Link sat atop the thin incline outside Robbie's lighthouse workshop, legs splayed out before him in rest as he held the Master Sword in his hands, examining it with plain eyes, having done much the same a few times already. He would run its length atop his arm, feeling its edge against his skin, finding no defect in its form. He tilted it toward and away from himself, again finding no flaw in the pale white reflections of the moon that cast upon it, less in curiosity than in continued admiration.
He didn't flinch when the door to Robbie's workshop creaked it's way open, revealing Zelda in silhouette in front if the lights within the building for only a moment as she stepped out and closed the door behind her, all with a careful demeanor, hoping to avoid making anything resembling a scene. She took in a deep breath as she wheeled around toward Link, refraining, only barely, from hopping along as her excitement threatened to overwhelm her.
"I can't wait," she spoke up, coming into earshot of Link, "It feels like I'm sneaking out to do something bad!"
He gave a sidelong glance, "You are."
Thinking of her own status as Princess, Zelda grinned as she simply gave a shrug, "Oh well. Is that the Master Sword?"
Link nodded, still wobbling the serene steel along his arm while gesturing back toward the lighthouse, "Yep. Your sword is over there."
With a quickness reserved for such excitement, Zelda spun around and hustled back to find Link's knight sword, free from its sheath, now that it more resembled the Master Sword than its previous form. She carefully took its handle and lifted it to rest atop her hand as she returned to Link's side, examining its worn surface with enchantment.
"Whoooa," she mused lightly.
Link felt a bit miffed at having to speak up, instructing quickly, "It's not a toy, now."
"I know that!" Zelda childishly asserted, despite her beginning to swing her arm from side to side, examining it from different angles, "I'm just making sure it's in check."
"Urbosa was the last to true its edge, so there's no doubting that it is," Link noted before returning his attention to the Master Sword in his hand.
Zelda twisted her wrist, examining the hilt all around before dropping her hand to ask another question, only to become perplexed by Link's silence, his longing glancing down toward his own sword. Ignoring her own furor, Zelda stepped toward him curiously, even now that Link started emulating her own actions, examining the Sword atop his arm.
"You know," Link spoke up suddenly, "This sword- Mipha said something about each blacksmith leaving an autograph of sorts upon each sword they craft. For the life of me- For all the weight I feel of eons past, this sword is free from imperfection, truly."
His lips curled, "It's as though whatever divine being created it- They wanted no trace of its origin."
Zelda wondered curiously as to his meaning, having already regaled him with such things. As the preeminent, rudimentary scholar on all things Master Sword, Zelda know quite a bit of its physical history, though perhaps Link was pining for something more ethereal. Something more as to its formation.
Shrugging before dropping the sword, and the topic, Link sheathed the Sword once more as he stood up, "Ah, well. Stay careful with that thing. We'll have to make a sheath for that one that fits properly."
"I know to be careful," Zelda reminded with a sneer, hiding a grin as if she knew how empty her words truly were, even within recent memory.
Link only eyed her with suspicion before simply carrying on without calling her out, "C'mon, there's a small clearing nearby. No point learning while also stumbling around on uncertain footing."
Zelda nodded as an apprentice might at the prospect of knowledge just learned, taking her strides behind him as she followed along, jumping in surprise as Link spoke up quietly, "Did everyone get settled?"
"As best as they could," Zelda admitted wryly, "Robbie isn't exactly one for being a ready host, even when he's expecting company. Daruk and Urbosa got a back room or two cleared out and then we managed to scrounge up enough stuff for a few nights, if need be. Auntie Purah always said Robbie's mind worked like flint and tender."
Link's brow curled, "What, like a spark cast into creating flames?"
Smirking in reply, Zelda giggled, "More the striking it with a blade repeatedly until randomly finding a spark."
At first, Link was perturbed to hear such a thing, hoping this leg of the journey would be quick; though, after a moment's consideration, perhaps if one of those sparks never were to come, Mipha would be saved from the dangers of Eldin, even without his intervention. His guilt at the idea of forcing her to relieve herself from the Company was insurmountable, but if it were merely by Robbie's misgivings…
"You know, I stole that little campfire anecdote-thing from you," Link mentioned with a thin, mischievous grin, "While we're on the topic of starting fires."
