guilty. I feel guilty too. I shouldn't have yelled at her. She was trying to help. I don't regret telling her how lonely I was though. She convinced mom to send for Sellie again. It's been a long time since she came over."
She flipped a few pages again.
"This war is stupid. They're making Zelda get married, then they're going to do it to me. I should have run away when I had the chance, but he's gone now. Even Zelda is leaving to start her training with some Kapeoraragabraoaadja. I don't know how to spell his name. He's a physician. I'm still debating letting her know just how much I'll miss her."
Zelda needed a moment to breathe. Aelia had told her just before she'd left. She turned to the last two entries, which had different dates but were written together.
"I heard them say that someone's coming. They won't tell me anything. All I know is that Zelda is on her way home. It must be something bad if she's leaving Hyrule Field. I just wish they'd tell me.
"Zelda came back last night. She told me a little bit about what's going on. I'm not going to lie to a stupid book, I'm scared. It sounds like we're going to be safe inside, but with the way everyone's acting, it's like they think the castle can be broken into. They found me some armor that I have to wear all day. Marnie is coming to help me when she finishes with Zelda. I'm just waiting now. And Zelda sent one of her old crowns ahead because mine is locked away. I don't understand because no one will tell me what's happening. But the fighting is so close I can see it outside my window. And it lo—"
The word cut off with a scribble, too distracted by something to finish her thought. Zelda pushed the book aside and cupped her mouth as her body shook with tears falling again. That had been the day Ganondorf showed up. She'd tried to keep Aelia safe, but by not telling her what was going on, Zelda had made her sister's last day a living nightmare from start to finish.
Somehow, she managed to stand, grabbing hold of the stuffed creature before it fell off her lap, and she collapsed onto Aelia's bed. It still smelled like the perfumes her sister liked so much.
Alone and overwhelmed, Zelda let out a heartbroken sob, one hand clutching the animal and the other the comforter.
She wondered if there would ever be a day when she'd stop feeling guilty. Guilty for being alive. Guilty for living after she'd stabbed herself. She wondered if the pain of loss would ever hurt any less, because as it was, she felt like she was impaled on a bed of knives rather than a soft mattress.
It wasn't until she felt the mattress dip and a hand rest on her waist that she looked up, shocked to see just how long she'd actually been in the room. It had to have been over an hour, judging by the shadows.
Link was beside her, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he laid behind her and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her start to shake again.
"She was so scared," Zelda cried, rolling over so she and the stuffed creature were against Link. "And I just feel so weak because I can't stop! I can't even think their names without wanting to cry!"
"You're not weak," he murmured, running a hand through her hair. "There are nights when I wake up in an absolute panic, and I have to just watch you breathe to know you're alive. It's been weeks, but I still do that. Does that make me weak?"
"No."
"See? You're understanding of everyone's pain but your own. Stop being hard on yourself. You grieve your own way and forget the rest of the world. No one can tell you it's been too long and it's time to move on. And if they do, I'll punch them for you."
She chuckled and swallowed hard, feeling her choked tears in her throat. Sitting up, she held the creature for another moment before setting it down. "I don't know if I can keep these rooms here. Mine is fine, but my parents' room and this one might need to be redecorated. I don't know if I can function knowing that the occupants of these rooms are never coming back."
"I'll paint the walls myself."
With a lingering sniffle, Zelda went to stand up, feeling her feet wobble.
Link stood beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Come on. Show me where I can find your room. I'm going to need to know where to sneak into every night."
Zelda hurriedly pulled him from Aelia's room and closed the door, feeling relief immediately wash over her when the door slammed shut as she allowed her mind to wander anywhere else. And thankfully, she liked where Link was leading her.
"Oh no," she said, hurrying in front of him, walking backwards to face him as she pulled him with her. "You're walking straight through that door. Bardo is my guard. He already knows about us and he's surprisingly eager to give us space."
"Bardo knows too?" Link laughed, following her with a smile as he watched her expression soften from its earlier tenseness.
