Zelda slid her slate back into her pocket as her legs flew back and forth in impatiently rhythmic swings as she sat atop the corner edge of the stone foundation that fell beneath the mighty equine statue that peered over the horizon in its mighty stance, prepared to take fierce strides in its gallop toward adventure. She had earlier been excited to catch the symbolism relating to this adventure, though by now, Zelda's impatience thwarted much of anything in the way of enthusiasm.

For what seemed to be the hundredth time, she herself peered out over the southern skies for any hint of the arrival of her Champions, though now, thirty minutes after the presumed time of their meeting, she was once again met with disappointment, her frustration finally making itself known as she slid off from the stone wall, trouncing down toward the through way with heavy steps.

"Where are they?!" Zelda wondered aloud with impatient zeal.

Link, who'd been sitting cross-legged to the side whittling down the tips of a few of his arrows, turned his head up curiously, not having been too concerned on the time himself. He watched with little interest as Zelda spun back and forth toward the west and south, unable to ascertain what might have prevented their arrival.

"You don't think-"

"They came to their senses?" Link finished glibly, dropping his attention back to his arrow tips to avoid the glare that was sure to be shooting in his direction, "Not everybody is a servant of the kingdom of Hyrule."

Sure enough, Zelda was staring at Link, though the look on her face was one of worry. A frowned appeared there as she dropped her shoulders repeatedly, for a brief moment wondering if they had all abandoned her request, though she quickly reinforced herself, batting an open palm with her fist, strengthening her resolve as she spoke up resolutely.

"No, give them more credit than that," Zelda reprimanded, "They would not have agreed to come were they troubled by their problems at home. Each of them understood the greater good involved in this quest."

Link raised an eye row, "All of them?"

"W-Well, Lady Mipha. I mean, sort of. Even she knew that accepting this would aid in the relations between her people and our own, I suppose. I guess other than Lady Urbosa…"

Not wanting to formally admit her own misgivings, Zelda remained silent as Link shot her a short glance, returning to his arrows absently as he replied, "I'm sure they'll arrive soon enough."

Such a show of resignation toward his fate in being here was quite rare, Zelda knew, which is why the statement caught her attention. She turned to send an unsure glance his way, watching him warily as his pocketknife slid down the tips of his arrows. Gradually returning her attention back to the Champions, Zelda gave a quiet sigh, slipping her Sheikah Slate from her pocket and roiling her lips to the side in curious determination, sliding down the nearby wall of cement until she was sitting with her knees peaked before her, resting her forearms there as she played with the small device.

"Let's see…" she instructed herself near-silently, "Shouldn't there be a magnification thing on here? Purah mentioned something about- AH!"

Link's eyes turned toward her without his body joining in, noticing Zelda's arms outstretched with wonderment on her face, moving the slate every which way until coming to a stop with it aiming toward her bodyguard, much to Link's annoyance.

"I don't-"

"You should keep up your facial hygiene, Link! Your skin's looking a tad dry," Zelda noted happily, almost unaware of how rude the statement might have been construed, lost as she was with wonderment.

Only slightly irked, Link frowned before shaking his head, tending once more to his arrowhead, "What have I gotten myself into..?"

Zelda pounded up to her feet, now spinning around in place with the slate guiding her movements, its zoomed-out lens offering her a better vantage point than the naked eye provided, "This. is. awesome. Link, you wanna try?"

Feigning a smile, Link replied sardonically, "I'm quite alright, thank you."

"Your loss," Zelda continued excitedly, "Look, Outskirt Stable! You can see the merchants with this thing! Think about the possibilities… I've spent so much time focusing on the ground, flora and fauna- With this, I could even start examining astronomical bodies! Oh my goodness, how exciting!"

Link returned his attention to her, "Don't you think it would be wise to focus on things that actually matter? I mean, you're royalty- there's going to be a day where you're going to have to make real decisions in the real world; why spend time on the stars?"

Pausing to think, Zelda dropped her arms, watching Link with a befuddled look on her face, "I mean, even the stars are a part of our real world, aren't they?"

"That's not- Okay," Link sighed, returning his arrow to its quiver and rising to his feet, slapping the dirt from his breeches, "There are revolts in Akkala. every year now. Why is that? A scandal took place; a Hylian soldier seized a local home while stationed there. He assaulted one of the daughters there and was killed, leading to a rising distrust of Hylian rule. So how do we deal with it? That's a real-world problem."

Zelda crossed her arms, her face softening with inquiry, "How do you think we should deal with it?"