Zelda's ears perked up, "Which anecdote…thing?"
"Back when we were trouncing around Lanayru, one of the shrine flames had been perpetually burning thanks to pilgrims routinely tending to it- or so the story went. You were, I guess, taken by the romantic idea that the flames remained, unhindered, across the years while its fuel, the wood, the straw- everything that made it a fire continuously evaporated and in need of replacement, yet the fire remained without interruption, the same flame our ancestors witnessed."
He shrugged, "I thought of it at the campfire back at the Stable and mentioned it."
Zelda grinned with something of a meandering smile, "You're worried, aren't you?"
"Oh?" Link wondered aloud, unconvinced.
She nodded, "You always get- I don't know, melancholic? when you're worried."
"Good thing I'm rarely worried, then," Link chuckled, "No, I was just preoccupied with this Sword is all."
Zelda peered up toward him as Link turned to face her, drawing his Sword once more, twisting his arm to allow the moonlight shimmer from its ornate frame, "Like that fire at the shrine, this thing's been handed from person to person, for millennia and even beyond then. I'm merely its temporal owner at the moment, it seems; we're simply its fuel, meant to settle into embers."
"You're really worried about something," Zelda frowned as she crossed her arms, careful with her sword as she did so.
Link grinned, "Perhaps I am. I don't know."
"Is it-" Zelda began, though stopped herself, once again feeling the guilt from having inadvertantly tipped off the secret to Urbosa.
"Mipha?" Link finished easily, shrugging once again, "I mean, yeah, but-"
He lied as he offered further, "I wouldn't dare stop her from whatever Robbie has planned."
"You wouldn't want to find her to be embers," Zelda reasoned softly.
Link reached up to scratch his head, looking away as he warily began, "Look, let's just- Get your sword ready and we'll just begin."
Nodding, her excitement long since haven melted into a somber moon, Zelda readied her sword into a rather clunky stance, her two hands folded atop one another as they gripped the handle, leaving Link sighing with a soft grin.
"You're such a child," he teased lightly while stepping toward her, earning him a heated stare.
"Hey, it's not my fault! I've wanted to learn!"
Link stuck his tongue out as he reached out to fix her hands, "What's to learn? It's common sense. Look."
He pulled her hands apart, her dominant hand further up the handle than her other as he grabbed the blade, pulling it to and fro to gauge her grip and finding it satisfactory. Zelda watched Link's eyes darken as he did so, his mind once again lost in thought.
"You know, the Master Sword isn't anywhere near as…precise as you seem to believe it is," Zelda shrugged, "There are tales of it crossing time and space itself, so- It's not like a flame required fuel that must burn off. It's more like a flame without fuel even required. Some sources indicate that it's even crossed dimensions- That's it's been in many worlds at once."
"Ah," Link chided, "That old fairy tale of thing one happening, but thing two still happens, just in a different dimension."
"It's not a fairy tale," Zelda frowned, "There've been plenty of people, smarter than I, who've gone and-!"
Link's eyes tensed as they focused deeply into her own, "What does that idea have to say about what we're battling?"
Zelda paused, confused by his proposition. His hand fell frown her sword, leaving his shoulders slumped in weakening thought.
"If that's true, then it means evil must win, at least in some sense, somewhere, until the Goddess manages to fix it somehow," he noted plainly, his brow upturned in worry, "What if this is the time for evil to win?"
The thought rattled Zelda, even if it had been a rather esoteric question; it deserved consideration nonetheless. After all, this entire endeavor was an attempt to better Hyrule's odds once such an adversary emerged.
"I don't know," Link spoke up, shoulders slumped, "Like you said, I suppose I just get melancholy when I'm worried."
