Morning arrived too soon for them as sunlight fell into the room, along with a knocking on the door from Damia frantically asking if Linkette was in there.

Zelo groaned and mumbled something about needing more sleep.

"Seriously. She is in there, right?!" Damia knocked again.

Linkette, for her part, was in a very deep sleep, curled up with a blanket and pillow and partially laying on Zelo.

"Yes…" Zelo's mind soon remembered everything from last night and what they did. "Oh goddesses."

"Well hurry up and wake her. It's time for breakfast and we have to get moving."

"O-On it," he worked on shaking her awake while ignoring how stiff he felt between his legs.

Linkette awoke with much cute yawning and seemed a bit confused, before blushing beet red remembering what happened last night. She could feel the now dry results of last night as well between her legs and started looking around the room for a wash basin, not able to look Zelo in the eye.

He seemed to share her sentiments as he just covered himself with her abandoned blanket and was internally screaming for mercy. Linkette climbed out of bed and walked over to the basin, trying not to wince as she had to use cold water to clean herself off so that she could dress.

"Just...tell me when you leave, I will be down after." Zelo requested while praying that he didn't end up impregnating her.

Linkette nodded, quickly washing off and dressing, getting her hair pulled into two braids before tapping him to let him know she was leaving, giving him a quick kiss.

"Thank you," he whispered after the kiss, "now hurry and eat before they get antsy."

Linkette nodded and went downstairs, joining the others. She couldn't help but feel amused as she saw the performer from last night calmly chatting with Dale, while Dale was a bit of an oaf.

"There really isn't a need to be nervous, Sir Knight," the performer teased a bit, "I don't bite. Unless you want me too."

Dale let out a strangled noise at that suggestion as his mind shut down again.

"We should go and save him," Beau thought it was amusing for like a minute, then he realized his cousin really needed help.

"Anyway, Sir knight, what is your name? I'm Aiden Hako." Aiden was trying to fix Dale herself.

"Da-Da-Dale! I-I'm Sir Dale H-Hayes…"

"A pleasure to meet you. What brings you here?"

Dale said nonsensical gibberish for a solid minute before actual Hylian came out, "O-On a mission f-fer th' prince!"

"Interesting. I myself am a traveling bard. I'm heading to the Goron City."

He nodded and spaced out while looking at her.

"So are we, right cousin…?" Beau said with some emphasis in some hope to snap him out of it.

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah!" Dale nodded when he finally came back to this reality.

"Really? May I travel with you up the mountain then?" Aiden requested. "I know of a good spot to camp and of a lovely hot spring to bathe…"

"Yes, you may," Damia butted in at the sound of a bath.

"Great~" Aiden gave a charming smile.

At this point Sheik magically appeared and overheard the bit about Aiden guiding them, "Do you have a horse?"

The cousins flinched at the Sheikah's sudden appearance.

"No, but horses can't climb the mountain anyway, it's too hot,"

"I'm aware, but there's still a good distance between here and there. It'd be a good idea to rent one just to make it to the base of the city."

"I'll talk to the owner of the Stables then."

"I-I can sh-share!" Dale blurted out.

"O...kay…" Sheik wasn't sure if this was the greatest of ideas, but it meant they could make up for today's lost time a little faster, "Then I hope you have your things ready for traveling, Miss Hako."

"I only bring myself, my instruments, and my bag," Which meant she was ready to go.

Meanwhile, Linkette had fallen back asleep next to her egg and rice, still tired.

"...Feel free to continue your conversation with Sir Dale, I have to help my friend over there," Sheik then worked on waking her up with a few shakes and seeing if they had any strong drinks for the morning to help wake her up.

Coffee was located and Linkette groggily drank some. More alert, she finished breakfast and the group was ready to be off. As Dale promised he shared Wassa with Aiden, though kept her in his lap due to not being sure how experienced she was with riding horses. He was regretting this a lot but didn't outwardly complain. Aiden didn't comment as she felt certain things, just focusing on not giggling and figuring out how to tease her new friend. Luckily for Beau, Damia was too focused to notice anything from him. Linkette was just happy she had her own horse. They reached the base of the mountain and stabled the horses, everyone gathering their strength for the climb. Beau handed out some flame-proof and stamina-increasing potions his mom made for everyone, Dale graciously cutting his bottles in half so that Aiden had a chance to actually survive up there. The group then proceeded up after gagging over the fact elixirs aren't the best-tasting things to have in the world. Once the potions took effect they hurried up the mountain, soon stopping at a cave Aiden suggested, which luckily was near the hot springs.

"We should finish the climb tomorrow so we aren't too worn out," She advised. Everyone agreed and worked on settling in. The good news is that it didn't take long to make lunch since all they really had to do was find a flat enough rock and place food items on it.