"I-" Link stammered, confused by the question, "What? I'm a soldier; I don't make decisions, I just obey them."

Her lips yanking to the side, tinged with curiosity, Zelda explained, "Why shouldn't you make decisions? I want to better all of Hyrule; I want to better everybody's understanding, so that we can all better make decisions. Part of that is understanding the world we live in, our place in the universe."

Her head lowered only slightly, "My father is a good man, but he is not a perfect man- none of us are. He makes mistakes as any one of us routinely make. But if you bring everybody together, collect knowledge- you lessen the variables. I didn't choose to become a scholar simply to improve my own knowledge, but to improve everybody's- something my father, and many others, have not expressed much interest in."

Link chewed his lip, "I'll admit, it's admirable. I think your goals are lofty, at best; if you're trying to bring all of Hylia's people together in order to repel this calamitous event you believe will occur, or to better govern these lands- I think it's rather-"

"Crazy?" Zelda finished with a wry smile.

His words having been transposed somewhat accurately, Link merely shrugged, "You said it, not I."

Zelda pulled her slate back up into view, continuing her scanning of the horizon for any sight of her Champions, "Good thing I like crazy; when the mood strikes me, anyway."

Once again unsure of the predicament he had gotten himself into, Link groaned only to himself, peering off aimlessly down Safula Hill in the opposite direction, his ears perking immediately as Zelda's voice broke through the air, "THERE! Look! It's Urbosa!"

Fully expecting Urbosa to have played along to begin with, Link wasn't immediately thrown, simply turning to catch Zelda as she burst toward the pathway, grappling her around the shoulders to keep her from scurrying off toward her old friend, heaving as he pulled her back, "Prin-cess! Exactly how can I protect you when you go running off?"

Slightly perturbed, Zelda complained, "What's gonna happen between here and her?"

Link's brow rose, "Ghosts… Skulltullas..! Keese!"

Breaking free as Link burst into laughter, Zelda crossed her arms, muttering sarcastically, "You think you're so protective, huh?"

"Captain Ruzoll just instructed me to stay by the Princess' side, at all times," Link shrugged, "Even in the company of Champions, I'm bound to obey that command."

Zelda's eyes strained curiously, "So, Urbosa can throw boulders like pebbles, and you don't trust her to protect me?"

"I would put every pound of flesh in your way to keep you safe," Link explained, rather easily, considering his words, "The only person I know, and can trust, to do the same is myself. I know I won't fail, and even if I were to, it would only be within a realm where I have no further attachment to this world."

Zelda watched him with an expression resembling sorrow, tinged with pity at the thought of such a subservient existence. Such a world she'd hoped to change; perhaps to a world where such duties were no longer necessary.

"My Princess!" came Urbosa's voice, her powerful frame chugging up the remainder of the hill, a massive ruck sack held atop her shoulder.

Zelda spun around, her worry quickly fading at the sight of Urbosa, smiling brightly as she ran over, Link now allowing her to do so as the Gerudo woman crossed into the concrete park. Zelda jumped right into Urbosa's torso with a gratified shriek, the tanned lady easily holding her in one arm as she sounds around happily.

"Urbosa! It's been too long!" Zelda proclaimed, finding her footing as her surrogate mother of sorts returned her to the ground.

The Gerudo woman grinned, "Is that what a few months has become, now?! My dear, you surely don't mean to insult me; I may very well be a grandmother by that reckoning!"

Zelda only giggled, giving her another hug, "You know I didn't mean it like that."

"I suppose I did," Urbosa confirmed, her lips curled into a heart-felt smile as she returned the embrace.

Zelda's mother had been quite close to Urbosa in life, particularly taken by the powerful Gerudo woman's wily adventures in the vast Gerudo Highlands. As a young Hylian woman, she'd taken an excursion with a small group of explorers to those very same highlands, hoping to discover a handful of landmarks that had been a staple of many tales told about the "Lightning Queen of the Desert". Apparently, she had originally become fascinated by a story about Urbosa battling a massive Molduga from atop two humongous mesas, Spectacle Rock, the Gerudo chieftain leaping back and forth across the chasm to defeat the huge monster.

During the expedition, however, Zelda's mother was caught in a furious sandstorm, followed soon enough by an insane, never-ending bout of thunderstorms, crippling the troupe she had so carefully planned to adventure with. It was partly due to her youthful vigor, and quick thinking, that kept each member alive, and by the time Urbosa had showed up (in a helmet that one party member had fainted at the sight , believing ancient evils were upon them) the Gerudo chieftain immediately shone respectfully of the wily and resourceful woman.