"No kidding," Zelda mustered with an aching voice , "You're beginning to make me worried…"
Link grinned softly as he shook his head, "That's just been where my minds been ever since- You know-"
"Since you've begun thinking about Mipha's part in this next leg of the journey?" Zelda asked.
"I suppose. Yes," he admitted with a sigh.
Zelda watched him carefully, hoping not to take advantage of this man's current vulnerability that shone through even brighter than the moon. For all their party squabbles upon first meeting, Zelda had certainly grown to like this man, even admire him to a certain point. His grace under fire, his steady demeanor- even his unwavering calm, which now shone placid behind his shaking eyes.
"You truly love her, don't you?" Zelda asked.
Link bit his teeth, "I do. And it so frightens me, being compelled to worry so about somebody other than myself."
He brought the Master Sword up, eyes tracing the outline of its handle grasped within his hand, "All my life, I've been nothing but a sword. That's what I was born and raised to do. It's what my parents believed of me; it's what your father expects of me."
"When I'm with her, though-" Link's eyes tensed, "I feel like a plant in the shadows discovering sunlight. Like I've found water in an endless desert I've traveled for decades. It doesn't feel as though I've merely found something auxiliary to add to my life- It feels like something necessary that I've somehow survived without."
His lips turned glibly, "Perhaps that's just what love is."
Zelda rubbed her hand along her opposite arm, having turned her stare toward the ground to avoid being rude, speaking softly enough, "I mean- Perhaps we could ask her to-"
"She won't," Link smiled, "But I suppose that's one of the things I do love about her. If I find little reason to worry about her when she's facing a league of interlopers, I should expect her to persevere in the face of this as well."
Zelda jumped as a sudden urgency leapt in Link's voice, "Come on. Enough about me. We're here for a reason."
"R- Right!" Zelda charged obediently, throwing her sword up in a haste.
Link grinned at her unrivaled childishness masquerading as a young woman, dropping his head defeatedly, "Okay, stop swinging that thing around like a rope."
"I'm not-!" Zelda pleaded before Link held up a hand, which she took for her to be silent, though Link merely explained.
"All that cliché junk you hear about using your sword as an extension of your arm- That's all true. As a soldier, and a knight, we spent excruciating months just training and familiarizing ourselves with each and every weapon. It's why everything's a standardized length; theres little guesswork."
Zelda quipped zealously, "Okay! How did you practice that?!"
"We're improvising," Link shrugged, "Just swing at my hand and-"
"LINK!"
He went on, "Swing at my hand and make me feel the wind breaking upon my skin. You'll have to get pretty close."
"But what if I hit your hand?!"
Link shrugged, "I suppose I'll bleed."
"LINK!"
"Or you'll simply take off my fingers."
Zelda's body shook with anger even beneath Link's innocent expression, "What? You wanted this, didn't you?"
"Not like this!" she challenge heatedly, "Teach me! Like how all you Knights train!"
Link gave a bemused chuckle, "You do realize knighthood requires, at a minimum, seven years of duty as a soldier, right?"
Her lips trembling with frustration at being forced to begin at 'zero', Zelda grumbled to herself as her emotions came to a halt, shaking her head as she lifted her sword, clenched within both hands.
"Fine. Have it your way," she groaned before bringing the weapon over her shoulder, "At least I have renewed reason to aim at your hand…"
Link smirked, "Hey, it's the Zelda I once knew."
With clenched teeth, Zelda swung the middle-sized sword out before her, a vengeful fury driving her beyond reason as her momentum suddenly carried her along with the sword's trajectory, all but missing Link while sailing her off toward the side as her footing left her stumbling along, just about to face-plant before catching herself, narrowly avoiding shoving her hand atop the sword itself. He dropped to a knee as she took in the harrowing moment in stride, her breaths wringing from her lungs like water from cloth, nearly draped in panic.
"That's why you start with the basics," Link explained as he leaned aside to offer her a hand, "Look-"
His hand unreciprocated, Link simply grabbed Zelda's shoulder and pulled her up to her feet, "-I'm not your father. How far along would he have allowed this after what you just pulled?"