Once everyone had their fill they started the discussion on who would get to use the hotsprings first. Damia was quick to volunteer to go with Beau. Sheik shut that down by saying that the girls only bathe with other girls, ditto the guys.

"You aren't the boss, we're adults and can do what we want!" Damia complained.

"Like get pregnant?" Aiden couldn't help but comment. Damia went beet red. As did Linkette.

Please tell me she… "It's just more pragmatic for groups to bathe together instead of pairing off!" Sheik quickly explained, then added on "But I have some scars I'd rather not horrify anyone with, so I'll be taking my baths alone." It was a lie, but how else could he have some private time after that statement?

Damia was still grumbling as the young women scurried off to go bathe. They returned a bit later, Aiden quietly teasing both girls for having lovebites and such, though it ended up overheard by the men of the group. Dale did freak out and pull Linkette aside to grill her on where she got those, how and why. Linkette just stuck her tongue out, making it clear she wouldn't answer.

"This ain't funny! Ya know yer engaged t' th' prince, ya can't go wild with some random guy!" Dale didn't want her to be punished for seeing another.

Linkette sighed and wrote out asking how did he know it wasn't from the prince?

"Seriously? He's in th' castle, sittin' on his fancy throne doin' paperwork'r whatever, ain't no way he could've'r would've done 'em." He looked at her like she had lost her mind.

'They could be a few days old. We just left four days ago.'

"Well...I guess…" Dale scratched the back of his head, "but ya still shouldn't fool 'round out here."

'You aren't my boss.'

"I know I ain't, but we're friends Linkette. I'm worried 'bout'cha an' everythin' going on now. What's gotten int'ya?" He looked genuinely concerned and a little hurt.

'I'm enjoying not being stuck at the castle and acting like a proper lady. Can't you leave it? I didn't do anything wrong.' She all but tossed the paper and pencil at him, storming off to her tent.

He deflated a bit after reading her statement. "Sorry…" he then went to take that bath after Beau promised Damia he'd be right back for snuggles.

"Whoops," Aiden felt a bit guilty at causing the argument.

"Don't feel bad, Aiden, he would have caught on eventually," Damia tried to reassure her. "Now let's go cheer up Linkette." They joined the hero in her tent, trying to cheer her back up.

Meanwhile with the cousins, Beau was trying to talk this out with Dale.

"Okay, run this by me again…" Beau asked.

"She said th' bites're pro'ly a few days old an' I shouldn't git all huffy 'bout her life."

"Dale, I need a little more detail than that."

"Okay, okay…" the ginger sighed and tried again, this time giving a slightly more accurate description of what went down.

"I do agree that it's great for her to get her freedom from Aunt Kenna, but I also agree with you that she still needs to be careful while she explores it. You two have to meet somewhere in the middle - and be civil about it at that."

"Yeah…" Dale sunk a bit as he thought about it.

"Feeling better now?"

"A bit, thanks. I gotta finish up with my hair, ya can go back t' camp without me."

"As you wish," Beau got up, dried off and worked on getting back to his beloved...at the camp.

Damia had left Linkette's tent by that point, sitting by the fire and boiling some water for tea.

"Hello~!" Beau greeted as he waved to her.

"Hi, Beau. Your cousin calm down?"

"Yup, he's just finishing up with his hair. That'll take a while since there's so much of it, so he said I could head back."

"That's good, he really hurt Linkette's feelings. She's a grown woman, mostly. She can do as she pleases."

"I know," he sighed, "but he's worried she's gonna go overboard and end up hurting herself in the process. She's practically his sister...of course he'd panic if something happened to her."

"My brother has no trouble with what I do with my life and how I conduct myself…"

"It might be different when one sibling is adopted?" He shrugged, "But yeah...he'll work on apologizing when he gets back."

"That's good," Damia nodded.

Beau leaned in and kissed her forehead, "And to be fair, you conduct yourself just fine. You're very responsible."

"Err, right," Damia didn't seem to think so, looking a bit guilty.

"What's wrong?" Beau was instantly concerned.

"I'm. Not completely responsible. While I haven't had sex or done anything to a man...men have done stuff to me."

"Oh, uh...I-I guess that explains a, uh...f-few things…" Beau mumbled.

"I always sent them out after I'd...you know, before they could try to push matters, or had the guards make them leave…"

He just nodded while thinking about it all.

"I'm sorry, Beau, all the other noble girls do something similar, only I haven't given a man my body because I couldn't risk it due to being a princess."

He paused at that and looked kind of scared, "P-Princess?"

"Yes,"

"You're a...you're the…" and he was broken.

"I'm a princess, yes," she reestablished as she pulled him in for a hug, "but I'm still me."

"So...why me?" He asked in a small voice, "I'm just a guy from a farming family, nothing special. You could have a dragon if you so wanted…"

"You're sweet and honest,"

He did a blush a little at that, "Th-Thank you. I, uh...I-I need a little time to wrap my head around the fact that I'm engaged to a princess. I still wanna be with you, b-but I've gotta get used to that."