Becoming fast friends, Urbosa never left the correspondence left by Zelda's mother until her death, though the Gerudo had already ingrained her bright personality within the presence of the young Princess, becoming something of a surrogate mother to Zelda, though the Princess might too proud and refer to her more as a sister. Regardless, Urbosa had remained one of Zelda's most fervent supports, funding much of the young woman's mother within her. Link knew, early on, Urbosa would not only immediately answer the Princess's call, but would probably very easily believe her claims of an approaching calamity.

Broken from his thoughts to find Urbosa launching Zelda into the air like a sky bound kitten, Link dashed forward with a pale expression of worry, despite the Princess' laughter, "W-What are you doing?! You could drop her!"

Still throwing Zelda into the air whenever she dropped back into her arms, Urbosa shot Link a wry smirk, "Young man! Link, was it?"

"YeEeEeEsSS," Zelda managed despite her flurry of movement.

Urbosa grinned, "Or maybe I won't drop her. I am happy to see you keeping your promise, though; to protect her."

"I-" Link replied, nervously, "Of course! It's in my mandate to keep my Lady safe, and one wrong-!"

Chuckling, Urbosa acquiesced, allowing Zelda to return to the ground as the Primcess recovered, wiping away her tears of happiness while the Gerudo noted, "You think you must protect her from me; but I assure you, young man, I was protecting this lovely lady before you were even wielding a sword."

She approached Link, giving him a playful push from her fist along his arm, grinning, "Still, keep up the good work."

Link frowned, "I'm getting the unpleasant feeling of being condescended to…"

"Why, I never!" Urbosa replied, more with sarcasm, "I wouldn't dare insult a fellow Champion."

A silence fell upon the three of them, finally forcing Urbosa away from her charismatic demeanor as she turned warily back from one to the other in her party, "…am I missing something here?"

Zelda shook her head, "Link isn't a Champion. or, rather, he didn't agree to be."

Urbosa's brow fell cryptically as she turned to Link with a quizzical look, one that he rather readily picked up on, explaining himself, "The Princess can order me to do a lot, but she can't order me to disobey the King's mandate. Were I to join your company, I would be risking my availability as her bodyguard- something I cannot allow, so long as I'm alive."

The Gerudo's face spun with subtle confusion, simply remaining still as though having forgotten something, as Zelda excitedily popped upward in sudden zeal, throwing an arm into her backpack while speaking breathlessly, "OH! Urbosa, I brought you a gift to commemorate this meeting!"

"A gift?" she questioned, her mind pulled from her confusion, "Dear, you shouldn't have. Your smile, alone, is worth being in your presence."

Zelda shook her head, "No, no; I brought a little something for everybody. Just give me a… A-ha!"

She pulled a rolled-up tapestry, returning her pack over her shoulder quickly to unfurl the ornate blanket, which was rather small compared to the massive, wall-sized tapestries that Urbosa kept at her home, Zelda hiding her disappointment behind an unsure smile, "It, uh- I know it's not the proper size, but, uh, I made it myself, so-"

Urbosa examined the shabbily-constructed crafting project, immediately showing the hearty smile that so often accompanied her, stepping toward Zelda and taking the tapestry from her to examine it further, "You made this?"

With a weak smile, Zelda nodded.

"Then this is a product of the finest craftsman in all the lands of Hyrule," Urbosa assured warmly, earning a heartfelt stare from her surrogate daughter, "I will cherish this for the remainder of my time on this soil."

Zelda laughed softly, "You make it sound like such a bigger deal than it is."

"But it is!" Urbosa claimed in a hurry, "We're only allowed so much time here, allocated only so many actions to take. Instead of spending your moments building a legacy or any myriad number of any other thing, you chose to spend your time for my sake. For that, my dear, I am eternally grateful."

Zelda lowered her head in an attempt to hide her smile, leaving Urbosa to clap her hands as though she were prepared to take charge, turning her attention toward Link, "Alright, Link! What's on the docket? We just waiting on the rest of the Champions?"

"Assuming they show up, basically," Link replied, less than enthused.

Urbosa spun her lips distastefully, "The Kingdom of Hyrule holds immense sway. Don't think the request of one so beloved as your Princess to be disregarded so easily."

"Well," Link began in reply, turning away to glance off into the distance, "I do hope you're correct, for the Princess' sake. I doubt the Gorons will have an issue sending their representative; he's- Well, he and I have a history."

A particular wryness crossing Urbosa's face, she asked in a teasing tone, "Oh, you must tell, now!"