Zelda frowned, averting her eyes, "I wouldn't have handled the sword…"
"Exactly. Now, if I'm going to train you, one- I'm not going to go easy on you. Just because Urbosa seems to think I'm willing to feign fragility doesn't mean it's so. Two, you're going to learn the right way. These swords are tools to defend and protect, yes, but they're still weapons. They can hurt you just as much as they hurt others."
He sighed as he stepped away, readying his open hand once more, "That's one of the things the knights have over rank and file soldiers. One of our first measures as such involved being slashed, all along our arms and legs, until we're utterly unfazed by being struck and by having blood drawn. If you want to know more-"
He waved his hand measly, "Then break the wind against my hand."
Zelda sighed, but did as she was told. Instead of using two hands, she withdrew to one, raising her arm to where the sword sat just before Link's hand as if in measurement before shuffling backward, working it to where, fully extended, she couldn't possibly hit him. She pulled her arm back and swung, leaving Link only the slightest movement to draw his body forward, just enough, so that, as the sword flew through the air, he snapped his hand backward over her shoulder, clenching it shut as Zelda's swing came to an end.
She watched with confusion at Link's movement until he pulled his hand forward once again, a line of blood running along his palm as Zelda's eyes flew wide in terror.
"Link!" she cried, lunging toward him to aid him, yet he only stepped away, using his other hand to keep her rush at bay.
"You're not going to cheat," noted Link sternly, "Or do you think a target will just let you ready yourself in that fashion?"
Tears welled up in Zelda's eyes at the very sight of blood having been drawn by her own hand, though Link's steady voice, which she so admired, brought her to calm all the same, allowing her tears to slowly drain as she ran her wrist along her face.
"I hope you weren't expecting this to be fun," Link muttered drolly, much to Zelda's distaste.
"No!" she shouted before quickly reeling in her tone, "But I wasn't expecting blood, either."
Link shrugged, "Then come to know that sword as though it were your own arm."
His bloodied hand returned, open-faced, as Zelda eyed him with tumultuous preparedness, taking up her sword once again, ready to swing, this time without measurement. Her red, tear-stroked eyes glared into Link's hand, as though into infinity, as focus rushed through her. Finally, she swung, leaving Link to pull away at just the last moment, avoiding the strike.
"Again," he ordered, "Don't pull back with your wrist. Your sword can do nothing, but your arm can recoil if need be."
Zelda readied herself, her breaths running ragged as tire rose from both her activity as well as her emotions. She swung again, leaving Link, again, to recoil himself.
"Again."
Short.
"I didn't feel the wind breaking."
Zelda dropped her shoulders, "How do you even know what that feels li-!"
Her entire body tensed as Link's arm made like a serpent, throwing the Master Sword like a firework toward her face, snapping it back just a hair's breadth away from her skin, leaving the snap of atmosphere blistered across her forehead, the singular motion having taken but a moment to record.
Zelda's jaw dropped as Link returned the Sword to its sheath, bringing up his open palm once again, "It's a bit like that."
Instinctively so, Zelda hurriedly reached up to run her fingers across her face in utter astonishment to find not a drop of blood upon her, despite the Sword seemingly being thrust beyond her interior peripheral vision.
"Again," Link repeated.
Now awash with terror, frustration, all balled atop of tearful reverie, Zelda bit her lip in focus, attempting to keep everything within her at bay. She wanted nothing more than to succeed- to prove to this stubborn man that she was worth all the training he had immediately deigned her too unfit for. Her entire life had been spent under the thumb of her father telling her what all she couldn't.
And Link certainly wasn't going to tell her the same.
She draw her teeth in anger as she swung the sword in front of her, locking her elbow only until the briefest moment to ready herself for Link's hand jarring ever closer, tensing up her entire body as her shoulder draw toward her, bringing the blade just before Link's palm. Her arm slammed against her stomach, as she failed to adequately pause its stride, falling to her knees as exhaustion settled in, her head dropping as her lungs burned like dragon's breath.