"Remember the first time?"
Link hummed. "No. Remind me."
She shot him a bemused look. "We suspected they might have figured it out, but he essentially confirmed that he and Leon could hear us. It was so awkward."
"He did not!" Link balked. "He admitted that?"
"So," Zelda continued, stopping in front of a door. "You can just walk in with Bardo at the door. And honestly, I don't really care who knows. They all know we've kissed. They know we're together. I'm sure they're assuming more than that anyway."
Link grabbed her hand and gestured to the room. "What if you have to get married?"
She froze, but found her head shaking. "I won't. I just won't do it."
"Zelda…"
"Stop. Not today. We're not talking about this today."
He held his hands up. "Okay. That's fine."
"Good."
"Can I see inside now?" Link asked, wriggling his eyebrows.
Zelda pushed the door open, following beside Link. The room was as untouched as Aelia's, appearing almost as it had been before. Zelda went first to her closet, running her hands along her old dresses and outfits, and then went to lie down on the old, familiar mattress, welcoming the comfortable way she sank into it, the sound of silk sheets rustling as she moved.
Link, on the other hand, was awestruck. "Gods, Zelda, this room is the size of a small house."
There was a sitting area in front of a fireplace, a small hall leading to a closet and a washroom in the back, a balcony, a massive bed, desks, shelves, notebooks. The room was clearly used and lived in.
Link laid down beside her, letting out a relaxed moan as he did. "Goddess, this is the closest I'll ever get to being in the Sacred Realm. This is the most comfortable bed I've ever laid in."
Leaning on her arm so she could look down at him, Zelda bit back a grin.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing." She ran her hand through his hair. "I just like you. That's all. I think you're cute, and I have a little crush."
"Little?"
"Yes," she laughed, pulling him over to meet her awaiting lips.
He met hers with such vigor that they toppled over, and he just barely caught himself before he could fall down against her. While they were healing, they were not healed, and him crashing onto her would have absolutely agitated both of their wounds.
"Ugh," she muttered in annoyance as he lowered himself gently back down against her, far more tender in his affections. He snorted at her reaction and felt her lift herself up on her elbows to get closer to him, despite the itch in her hand to pull him flush against her until there was nothing between them.
It had become an unspoken—but obvious—fact that since Zelda's infection had gotten better, Link was the one who was far more injured of the two of them. So, over the past week, in the times they'd tried anything, Zelda's enthusiasm had often resulted in injuring Link more. And despite his claims that he either didn't feel anything, or that he welcomed whatever Zelda did to him, she could see that he'd been swallowing down his pain.
So, she had made every attempt to restrain herself until he was better. Thankfully, he knew better how to move his body so he wouldn't be writhing in pain, so Zelda begrudgingly gave him most of the control in these stolen moments… for now.
She felt his hand barely brush her leg when there was a loud knock on the door.
Zelda groaned "Goddess, you're kidding me. One second!" she called out. "Later?" she asked Link with a mischievous grin as he rolled out of the bed to follow her.
"Gods, yes. That door locks, right?"
"Thankfully."
She opened the door and Ellie burst inside, bouncing with excitement. "Is this your room? Oh gods, it's exactly how I pictured it! Is that a mini replica of the Goddess Statue? I want this so bad! I might come in here and steal it if it's okay with you?" But she didn't wait for an answer and continued to talk, marveling at the room.
"We can put a chair under the door handle too," Zelda said, watching Ellie pick up several of her things before putting them back down, making several comments to herself as she did.
"Bar the windows," Link murmured into her ear.
"Stuff up the fireplace."
"Do you have any hidden ways into your room we need to cover?"
Zelda chuckled as she leaned into him, grabbing his hand in hers as she did. "I definitely have a crush on you, Link."
He moved aside as Ellie plowed out of the room, gesturing for them to follow her. When she'd begun to take the stairs, Link turned back to Zelda and gave her a long kiss on the lips before pulling her with him to follow Ellie.
"Yeah, I think I like you too."