Sighing, Link shook his head, "It's nothing like- Daruk and I are kind of sworn brothers."

"Sworn brothers!" Urbosa exclaimed, rushing up to Link's back and wrapping her arms around him like a leech all but pouncing for further gossip, "That sounds so cute!"

Link shrugged her off, hurriedly backing away with a start, covering his face to hide a blush, "Wh-! I-! This is serious business! I saved the man's life, I'll have you know! Have you even a clue how many bokoblins had to taste the edge of my blade for me to earn such a reverent designation?!"

Between his blushing and his words, Urbosa's hands jumped to her cheeks, a glimmer showing upon her eyes, "Please tell me the tasting didn't stop there!"

"I-" Link suddenly paused in confusion, "What?!"

Clearing her throat and wiping a wrist across her forehead, Urbosa calmed herself in a quick manner, having recognized how quickly she had lost her faculties, "N-Nothing, I assure you. E- uh- Princess, whom else shall be accompanying us?"

"Please, answer," she continued, evading Link's terribly confused state, noting Zelda's slowness to reply.

Lost in thought, Zelda suddenly answered quietly, "Oh, uh, Lady Mipha will be- She'll be the Zora's representative."

"Another Princess!" Urbosa exclaimed excitedly, "I haven't the honor of meeting her! Have we anything to worry about regarding her potential absence?"

Link shrugged, "I doubt it. With the birth of her brother, a male heir, she's been allowed far more freedom than before."

He paused, turning his body away as though bracing himself for another rampant verbal assault from Urbosa, "She and I are acquainted somewhat, however, so-"

"Ah!" Urbosa spoke back up once more, "You must tell!"

Apprehensive to a high degree, Link only replied with a silent glare of uncertainty for a moment before explaining, "My mother would take me there years ago on a joint-assignment to better improve Hylian-Zoran relations. We offered some of our technology to better help them improve their Domain, and they offered some luxuries only available atop Upland Zorana. I was quite young, but I did meet her on occasion."

Nodding, and taking a radically less enthused reaction to this tale, Urbosa happily replied, "Well, boy, even without being a Champion yourself, you certainly are proving quite useful, already, to the company!"

Link shrugged, "If it means keeping my mandate, I haven't an issue calling in any and all favors."

"But you certainly must tell me more about this 'sworn brothers' business, I beg of you," Urbosa concluded, leading to another confused glance from Link as the Gerudo turned back to Zelda, "And what of our Rito Champion?"

Zelda frowned, "Sadly, they're our one wild card, so to speak. I wasn't able to gain an audience with the elder of the Rito, but was told that, if the winds allowed, they might send one of their lesser warriors along, a Rito by the name of Revali, whom Link and I met during our previous journey. It seems their distaste for Hylians supersedes their ability to send a Champion of their own people, though I haven't a doubt Revali is as true of a soul as his shot with the bow."

She continued, "And he and Link don't exactly like each other, so there isn't a 'sworn brother' thing in this case- anything but, really."

"Eh, I wasn't ever exactly into all the feathers," Urbosa shrugged dismissively, earning her yet another confused glance from Link as his brow fell forward in growing distrust, "I do hope he does arrive. Truly. If one of the goals of this journey is to bring all these peoples of Hyrule together, we'll need a Rito present."

"Indeed," Zelda agreed, "In the meantime, the deadline was only for today, so there remains plenty of time for the three's arrival. I'm not too worried, however; they'll all arrive."

Urbosa watched her surrogate daughter for a moment before releasing a warm smile, "So regal, you've become."

Holding her head up high, Zelda cleared her throat, "A Princess never worries!"

"Of course not," Urbosa confirmed softly, turning to Link, "Especially not with such dutiful bodyguards at their side."

At that, Zelda's began to fall, a certain light leaving her face as her thoughts turned wayward, thinking back to a time where her inadequacies seems so very magnified at Link's side- the Royal Guard who so naturally took to his destiny, even if that destiny was nothing more than to be a servant. Perhaps her own destiny was truly meant to be difficult, to be a burden to bear; though, even as her lip trembled, hands rubbing up and down her arms to ward off the growing chills, she couldn't help but think back to that time she so angrily tore herself from Link's protection, her guilt rising like the tide.

That time where she so readily thought that stripping Link's destiny from him was somehow a means to advance her own.

But even now, despite his inability to care any less about this endeavor, Link still proved far more resourceful than she, another chilling fact that sent a quiver down Zelda's spine.

For if not for him, would it not simply be a quest for her and Urbosa alone?