"If you say 'again' one more time, we're switching to a more deadly target," Zelda managed breathlessly.
Link could only smirk, "You did good. I didn't feel the wind lapping at my skin, but-"
He knelt down, presenting his palm low so she could see it while hunched over, Zelda's brow furrowing at the view of encrusted blood running along Link's palm, finding a single trail cut along the lines of brown crud, left only by the proximity of her strike.
"It's about as close as you can get without some whiplash, though," Link admitted coolly.
Now perturbed by her inability to relish in the victory, given her exhaustion, Zelda simply nodded in acknowledgement as Link returned to his feet, grabbing a canteen from his belt and offering it to Zelda, who took it readily, allowing Link to tend to his hand. The air surrounding the two remained quiet, accompanied only by Zelda's panting breaths and sounds of her gulping down entire mouthfuls of water before even that gradually ceased, leaving them with the gentle sounds of bandages been applied.
His eyes narrowed in focus as he spoke up, "That knight thing. Where we get struck until we're no longer adverse to pain. The kingdom has specialists in the army, called 'letters by the men- all they do is administer these lashes. That's how precise they are."
"You have to cut deep enough to administer a painful response, but too deep, you damage the nerve endings, and your knight won't be able to feel anything," Link explained further, cutting free the loose end of his bandage before tucking its frayed end into a deeper wrap of fabric, "It took most of the class a week or two. I was still getting licks a month in. Said my hide was thick and prone to stubbornness."
Zelda eyed him, "You think?"
Only smirking at her snarky response, Link crossed his arms before finishing, "That's lesson one. Whenever you have the chance- and do practice some subtlety- I don't need the others finding me in dereliction of duty."
Sighing with a mix of satisfaction and exhaustion of his own, Link began to ready himself to leave, throwing the Master Sword over his shoulder before returning to Zelda, finding her still in a heap on the ground. He leaned down, again to offer his hand, though, again, it was unreceived.
"Come on. Good thing you already readied the sleeping arrangements. You'll probably-"
"Cut me."
Link's eyes narrowed with confusion, "What?"
"Like you. Your knights," wavered Zelda's voice, echoing with reproach.
Returning to his upright posture, unsure of what to answer with, Link allowed the air to stagnate, leaving Zelda to speak up in a sorrowful timbre, "I tried. like I've never tried before. to heal your hand. And my body- My body just refuses to-"
"That's what this is all about," Link sighed to himself, dropping his head toward his chest as he ran a hand along his neck.
Zelda went on amidst a tenor of tears, "All I want to do is help, but- My body won't do what it's supposed to. I can't go out- I can't learn- I'm relegated to my books, all of which tell me nothing, and when I see my friends in danger, I- The one thing I should be able to do, I can't…"
His eyes shut in exasperation, Link muttered, "What is it you're wanting?"
"Force it out of me," she whimpered, "Strike me, stab me- Just do whatever you need to do to- to- to make my body wor-! to make my destiny a-…"
Link could only glance at the shivering body still huddled on the ground as Zelda wept, shaking her head in defeat, his silence indicative of his inaction. With a resolve of either frustration of mere anger, Zelda forced herself up to her feet, wiping the tears from her face, leaving only the tinge of redness covering her eyes. She stared at Link with determination, ready to accept this trial of her own design.
"Do it!" she shouted, "If it doesn't work-! At least I can be a soldier! I can at least- contribute something to this campaign!"
"Zelda…"
"I'm not going to walk through death's door as a helpless sheep! and I won't allow you all to- to carry me through it!"
"Zelda."
"I can't do it myself!" she wailed, "I've tried, and-! It- It just-!"
Her overwhelming emotions overpowering her words, tears returned to her face as she thought of those lonesome nights in the library, with nary a soul to comfort her, as she worked whatever painful malady against her skin that might elicit a response, leaving her body as little more than a walking experiment to discover some ethereal whim, some destiny, that she hadn't ever been privy to.
"Do it!" she shouted, angry teeth biting through flown-about tears.
"Zelda!" Link replied with a roar of his own.