"I understand," Damia was still fairly positive about their relationship.

By this time Linkette and Aiden had left her tent, Aiden convincing Linkette to play some music with her. This caught everyone's attention and gathered around the two of them to listen. Dale was also coming back at this point, just in his pants as he had accidentally gotten his tunic wet while drying off. They didn't give much attention to that, focused on listening to the music or playing said music. Everyone loved listening to them play, even Sheik seemed to radiate happiness. At some point there was dancing, Dale forgetting his flustered state with Aiden and moving like he did before. The girls played the music for a while before things started settling down. Things were pretty relaxed as the group parted ways for the night, though Damia gave Beau his requested space, going to get ready for bed. He joined her after helping Dale with his unruly ginger mane and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek goodnight. Damia gave him a sleepy smile, confident he still cared for her. Given that he snuggled her until he fell asleep, it seemed so.

While everyone else was settling in, Sheik figured this would be a good time to get that bath in and worked on doing so. Linkette was a sneak and followed, wanting to do more of what they did last night. She played her ocarina to let him know she was there once he'd washed.

"Gya!" He had turned into Zelo in thinking it was safe and ended up sinking lower due to the scare, "P-Please refrain from sneaking up on me…"

Linkette shrugged, giving an apologetic smile before approaching the springs.

"You...bathed already?" Zelo didn't understand her motive and lowered himself a little more.

She couldn't communicate except to be a bit naughty and slip off her chemise and join him, quickly swimming over to him.

Now he got it and he was redder than a ruby as she approached. "W-We cannot risk anything, you know that…!"

'We can still play,' She mouthed, going to kiss him.

"But we have to be careful," he managed to get in quickly before her kiss silenced him.

Linkette kept that in mind, though deepened the kiss, wrapping her legs around his waist. He helped support her as he kissed back. They kept kissing for a while, Linkette eventually breaking it to kiss on his neck a bit, hoping to turn him on more, that nagging, take things further voice encouraging her again. He moaned softly and kissed her neck back while one his hands caressed the small of her back. She took advantage of this to get herself lowered down a bit, not quite processing what she was doing until she had herself in a pretty good position and gently ran her hand down his spine, hoping to turn him on more and get him to react. It was working and he held her closer while lifting her up again to start kissing her on the lips once more. A bit more kissing had her managing to wiggle down again, thankful for the water aiding her, and had him at her entrance, getting ready to go past the point of no return but not caring. He had that look of lust and conflict once more as he knew what she wanted and goddesses knew he wanted to give it, which slowed his process as it came more forward in his mind. Linkette finished starting the deed, making sure to use her legs to keep him in place, giving a silent gasp. He was less silent on the matter as he let out a staggered breath and his body reacted to the sensation. She silently begged for him to move as she felt herself start to adjust and instincts kicking in. Unsure of how to do this standing up, Zelo opted to start rocking her up and down and trying not to drop her in the process. They soon worked out a rhythm and started really enjoying themselves. Zelo's grip tightened as he got harder and moaned loudly as it happened. Linkette was glad she was mute as she silently expressed her pleasure, certain they'd be overheard otherwise. Eventually she clenched tightly around him as she finished, almost passing out at the intense sensation. Zelo was using any strength he had left to keep them both from drowning in the hot spring as he tried not to pass out. Once the couple had recovered from their activities, Linkette gave Zelo another kiss, pulling away from him a bit. He kissed her back briefly and figured it was time to get out before he nodded off. Linkette swam over to the shore and climbed out, quickly realizing how sore and shaky she was now that the hormones had worn off. She just focused on drying off with the towel she brought with her and slipped on her chemise, but still hadn't the strength to stand. Zelo quickly got his towel around his waist and helped her stand, now looking extremely concerned and guilty at how she was reacting to everything. Linkette gave him a smile to reassure him, certain she'd feel better after she slept. He only nodded and hugged her, it being out of a mix of love and worry. She hugged back, giving him a chaste kiss. He muttered something about needing to head back soon, but that she should probably go ahead of him since he needed to dry off and turn into Sheik again. Linkette nodded and once she was sure of her balance, headed off, planning on going straight to bed.

"Oh goddesses, what have I done?" Zelo whispered on realizing that he did indeed take her virginity (and, for the time being, setting aside it was mutual) and likely risked so much now. He spent a good twenty minutes just pacing in just his towel while praying that nothing would come of this, or ever if Farore allowed it, and that their respective wills needed to be stronger to prevent anymore incidents like this. It was only after nearly cutting his foot that he realized he had to get his clothes on and did so, turning into Sheik again and then heading back to the campsite. He silently laid in his tent having a miniature existential crisis until he passed out only from mental burnout.