She fired back ferociously, "Do it! I order you as Princess of-!"
With a whip of ozone tearing against her skin like a whispering breath taking her, a sharp pain flared out just below Zelda's shoulder as her eyes jolted downward, finding her skin, already soiled by dirt, treading blood as a light seam of flesh appeared to her torn apart by Link's hand. Her hand quickly ejected itself across her body, covering the wound as her lips tightened in on one another, pulling into her mouth as painfully as she could to numb herself as she stared at Link, tears pooling like roaring tides ready to burst through a dam as a series of anguished whimpers escaped her despite her best efforts toward concealing the pain that overwhelmed her.
She collapsed to her knees as her lips broke open for just a brief moment, letting out a bloodcurdling, heart-tearing cry as her entire body winced, leaving Link charging toward her, falling to a knee before her as he took her into his arms, pulling her close against his chest as her cries continued, now muffled by his shoulder.
"Gah haaaa…" she whimpered lowly to herself, pressing her face as hard as she could into Link before letting loose a rallying cry of frustration that melted into agony, "WAAAAAAAHAhahaaahaaa…"
Link could only eye the soil behind her as he tightened his hold on her, presuming the worst- that, even now, she had attempted to null her own pain, to no avail.
He could imagine, oh so well, the pain coursing through her body at the moment. What he hadn't the ability to understand, however, was the turbulent emotions running rampant throughout her heart and soul at, once again, being greeted with failure when it came to her destiny. He knew well of its effects, seeing it even now, yet couldn't comprehend the infinite struggle faced by this young woman simply trying to find her place, not only in this world, but within her father's eyes.
As Zelda's misery began to weaken into more piddling gasps of breath and whimpers, Link began stroking her back, unsure of what else to do, until that seemed to adequately comfort her somewhat, leaving him more available to speak up, which he did with a low tone.
"Hey," he muttered, "You've got this."
He felt her head shake in denial against his shoulder.
"Oh, hush," Link retorted with a chuckle that reverberated through her torso, "You know why I agreed to this training thing in the first place?"
A pause. Slowly, however, a shake of her head.
Link slowly appraised his own grin before speaking up, "Because, when I first met you, I thought you were a spoiled brat."
For somewhere unseen, he felt Zelda's hand smack against his side with a banal pat, leaving him to chuckle once more.
"But I know now. or, rather, I've known for some time," he went on warmly, "You've been fighting your own battles all these years. You may not be a knight, or a Champion in your own right- but you've fought, and you've made it this far. Now I see you're only a little bit of a brat."
Another meager smack.
"Come on," Link offered, patting her back as he pressed to move to his feed, silently giving Zelda the directive to do the same, "You got wrangled off that horse and got back up, didn't you?"
Her body only weakly followed along, but left Link with another lesson to offer, "Like a told Zevan. A knight gets knocked down five times, they get up six. Here's your second trail."
With a weakened resolved, a boorish breath left Zelda as she worked her way back up to her feet, her lack of subscription more due to how embarrassed she had now become. She kept her head low as Link pulled away, rushing to cover her eyes with her arms to wipe away the tears.
"Look," Link spoke up calmly, "You're not going to find anything by doing this. You can't just-"
"You said it yourself," Zelda interjected with a dry voice, her words trailing off like a boat across the horizon, "What if we're doomed to failure? What if I fail? what if-? What if I can't do this?"
Link watched her with deepening resolve, his eyes narrowing before he reached up, softly pressing a fist into her shoulder.
"Maybe you can't. Who knows."
Her head fell.
"However," Link assured, reaching over to tenderly take her chin to raise her eyes back to meet his own, "You've got five people willing to leave their lives on the line to make sure you don't ever find that out."
A rather stilted sentiment, but still one that left a choked up grin on Zelda's face as she turned her eyes, embarrassed to be seen as she was, "I- suppose."
"I know," Link nodded, "Maybe not Revali, but he's coming along. I only find him mildly insufferable these days."
"Oh, hush," Zelda repeated his words with a timid smack of her own.
Link smirked boyishly at being admonished for a rather heartfelt collection of words before pulling out his roll of bandages once again, ready to mend the blemish upon Zelda's arm, hoping nobody would notice or call attention to it. He delicately worked his way around her, leaving Zelda to simply remain there, silently recovering from her overwashing emotions from the past few moments, watching the knight work diligently in his careful manner.
"Thanks," she muttered, "for this."
He shrugged, "It's the unit's supply; your father's taxes paid for this, not m-"
"Not the bandage, you ass," Zelda charged with a swift kick against Link's leg, leaving him chuckling like a boy with his hand in the cookie jar.
"For the lesson," she confirmed, "Thanks."
He merely shrugged, "It's nothing."
"I know it is," Zelda fired back in retort, albeit with a certain echo in her voice, "It's why you were so adverse to doing it before. That Hylian pride and all."
Link's brow raised with inquiry, "My last two major assignments have found me scampering across the whole of Hyrule with reckless abandon."
He smirked, "Perhaps I should better understand my worth and lower my expectations accordingly."
"So you're blaming me?" Zelda shot back with a wryness in her voice.
Link tilted his head to the side, "Nah. I agreed because you're making an effort. I should be willing to as well."
Her lips curled in subtle glee as Zelda relished those words that put the two of them on somewhat equal footing. It sent her back to those days where she was so ensconced with jealousy, seeing Link as this pinnacle she never could aspire to. Never once, back then, could she have imagined allowing him to witness her as she was now.
"Perhaps…once upon a time, I saw you as merely a sword," Zelda admitted dryly, "But- I don't now. Not anymore."
Link's eyes wandered pithily up toward her, glibly remarking, "I just went at you like a lizalfos with that sword, you know."
"Yeah, just a little!" Zelda scolded with feigned upset, grinning sincerely as she returned to her point, "Just- You're not a sword. You're a friend."
Link nodded, "Well, thank you. Coming from a member of royalty, that means a lot."
He went silent as he returned his focus solely to dressing her wound, leaving Zelda with a crooked face as she cleared her throat, "Ahem?"
Link glanced her way, "What now?"
"Don't you have something to say in reply?"
His eyes wandered away in thought for a moment, leaving Zelda to correct him, "Aren't I a friend to you?!"
Link's eyes narrowing in deepening thought, he surmised easily, "I think you're more of a student at this point in time, grasshop-"
"Shut up!" she begged with another more-forceful swipe which left Link with another chuckle.
"Fine, fine," he nodded, "I see you as a friend as well. Just-"
"Ah!" Zelda shouted to interrupt him, waving him off, "All I needed to here. Don't even."
Link grinned as he continued his work, allowing Zelda a moment to watch him with sincerity in her eyes, thinking of how rare this playful side of him was. Maybe it was her barring her own emotions that opened him up, or perhaps their friendship had levied something of mirth to his interactions with her.
Whatever it was, her heart felt a bit lighter having gotten everything out, leaving it with one final weight upon it.
"Urbosa knows," she spoke up quietly.
Link's eyes jumped toward her, "Knows what?"
Biting her lip, she completed, "About you…and Mipha."
His eyes remained stagnant, leaving Zelda to explain, "She saw you coming out of Mipha's room back at the stable, and-"
"Wait, when she gave me a nod like she was some log roller on the rotunda?" he wondered, "That was my room."
Zelda frowned, "Well she thinks it was her room. She said you two were- That is, uh-"
"Just clarify it, then."
"I can't!" Zelda replied, "Then she'll know that you know that she knows!"
Link's eyes grew focused as he realized what Zelda was unintentionally getting at, stroking his chin as he bit his lip, "Ah, I see."
"See what, exactly..?" Zelda asked warily.
Shaking his head as he tore off the bandage, tucking it beneath the dressing, Link only replied, "Nothing. Just- Well, it might be an eventful time while we're staying here…"
Despite the added weight of guilt having been lifted, now a pang of fear settled into the pit of Zelda's stomach.